1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,840
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

2
00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:07,560
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know?

3
00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:16,720
Speaker 1: From house Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to

4
00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:20,360
Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant,

5
00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,840
Speaker 1: which makes this stuff you should know? Like you didn't know,

6
00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:26,119
Speaker 1: and if this is your first time, if you really

7
00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:30,000
Speaker 1: didn't know, Welcome to the dark Side. Your life has

8
00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:35,280
Speaker 1: just fever changed. You are officially addicted. That's right. Um, yeah,

9
00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:38,640
Speaker 1: that's that's what I got. I'll take shoulders for five

10
00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:44,400
Speaker 1: hundred back. Okay, yeah, yeah, and that way you said

11
00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:47,920
Speaker 1: when I suggested this one, I typed it. Yeah, and

12
00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:49,919
Speaker 1: I think you thought it was funnier when I typed it.

13
00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,600
Speaker 1: I heard it, Okay, I heard I heard it in

14
00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:58,440
Speaker 1: my head founded, much like that. Darrell Hammond, Sean Connery, Yeah, um, Chuck, Yes,

15
00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:03,320
Speaker 1: have you ever seen in the movie Days Being Confused? Uh? Yeah,

16
00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:05,679
Speaker 1: In fact, I remember the first time I saw that movie.

17
00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,440
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, let's here in Athens at the Georgia Theater.

18
00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:12,760
Speaker 1: That was a great place to see that movie. That

19
00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:16,200
Speaker 1: was wonderful. Remember when whenever they showed I think his

20
00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:22,880
Speaker 1: name was Washington. That no, which character the black guy.

21
00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,440
Speaker 1: I think you're thinking of the sweat Hogs. That was Washington, right,

22
00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,680
Speaker 1: But I think his name was Washington Took. I think

23
00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:31,959
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, but yes, clearly I could just be

24
00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:34,160
Speaker 1: thinking of that guy because they both have frozen. They

25
00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:38,120
Speaker 1: were set in the seventies. But um, he has that paddle,

26
00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,920
Speaker 1: it says soul poll on it. Do you remember like

27
00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:43,600
Speaker 1: the whole theater just erupting the first time that showed

28
00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:46,880
Speaker 1: that that was awesome. I remember I thought Matthew McConaughey

29
00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:50,280
Speaker 1: was not an actor. Oh, like, he was really Waterson.

30
00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:52,000
Speaker 1: I thought he was a real dude. They just dug

31
00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,559
Speaker 1: up in Texas. Oh yeah, because that was like the

32
00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:56,600
Speaker 1: beginning of his career, the first thing I ever saw

33
00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:00,760
Speaker 1: him and Ben Affleck and that's It's a great movie.

34
00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:04,040
Speaker 1: Parker Posey. Yeah, well that brings me to my point.

35
00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:06,559
Speaker 1: Parker Posey, you remember the part during the Beer Bust

36
00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:11,040
Speaker 1: where Parker Posey's funneling beer through a beer bong and

37
00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:13,080
Speaker 1: like she's got it for like a half a second,

38
00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:15,840
Speaker 1: maybe a second and a half, and then but it

39
00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,160
Speaker 1: just like pours out her mouth and all over her face.

40
00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,520
Speaker 1: At that moment. The first thing I thought of is

41
00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:25,880
Speaker 1: I'm sure everybody thought as well when they saw that

42
00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:31,720
Speaker 1: very suggestive part was Parker Posey would be terrible at

43
00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:36,120
Speaker 1: sword swallowing. That's what I thought, because it takes a

44
00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:41,760
Speaker 1: certain amount of relaxation to swallow a sword, and after research,

45
00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,880
Speaker 1: I found that a sword swallow will make an excellent

46
00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:48,360
Speaker 1: beer funneler. I haven't funnel the beer in a long

47
00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:50,560
Speaker 1: Time's been a while for me. It's probably good when

48
00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,320
Speaker 1: you're forty to be able to say that I lost

49
00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,040
Speaker 1: access to beer funnels, and I think that's kind of

50
00:02:57,040 --> 00:02:59,399
Speaker 1: what happens. Like you just don't go to places where

51
00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,080
Speaker 1: there's a beer final not anymore. But you can always

52
00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:03,840
Speaker 1: shock in a beer as long as you have a

53
00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:06,000
Speaker 1: pen and a beer can. I never got into any

54
00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:08,760
Speaker 1: of that, to be honest, kig stands all that silliness.

55
00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:11,200
Speaker 1: I was just like, just have a drink it. I

56
00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:14,360
Speaker 1: don't prefer being upside down. I've never done a kigstand

57
00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:19,440
Speaker 1: really never. It's really um. You're like, you know what

58
00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:21,520
Speaker 1: it feels like to be torn apart by a gang

59
00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:23,720
Speaker 1: of angry toughs because there's like a couple of guys

60
00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:28,840
Speaker 1: like you're Yeah, you're it's really kind of scary. You're

61
00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:30,959
Speaker 1: on the edge there. We don't recommend any of those

62
00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:33,120
Speaker 1: things now. And while we're at it, this is the

63
00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:37,640
Speaker 1: ultimate c o A. Please anyone out there, never ever,

64
00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:42,600
Speaker 1: ever try to swallow a sword or anything except food,

65
00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:46,200
Speaker 1: obviously in beverage, right, but no food larger than the

66
00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,720
Speaker 1: end of a football. Yeah, do not do not do

67
00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:52,680
Speaker 1: not try this at home ever ever ever. Okay, Yeah,

68
00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:55,680
Speaker 1: Josh and Chuck officially think you're stupid if you try

69
00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,280
Speaker 1: to swallow anything after listening to this, or if you

70
00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:04,680
Speaker 1: participate in backyard wrestling. Yes, equally dangerous. All right, so Chuck, um,

71
00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:07,640
Speaker 1: let's talk about swords swallowing. I'm excited about this one.

