General Notice to Readers of The Max Cita Escape/Challenge

The Max Cita Escape Challenge was a stage performance of high risk. Understand that a year of preparation, safety exercises, skill and rehearsal was required to make this no-trick, no gimmick escape possible. Ultimately for those who do want to attempt escape/challenges based on Max Cita escapes you are advised to know your limitations of knowledge, skill and the risks you are prepared to take. Max Cita, Dr. Mad Max, and Caught-In-The-Act cannot be held responsible for injuries or damage sustained as a result of anyone attempting the Max Cita Escape Challenge. Max creates this performance with associates he has known for many years, and through that association has established limits on abilities, safety and risk that can only be achieved through a great deal of personal trust and experience with his associates.

The following information is provided not as a challenge to you, but simply an entertaining glimpse at one of Max Cita's past stage performances.

The Max Cita Escape Challenge

Dr. Mad Max stands amidst the audience on a modest size stage area. He is wearing a latex thong only.

His assistant hands him two neoprene socks to put on his feet. Each is inspected by several in the audience first. They are put on.

A male audience member is asked to inspect Dr. Mad Max for hidden keys or any escape tools. The jock offers the only hiding place. They go behind a translucent screen. The audience laughs at the embarrassed inspector's shadow checking under the thong and the butt. They return.

The ankles are locked with a standard issue leg iron and double locked.

A pair of black wrist length thin rubber gloves are put on each of Max's hands. Peerless double rigid hinge cuffs are used. Hands in front, each wrist is double locked in place. Keyholes are placed facing the hands.

A long heavy 1-1/4" link welded steel chain is padlocked to the leg iron.

Dr. Mad Max is asked to kneel down. The chain from the leg iron is pulled tight and attached by a padlock to the Peerless hinged wrist cuff. (The hinged cuff has small spaces between each of the hinges, it is the only way to get the hasp of the padlock to fit through the cuff.) Max sits on the back of his calves. The chain is locked tightly between leg iron and wrists. Wrists are kept at waist level.

The remaining chain is draped over Max's shoulder.

A Posey Transport Jacket is placed on Max. Earlier the audience was shown the transport jacket. Some tried it on and tried to escape. They could not. It does up at the back with both velcro and roller buckle straps. Each velcro strap is done up tightly. The remaining chain is pulled out from under the Transport Jacket. The four buckle straps are pulled tight and done up.

Max kneels upright. The crotch strap is pushed between the legs and pulled tight, cinched at the back the same way a conventional sj is made.

Max is asked if everything is okay. They continue.

A leather hood is put on. It can be one of two styles depending on room temperature. For cool rooms the leather hood with nose-holes only is used. If too warm then the hood with mouth and nose holes is used. It laces at the back. Max cannot see. The hood has a small 1" buckle collar that locks. The audience inspects the hood inside and out. It is done up. Almost always the mouth hole and nose hole hood is used. It gets very hot under the stage lights. Plus the escape is extremely hot by itself.

(Nose only hood is shown in this escape attempt)

A second collar is attached. 2" wide and a half inch thick leather, it has 4 d-rings and can be locked. The bigger thick collar pushes the chin up and covers over the bottom of the hood. The chain is pulled tight. The hands remain at the waist. The chain is pulled up at the neck and over the shoulder. Another padlock locks the chain to a d-ring on the collar and at the same time locks the heavy collar buckle in place.

There is a padlocked chain at the leg irons , at the wrists, and at the locked collar at the neck. The hood is padlocked too. There is no slack in the chain.

Now a Posey locking webbing belt is shown to the audience. It is a hospital restraint belt that has a buckle that when closed locks the belt and cannot be released without a very large key. The belt is passed through the side loops and a loop at the back, on the Posey Transport Jacket. These loops are in the same position as found on a Caught-In-The-Act Psycho or Posey straitjacket. The hands and arms are positioned above the belt. The belt is pulled tight as possible and locked. The arms and cuffed wrists cannot move underneath the belt. It is an effective arm binder as any straitjacket would be to keep hands and arms above the waist inside the heavy transport jacket. (Normally handcuffs are not used in hospital situations, so this escape is made extremely difficult with the hinged cuffs holding the arms rigid in front above the locking belt. Note that with hinged handcuffs the wrists and arms cannot be turned. The hands are kept forward pressed into the straitjacket.)

Dr. Mad Max is moved onto his back with the help of the audience and assistants.

A green army duffel bag is brought out and shown to the audience. They are given several minutes to look it over inside and out. It is made of #6 cotton duck, the opening has four large brass heavy duty grommets. As standard issue in the US army, a heavy tee bar is built into one of the grommets. It allows each of the other grommets to fit through, thus closing over the opening. The opening can be kept closed by snapping in place, a snap-closure attached to a webbing sewn into the side of the bag. The bag also has a strong webbing handle on the bottom of the bag, and one on the side. And that's not all, but back to the challenge.

Once the bag has been inspected, the assistants and audience helpers put Max in the bag feet first. With the bag pulled over Max's butt he is lifted to a kneeling position.

Max is given a moment to relax after the moving around. Breathing is limited. Any strenuous movement requires more air than the hood can provide. Max must remain calm at all times. Panic is a major risk. Breathing rate normalized they continue the procedure.

