Most of us know and many of us would have also seen bats hanging in their upside-down position. It is a usual position for the bats and made that way by nature. However, what would you say of a human being who hangs in the air in the upside-down position and stays that way for 60 hours, that too without
food and sleep? This extraordinary achievement has been credited to US magician David Blaine, who has carved a niche for himself with his high-profile feats of endurance. In doing so, he has set and broken several world records.
Introduction to the Human Bat:
Name: David Blaine
Nickname: Human Bat
From: New York, United States
Born: April 4, 1973
Profession: Magician, Endurance Artist, Entertainer
Achievements:
- Spent 60 hours hanging upside down like a bat without sleep and food.
- New world record for holding breath underwater for 17 minutes 4 seconds.
- Spent 61 hours inside a block of ice situated in Times Square.
- Lived underwater for a week in an acrylic sphere in front of the Lincoln Center.
- Stood atop a 27-meter pillar erected behind the New York Public Library for 25 hours.
- Lived for 44 days inside a transparent box hung over the Thames River in London.
His skills:
Image credit: Flickr 4rilla
Primarily a magician by profession, David Blaine has the both the physical fitness and mental toughness to stretch his limits by undertaking and successfully completing stunts that are no mean feat.
In an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show he shares that while he makes his living as a magician, the stunts that he performs are about pushing the limits of the human body. In an interview when asked what drives him to undertake such stunts, he said he wanted to see if he could adapt to new situations, adding that “I think we can really adapt to any situation.”
David Blaine is also a man on a mission. Every year, he travels all across the country and the world to perform magic for children’s hospital wards, burn units, juvenile wards and for children diagnosed with serious illnesses. He also raised nearly one hundred thousand dollars for Haiti Earthquake victims
through his special performance “Magic For Haiti” in Times Square in 2010.
Below is a video of David Blaine in which he is hanged upside down.