72
00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:10,680
Speaker 1: Kind of cool. Yeah. Um, this is part of our

73
00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:15,600
Speaker 1: ongoing circus arts collection. Have we already done one human cannonball? Okay,

74
00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:17,040
Speaker 1: we've gotta get tight rope in there and then we're

75
00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:20,200
Speaker 1: all set. Well, we need to do like freaks too.

76
00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,480
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, just sideshow freaks, or maybe even like a

77
00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:28,960
Speaker 1: history of the sideshow. That would be pretty awesome, I agreed. Alright, So, um,

78
00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:31,560
Speaker 1: what other kind of freaks would I've just been talking about?

79
00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:34,960
Speaker 1: I don't know, um, you know the kind of meat

80
00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,960
Speaker 1: on the Friday night have you seen have you seen

81
00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,560
Speaker 1: that movie Freaks? Oh yeah, we've talked about that one,

82
00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:43,919
Speaker 1: all right. Um, yes, so Chuck, let's talk about the

83
00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:46,680
Speaker 1: history of sword swallowing, shall we. Yeah. I was kind

84
00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,520
Speaker 1: of surprised to learn that it started out with sort

85
00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:54,520
Speaker 1: of religious undertones or are they overtones? I think sword

86
00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:59,320
Speaker 1: swallowing is so that, um, it would be an overtone

87
00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,320
Speaker 1: and overtone. It's not very subtle. Early on in India

88
00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,800
Speaker 1: about four thousand years ago, they kind of the same

89
00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:09,280
Speaker 1: folks who are doing the firewalking and snake handling to

90
00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:14,040
Speaker 1: sort of show their oneness with God would swallow swords. Yeah,

91
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,560
Speaker 1: like they were protected and they will be like look

92
00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:19,440
Speaker 1: what I can do. Yeah, I'm boastful. Yeah, funk here

93
00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:21,840
Speaker 1: this is what they're called. F A k I r

94
00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:26,359
Speaker 1: okay um and uh. Yeah, sword swallowing has been around

95
00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:29,920
Speaker 1: for four thousand years. Uh. And there's apparently still a tribe,

96
00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,000
Speaker 1: although I couldn't find, um the name of the tribe,

97
00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,880
Speaker 1: but it's in the Indian state of andrew Pradesh. And

98
00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,880
Speaker 1: um they apparently still passed down sword swallowing skills from

99
00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:43,599
Speaker 1: father to son. Yeah. Yeah, so we know where it

100
00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:46,000
Speaker 1: came from and we know it's ancient. Started in India,

101
00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,680
Speaker 1: started to move around the Far East, the Mid East. Um.

102
00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:56,000
Speaker 1: Typical path things will follow China, Japan, Mid East language civilization.

103
00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,640
Speaker 1: It all just followed the same path as sword swallowing

104
00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,839
Speaker 1: hit Japan, UM and China. In the eighth century, a

105
00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:08,680
Speaker 1: d in Japan and became part of Sanu Sangaku Sangaku

106
00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:14,240
Speaker 1: one of those two, which is basically like street performance, right. Um.

107
00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:18,400
Speaker 1: And then apparently it got picked up again later on

108
00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:23,880
Speaker 1: in India again and it's the cradle of it. Um

109
00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,800
Speaker 1: by the whirling dervishes, the rebirth of swords swallowing, Yes,

110
00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,720
Speaker 1: the first one by the dervishes, right. The whirling dervish.

111
00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,400
Speaker 1: Dervish is a beggar of the Sufi mystic order of

112
00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,760
Speaker 1: monks and um, they would kind of whip themselves into

113
00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,200
Speaker 1: a frenzy, hence the term whirling dervish. Uh. And there's

114
00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:47,520
Speaker 1: a specific order of dervishes um called the Order of

115
00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:55,120
Speaker 1: Refis refights. My Indians getting rusty and they eat glass,

116
00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:59,839
Speaker 1: walk on coals, swallow swords basically the original it's like

117
00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:03,000
Speaker 1: a revival of the original the original reason people would

118
00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:09,200
Speaker 1: swallow swords. And then it comes to Europe, and as

119
00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:11,320
Speaker 1: with all things that came to Europe from the outside,

120
00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:15,680
Speaker 1: the Catholic Church persecuted anyone who could swallow a sword

121
00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,200
Speaker 1: man fun killers back in the day, but that was

122
00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:21,480
Speaker 1: not enough to kill it. It was basically just a

123
00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:26,200
Speaker 1: loss of enthusiasm by the public. Um by the nineteenth

124
00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:30,360
Speaker 1: century in in Europe, everybody's like, we've seen this before,

125
00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:34,160
Speaker 1: we know what's going on. It's all an illusion, a trick,

126
00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,360
Speaker 1: which we'll get to in a minute. Um. But then

