Rapunzel doesn’t have anything on this damsel in distress.
A British scholar who spent seven hours trapped inside a medieval tower freed herself Thursday using just an eyeliner pen and a cotton ball.
University of Cambridge academic Dr Krisztina Ilko recounted in a viral tweet how she feared she would be trapped for days inside the bathroom of her historic flat inside the former Queens’ College rooms of the 16th Century philosopher, Erasmus.
The plumber, who had been working on her shower, had forgotten to mention he had broken the bathroom door lock.
There were no windows in the room and the walls were too thick for anyone to notice Ilko’s screams — and her room was not due to be cleaned for another four days.
“I was trying to remember how long a person can survive on just water and hoping that I wouldn’t die there,” Ilko told BBC News.
“If people came looking for me would they check the bathroom, or would I have to wait for Monday.
“I tried to bang the shower head on the door, break it with brute force, and shout for help but nothing worked and no-one could hear me.”
Ilko made several attempts at pushing down the door — a fruitless effort that only left her with bruising on her shoulder.
That’s when she remembered she had more brains than brawn, and called on her childhood hero and fictional problem-solver MacGyver for inspiration.
The scholar used her eyeliner pen to push down the door latch and made a hook out of the cotton earbud.
The ingenious invention eventually did the trick and Ilko tasted freedom after seven hours.
“When I eventually got out and the door opened it was exhilarating because I didn’t think it would work,” said told BBC.
“I expected to be there for five days or longer, but I made it out.”
The terrifying ordeal did not leave her without trepidation.
“Sometimes when I hear sounds around here I joke that it it is the ghost of Erasmus, then I thought I was going to join him and become a Cambridge legend,” Ilko said.
The lock has since been taken off the bathroom door.
