FRESNO, Calif. (KGPE) – What was billed as a death-defying escape, a Halloween night spectacle, saw popular magician "Amazing Joe" buried alive inside a homemade casket.

"Amazing Joe" was wrapped in chains and placed in a casket at Blackbeard’s in Fresno on the night of Halloween 1990. He had dirt and cement poured on top and he was supposed to find a way out. But the 32-year-old magician never emerged, dying in front of his family and hundreds of strangers who gathered to watch was supposed to be a death-defying escape.

Now, as the 35th anniversary approaches, his son, Joe Burrus, is hoping his father’s final act will be remembered forever.

"He would come to school and do magic tricks and magic shows at schools and stuff like that. So, a lot of kids were like, 'Oh, man, your dad's cool

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