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Some think of sword swallowing as a magic trickery, however, it is genuinely authentic, a bona fide trade, and an extremely dangerous practice. Telescopic swords are available on the market, but true sword swallowers would not as much as consider such stunts of feigned deception. Dan Meyer — a master of the art, Guinness World Record holder and president of the Sword Swallowers Association International (SSAI) — oftentimes invites members of the audience to join him on stage to inspect the swords and even pull them from his mouth to prove their legitimacy.

Dan Meyer Sword Swallower

The real trick to sword swallowing doesn’t involve illusion, but a great deal of physical and psychological preparation. Learning to swallow a sword can take years — Dan Mayer spent 3 years to master the feat before attempting his first true sword swallowing achievement. He began his career about 20 years ago as a fire breather, but when the industry became flooded he switched paths to the ‘dying art’ of sword swallowing about 10 years ago, when there were no more than about a dozen live performing artists.

The act of swallowing a sword is to pass a sword through the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract — a series of connected, living organs of the throat, or pharynx, the esophagus and the stomach. The GI tract is relatively soft with several pronounced curves in its relaxed state. Some sword swallowers have incorporated curved or wavy swords in their performances, but most use completely straight blades.

Most swords used in sword swallowing don’t have sharp edges, but they’re still capable of puncturing, scraping or perforating the GI tract. When performers swallow multiple swords, the blades can slide past each other like scissors. When this happens, the inner surface of the GI tract can get caught between the moving swords, leading to serious lacerations, such as the case when renowned sword swallower Natasha Veruschka performed her Guinness World Record by swallowing 13 swords. The artist nearly died of her injuries of a severe hemorrhage when a bystander pushed dollar bills into her belt, triggering 3 blades in her throat to scissor.

Dan Meyer Fox Interview

The GI Tract
The GI tract is made of 2 types of muscle tissue — skeletal muscle and smooth muscle — and a lubricating layer known as the mucosa. One generally has conscious control of skeletal muscle such as when you talk, and move. The movement of smooth muscle is commonly involuntary such as movement of food during digestion. Breathing and eating require the use of both skeletal and smooth muscle tissue.

Your mouth, pharynx and the upper portion of your esophagus that connects your throat to your stomach are the parts of your GI tract that you have conscious control over, and the actions of the rest of your GI tract are involuntary.

Other organs that a sword typically pass are the windpipe, heart, aorta — the artery that carries blood from your heart toward the rest of your body, vena cava — the major veins that return your blood to your heart, and the diaphragm.

Sword swallowing requires deliberate relaxation of the upper GI tract.

The artist tips their head back to extend the neck and align the mouth with the esophagus and straighten the pharynx, then moves the tongue out of the way and relaxes the throat. Next they align the sword with the GI tract and move it through the mouth, pharynx and upper esophageal sphincter and into the esophagus. The saliva lubricates the sword — some even use a lubricant such as vegetable oil or jelly. On its way down, the sword straightens out the curves of the esophagus, passing numerous organs and nudges some out of the way such as the heart.

Depending upon the length of the sword, some will even enter the stomach. The distance from the teeth to the part of the stomach that connects to the esophagus is approximately 16 inches (40 centimeters). The SSAI defines a sword swallower as one who can swallow a 15 inch (38-centimeter) sword. The SSAI’s maximum recommended length for a swallowed sword is 24 inches (61 centimeters), which would put the tip of the sword well into the performer’s stomach.

In many people, the esophagus makes a curve at the entrance to the stomach, while the junction is a little straighter in others. This affects the length of a sword that the performer can swallow without injuring themselves.

Dan Meyer underwater in shark and stingray tank

Learning to Swallow Swords
In order to swallow a sword, an artist must learn to relax muscles that are generally not under voluntary control. They must make the performance look easy, moving a cold, rigid sword down the entire length of the throat and esophagus without letting their discomfort show.

The involuntary gag reflex must be mastered when the back of the throat is touched. Some are quite sensitive while for others, the gag reflex is minimal. The gag reflex is a retch intended to force foreign objects out of the throat and mouth and happens in an instant.

Ignoring the gag reflex can be a difficult process. Reflexes are involuntary, happening without deliberate effort or thought. Most don’t even require the use of your brain — the reactions take place in the spinal cord, bypassing the brain entirely.

Mastering the gag reflex requires a tremendous amount of practice for sword swallowing, which typically involves deliberately activating the gag reflex countless times. The process can cause vomiting and discomfort, in effect, dulling the reflex.

Dangers of Sword Swallowing
Sword swallowing involves deliberately conditioning your body to do something its defense mechanisms prohibit. Side-effects include throat pain, or sword throat, persistent lower chest pain, likely from injury to the esophagus or the diaphragm, internal bleeding, esophageal perforations which may require surgery, pleurisy (inflammation of the lungs), and pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac that covers and protects the heart. Some have even died from their injuries over history.

Dan Meyer was also awarded an lg Nobel prize in October this year for medicine alongside Brian Witcombe of Antioch, Tennessee, for studying the side effects of sword swallowing as the world’s first inclusive study of sword swallowing injuries, published in the British Medical Journal last year.

As with other dangerous performance arts, such as fire breathing, there’s no real way to make authentic sword swallowing notably safer. Sword swallowing is extremely dangerous! Do NOT try this at home.

Dan Meyer Swallows Sword Underwater with Sharks & Stingrays
Behind the scenes footage of Sword Swallower Dan Meyer as he became the
first person in America to swallow a sword while submerged 20′ underwater
in a tank of 80 sharks and stingrays.

Dan Meyer Swallows 5 Swords at Once – Lipscomb University
Sword Swallower Dan Meyer swallows 5 swords at once for 2000 youth at David Lipscomb University Impact in Nashville TN on June 19, 2007. There is a brief
pause in the clip which appears to end, but it carries on from there.

Dan Meyer Interview on Fox News
Interview with Sword Swallower Dan Meyer on Fox News Birmingham, AL.

Source: How Stuff Works

Related stories:
Sword Swallowing – Double Guinness World Record Holder
lg Nobel Awards

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