Magician Died In Halloween Stunt: The Life Of Joseph "Amazing Joe" Burrus

At 32-years-old, Joseph Burrus had made a name for himself as an amateur magician. Specifically, the name was “Amazing Joe.”  On October 31, 1990, Burrus planned on performing a stunt so spectacular that it would move him from working small crowds of children to a spot as a big time illusionist.

Looking more like someone from the 1920s, he set up his stunt at Blackbeard’s Family Fun Center in Fresno, CA.  His plan was to be handcuffed, enter a clear coffin, lowered into a “grave,”  and allow himself to be buried under three feet of dirt topped with four feet of cement. He would then free himself from the chains, burrow up through the dirt and cement, then appear to the wonderment and applause of his fans.

So, in front of an audience of 150, including his wife, two children, and parents, Burrus smiled and joked before being put into the box and lowered into the ground. Sadly, though Burrus was buried alive, he was pulled out of the grave dead.

After the workers had finished topping up the hole with cement, the level of whole slab sunk about two feet. Realizing the stunt had gone wrong, people rushed the grave and tried to dig Burrus out. He was eventually pulled out, but paramedics on the scene were unable to revive him. His death was due to asphyxia.

He had preformed a similar stunt before using only dirt. Reports state that he did not do enough testing or calculations for his equipment before deciding to add the cement to the act.

For more information here is an article from Ain't No Way To Go.

Also, here is a report on Burrus from "A Current Affair" :

Race Car Driver Dan Wheldon Dies After Las Vegas Crash

The 33-year-old IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon died after a crash today, one in which more than a dozen cars were involved. The crash occurred on lap 12 (some are reporting lap 13). Wheldon was air-lifted to a hospital after the accident. Fellow IndyCar drivers Pippa Mann, J.R. Hildebrand, and Will Power were also sent to hospitals with various injuries.

Here is one article on the crash. Here is an earlier one, reported before Wheldon's death, with a lot of detail of the crash.

Naturally, YouTube has video of the crash, which can be disturbing for some viewers. This was the live video from ABC of the accident:

Chinese Pilot Confirmed Dead

The pilot who couldn't escape from the jet crash at the Beijing airshow has been confirmed to have been killed in the crash. One other pilot was able to eject, and no spectators were injured. Here is one article about the incident.

Jet Crashes At Chinese Air Show: One Pilot Feared Dead

AP is reporting that a jet crashed at an air show in Beijing. One pilot was able to eject, but the other is missing and presumed dead. More information here.

Sea World Traner's Death The Subject Of OSHA Hearing

Here's an article from Reuters about some of the testimony in the hearing concerning the death of Dawn Brancheau last year. She was killed when she and an orca were preparing for a Sea World show. The article is here.

Dancer Yoshiyuki Takada: 1985 Death From Fall

September 10 was the 26^th anniversary of the death of Japanese dancer Yoshiyuki Takada. He was a member of the Butoh-style dance troupe Sankai Juku, and perished when he fell off the side of the Mutual Life Building during a performance of a “hanging dance" in Seattle, Washington.

The dance involved Takada and three of his troupe-mates being suspended from the roof of the building, then slowly being lowered down the outside of the building while in a fetal position. It was a dance performance that Takada and his group had performed many time around the world, but on this occasion, Takada’s rope broke just seconds after starting the descent. The 31-year-old dancer fell a reported 80 feet to the pavement below, never releasing from his fetal position.

After the accident, Takada’s rope was examined and was found to be incapable of holding his weight, which caused the fall. The rumors were that, while some tests on the ropes and the rigging had been done, they had not been a thorough as usual, and it was possible Takada’s rope had not been tested with sandbags to see if it could hold a person’s weight.

The Los Angeles Times reporter Lewis Segal wrote an excellent article on the tragedy two days after it happened, which can be found here.

Reno's Air Race Pilot Was Lifelong Aviator

Air Racer Jimmy Leeward had skill and experience behind him. A May 2011 article in EAA Sport Aviation states that his father taught him to fly as a child and was at the controls by age 11 or 12.

Leeward has appeared in several Hollywood films as a stunt pilot. The 74-year-old pilot even developed a gated community with its own airpark, simply so others who shared his passion of piloting and working on planes could live near each other.

Leeward died Friday, Sept. 16 when his P-51 Mustang plane crashed into the VIP section at the National Championship Air Races, held at the Reno Stead Airport. At this time, nine spectators are reported dead, and six remain in critical condition.

While the investigation into the accident is it the early stages, reports seem to be focusing on a part of the plane, named "The Galloping Ghost," which may have fell off just before the plane went out of control. This piece, called an elevator trim tab, which assists the pilot with stabilizing the pitch of the plane.

Much is being made of the other modifications Leeward and his crew made to the plane to turn it into a racing machine, which include taking five inches off of the length of each wing and other modifications that, to the layperson, sounds a lot like taking important things off of a working plane.

There is even an interview posted on YouTube, the June 2011 National Championship Air Races Podcast, where Leeward makes a chilling-in-hindsight statement: "I know the speed. I know it will do the speed. The systems aren't proven yet. We think they're going to be okay."

This quote is getting some press. However, without knowing much about Leeward or his personality, it almost sounds to me like he is teasing his competition with the possibility that the plane won't be ready to race in time. It seems impossible that a racing professional such as Leeward would enter a race in a plane without having thoroughly tested all changes and modifications to his craft. Leeward, of all people, would know the risks of flying at the aircraft's limits without making sure the changes were safe. I certainly hope that the investigation proves that.

You can view the entire podcast here: