Buzz
Magicians, illusionists, mentalists, and escape artists all incorporate an element of danger in their acts, which adds excitement to their performances. However, that same danger can sometimes prove fatal, regardless of experience. Here are 10 individuals who lost their lives while performing such daring feats.
10. Charles Rowen
Charles Rowen, also known as 'Karr the Magician' or 'Karr the Mysterious,' was a South African escape artist and magician famous for his acts involving escaping from straight jackets and diving into piles of broken glass.
In 1930, Karr was performing in Springfontein, Orange Free State, South Africa. During the performance, he attempted a risky stunt where he was bound in a straight jacket while a driver sped towards him in a car. The car came from a distance of 180 meters (200 yards) away, rapidly accelerating to 72 kilometers per hour (45 mph). Calculating this, Karr had roughly 10-15 seconds (depending on how long the driver needed to reach that speed) to free himself from the jacket and avoid being hit by the car.
However, he was unable to escape in time.
Unfortunately, Karr failed to free himself quickly enough, and the car ran over him, nearly amputating his leg. This tragic event took place in front of a large crowd, including young children. Before he passed away, Karr absolved the driver of any responsibility for the incident.
9. Madame DeLinksy
The Gun Trick involves a magician faking being shot by a gun, creating the illusion that they either stopped or caught the bullet with their body. Among all its variations, the bullet-catching version is considered one of the most perilous acts in a magician's repertoire. Even though it's all illusion, the trick still places the performer at significant risk. No bullets are actually fired in the act—since it's impossible for someone to catch a bullet—but at least 15 fatalities have been linked to this dangerous stunt.
One of the most infamous deaths occurred when a Polish magician, along with his wife, Madame DeLinsky, performed in Arnstadt, Germany, in November 1820, for Prince Shwarznberg-Sonderhausen. Their rendition of the Gun Trick involved Madame DeLinsky standing before a firing squad of six men, intending to stop all six bullets. The DeLinksys requested the soldiers to use blank rounds, but one soldier disobeyed and loaded a live bullet instead. Madame DeLinsky was shot in the abdomen and passed away two days later.
8. Benjamin Rucker
Benjamin Rucker, known by his stage name Black Herman, stands apart from the other magicians in this story as he died from natural causes—though many found it hard to believe.
Black Herman was regarded as the foremost African American magician of his era. Due to the restrictions of the Jim Crow laws, he primarily performed for black audiences in the South, though his fame extended far beyond that region. One of his most famous stunts, which he used to advertise his upcoming shows, was the illusion of being buried alive, only to be exhumed three days later and continue with his performance. This was why no one believed he had actually passed away after suffering a heart attack at the end of one of his shows in April 1934. Seizing on the disbelief, Black Herman's promoters charged people to attend his funeral to prove that he was, indeed, dead.
In a similar vein, magician and comedian Tommy Cooper suffered a heart attack on stage, leading the audience to think it was part of his routine. However, unlike Black Herman's promoters, no one charged admission to his funeral.
7. Dr. Vivian Hensley
Nothing tarnishes the world of magic like an amateur magician who takes on a risky trick beyond his skill. Forty-three-year-old Vivian Hensley, a dentist from Brisbane, Australia, should have known better than to put non-edible objects in his mouth. Unfortunately, he met a painful end after swallowing something that proved fatal.
Dr. Hensley was performing his own dangerous trick called 'swallowing the rusty razor blade' for his young son. The illusion involved pretending to slip the razor blade into his mouth while actually concealing it down the sleeve of his coat. On July 6, 1938, during one performance, he made a fatal mistake and accidentally dropped the razor down his throat. His wife had him eat cotton balls as she rushed him to the hospital. Despite multiple X-rays and two surgeries, the doctors were unable to locate the razor, and he died four days later.
6. Janaka Basnayake
For humans to survive, we need water, food, and most importantly, air, which leads us to the tragic story of 24-year-old Janaka Basnayake from Sri Lanka. Basnayake was attempting to break the world record for the longest time spent buried alive.
While many magicians perform a version of this stunt with an escape illusion to ensure they don’t remain buried for long, the exception is David Blaine, who spent six days buried alive, relying on his professional team. Basnayake, however, was not a professional. On March 5, 2012, he had his family bury him in a pit three meters (10 feet) deep and cover it with soil and wood. He remained buried for seven and a half hours before being unearthed. Unfortunately, they found him unresponsive and rushed him to the hospital, where he was declared dead.
The unfortunate truth is that The Guinness Book Of World Records does not even acknowledge this particular record due to its extreme danger, as they do not want to encourage anyone to attempt it.
5. Royden Joseph Gilbert Raison De La Genesta
Royden Joseph Gilbert Raison de la Genesta, commonly known as Genesta, was an American magician famous for his signature escape trick involving a milk can or water barrel. In this stunt, the performer is locked inside a large milk can or water barrel filled with water, and the goal is to escape before drowning.
