Church deacon and escape artist Anthony Martin’s latest stunt was to free himself from shackles while locked in a casket that was dropped from an airplane at 14,500 feet (4460 meters). The following Fox News segment before the stunt has some details about what was being planned:
Following the stunt, WGN Chicago aired a segment with footage of the jump which you can view by clicking here (as embedding it into this post will have it start automatically!)
Apparently, Anthony did the stunt one other time 25 years ago. This time around, it took him thirty second to pick the locks (something he started learning to do when he was only six years old) and escape, but it wasn’t easy because the plywood casket whipped wildly from side-to-side and he also struggled to open the door.
Everyone involved in the stunt did land safely with no serious injuries. However, one of the skydivers ended up with a fat lip and a scraped arm after being slammed into the door of the plane as they exited while trying to steady the box.
So what was the point of Anthony’s stunt? To sell his new book entitled, “Escape or Die: An escape artist unlocks the secret to cheating death,” which chronicles his four-decade long career as an escape artist.