127
00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,600
Speaker 1: it hits America and there's a guy um from Madras,

128
00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:46,040
Speaker 1: an Indian man named Senna Sama. And on November seventeen,

129
00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,360
Speaker 1: which will henceforth in the s Y s K Pantheon

130
00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:54,800
Speaker 1: of dates be referred to as sword Swallowing Day, Yeah uh,

131
00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:57,040
Speaker 1: in New York City at St. John's Hall, for one dollar,

132
00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:59,960
Speaker 1: adults could see the first person to ever swallow us

133
00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,880
Speaker 1: order in the United States and for a dollars a

134
00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:05,640
Speaker 1: lot of money back then, I agreed, but this is

135
00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:07,640
Speaker 1: a big deal, and you would think it would have

136
00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,120
Speaker 1: taken off right then, but no, it wasn't until eighteen

137
00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:13,240
Speaker 1: nine at the Chicago World's Fair that it became very

138
00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:15,640
Speaker 1: popular in the US. Yeah, I wonder what else was

139
00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:19,000
Speaker 1: big that year that wasn't the ice cream here wasn't now, No,

140
00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:22,400
Speaker 1: that was St. Louis in nineteen o three. Okay, so

141
00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:25,320
Speaker 1: pretty ice cream of course, Swords wallow Horse. You know,

142
00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,160
Speaker 1: if ice cream had been around, people be back. I'd

143
00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:30,120
Speaker 1: rather to see ice cream, right. This was the year

144
00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:33,760
Speaker 1: that electricity was a big one. Yeah, that was the

145
00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:38,479
Speaker 1: one that The Devil in the White City is said. Okay,

146
00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,160
Speaker 1: it's pretty good, but you can wait for the movie. Now,

147
00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,280
Speaker 1: that was it coming out. Apparently Leo DiCaprio is playing

148
00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:48,120
Speaker 1: the bad guy. Of course he is. I don't know

149
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:52,080
Speaker 1: why I said that he rarely plays bad guys. Yeah

150
00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:55,000
Speaker 1: that's true. Yeah, although he wasn't that good of a

151
00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,719
Speaker 1: guy in Shutter Island. Uh, well, we don't want to

152
00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:03,200
Speaker 1: ruin that. It doesn't at her okay. Uh. It died

153
00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:07,120
Speaker 1: out again in the nineteen fifties because of you know,

154
00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:09,320
Speaker 1: it's on the carnival circuit and I guess all these

155
00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:12,080
Speaker 1: new fangled rides sort of took away from the whole

156
00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:15,040
Speaker 1: side show aspect. And then I love how this points

157
00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:18,160
Speaker 1: out that the you know, The Internet and video games

158
00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:21,720
Speaker 1: also helped kill swords swallowing, Like, really, yeah, I didn't

159
00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:23,480
Speaker 1: know that one had anything to do with the other.

160
00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:28,160
Speaker 1: It did. The Internet and video games pretty much killed

161
00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:30,920
Speaker 1: everything but the Internet and video games and TV. Yeah,

162
00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:33,599
Speaker 1: but now you can research and watch sort swallowing on

163
00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:39,760
Speaker 1: the internet. Now that is gorgeous thinking. I'm very impressive

164
00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:42,839
Speaker 1: that one. Alright, So that's pretty much the history of

165
00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:47,120
Speaker 1: swords swallowing. There's I guess towards the beginning of the

166
00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:51,240
Speaker 1: twentieth century when it became very popular in the US.

167
00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,960
Speaker 1: There is also a lot of controversy over whether it

168
00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:59,480
Speaker 1: was a trick or an illusion, and Harry Houdini himself

169
00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:03,600
Speaker 1: said it's a trick. There's a trick to it, and

170
00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:07,760
Speaker 1: he wrote in um, his very famous book The Miracle Mongers,

171
00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:14,400
Speaker 1: and expose right um that people who swallow swords first

172
00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:19,760
Speaker 1: backstage swallow a metal sheath that they slide the sword into.

173
00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:22,679
Speaker 1: All Right, I gotta stop you here. How it's you're

174
00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:24,920
Speaker 1: still swallowing the thing that's just as long and it's

175
00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,760
Speaker 1: made of metal, and you're pretending like it's not in there.

176
00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:30,839
Speaker 1: You're walking around talking a lot. I don't know it

177
00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:32,800
Speaker 1: seems easier just to learn to swallow this. I mean,

178
00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:35,120
Speaker 1: it's not like and we'll cover this. Actually, might as

179
00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:36,880
Speaker 1: well go ahead and say it. The swords that they

180
00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:40,840
Speaker 1: swallow aren't sharp edged. No, they are still pointyes, but

181
00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:43,880
Speaker 1: it's not like they're swallowing razor blades. I get the

182
00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:48,400
Speaker 1: impression that they're pointy ish. Well, yeah, a dull point

183
00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:50,440
Speaker 1: I would say, yes, But I mean that can't be

184
00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,480
Speaker 1: much worse than the sheath. So I think the sheath

185
00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:59,000
Speaker 1: is Maybe Houdini was being funny and Tracy Wilson missed that. Maybe.

