Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Indian magician drowns during "Houdini" stunt

The Washington Post reports that an Indian magician has drowned while attempting a "Houdini-inspired" escape from locks and chains in the Hooghly River in West Bengal. Chanchal Lahiri, whose stage name was Jadugar Mandrake, failed to surface. His body was later found a half mile from where he performed the stunt.

"He was a great stunt artist and this is a big loss for the Indian magic community," said Madan Bharti, a historian of Indian magic.


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4 comments:

  1. That's a tragedy and a reminder of how dangerous water escapes can be.

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  2. I was so sad to hear about this. It sounded like a particularly dangerous escape, and in muddy water. Terrible when these types of things happen, and heartbreaking for his family and friends.

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  3. I think he committed suicide, anyone knows the restraints must come off immediately or your dead. Why make it so hard, HH would never do that, as everyone knows HH had to make sure they didn't fall off before the stunt even started..............

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    1. From the film and photos, it doesn't appear he was securely bound in any serious manner. It did look like the chains and ropes would fall off him. So it seems some terrible accident occurred. He was lowered into the water upsidedown, so one wonders if he didn't practice this and he wasn't prepared for the water that would go up his nose? He didn't appear to have taken any safety precautions.

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