Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (HB)
Udupi, Feb 21: Hundreds of curious spectators on Saturday February 21 witnessed 'Buried alive' performance by one of world’s greatest escape artiste from Canada, Dean Gunnarson, who entertained and awed all and sundry with his escape act.
He was buried in a box 6 feet under the ground at Christian High School‐PU College Ground on Saturday at 7.03 pm. He will remain in this condition for 24 hours, and escape from the grave on Sunday February 22, same time.
Dean had visited Udupi in 2001 for 'Gili Gili 2001' International Magicians Convention organized by the Shankars. At that time, he had performed the straight jacket escape at a height of 152 feet from ground level. This act was witnessed by about 50,000 people at the Ajjarkad ground.
This time too, the show 'Gili Gili Magic' has been organized by Prof Shankar and Shankar Junior Udupi, with a special appearance by Dean Gunnarson and Cary Tardy from Canada.
Before getting into the box that was specially designed for the stunt, Gunnarsan was tied in chains, with four locks keeping them secure. He remembered his children and said he needed to be very strong person mentally and physically, as he had be without food, water and mobile phone for the next 24 hours. He also expressed happiness at the great response from the crowd.
The iron box in which he was buried weighed 300 kg. There was camera placed inside through which he could talk to audiences in Canada, where the stunt would be telecast. He was equipped with a mattress and an oxygen cylinder. The box was also fitted with two ventilation pipes to control the air flow and temperature and two fans, as Gunnarson had come from Canada where temperature presently is well before zero celsius, to a place where it is above 30 degree celsius, and hence his body needed to adjust.
Gunnarson forms part of a 11 member team, among whom two, Cary and Jeff, are monitoring his condition inside the box.
People can visit the spot for the next 24 hours till Gunnarson escapes from the box and digs himself out. People, young and old alike watched in amazement as the escape artist lowered himself into the box and clicked pictures non-stop in the phones and cameras.
About Dean Gunnarson (from Sources)
Dean Gunnarson is an international award-winning Canadian escape artiste. He is noted for a series of large scale spectacular stunts done for television. Gunnarson has appeared on television in over 165 countries around the world performing his daring escapes. He has taken his amazing escape shows into countries like India, Egypt, Iceland, Italy, France, Columbia, Venezuela, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, and many more. Gunnarson has performed over 500 shows across China and his TV escapes have been seen by millions of people there. In 2012 the Chinese Government presented him with award of "The World's Top Escape Artist" after a successful escape on live TV. He has also performed across Canada and the US on TV, fairs, shopping malls, sporting events, and for many of the countries top corporations.
Gunnarson has worked as a technical advisor and consultant on major motion pictures, TV shows, theatrical productions, music videos, documentaries and many different types of corporate productions. He has been asked to share his expertise and knowledge on Houdini with The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel as well as numerous publications. He has even worked with The Library of Congress in Washington, DC on their extensive Houdini collection. One of his most rewarding projects was working as a magic advisor to Oscar winning actor Ben Kingsley on the set of the children's movie entitled "Spooky House".