“I eliminated the aspect of it being a trick as opposed to it being a true escape,” she says. Unlike Houdini, who used a curtain to hide his escape procedures inside the water tank, Johnson works in full view of the audience. When she and Kevin debuted their act nine years ago, “I started with a simple rope escape, and just built from there.” Your brain is telling you not to do this as the lid is being locked.” Johnson says. For me it’s mostly psychological, to remain calm. In 1914, the name became The Chinese Water Torture Cell, although Houdini himself always called it the 'USD' or 'Upside Down.'ĭespite popular mythology, Houdini did not die performing his Water Torture Cell.“It’s a challenge every time. The Water Torture Cell would go on to became a staple of Houdini's act.

The first public performance of the Water Torture Cell occurred on Septemat Circus Busch in Berlin, Germany. The apparatus weighed around three-quarters of a ton and held 250 gallons of water. The front consisted of a plate of half-inch tempered glass. The frame and heavy stocks were made of Honduras mahogany and nickel-plated steel with brass fixtures. Houdini had his Water Torture Cell built in England at a cost of more than $10,000. The cell would be concealed in a curtain cabinet, and after several suspenseful minutes (in which the orchestra played The Diver), Houdini would burst from the cabinet free.

In his earliest version of the escape, he was also encased in a steel cage. In this escape Houdini would have his feat locked in a pair of heavy stocks and would be lowered upside down into a tank of water. However, the Milk Can was widely imitated by other escape artists, so in 1912 Houdini introduced a far more difficult and dangerous escape that would become his greatest.

Houdini's first death-defying onstage water escape was his Milk Can.

Houdini water tank