Magician Jadugar Mandrake has been found dead, after an underwater escape stunt went wrong.
According to CNN, 40-year-old Chanchal Lahiri — known by his stage name “Jadugar Mandrake”, or “Wizard Mandrake” — was attempting the dangerous escape by having himself lowered into the Hooghly River while wrapped in chains.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The plan was that Lahiri would free himself from the chains and then swim back to the surface. However, he never emerged and his team and family grew concerned.
It was Sunday that Lahiri attempted the escape, and on Monday authorities located his body about two kilometers from where he was trying his escape.
Lahiri’s body was identified by his brother and police have begun an full investigation into what went wrong.
CNN noted that before being submerged, Lahiri told onlookers, “If I can open it up then it will be magic, but if I can’t it will be tragic.”
Dangerous escape tricks are very common among magician’s and illusionists, and have been for many decades.
One who know just how life-threatening they can be if they do not go according to plan is master endurance artist David Blane.
During a past interview with Thought Economics he spoke candidly about the feelings that a magician experiences while taking on a dangerous stunt, and specifically spoke to the element of fear and how to overcome it.
“The way you eliminate fear is to approach your situation from every angle, almost as though it were a logic puzzle,” he explained. “It’s also setting a goal but not being afraid to back away if you think that you’re going to do irreversible damage on the way there. I like to think of it as approaching like a tortoise, not like a hare.”
“If I was to just suddenly say ‘…well I’m going to hold my breath for 20 minutes tomorrow’, that would be scary, but I start by holding my breath first for 5 minutes, then 6 minutes, then 7 minutes, then 8 minutes, then 9 minutes, then 10, then suddenly I’m at 15 and eventually I’m pushing myself to 20 because I’m watching what the body does and I have telemetry hooked up to my heart and I have a team watching me,” Blaine added. “Part of removing the fear is understanding the odds of what outcomes exist.”
He then went on to say, “For example, if you talk to a doctor and say, ‘can you survive 44 days without food strictly on water?’ they’re all going to say no you will die! I research examples of others who have done similar feats, such as hunger strikers and yogis who have fasted for extended periods of time, which leads to me believe I can push myself further without a fear of death.”