Tragically, in 1930, on his way to a performance, Genesta’s milk can was damaged, which reduced the available space inside and hindered his ability to make the necessary movements to escape. Unable to free himself, he tragically drowned. His death caused shockwaves, particularly among his peers like Houdini, as it made the water barrel escape even more perilous and boosted its popularity as a dangerous attraction.
4. Jeff Rayburn Hooper
On July 7, 1984, 23-year-old magician Jeff Rayburn Hooper was rehearsing an escape trick that he intended to perform later that afternoon for the Winona Lake Bible Conference. The trick involved escaping from shackles while submerged in a lake. Sadly, Hooper would never make it to the show.
While practicing, Hooper handcuffed himself and jumped into Winona Lake, located outside Fort Wayne, Indiana. He swam about 100 yards from the shore before managing to free himself from the shackles. After surfacing, he called out for help, but the strong winds made it impossible for him to swim back to shore. The high winds also hindered rescuers from reaching him. Tragically, Hooper drowned in just 1.6 meters (6 feet) of water.
3. Sigmund Neuberger
Sigmund Neuberger, known by his stage name The Great Lafayette, was a German magician and the highest-paid performer of his time. The Great Lafayette had a deep affection for animals, particularly his terrier named Beauty, a gift from Harry Houdini, who admired Lafayette. He treated Beauty like royalty, providing the dog with its own luxurious suite, gourmet meals, and even a collar adorned with diamonds.
Just four days before the premiere of his show in Edinburgh, Beauty passed away. In response, Lafayette struck a deal with the city council, agreeing to have his own body buried there when the time came if they would allow Beauty to be buried in the nearby Piershill Cemetery. On the night of his show’s opening, May 9, 1911, a fire broke out while Lafayette was performing his signature act, 'The Lion’s Bride.' He managed to escape the building, but returned to rescue a horse that was part of the show. Tragically, he was one of 11 people who perished because the side doors had been locked before the performance to prevent unauthorized entry.
In the end, Lafayette’s body was laid to rest beside his beloved dog, Beauty.
2. William Elsworth Robinson
William Elsworth Robinson, better known by his stage name Chung Ling Soo, was an American magician who meticulously adopted the persona of a Chinese performer and never once broke character. On stage, he never spoke English, and whenever he communicated with journalists, he always relied on an interpreter. By the time of his death, he had become one of the most renowned magicians worldwide.
Tragically, the fatal accident occurred at the Wood Green Empire in London on March 23, 1918. Chung Ling Soo was performing his version of the infamous bullet catch trick. Unfortunately, he had not properly cleaned the gun after the previous performance, causing a dangerous buildup of gunpowder in the ramrod tube. This led to enough force being generated to fire a bullet into his chest. For the first time ever, he broke character and exclaimed, 'Oh my God, bring down the curtain. Something has happened.' He passed away the following day in the hospital.
If this magician seems familiar, it may be because he is portrayed as a character in the film The Prestige.
1. Joseph W. Burrus
Joseph 'Amazing Joe' Burrus, a 32-year-old man, had one ultimate goal: to outshine his idol, Harry Houdini. On Halloween night, 1992—the anniversary of Houdini’s death—he set out to complete the escape Houdini had failed at. Burrus was handcuffed, locked inside a custom-built coffin, lowered into a grave two meters deep, and buried under seven tons of dirt and cement, roughly the weight of an African elephant.
Against all odds, no one could dissuade Burrus from his mission, despite warnings that the stunt was nearly impossible without some form of illusion to ensure survival. A reporter observing his preparations mentioned that cement dries faster on the bottom than at the top. This posed an additional danger: even if Burrus survived the weight, he would still face several feet of dirt and an increasingly fast-hardening cement layer—all while running out of oxygen.
However, the cement was not even the main problem for Burrus. The true tragedy occurred when the dirt and cement collapsed on him, trapping him in the coffin and crushing him before he had a chance to escape. WARNING: The link leads to a video showing the real-time death of Burrus. Viewer discretion is advised.
+ Washington Irving Bishop
Bishop was raised in a family with deep spiritual beliefs, where his mother was an active medium. In his adult years, he worked under a psychic, eventually aiming to expose their methods. However, he abandoned the idea of debunking psychics and instead became a mentalist. He made a name for himself by admitting he had no supernatural abilities, unlike the psychics he had once tried to discredit. His method, muscle reading, involved holding someone's hand and observing their subtle muscle movements, allowing him to give accurate readings based on his observations.
On May 12, 1889, while performing at the Lamb Club in New York City, Bishop suddenly collapsed. He suffered from catalepsy, a condition in which a person appears to fall into a coma-like state despite being alive. After briefly regaining consciousness, he requested to finish his performance but fell unconscious again and ultimately passed away.
This is where the details become a bit unclear.
Given Bishop’s catalepsy condition, many people questioned whether he had actually died. Some, including Bishop’s mother, believed the autopsy itself led to his death. Doctors were particularly keen on studying his brain, hoping to uncover whether it held any special qualities that might explain his supposed mind-reading abilities. Sadly, they never had the chance to conduct that investigation.
