This month (Nov 2025) Ring 49 hosted a lecture by Chris Campbell on his FenyxFyre Escapology Thrill Show. This might be a little off the beaten path for many in our guild, but not far off.
Magic has a much older history in the so-called ‘old world’ but in North America some of our earliest performers* were people like the Davenport brothers who would be tied up and closed into a cabinet. Supposedly spirits would then cause thing to happen that a tied man couldn’t do (spoiler alert: an escapologist could). At the turn of the century (1900) many spiritualists and mediums would have themselves tied to their chair before the lights were out – well, I think you see where this might be going.
The most famous magician of this era, Harry Houdini, was just as famous for escapism as for magic, and he spent his later career exposing fake mediums. To be fair, he never exposed any real mediums, but maybe because he never found one.
All that to say, Chris fits right into our community and he gave us an incredible and valuable look into a less common side of our art. I’m hesitant to delve too far into Chris’s personal life as he was quite open, but many years ago he met an old carney, and that chance encounter set him on lifelong path into the wild world of escapism.
His material largely distilled down to his audience (us) trying to restrain him, and he shaking off the shackles like water from a duck’s back. He escaped from ropes, zip ties, straight jackets and even handcuffs. In fact, he once posted a video with just a little too much information about handcuffs and was then contacted by our Provincial Police. Long story short the video was taken down but he now consults with them now helping new recruits learn more about their equipment.
He opened standard police handcuffs in seconds using a five-dollar bill – honestly! This guy was amazing.
He went over the basics of lock picking, taught a member to escape from a standard straight jacket (successfully first try), and exhibited many of the ‘prop’ (i.e. gimmicked) equipment available on the market (but he usually uses ‘the real things’). Chris also develops and markets a lot of his own equipment.
The uniqueness of his material, his thorough knowledge of escapology, and his open and approachable demeanor made this a presentation that will stay with us indefinitely.
Rene Chouinard
*Note: this writer does recognize that there where well-developed peoples and cultures in North America prior to European settlers and they may have included magical effects, but unfortunately this has not been well-documented.