186
00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:01,800
Speaker 1: So she goes on to point out that the Encyclopedia

187
00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:06,360
Speaker 1: Britannica says that it's a magic trick as well, and

188
00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:09,600
Speaker 1: that it's not a that it is some sort of

189
00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:17,360
Speaker 1: illusion or hoax or fraud. But really, apparently the the

190
00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:20,640
Speaker 1: basis of um sword swallowing is quite real. Like the

191
00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:26,400
Speaker 1: person is swallowing a sword, right, So let's how how

192
00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:29,440
Speaker 1: do you do that? Well, Josh, if you're gonna talk

193
00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:32,400
Speaker 1: about swallowing a sword, then we need to talk about swallowing.

194
00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:35,280
Speaker 1: And if you're gonna talk about swallowing, you got to

195
00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:38,240
Speaker 1: talk about the g I tract. Yes, not the g

196
00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:42,640
Speaker 1: I bill, the g I gastro intestinal tract. It's got

197
00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:45,800
Speaker 1: a couple of types of muscle. It's got a skeletal

198
00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:50,520
Speaker 1: muscle tissue and smooth muscle tissue, little lubrication layer called mucosa.

199
00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:56,120
Speaker 1: And then skeletal muscle is involunteery, I'm sorry, voluntary, And

200
00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:58,200
Speaker 1: if you're talking about your upper g I, you're talking

201
00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:02,400
Speaker 1: about your mouth, you're farring in your upper esophagus. The

202
00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:06,920
Speaker 1: smooth muscle is involuntary, and they work in concert to

203
00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:11,079
Speaker 1: help you swallow junk. Right, So the top stuff is

204
00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:14,200
Speaker 1: all voluntary, Like you can move your tongue, you can,

205
00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:16,480
Speaker 1: you can. Yeah, you start off doing it on purpose

206
00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,880
Speaker 1: when you chew and swallow, right, But then it gets

207
00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,040
Speaker 1: to a certain point past the what is it, the

208
00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:25,400
Speaker 1: upper esophageal um sphincter. Yeah, that just cracts me out.

209
00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:28,000
Speaker 1: Once it gets past that, which is kind of high

210
00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:32,160
Speaker 1: up towards the top of the esophagus. Yes, then it's

211
00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:35,320
Speaker 1: like you said, it becomes all involuntary. It's automatic, which

212
00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:40,080
Speaker 1: makes it very difficult to control anything that happens after that. Yeah, specifically,

213
00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:43,440
Speaker 1: the you know, your epic epiglotis goes into action because

214
00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:45,320
Speaker 1: that keeps stuff from going down into your lungs, which

215
00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:49,880
Speaker 1: you don't want. Bullus is food is chewed food and saliva.

216
00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:53,640
Speaker 1: That's the best word ever in bullus b O, l u,

217
00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:57,640
Speaker 1: s and um. Once you've done all the voluntary action,

218
00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:00,400
Speaker 1: it does a pretty cool thing. It gets down to

219
00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:03,440
Speaker 1: the part of your esophagus as the smooth muscle, the

220
00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:10,480
Speaker 1: involuntary muscle and paristalsis takes over and that's basically you're

221
00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:14,160
Speaker 1: It just squeezes it down like an inch at a time. Yeah,

222
00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:17,960
Speaker 1: you know how your esophagus is ringed, Yeah, right, Um,

223
00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,480
Speaker 1: those rings are little bands of muscle, and then they

224
00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:24,720
Speaker 1: squeeze just above the bullus and just shut it down there.

225
00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:30,560
Speaker 1: Finally it gets to the lower esophageals fixter and that opens.

226
00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:34,760
Speaker 1: You have to laugh every time that that opens, and

227
00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:39,160
Speaker 1: the bullus drops into the stomach to be digested and

228
00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:43,960
Speaker 1: then eventually pooped out. So that's what happens. That's that's

229
00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:50,320
Speaker 1: life that we just described life. The trick here, not trick,

230
00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:53,280
Speaker 1: but on the way down it passes by things like

231
00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:58,520
Speaker 1: your trachea, your heart, your a order which I thought

232
00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:03,080
Speaker 1: was part of the heart. Well it's a it's the artery,

233
00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:05,360
Speaker 1: the main artery that connects to the heart, and I

234
00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:13,080
Speaker 1: saw the vena cava was also separate. That's the main vein. Yeah,

235
00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:19,200
Speaker 1: And the diaphragm is the the muscle that moves up

236
00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:22,000
Speaker 1: and down which allows us to breathe. And and we

237
00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:25,520
Speaker 1: say all this because the sword is passing right through there. Yeah,

238
00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:27,840
Speaker 1: I mean it takes the same path as your food does. Yeah,

239
00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:31,640
Speaker 1: pretty much, yeah, pretty much exactly. We have our ribs

240
00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:34,120
Speaker 1: because we've got so many vital organs right there, they

241
00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:39,080
Speaker 1: need extra protecting um. And so we circumvent the ribs

242
00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,920
Speaker 1: when we swallow swords and just go directly past all

243
00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,640
Speaker 1: that stuff, all that soft tissue, right. Yeah. But there's

244
00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:49,800
Speaker 1: a difference, a big difference here. Swallowing food requires a

245
00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,640
Speaker 1: lot of contraction of muscles, and which you want to

246
00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:54,280
Speaker 1: do when you swallow a sword, is you want to

247
00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:57,720
Speaker 1: relax all those muscles, even the involuntary ones, which is

248
00:14:57,960 --> 00:14:59,720
Speaker 1: we'll get in into how to do that in a

249
00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,120
Speaker 1: minute here. But it's sort of the opposite of even

250
00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:05,680
Speaker 1: though it follows the same path, the muscles are doing

251
00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:10,920
Speaker 1: things they shouldn't do, aren't trained to do, at least, well,

252
00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:13,640
Speaker 1: that's kind of the point of sworce swallowing. Like if

253
00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:16,080
Speaker 1: you one of the reasons we warned you against sword

254
00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:19,600
Speaker 1: swallowing is because you can't just swallow a sword the

255
00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,920
Speaker 1: first time you try it. No, you you could, but

256
00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:27,280
Speaker 1: you would kill yourself. Um. Sword swallowing actually takes a

257
00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:31,840
Speaker 1: lot of practice, and a lot of horrible, horrible practice too. Um.

