A couple of gamers, Miriam Castella and Carlos Granedo, participate in an extreme escape room named Catalepsia, which takes place inside two coffins simulating their funeral and trying to escape from them by working in pairs to solve puzzles and tricks, in Barcelona, Spain, Jan 18, 2024. (PHOTO / REUTERS)
BARCELONA - The fear of being buried alive and trapped in a coffin haunted writer Edgar Allan Poe's characters and has now inspired what is billed as the world's smallest escape room - a mortuary-themed experience not suitable for claustrophobes.
The live-action puzzle game developed by Spanish company Horror Box in Barcelona is called "Catalepsy", a reference to a medical condition easily mistakable for death.
A couple of gamers, Miriam Castella and Carlos Granedo, participate in an extreme escape room named Catalepsia, which takes place inside two coffins simulating their funeral and trying to escape from them by working in pairs to solve puzzles and tricks, in Barcelona, Spain, Jan 18, 2024. (PHOTO / REUTERS)
While booking their tickets, players can customize several aspects, including the type of casket or whether they want to be "cremated" in a blaze of virtual flames and artificial smoke
Participants have 30 minutes to free themselves from inside a coffin by solving puzzles through teamwork with their partner in a neighboring casket, communicating via loudspeakers.
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They are monitored over CCTV cameras by gamemaster Aurora Alvarino, who defined escape rooms as "a gym for the mind".
She said the attraction aimed to recreate "a situation that sooner or later we'll all experience: your own funeral".
Gamer Carlos Granedo is locked in a coffin while participating in an extreme escape room named Catalepsia, which takes place inside a coffin simulating his funeral and trying to escape from it by working to solve puzzles and tricks, in Barcelona, Spain, Jan 18, 2024. (PHOTO / REUTERS)
Miriam Castella, a 22-year-old actress selected by the company to demonstrate the game, acknowledged she felt "a little bit scared" after the coffin's lid closed.
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Her partner in the demonstration, 39-year-old dancer Carlos Granedo, said he had taken part in about 15 escape rooms before but described this experience as unique.
While booking their tickets, players can customize several aspects, including the type of casket or whether they want to be "cremated" in a blaze of virtual flames and artificial smoke.
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"Catalepsy" draws inspiration from the fear of being buried alive - or taphophobia - that was widespread during the 19th century, as reflected in Poe's short story The Premature Burial, which was adapted into film in 1962.
