For street entertainers ...
an old Escaologist's trick.
Fun to demonstrate and practice at home ...
fun to experiment with ways to prevent escape
HOUDINI CONNECTIONS
BAGS AND SACKS
Index
The first time I saw an 'Escapologist' in a London street drumming up a crowd by having himself put into a tall canvas sack and being wrapped with chains - I was embarrasingly turned-on by the situation.
Since then I have experienced and experimented.
This page lists some of descriptions and pictures to be found on this site.
Perhaps the best introduction to the topic was a short text I wrote as part of a 'Tour of the Territories'; which identified different areas of restraint game-playing. Listed alongside catergories such as manacles, strait-jackets, cages and boxes
I wrote ...SOFT OPTIONS (Bodybags and “Soft Spaces”)
Bags and sacks promise the unexpected, and offer a special excitement for a certain kind of person. To willingly enter a warm dark soft space is the adult version of a child pulling the blankets over its head in bed. The back-to-the-womb instinct is active in many a subconscious mind.
When forced into such a situation, it can seem very threatening. But, like so many control and counter-control scenarios, the mind and body have ways of coming to terms with any predicament. The anticipation is often more scary than the reality. The trick is not to panic in such surrender of power games.Once inside a soft efficiently confining space, you have no further choices to make. Nothing to do but wait for whatever is going to happen. You can be comfortable if the pliable space is being sympathetically managed ... or you may be made deliberately uncomfortable; frustratingly, infuriatingly powerless; progressively more desperate, angry or, alternatively, resigned to accept what you perhaps couldn’t have accepted an hour ago. A softening up process. Nothing to do but wait and deal with it.
The Controller of your situation can also afford to wait: be patient, give the sack time to work a special kind of magic. The mind can generate some unpredictable trips when the body is 'bagged'. Imaginatively handled, soft spaces offer limitless opportunities for sensual stimulation. With laces and straps to loosen and tighten he/she can play you like a sensitive musical instrument. For long term sessions with changing levels of tensions; comfort or numbing tightness, different kinds of bags and sacks can be adapted to become the fulfilment of a lot of fantasies. Ask anybody who’s spent some time in one of my specially made Sleepsacks or Male-sacks. But even a pair of ex-army kit bags, with one forced over from head to waist and the other from feet to waist and then cinched together in the middle can be a powerful mind-trip.With cooperation or against determined resistance,
'bagging' has a dynamism of it's own.
Khaki canvas
Male-sack deliberately reduced in size.
(Below) Two standard army kit-bags for total encasement.
For identification purposes,
below four main subdivisions are described:
SIMPLE SACK = any bag made from any fabric; an item originally intended for any ordinary everyday purpose can be moody.
SLEEPING BAG = normal body-size bag made for leisure activites. "SLEEPSACK" = form-fitting body-shaped fabric covering, specially made for fetish game-playing (picture right).
"MALE-SACK" = specially reinforced bag similar to a conventional mail sack but with breathing holes added, and reinforced to take full bodyweight when suspended (left).
DESCRIPTIONS OF DIFFERENT BAGS / SACKS IN USE
Several stories on this site contain scenarios in which a bag of some sort is used.
As these are often buried in the action, follow links for specific 'bagging' sequences
TOP RIDGE FARM: a regular mail-sack used used on a Stag Night.
HI MIKE: a would-be Escape Artist strait-jacketed and then put into a very confining bag.
INITIATIVE TEST: a waterproof army sleeping bag used to imprison.
HOUDINI CONNECTIONS: a very unusual specially designed head-to-foot bag made to totally immobilise.
WELL WAXED AND WATERPROOF: an Emergency Services PVC 'bodybag' used to transport somebody.
INFORMATION SHEET
From the series of fact sheets first published in the mid-Seventies.
The original text is to be found elsewhere on this site. Below is a recently revised version
1. Basic SACK
Any bag can be used to disconcert a human being.
Whether big enough and strong enough to contain the whole person or only to cover from head to waist, the power of this can be dramatic. If the intention is to confine and disorient, even a simple bag over the head can be enough, particularly if it threatens to restrict breathing (see photos right).
If large enough to accomodate a whole human body with legs fully extended, even with the head inside the sack most people can learn to deal with the situation at least for a short period if enough air is available. But, the psychological effect, being accumulative, needs to be explored carefully.
Several factors need to be taken into considerations.
-s.JPG)
A sack which does not allow room for full extension of the limbs is very much more potent. Even a slight reduction of mobility, without any other restrictions, can very quickly have a telling effect on both mind and body. Limbs soon react painfully and the mind acknowledges not only the discomfort but the vulnerability much sooner. Adjusting to the limited (though perfectly adequate) supply of air demands quite strenuous mental exercise. If the internal size of the bag is gradually reduced, the situation can soon become intensely oppressive.
Not knowing what is going on outside or hearing sounds which may or may not be interpreted correctly is, in itself, powerfully effective.
The head outside a sack which is closed around the neck can perhaps intensify the feeling of vulnerability.
The neck cord need not be tight if wrists are secured inside the bag.Suspension: If the sack is hung, putting body weight onto the 'walls' of the confined area, the physical experience is altered
completely, and can quickly become barely tolerable.
N.B. The strength and durability of any sack used for suspension mus t be equal to the task.2. A BODYBAG
Similar in proportion to a conventional sleeping bag, this can also render the person inside totally helpless without any additional restraint being applied. Many games have evolved from normal camping expeditions. Aby tough Government Surplus oblong bag can be a very useful piece of equipment in it's natural state. Or, with modification can become more seriously restrictive. 'D' rings added to serve as anchor points (or to prevent external straps from being worked free) can make an ordinary bag very versatile.Whether the head is inside or out, such a bag can keep somebody quite comfortable but totally confined for quite long periods. If the head is aside, a 'snorkel breathing pipe might be used to ensure an adequate supply of air (but constant monitoring is advisable). Bags made from waterproof or padded fabric can intensify the experience in terms of generated heat. Heavy clothes or additional restraints worn before the 'victim' is put into the bag can extend the parameters of the situation infinitely.
Being stood up or suspended within such a bag can completely change the tensions, but care must be taken. The possible danger of lifting or moving around the dead-weight of somebody who is totally helpless perhaps needs a separate 'worksheet'.
3. SLEEPSACK
This is a term I coined when designing the original configuration which has now become recognised world-wide. A form fitting type of full-length body-shaped bag with or without an attached head-cover. The main design feature is internal arm-sleeves which separate arms from the body and render the wearer helpless inside the bag.
Usually soft and malleable, a bag of this configuration can be made from canvas, leather or latex (if sufficiently strong).Once inside, the body covering and attached 'D' rings can be used to subject a body to varying intensities of confinement through the use of added lacing or straps. Construction details depend entirely on the likes and dislikes of the users. As such 'Sleepsacks' are usually made to order, variations such access points, anchoring points, strap or lace tightening possibilities are all optional.
E-MAIL Jim Stewart
to discuss any aspect of this topic
To check out items currently for sale on E-bay
fetterssurvivor
Return to
HOME PAGE