The last Saturday in February is World Sword Swallower's Day. Here are 10 things you might not know about the art of sword swallowing.
- Sword swallowing began in India as a religious practice among shaman priests around 2000 BC, to show that they were invulnerable and connected to the gods (Fire walking and Snake handling were also common practices of the time). It later spread to Greece, Rome, China and Japan and became a performance associated with street theatre in Europe.
- In 1893, sword swallowing was performed at the Chicago World Fair, but that same year was made illegal in Scandinavia.
- Calling the process sword swallowing is a misnomer – the performer is actually suppressing the reflex to swallow to allow a sword to be inserted through their mouth into their oesophagus.
- There is an association for sword swallowers called the Sword Swallowers Association International. It was this organisation which founded World Sword Swallower's day in 2008, in conjunction with National Swallowing Disorders Month. The event is co-sponsored by Ripley's Believe It Or Not.
- There aren't that many people in the world who swallow swords. Just a few dozen, compared to 750 people who have been into space and 12,000 or so professional bull riders.
- Which is probably why, despite it being so dangerous, only 29 deaths have been recorded as a result of sword swallowing injuries since 1880.
- Doctors in the 19th century made use of sword swallowers in order to study the oesophagus and stomach and the digestive process by getting a sword swallower to swallow a tube with a mirror, or filled with pieces of meat.
- More recently, in the early 2000s, doctors were looking at whether the techniques used by sword swallowers could help people with swallowing disorders or who had suffered trauma to the throat.
- There are a number of Guinness World Records associated with sword swallowing. The longest sword ever swallowed – 63cm/25 inches, by Yrj Lehvonen in 1964. The most swords swallowed at once is 52, by Red Stuart in 2008; the most swords swallowed at once and twisted inside the throat – 24, by Dan Meyer in 2015. The most swords swallowed underwater – 5, by Chris Steele. There is even a sword which holds a record – it's called "The Sword of Swords" and it holds the record for the most swallowed sword. 40 different people have swallowed it. There's an extensive list of sword swallowing records at swordswallow.com/records.php.
- There are also records for the number of swords swallowed while juggling (18), and while riding a unicycle (3). The above mentioned Chris Steele was not only the first to swallow a sword underwater in 2006, but he did it while submerged in a tank of live Sharks. Chayne Hultgren swallowed a sword and had it struck by artificial Lightning produced by a Tesla coil.
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