I attended the Ohio Renaissance Festival recently. One of the acts was Thom Selectomy, a sword swallower. He invited persons from the audience to inspect his props, the swords. From all appearances the weapons seemed to be authentic. He then proceeded to “swallow” rapiers of varying lengths. Once he ingested two at a time, extracting them separately. At another point (no pun), he allowed the weight of the hilt (no hands) to force the blade down. Thom also inflated and swallowed one of those long, skinny balloons. (He did not pull the balloon out.) Please, tell me he used deception–it simply cannot be possible to master control of the esophagus to permit the intake of such objects. (I gag thinking about it.) –Gloria Hodgson, Pardeeville, Wisconsin
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If people can swallow Ross Perot for president without gagging, I don’t see what’s so amazing about a sword. Fact is, professional sword swallowers are totally (well, mostly) legit. Testimony on this score comes from Dan Mannix, a onetime carnival sword and flame swallower who published a book about his experiences in 1951.
Cecil strongly advises against trying this at home but feels a few pointers are in order just in case. As you might guess, the sides of the sword must be dull so they won’t slice up your throat on the way down. But the point can be sharp, the better to impress the rubes, provided the sword isn’t long enough to puncture the bottom of your stomach. (If it does anyway, you’re in trouble; you could get peritonitis.) The sword should be wiped before and after swallowing: before to wipe off any dust, which might cause you to retch; after to remove stomach acid that could corrode the metal.
