Magicians make it look easy, so you decide to try it. But this is not a card trick you can learn in minutes. So keep watching if you want to make it out alive.
Sword swallowing is a trick that magicians have performed since the days of ancient Greece and Rome. As its name says, it consists of swallowing a sword without causing any damage. And in this act, everything is real. The blades don’t collapse, and you won’t use any illusions. You’ll swallow a real sword.
According to the Sword Swallowers Association International (SSAI), a person who swallows a 40 cm (15 in) sword is a sword swallower. But the maximum length recommended by this association is 83 cm (33 in). A sword that long would reach into the performer’s stomach. Could the blade rip your insides? How could your toothbrush help you?
How could you get the sword to go down smoothly?
Step 1. Get your toothbrush
If you try to swallow a sword, the first problem that will kick in is your gag reflex. It happens when a foreign object comes in contact with the roof of your mouth, your throat or the back of the tongue. Your throat will contract as a defense mechanism that keeps you from choking. This will cause your muscles to resist swallowing, resulting in nausea and abdominal muscle spasms.
You can desensitize your gag reflex by using your toothbrush. Touch the area that makes you gag and brush it for 15 seconds. Repeat this every day until your soft palate gets comfortable with being in touch with the toothbrush.
Step 2. Use a tube
If you swallow a sword, it will follow the same path that food does. But while your muscles contract to swallow the food, sword swallowing requires the opposite. You’ll need your gastrointestinal muscles to relax and expand so the sword can go through. This is the most challenging part since you have no control over those muscles. But you’ll need to learn how to relax them if you want to keep your gastrointestinal tract from squeezing against the blade. Professionals practice this relaxation for months or years, and they often use guiding tubes to train their muscles.
Step 3. Align your body
On its way down, the sword should slide through your upper gastrointestinal tract, including the mouth, stomach, esophagus and a portion of the small intestine. This tract has many curves, and since the sword is rigid, it straightens the curves out. To do this safely, you must align the blade with your upper esophageal sphincter, the ring of muscle that can contract or relax when needed to move food.
A 59-year-old male sword swallower poked a hole in his esophagus during a performance. He went through surgery, but his condition got worse with an ongoing leak by the injury. Luckily, doctors were able to save him, and he recovered. He even went back to working at the circus. But he gave up the sword swallowing act.
Step 4. Respect performers
A female sword swallower was severely injured while performing. She had swallowed multiple swords, when a man from the adience pushed cash into her belt. This wasn’t just deeply disrespectful. But it caused a great deal of damage as the swords scissored inside her. Fortunately, she survived the ordeal.
Step 5. Lubricate the sword
As the blade makes its way down, your saliva lubricates it. But it might be wise to use some additional lubricants to help it move down smoothly. Vegetable oil or jelly can be helpful to use before practice sessions or performances.
You followed the steps and survived swallowing a sword. Since you like playing with blades, how about being transported to the year 80 CE and fighting in the Roman Coliseum? Could you make it as a Roman gladiator?
Sources
- “Upper Gastrointestinal Tract“. Treuting, Piper M., Mark J. Arends, and Suzanne M. Dintzis. 2018.Comparative Anatomy And Histology
- “How Sword Swallowing Works“.HowStuffWorks, Entertainment, Arts, and Arts. 2007. Howstuffworks.
- “How To Swallow A Sword“. 2022. Gizmodo.
- “Most Swords Swallowed Simultaneously By A Female“. 2022. Guinness World Records.
- “Most Swords Swallowed Simultaneously By Sword Swallowers“. 2022. Guinness World Records.