258
00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:36,240
Speaker 1: You have to train. You have to train your involuntary

259
00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:43,240
Speaker 1: muscle to work voluntarily, right, Yeah, or to not volunteer

260
00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,760
Speaker 1: at all. That's a great point by by um relaxing.

261
00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:51,320
Speaker 1: So the voluntary stuff, and let's talk about this. This

262
00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:55,160
Speaker 1: is I guess now we've reached sword swallowing one on one.

263
00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:58,760
Speaker 1: The first part is easy because it's all voluntary muscle.

264
00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,200
Speaker 1: You move your tongue out of the Yeah, you open

265
00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,280
Speaker 1: your throat. Um, you tell your head back. You always

266
00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:07,080
Speaker 1: see a sword swallower tilts his head back. It's intuitive.

267
00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:09,440
Speaker 1: But at the same time, the reason why is because

268
00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:13,880
Speaker 1: they're lining up the pharynx, the throat with the esophagus

269
00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:16,760
Speaker 1: so that it's a straight shot as straight as possible

270
00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,320
Speaker 1: from the from the mouth all the way down right.

271
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:25,040
Speaker 1: That's right, um. And then after that, chuck, well, you

272
00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:29,160
Speaker 1: slip the sword down in there, and it passes through

273
00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:33,160
Speaker 1: the mouth and pharynx and upper esophagal sphincter into the

274
00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:37,120
Speaker 1: esophagus itself. And the esophagus has got a little curve

275
00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:40,120
Speaker 1: to it, so the sword is actually gonna straighten it out.

276
00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:43,360
Speaker 1: And Tracy even points out that sometimes it's nudging organs

277
00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:45,000
Speaker 1: out of the way as well on the way down.

278
00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,320
Speaker 1: That's why you usually swallow a swords slowly and and

279
00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,480
Speaker 1: the lube sword as well. Yeah uh. And then um

280
00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:55,320
Speaker 1: loose either by saliva or artificially, right, some people use

281
00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:59,120
Speaker 1: um uh petroleum jelly or vegetable or something, whatever your

282
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:03,040
Speaker 1: flavor is. So that's how it's done. Pretty cool, that's right.

283
00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:06,600
Speaker 1: That's pretty much all there is too. It's but again

284
00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:13,040
Speaker 1: it takes some tremendous practice. Um. And also depending on

285
00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:15,280
Speaker 1: the type of the story of the length of the sword.

286
00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:19,080
Speaker 1: You said it was blunted, it's not sharp, still kind

287
00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:24,000
Speaker 1: of pointy, but it's as dull as possible. Um. But

288
00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:28,320
Speaker 1: the length of the sword is also very important as well. Um.

289
00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:33,520
Speaker 1: Usually from your teeth to the cardia, which is uh

290
00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,920
Speaker 1: where basically where the stomach connects to the esophagus, where

291
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:43,280
Speaker 1: your lower esophageal sphincter is. Um, it's about forty centimes

292
00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:47,840
Speaker 1: in the average person. Yeah, okay, so right, so if

293
00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:51,720
Speaker 1: you swallow a sword that's longer than forty centimeters, um,

294
00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,600
Speaker 1: you are going to it's gonna have to go into

295
00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:58,199
Speaker 1: your stomach. That's that's a big deal. Yeah. And what

296
00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:02,480
Speaker 1: I've gotten is most sword allowers don't do that. Um,

297
00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:06,480
Speaker 1: it's not by accident that the Sword Swallowers Swallowers Association

298
00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:13,000
Speaker 1: International UH defines that length at thirty eight centimeters. That

299
00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,680
Speaker 1: you know, to qualify. So if it's forty centimeters, they said,

300
00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,520
Speaker 1: let's make it get a couple of centimeters short, right,

301
00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:21,600
Speaker 1: But this is just the typical person. It could be

302
00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:23,919
Speaker 1: much shorter. That's just to qualify. I don't know, I

303
00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,640
Speaker 1: thought it had to be that long. No, No, I'm

304
00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:30,320
Speaker 1: saying you're the distance cardia could be shorter. So even

305
00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:33,240
Speaker 1: with that shorter sword, you still may be in your stomach.

306
00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,239
Speaker 1: But yes, if you just if you get it all

307
00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:38,720
Speaker 1: the way down to a couple of centimeters above your cardia,

308
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:43,280
Speaker 1: the s s AI, it still considers you a sword swallower,

309
00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,600
Speaker 1: which I think is nice. That is nice, but chuck, Um,

310
00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:49,919
Speaker 1: if you if you are taking a sword all the

311
00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,720
Speaker 1: way down to your cardia into your stomach, the sword

312
00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,520
Speaker 1: is literally in your stomach. That's crazy. Not only have

313
00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:58,680
Speaker 1: you relaxed, like all the voluntary muscles in your mouth,

314
00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:02,639
Speaker 1: you've relaxed all of voluntary muscles on your on your

315
00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:07,520
Speaker 1: larynx and in your esophagus right, all the involuntary muscles.

