HOW TO ESCAPE FROM A STEEL DRUM FULL OF WATER!

For his first illusion, the magician will present one of magic's deadliest escapes. Here's a reminder. Never attempt any of the magician's dangerous escapes at home. Everyone you see on your screen is a trained professional. Now that the assistants are finished filling the steel drum, the magician wraps on the side and bottom to prove that it's solid. But this tank is only half of what will prove to be a very dangerous illusion. His assistants return with another drum. This one is also solid. And it's empty. We'll get back to this drum in a minute. Right now it's time to add some sex appeal. It doesn't get much sexier than this. The magician's assistant shows off her latest outfit, suitable for the pool, beach, or perilous illusion. I hope she realizes it's about to get wet. For her sake, the fabric better not shrink. The girl climbs the ladder to get into the upper barrel. She's about to find out if the water is cold. And so are we. Go ahead, honey. Take a dip. Must be room temperature. Now that she's soaking wet, she's ready to take on the deadly challenge. She inhales deeply, then exhales as she prepares for the big dunk. She's under the water. As an experiment, hold your breath to see how long you'd be able to stay underwater if you were in her swimsuit. A metal lid is clamped into place. In this illusion, the masked magician will attempt to transport his assistant out of the water-filled steel drum into a second drum that will be suspended beneath it. But that's only if she can survive being submerged underwater with no air supply. The assistants converge on the scene to help clamp the second drum beneath the one holding the girl. Are you still holding your breath? She'd better be, or that tank will become a watery tomb. The second drum is now secure, and there's still no sign of the girl. There are no signs of struggle or screams for help as the magician surveys the steel contraption from all sides. He gives his magic commands and draws our attention to the tank on top. Now the one below. Is he trying to tell us something? There's no way for the girl to get from one solid drum into the other, not without a blowtorch and 50 gallons of water crashing down onto the stage. Maybe he can give her some magical assistance. He orders the lid be removed, so let's get a good look inside. But I think we'd notice her body if she was in there. She's vanished. But if she's not here, where could she be? Maybe it's worth looking into the bottom tank. The assistants go about opening up the clamps and removing the drum. If she's inside, I'm going to have to eat my words. Let's watch what happens. There she is. Too good to believe. And so is this trick. The masked magician has pulled one over on us again. So how does the beautiful girl get sealed in a tank of water, make a dramatic escape and reappear minutes later in a completely dry tank? Here are the secrets. When the girl first climbs into the top drum, she displaces some of the water with her body. Well, that's one way to put it to good use. She sinks down into the water and stands up, presumably to allow herself to take a few deep breaths. What you don't know is that the water in the tank is being pumped out through a tube that is hidden in the innocent-looking metal frame. The tube runs inside this steel support arm to a hose that runs offstage. The hose is connected to a high-power water pump and storage barrel. The pump is operated by a concealed stagehand. This high-power device is capable of pumping 50 gallons of water in a matter of seconds. The stagehand opens a valve and starts the pump, which instantly begins to suck the water out of the tank. As the water level begins to drop, the girl slinks down into the tank so that the lid can be secured. As you can see from above, about six inches of water have already been pumped out, barely enough room for her to breathe. Since hundreds of magicians and assistants have lost their lives performing water escapes, an additional breathing tube has been concealed in the lid, just in case something should go wrong. Whenever magicians attempt to pull off death-defying tricks like this, they always build safety features into their designs. This tube and hidden air hole are added protection in the event of an emergency. While the girl is in the upper drum, the lower one is clamped into place. This is when she pulls a concealed hose from the support frame and uses it to suck out the remaining water. Remember, the pump is powerful, so it makes quick work of draining the last few gallons of water. The assistants take extra time to secure the lower tank, giving the girl on top a few extra moments to vacuum up the water and slide the hose back into its secret hole. But since the bottom of the drum was solid and held all that water and the girl, how does she get into the drum below? The tank above has a watertight false bottom that is held in place by a rubber gasket and the weight of the water. With the water drained out, she easily breaks the seal and removes the false bottom. It's a tight squeeze, but the girl has just enough room to slip down into the lower tank. This arrow indicates her path, as if you couldn't figure out she's going from the top to the bottom. Here's how it looks from inside the tank. Once she's carefully dropped herself down into the lower drum, all she has to do is reach up and replace the false bottom. Without the lower drum in place, she's happy to show us how easy it is. But the top tank was still full of water when the lid was removed. That's where the pump comes back into play. The stagehand reopens the valve and reverses the pump. This draws all of the water back out of the storage barrel and replaces it in the upper drum. Now all that's left to do is to remove the lower drum and allow the girl to make her stunning reveal. A little damp, but lovely as ever.