How he did it is less important than why he did it.
Joey Nuzum, an escape master who claims paranormal powers, proved a rival wrong Thursday evening when he freed himself from a seemingly inescapable set of restraints.
By doing so, he won a $1,000 bet with magician Chuck Caputo -- then donated the money to the Salvation Army.
"I want to do more than just get my name out there," said Nuzum, who lives in the city of Washington. "If I'm going to do a performance, I want to help a charity."
Caputo of Wilmerding placed handcuffs on Nuzum's wrists, covered the cuffs with a reinforced steel box used by police to subdue the most dangerous criminals during transport, padlocked the box and soldered the lock shut.
Caputo said it would be impossible to break free. He was wrong.
After struggling with the devices for 15 minutes, Nuzum got loose by tapping "energy that defies science and physics, and things that some people don't believe in."
He also delighted an invitation-only crowd of 30 at the Citizens Library in Washington with other tricks, including bending a fork with his mind and making keys in volunteers' pockets bend without touching them.
Nuzum insists his feats are paranormal, but he knows there are skeptics.
Stephen E. Braude, a philosophy professor at the University of Maryland, said he researched Nuzum for his recently published book, "The Gold Leaf Lady and Other Parapsychological Investigations," and said Nuzum constantly subverted controls, refused inspection of his props and eventually stopped cooperating.
Braude said he believes in paranormal powers, which is why he wrote the book -- "for the purpose of obtaining squeaky-clean evidence supporting (such acts). I defend the existence of psychokinesis, just not necessarily Joey's."
Caputo is now a believer. "There is no explanation for that," he said. "He is an unexplained phenomenon."
Fake or not, the show benefited real people. Salvation Army Capt. Dan Hazeldine said the money Nuzum donated will provide clothes and food for people who desperately need help.
"It was a pleasant surprise that he wanted to donate the proceeds to us," Hazeldine said. "It's always nice, especially at this time of year."
