“Crazy Man’s Handcuffs” was invented by Arthur Setterington, who published it as “Getaway” in the May 1970 issue of Peter Warlock’s New Pentagram, Vol. 2 No. 3, p. 22. It was refined by Herb Zarrow and published as “The Uncanny Penetrating Rubberbands” in Tarbell Course in Magic Volume 7, 1972, p. 214, without credit. (For this information, see David Ben's Zarrow - A Lifetime of Magic, 2008, p. 279.)

In 1989, Michael Ammar published it in a manuscript using its now popular name, which was supplied by Daryl.