Introduction
Every Autumn/winter my primary school would drag (probably more true than I care to think about these days) me to the local swimming pool. Understandable as it was indoors and heated. I hated it. Now, the Doc can do many things but swim. Mum said that she’d buy me a ‘Paul Daniels Magic Set’ if I swam a width. It looked something like this:
I loved trying to ‘palm’ the little pea from the ‘three cup trick’.
The one magician that fascinated me was Harry Houdini, and in particular his straitjacket escapes. So, let’s look at three possible escapes from the ‘movie famous J.T.Posey 8118 straitjacket (think Silence Of The Lambs and many other films and dramas). This is a real medical SJ (also called a regulation strait jacket) that is/was used in American institutions.
First of all here are the application instructions to put some poor person inside this thing:
Note the ‘Rx Only’ at the top right. This indicates that only a registered doctor/psychiatrist can apply this to a person but also purchase it.
And the detailed application:
There are lots of warnings of death and destruction of the universe if you play with this device… Brilliant! That aside you can get ‘stuck’ in it if you’re not too careful!
You can see the warning label in this photo:
It reads something like ‘this device may cause serious injury or death so play nicely with it’. All right, I added the last bit. On the right you can see the size chart. Yes, the old joke of getting measured for the strait waistcoat is actually true!
Okay, so how do you get in and out of this thing (that’s right, I said IN).
1) The Figure Of Eight
What I call the ‘figure of eight’ method is the most simple and possibly common method of escape.
Here I’ve used an old long sleeve shirt and threaded some string through the button holes. If you actually wanted to try this experiment you would use a much longer piece of string, but for photographic reasons I’ve had to use a short piece.
To operate the ‘jacket’ you simply cross your wrists and put the ‘loop’ (green dot) over your head and shoulders pulling it down to the middle of your back. Just do the reverse and you’re the next Houdini!
In fact Houdini ‘dressed up’ his strait jackets with big buckles and rivets to make them more impressive. Good illusion! Principally it was just an eight trick.
2) The Tricked Sleeve
Another common escape method is the ‘tricked sleeve’. The photo below will explain more:
A lot of Magicians and Escapologists use the ‘fake’ sleeve strap. The end of the sleeve is undone and therefore allowed to ‘slide’ in and out. With some sort of grip on the strap inside the sleeve this gives at least six inches of give. More than enough escape room for an agile person, which leads us to the final problem: the loops.
3) The Loops Problem
Strait jacket designers (if I can call them that!) realised that just a ‘figure of eight’ sleeve system was not secure so they introduced the ‘loops’ (naughty 🙂 ).
In the photo below you can see the sleeves and front loop. There are also two side loops not visible:
These loops hold the arms in position – it stops you from moving your arms up and down.
There’s also a ‘crotch strap’ but that is easy to release once you’ve got an arm free.
Right. How do you get out of this? Not easily is the answer. But the Posey 8118 dose have a weakness. Its 11.5oz canvas fabric makes it very stiff particularly with the straps. Below you can see the strapped up back of the 8118:
I’ve placed a genuine Posey buckle by the jacket buckle. What is interesting is that because the canvas is so stiff on the strapping it becomes a weakness. Let me explain.
The Posey 8118 has the long sleeve strap on the wearers right arm. Therefore the buckle rotates left through the loops around your back to your left side. Now you can push the strap through the buckle with your right arm and free your left arm. Now you can undo the crotch strap and simply lift the jacket off of your head. Easy! 🙂
I’ve done this a few times with my 8118 but I’m getting too fat and old to play. They do fetch quite a sum on the old internet. J.T.Posey no longer make nor sell them but there are some independent manufacturers that make replicas for escapologists.
A Word Of Warning
If you do play around with any strait jacket please have a bottle of water and a straw with someone that knows you are doing so. I know it sounds silly but please be careful. DM
On A Lighter/Darker Note
I’m working on some Admiral Peabody podcasts. I hope you’ll like them. They take a lot of rehearsal and formulation. The first is ‘Peabody and the Ghost’ and the second (under development) is a ‘pastiche’ of Alfred Hitchcock’s Presents.
I know we’ve all got family problems. My mum has to go for an operation this Autumn. My mind is spinning.
All the best everyone whatever your circumstances.
© text & images Doc Mike Finnley 2023
