Harry Houdini when he was about 16 years old in 1890. 36 years later on August 5, 1926, Houdini would spend just over an hour and a half in an enclosed container that was sunk in a swimming pool before escaping.
This high-profile stunt, performed at the Shelton Hotel pool in New York City, was not actually an escape trick, but a dangerous, scientifically monitored test of human endurance designed to publicly expose a famous medium charlatan. A rival performer named Rahman Bey had claimed that he could survive underwater for an hour using supernatural, mystical powers; an outraged Houdini set out to prove that anyone could achieve the feat using pure, calculated breath control and physiological discipline. Enclosed inside a tight, air-tight galvanized iron coffin equipped with a telephone line to the surface, Houdini remained completely submerged for 1 hour and 31 minutes with only enough oxygen to normally last a fraction of that time, proving that human willpower and absolute mastery over panic could conquer the limits of the human body.
