Blue Heron International Pictures LLC

       Film-maker Escapes From Chains

Award-winning film-maker Gary Lester returned home to Daytona Beach recently, after a thrilling appearance at the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum in St. Augustine, Florida. 

“I was wrapped straight-jacket style in chains fastened by four hefty padlocks,” said Lester. “Then they placed me in a giant burlap bag and told me I had three minutes to escape before the air ran out.” 

 Celebrity Al Gliniecki, (Guiness Book of World Records), fastened the first padlock, while wide-eyed kids and Scott Marlowe from Pangea Institute looked on in amazement. (Gliniecki holds four world records for tying cherry stems with his tongue. Here he ties Gary in chains). 

Lester was part of a 24 hour internet talk show marathon on April 18 hosted by Jeremiah Greer. Greer’s Shadows in the Dark program normally originates from North Carolina , but the special 24 hour program was hosted in part by Ripley’s in St Augustine this year.

Lester is known for his documentary films, including Deliver Us From Evil, which won a Crystal Reel Award for Best Director from the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association last year. So how did he end up performing for an audience of paranormal fans?

“Charlie Carlson did it!” laughed Lester. “He’s to blame for me going down the wild and wacky road.” 

Carlson, the nationally known author of the best selling book Weird Florida, has appeared in two of Lester’s films dealing with the paranormal. “Charlie was also my producer in Henry Blackhart is Dead,” said Lester. “That’s where I really learned a lot from his fabulous sense of humor.”

Smiles and laughter greeted Lester as he finally made his way out of his baggy prison – leaving his chains behind in the burlap sack -- still securely padlocked.

                        Houdini would have been proud.

Veteran FX make-up artist Barry Anderson, whose zombies  appeared in George Romero's classic film Day of the Dead, shows no fear and ignores all warnings, as he touches the famous haunted brick.

In the foreground is a prop can of lethal cat food from Ted V. Mikels' 1969 horror classic, The Corpse Grinders, part of the Blue Heron display at Ripley's.

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