316
00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,280
Speaker 1: But you've also managed to figure out how to relax

317
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:14,199
Speaker 1: both of your esophageal sphincters, the top one and the

318
00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:16,800
Speaker 1: one above your stomach, so that you can pass a

319
00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:22,719
Speaker 1: sword through without damaging it. And is nuts. And they

320
00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:26,439
Speaker 1: do recommend, by the way, um, nothing over twenty four

321
00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:30,000
Speaker 1: sixty one because at that point you were well into

322
00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:32,840
Speaker 1: your stomach. Yeah, that's the s s ai again. Yeah,

323
00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:35,840
Speaker 1: And I guess anything over that you might go hit

324
00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:39,879
Speaker 1: the bottom of the stomach, but you don't want to do. Also,

325
00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:42,000
Speaker 1: I want to point out that there is also a

326
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:47,560
Speaker 1: long tradition of sword swallowers who juggle, and often do

327
00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:52,439
Speaker 1: this on horseback while juggling dude, unicycles, cartwheels, They do

328
00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:54,920
Speaker 1: all sorts of crazy things. So really, to me, just

329
00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:59,439
Speaker 1: standing stock still and swallowing a sword, that's impressive. Have

330
00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:02,719
Speaker 1: you ever seen drop? There's this. I don't know if

331
00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:04,840
Speaker 1: it's a new move, but it's a move where you

332
00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:08,920
Speaker 1: put it down like halfway and then you move your

333
00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:13,239
Speaker 1: hands and you let it drop by itself and you

334
00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:18,199
Speaker 1: actually tighten your catch it with your esophageal muscles. That

335
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,760
Speaker 1: is control, pretty good control. Yeah, yeah, And they always

336
00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:23,639
Speaker 1: take it out really quick to if you notice, because

337
00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:27,159
Speaker 1: you're we'll talk about the gag reflex, but you're suspending

338
00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:29,840
Speaker 1: that and you can only do that for so long.

339
00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:32,119
Speaker 1: That's why they you know, you see him do it

340
00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:34,520
Speaker 1: and then it's like tada, and they yank it back

341
00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:39,200
Speaker 1: out really quickly because they want to live. That's right. Yeah. Um, well,

342
00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:42,520
Speaker 1: speaking of the gag reflex, that's one of the things

343
00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:44,680
Speaker 1: that has to be overcome and training, you know. Let's

344
00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:48,360
Speaker 1: let's get into the reflexing. Okay, Well, reflexes exist outside

345
00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:51,480
Speaker 1: of the brain. They're actually regulated by the brain stem.

346
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:54,400
Speaker 1: I didn't know that. Actually, Well, that's how how somebody

347
00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,080
Speaker 1: can still be considered alive even though their higher faculties

348
00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:59,320
Speaker 1: are gone, because they still have reflexes. It makes sense.

349
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:01,639
Speaker 1: I just never really out about it that way. But well,

350
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,679
Speaker 1: may I describe how it reflects works. So basically, you

351
00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:09,160
Speaker 1: have a receptor nerve ending that detects, in this case,

352
00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,280
Speaker 1: in your throat detects some sort of object or intrusion

353
00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:15,880
Speaker 1: that shouldn't be there. Basically, the only stuff that should

354
00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:18,640
Speaker 1: be there is fluid and chewed food as far as

355
00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:21,360
Speaker 1: your receptors are concerned. But yes, if a sword or

356
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,399
Speaker 1: any other metal object um makes its way into your throat,

357
00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:27,840
Speaker 1: the receptors are going to figure this out and they're

358
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:31,640
Speaker 1: gonna send an electrical impulse to your central nervous system

359
00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:37,159
Speaker 1: in the brain stem. The in the integration center is

360
00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,360
Speaker 1: what it's called. Yeah, that's kind of like it's kind

361
00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:41,400
Speaker 1: of sounded to me like a call center. Like literally,

362
00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:43,360
Speaker 1: I mean, it happens so quick, but it's like, what's

363
00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:45,840
Speaker 1: the nature of your emergency, sir? Exactly, Like I've got

364
00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,280
Speaker 1: a sword in my throat, but this is the brain stem.

365
00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:51,399
Speaker 1: So it's all done on like um punch cards like

366
00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,240
Speaker 1: they used to play Tic tac toe in the hanging chads. Um.

