95 years ago today, Harry Houdini freed himself from a straight jacket while hung by his ankles upside down, 40 feet (12 m) above the ground in New York City.
One of Houdini’s most popular publicity stunts, it began as a challenge from police, who applied the canvas and leather jacket themselves before he was hoisted up by a crane. He made his escape in full view of thousands of onlookers in about two minutes. WATCH the film from the Library of Congress… (1923)
Learn how he did it by clicking the YouTube video and reading the summary.
MORE Good News on this Day:
- Virginia’s colonial legislature became the first to adopt a Bill of Rights (1776)
- The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, N.Y. (1939)
- Anne Frank received a diary for her 13th birthday (1942)
- The U.S. Supreme Court voted unanimously that state laws banning interracial marriage were unconstitutional, a seminal moment for civil rights in more than a dozen states, and for the couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, who filed the lawsuit against Virginia (1967)
- The first Indiana Jones film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, one of the most popular movies ever…