The remaining bag is pulled up over Max's head. There is not enough room to get the head fully into the bag. The assistants pull the excess bag from the feet upwards. It is a tight fit. There is just enough room now, to get the head in.

An inner flap is part of the army bag. It is a square of heavy # 6 cotton with one side sewn into the inside of the bag about three inches from the opening of the bag itself. It serves the purpose of covering over the opening of the bag so that the normal contents cannot fall out after it is closed.

Dr. Mad Max modified the flap for the escape. Small grommets were added along the edges of the flap. Every three inches there is a 1/4" metal grommet hole on the three loose sides of the flap. Just below the large grommets on the outer bag are added a row of grommets to line up with the grommets on the interior flap. The alignment is such that the flap can be laced up with thin nylon rope. The flap, when laced into the grommets on the outer bag, prevents Max from an easy escape attempt through the the opening of the bag. Additionally the laced inner flap will prevent Max from reaching the outer bag edges where the big closing grommets will also lock him in. That is, only if, he can escape the hand cuffs, leg irons, chain and double locked transport jacket.

The challenge is not quite 50% complete.

The remaining chain is pulled out of the bag. The audience can clearly see every step. They stand a few feet away, and can check up on any of the steps in the escape. The inner flap is laced up. This takes time as the nylon rope has to be interwoven between the 40 grommets in the flap and the outer bag. When fully laced, the flap covers over all of Dr. Mad Max. The 1" slit between grommets in the flap and bag are the only sliver of access to the outside of the bag at the top. The ends of the laced rope are tied in several knots and placed on top of the flap

.

The remaining chain is pulled as tight as possible and threaded through each of the 4 large bag grommets. Carefully, the opening of the bag is closed over and pulled tight so that the grommets are tight together. Another padlock locks the chain together. There should be only three inches of chain between the padlocked collar at one end and the last padlock that closes and locks the opening of the bag.

A 25 foot length of 3/8" nylon rope is now used by the Assistant. The centre of the rope is found. Starting with the centre, the rope is wrapped in opposite directions around the bag where Dr. Mad Max's neck should be. The Assistant will carefully pull the rope tighter making several wraps of rope around Max's neck. The bag is so tight the audience can now see the impression of the leather collar above the wrapped rope. This process is the riskiest and most difficult of the escape process.

The green army bag has been fitted with several small and a few large grommets. (Another small modification to a standard army bag.) These grommets are in the area now between the neck rope and the top of the bag. These holes are the only airways for Max to be able to breath; however, with the folds of material, the hood, all of which will block some of the grommet holes. Even the rope can cover over the holes if not placed correctly.

Signals are provided so that the Assistant will know if Max can breath. The neck rope will be tied in several knots with only a few inches of rope ends remaining.

It is nearly finished.

Now the audience is handed 100 feet of rope. They are asked to wrap the rope and tie it in any way they choose around the outside of the bag to make it impossible for Max to move inside. Most often the audience will wrap the rope through the rope handles pulling the bag as tight as possible around the bent legs, chest , arms and across the back. Efforts are usually focused on taking the remaining slack out of the bag. It offers great appeal to see the silhouette of the immobilized Max inside. He is now mummified in layers.

1. Handcuffed and leg irons chained together with a locked collar and hood.

2. A transport jacket with velcro closure and buckle crotch strap and back straps is locked with a belt around the waist. The arms and hands cannot move at all. Max is bent over in the fetal position.

3. A green cotton air tight tarpaulin like bag encloses Dr. Mad Max. The opening is roped, chained and padlocked.

4. Finishing off - Dr. Mad Max's head is tightly fitted between the closed and locked opening of the bag and 25 feet of rope tightly wrapped around his neck. He can only get air through a couple of tiny grommets put into the bag that are above the neck rope. 100 feet of rope capture the outside of the bag and prevent any movement, total restraint of Max.

One last check to make sure Max is okay. The timer is set. Max is now clocked to see how long it will take for him to escape. The audience is only a few feet away. There is no drape to cover Max. In full view on stage. No way to hide a key. No way to use a gimmicked bag with seams that could pop open. 4 different padlocks are used. A hospital restraint belt needs a special key to unlock. The handcuffs are extra strong double hinge rigid Peerless handcuffs. The leg irons are standard issue but could have been antique leg irons or chain. The effect remains. Only keys can unlock any of the locking devices. None are gimmicked or faked. The Assistant stays close enough that he can hear if Max will need help or panics.

How does he escape?

He does.

On average it takes 35 minutes for the doing-up as above. It takes Max 14 minutes to escape. The fastest was 11. The slowest on stage was 16 minutes. It took two years of practice to achieve the skill level.

Please read carefully this Procedure, there is no trick, no illusion. Could it be done while wearing head to toes rubber? Yes. But then the audience would expect the latex hides keys or means to escape.

Here are six photos taken at a performance in Bar Lizard in Montreal, Quebec.

In the bag please

You put on weight?

(Variation with rope closing off the opening)

This escape was made much more difficult. Max is gagged with a blowup gag and then a balaclava is pulled over the leather hood to keep the gag in place.

Having read this you are now challenged to tell Dr. Mad Max how you think he escaped?