367
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,880
Speaker 1: So your your brain stem says, Okay, well there shouldn't

368
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,240
Speaker 1: be a metal object there. Just go ahead and direct

369
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:05,880
Speaker 1: the muscles of the throat to gag and that produces

370
00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,600
Speaker 1: what's called a wretch, and that's meant to expel the

371
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:15,040
Speaker 1: foreign object. What swords followers do is mute or dull

372
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,679
Speaker 1: this reflex so that it doesn't happen at all, and

373
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:20,760
Speaker 1: they do it by setting it off time after time

374
00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:26,720
Speaker 1: after time, unbelievable. They make themselves gag as much as

375
00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:30,960
Speaker 1: they can until it doesn't work, which is dangerous. It's

376
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:33,919
Speaker 1: very dangerous. And if you didn't get the idea before

377
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,159
Speaker 1: from the initial c O, a sword swallowing is a

378
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:41,880
Speaker 1: very very dangerous pastime, profession, whatever you're using it for,

379
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,960
Speaker 1: I would imagine there at a higher risk for choking. Choking, Um, yeah,

380
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,399
Speaker 1: because the point of the gag reflexes to get that

381
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:51,920
Speaker 1: stuff out. That piece of steak comes flying out when

382
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:55,359
Speaker 1: you wretch it up. Uh. And ideally, if you don't

383
00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:58,320
Speaker 1: have a gag reflex, then yeah, that's bad news because

384
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:00,840
Speaker 1: that steak just stays in there and die. You know.

385
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,520
Speaker 1: I had a friend um who when I was in

386
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,720
Speaker 1: elementary school, his mom got an emergency tracking out of

387
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:09,560
Speaker 1: me with a steak knife. Oh yeah, Dad, you always

388
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:11,600
Speaker 1: hear about the stories she had the little scar and

389
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:16,080
Speaker 1: everything cheese. Someone in a restaurant door. Oh wow, yeah,

390
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,640
Speaker 1: I mean a steak knife, no anesthesia, know nothing, steak

391
00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:24,680
Speaker 1: knife and then a straw or pent cheese. I've never

392
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 1: seen anything good like that happen. I didn't see it happen. Yeah,

393
00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:29,880
Speaker 1: but I mean I've never I'm just saying I've never

394
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:33,639
Speaker 1: seen any like awesome life saving situation. I want to

395
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:35,800
Speaker 1: be a part of one one day, just not on

396
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 1: the side. Uh so what what other dangers? They actually

397
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:45,800
Speaker 1: did a study um of and they want to ignoble

398
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:47,919
Speaker 1: prize for the study. I found out in two thousand

399
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,280
Speaker 1: seven and they studied a hundred and ten um English

400
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:56,200
Speaker 1: speaking sword swallowers and basically just ask him a bunch

401
00:23:56,200 --> 00:24:00,359
Speaker 1: of questions about their health. And they called it sword

402
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:03,320
Speaker 1: throat when they get a sore throat. Yeah, I thought

403
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:07,240
Speaker 1: that was kind of clever. Clever. So throat pain, um

404
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:12,040
Speaker 1: lower chest pain, persistent lower chest pain, internal bleeding occasionally.

405
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,040
Speaker 1: I saw this one lady who was coughing up blood

406
00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 1: and they found out that she had like nicked part

407
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:22,160
Speaker 1: of her esophagus way down, which imagine it's common um

408
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:26,119
Speaker 1: esophical perforations like we just talked about. Uh, how do

409
00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:32,880
Speaker 1: you say that pleurisy, inflammation of the lungs, and paracarditis,

410
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,680
Speaker 1: which is inflammation of the sack that protects the heart.

411
00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,760
Speaker 1: And that's in descending order of how often those things happened.

412
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:42,840
Speaker 1: So everyone gets the sword throat, it seems like, but

413
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:47,800
Speaker 1: probably very few actually got inflammation of the the paricardium, right.

414
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:52,439
Speaker 1: They also figured out that, um, there was a trend

415
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:58,080
Speaker 1: among sword swallowers where if they had a particularly rough performance, um,

416
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:02,719
Speaker 1: the inflammation that would result resulted in further injury. So

417
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,639
Speaker 1: like they would be okay during the performance, but you know,

418
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,080
Speaker 1: they had a little trouble getting it down, but then

419
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,679
Speaker 1: a day later or something they broke their esophagus or

420
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 1: something like that. And then also apparently sinus infections are

421
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:21,159
Speaker 1: common because you're you're passing the sword with petroleum jelly

422
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,840
Speaker 1: and whatever hair and gun get picked up in between

423
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:25,520
Speaker 1: the time you put the petroleum jelly on and the

424
00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:28,920
Speaker 1: time you swallowed it right past the sinuses, which can

425
00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,639
Speaker 1: be sensitive. I can attest, and I imagine the circus

426
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:36,359
Speaker 1: side show isn't the cleanest area on the planet, you,

427
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:40,119
Speaker 1: I think, imagine correctly, you know what I'm saying. Um,

428
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,920
Speaker 1: there's also death is a side effect of sword swallowing

429
00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,920
Speaker 1: from time to time. Um. Another British medical journal study

430
00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:51,919
Speaker 1: cited the death of a man who um swallowed an

431
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:56,320
Speaker 1: umbrella or tried to and died. My first question was,

432
00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:59,480
Speaker 1: did he accidentally try and open it? You hit the button.

433
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:03,679
Speaker 1: It's like Tom and Jerry totally. His body flares out

434
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,879
Speaker 1: like an umbrella. It's like Tom and Jerry, except real life.

435
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:14,440
Speaker 1: And said, that's right. Um. World sword Swallowers Day, two

436
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 1: thousand ten. What it sounds like is that they gathered

437
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,440
Speaker 1: sword swallowers at Ripley's believe it or not, all over

438
00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:23,800
Speaker 1: the country to do this all at once to perform

439
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 1: um and Red Stewart, your buddy Red. He swallowed a

440
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 1: world record fifty two swords at a time. Oh man,

441
00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,240
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's official or unofficial Guinness certified.

