Burial makes escape artist think of mortality

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/10/2010 (5483 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tonight there will be a burial ceremony but, Dean Gunnarson hopes, no funeral.

And as the world-renowned Manitoban escape artist prepares to push himself into, and out of, an early grave, the nerves are setting in.

At 7 p.m., Gunnarson will slide into a steel casket. The casket will be lowered into a six-foot grave dug just outside the Golf Dome on Wilkes Avenue. That grave will be covered with soil. And all the while, audiences can watch a big-screen TV showing the 46-year-old performer stuck inside the coffin… so they know that when he escapes at about 1:26 p.m. on Sunday, his clamber out of the grave will be legit.

Twenty-seven years ago, Gunnarson tried a coffin escape in the Red River that almost killed him. So it’s little wonder that, by Thursday afternoon, the escape artist was feeling a little… jumpy.

“Just nervous now to try and get everything right and ready,” Gunnarson said, about 27 hours before going under. “There’s so much work that goes into an escape like this. From getting the right dirt, to the weather, to the right amount of air supply, to the strength of the coffin. There’s even so much involved.”

So much, in fact, that Gunnarson’s latest escape — and probably the only one he’ll ever do quite like it, he says — garnered national attention from the Discovery Channel, which is taping a segment on the escape’s logistics to air on its Daily Planet show on Monday night.

Gunnarson is an old pro at getting out of tight places — he made his first big escape from a coffin near the old Winnipeg Free Press building on Carlton Street in 1982 — but this one is different. Scarier, even.

For instance, unlike most of Gunnarson’s escapes, it won’t end within minutes. Alone down there for roughly 42 hours, with nothing but a Blackberry, a one-way webcam and the opening of an air vent, Gunnarson will have a lot of time to think.

More specifically he’ll have a lot of time to think about being alone, down there, in a casket, underneath six feet of dirt. Alternately, he could think about the elvparty going on above him. For the public burial, Gunnarson will be driven to the Golf Dome site in a hearse, while a legion of zombie dancers heralds his arrival. There will be fireworks and a laser show while he gets put underground.

On Saturday, the Golf Dome will host a family-friendly party all day inclueding a petting zoo, paintball games and a gala adult Halloween party.

All the events aim to raise money, food and gift donations for the Christmas Cheer Board. “It’s too bad I’m going to miss it, but I’ll be tied up,” Gunnarson quipped.

As for the future, Gunnarson said he’s “not sure” if the coffin caper will be his last big escape. The daredevil act can be tough on his family, he added — this summer, during a major rollercoaster-track escape in China, he broke his foot when the ‘coaster struck him. It could have been a lot worse. And the older he gets, maybe the worse it could be.

“I don’t feel old, but… it’s getting up there,” Gunnarson said. “I think I’ll know the right time to hang up my handcuffs. This might be the last one, I don’t know. If I make it through (the Halloween escape) all right, I’ll see what effects I’ll have. We’ll see what happens.”

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca