Escapology
What is escapology and how did it become a popular form of entertainment?
Escapology is the exercise of escaping from restraints in one form or another. The performers, often called escapologists, will escape from all manner of items, including but not restricted to, straitjackets, steel boxes, oil drums, milk cans, hand cuffs and leg irons. Some are even used together to make it all the more impossible to escape.
Probably, the motivation of escapology acts in the world today can be drawn from the great Houdini - maybe "the father of escapology".
His performances were legendary and many of his illusions and escapology acts are still done today.
But, how did Houdini actually get into escapology in the first place, even before he met his friend Martin Beck?
The answer, in short, is to do with spiritualism…
Around the middle of the 19th century, two sisters claimed to have contacted a ghost in their house which was "confirmed" when an excavation of the floor of the house by the family found part of a human skeleton. After the media had reported this story, they soon started a stage show about contacting the deceased which got audiences flocking to see them.
It wasn't long before less scrupulous 'mediums' were doing their own personal readings, in near darkness, where objects appeared and bells started ringing.
The sceptics believed that the 'mediums' were really performing tricks of some sort and, in retaliation, the mediums allowed their hands and feet to be tied up using rope. Still the people came.
Houdini, one of the bigger sceptics of his day, realised that there were actually escaping the ropes to press concealed buttons and such like. He saw the potential of escapology as a different form of magical entertainment and decided to add escapology to his repertoire.
And so, to this day, escapology has to thank Houdini for his scepticism of mediums and Martin Beck for advising him to concentrate on escapology as an impressive form of entertainment.
