Twenty-seven years ago on Halloween, Dean Gunnarson was wrapped in chains, entombed in a steel coffin, and dumped in the icy waters of Winnipeg's Red River.
And he died.
The escape artist exhaled at the wrong moment and found himself without air, sinking below the surface, unable to escape and keenly aware that he was in serious trouble.
After four nerve-wracking minutes Gunnarson's team realized something was wrong and quickly hoisted the coffin back onto solid ground.
"They pulled the coffin out, they pried open the lid and I was dead. I was blue, unconscious, my eyes were rolled back in my head, and the Winnipeg ambulance service brought me back to life," Gunnarson tells CTV.ca.
The experience would have caused many to reconsider their career choice. But the then-19-year-old considered it a valuable learning experience and became more focused than ever on his work.
Now, Gunnarson is about to attempt what he says is his toughest escape ever.
Not surprisingly, this one also takes place over Halloween, and also involves a coffin. But instead of being submerged under water, Gunnarson will be buried alive under three tonnes of Winnipeg dirt, and will have to survive for two days with no food or water.
"I'll spend Friday night, all day Saturday, Saturday night and Sunday, and I'm hoping around 1:26 p.m. -- which is the exact time that Harry Houdini died on Halloween back in 1926 -- that I'll escape."
To pull it off Gunnarson will have to get free from his chains, break out of the coffin, and tunnel through six feet of earth to the surface.
While he's underground, Gunnarson will be recorded by a video camera that will broadcast images to two screens set up at ground level.
Air will be pumped into the coffin to ensure he can breathe, and he will have a cell phone that may or may not work from the tomb-like prison.
Gunnarson, whose mother bought him a Houdini book when he was 10, has idolized the famous magician throughout his career, thus his fixation with staging spectacular escapes on the anniversary of Houdini's death.
But this stunt takes the risk factor to a new level, Gunnarson said, adding that he has been planning the event for years and preparing for it his entire life.
"This is something Houdini wanted to do but he never did," he said.
"He did some trial runs but he found it so difficult and dangerous that he said he would never attempt it. He even wrote in his personal diary that it was 'Very dangerous and the weight of the earth is killing.'"
One of the biggest challenges, Gunnarson said, will be biding his time, fighting against his training and his nature and waiting until the moment is right to begin his escape.
The psychological stress -- knowing the sheer crushing weight of the earth above him -- will be another.
Gunnarson remembers reading Edgar Allan Poe's "The Premature Burial" as a kid, and being frightened by the idea at the time. Living through it, he said, will be a nightmare.
While the memory of his 1983 failure is never far from his mind, Gunnarson said the experience gives him confidence rather than trepidation about his upcoming escape attempt.
"I learned more from that failure than if I had succeeded," he said.
"One of the things I realized was that I didn't panic in that situation. When I was in the coffin and it was drilled full of holes and when it hit the water and it began rushing in, I didn't panic."
Gunnarson said that ability to maintain calm and presence of mind under pressure will serve him well on Friday, as the darkness closes in and those first shovelfuls of dirt begin landing on the coffin lid.
Despite his fascination with coffins and the macabre, Gunnarson said he has no intention of dying anytime soon and doesn't plan a repeat of 1983.
But he also doesn't intend to live a risk-free life. After all, escaping danger is what he does.
"I don't know if I'm going to succeed in this and the chances of failing are extremely high," he said.
"Some people have been calling me crazy, saying that it's foolish, but sometimes you just have to try certain things in life."