442
00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:38,600
Speaker 1: But George the Giant swallowed a thirty seven inch sword

443
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:42,040
Speaker 1: at the Hollywood believe it or not. Jeez, So that's

444
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:44,639
Speaker 1: they recommend twenty four inches max. Because you're in the

445
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:50,159
Speaker 1: stomach thirty seven inches. That's longer than three ft. That's crazy. Uh.

446
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:54,280
Speaker 1: Dan Meyer swallowed a giant straight razor and hedge clippers

447
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,920
Speaker 1: in Dallas at the belief that they're not there. Travis

448
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 1: Festler swallowed a sword with cockroaches crawling around it, um,

449
00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:10,399
Speaker 1: crawling on the sword. And guess where this one happened Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Um.

450
00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:13,480
Speaker 1: What else a hundred and twenty degree curve sword at

451
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:16,640
Speaker 1: the Ripley's Believe It or Not in Ocean City, Maryland,

452
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 1: and I'm just amazed over, you know. And finally, Mike

453
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,080
Speaker 1: Harrison at the Orlando Believe it or Not, swallowed a

454
00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 1: sword that was driven down his throat by the discharge

455
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:30,359
Speaker 1: of a gun. I don't know how that happened, but

456
00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,440
Speaker 1: wait what happened? Apparently it was shot into his mouth

457
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:37,880
Speaker 1: from a gun. I don't know. I'd like to see

458
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,880
Speaker 1: that one. Yeah, that's kind at the at the Internet,

459
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:46,320
Speaker 1: which is first killed and then now supports sword swallowing.

460
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,200
Speaker 1: And also Red Stewart, who you mentioned, who swallowed fifty

461
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,960
Speaker 1: two swords at once. I guess his former record was

462
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:57,120
Speaker 1: twenty five. Um. But before that, this impresses me the most.

463
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 1: He in V seven he swallowed a our axel. Well

464
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 1: they do. Tracy pointed out people swallowed dipsticks and other

465
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:11,919
Speaker 1: straight metal things. Yeah, that's pretty amazing. Stuff. Yeah, that's

466
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:15,639
Speaker 1: got to be pretty big around too. Yeah, and people

467
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:19,280
Speaker 1: have swallowed snakes. I found this guy, Oh that sucks

468
00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:22,120
Speaker 1: for the snake. Yeah, I think the snake lives. Yeah,

469
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,120
Speaker 1: but still he's like, well, sure, what are you doing? Well,

470
00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:27,560
Speaker 1: the snake is probably like I'm getting eaten by another snake,

471
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:30,919
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, okay, so it's just desserts then. But

472
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 1: this dude in the eighteen forties sal Uh salam intro

473
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,440
Speaker 1: the snake swallower. He uh have a couple of good

474
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,320
Speaker 1: quotes from him. They fancy that it hurts you, but

475
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,480
Speaker 1: it don't, or what a fool I should be to

476
00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:46,160
Speaker 1: do it. I don't mean to say it don't hurt

477
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 1: you at first, because it do. For my swallow was

478
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:51,640
Speaker 1: very bad and I couldn't eat anything but liquids for

479
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:55,080
Speaker 1: two months whilst I was learning. I cured my swallow

480
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:58,360
Speaker 1: whilst I was stretching it with lemon and sugar. And

481
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:00,560
Speaker 1: then he learned this that was sore, doesn't He learned

482
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:04,440
Speaker 1: to swallow a snake and said, the snakes are about

483
00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:08,000
Speaker 1: eighteen inches long, and you must first cut the stingers

484
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:10,920
Speaker 1: out because it might hurt you. When I first began

485
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:14,880
Speaker 1: swallowing snakes. They tasted queer, like they draw the roof

486
00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:19,040
Speaker 1: of your mouth a bit. It's a roughish taste. Apparently,

487
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 1: the scales like it's easier going down than it is

488
00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:24,080
Speaker 1: coming back up. I could see that, the way the

489
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:26,720
Speaker 1: scales are laying, I could totally see that. So we

490
00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,080
Speaker 1: don't recommend swallowing snakes either, and I don't know if

491
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 1: anyone still does that. That might be a nineteenth century

492
00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:41,720
Speaker 1: swallowing steaks. Snakes swallow steaks a lot. Yeah, it's not tough. Um, Well,

493
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,760
Speaker 1: I guess that's it. You've got anything else, Well, if

494
00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:47,560
Speaker 1: you want to see some pretty cool images about um,

495
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:52,200
Speaker 1: sword swallowing with a strange like kind of um superhero

496
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 1: worship ee um man, he was buff too. Yeah, there's

497
00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:00,800
Speaker 1: a there's a period around how S works where like

498
00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:03,880
Speaker 1: comic book geeks like kind of ruled the place, right,

499
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,840
Speaker 1: and so this is acceptable in some way. Yeah, it's

500
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,440
Speaker 1: definitely look different than our other illustrations. Right, So if

501
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 1: you want to, um, if you want to see those

502
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:15,160
Speaker 1: weird illustrations and learn as much as you possibly can

503
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 1: about sword swallowing, uh and the circus arts in general,

504
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:20,600
Speaker 1: we have a whole circus arts section. Did you know

505
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:24,960
Speaker 1: that I just let you say circus arts. Um, it's uh.

506
00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:27,160
Speaker 1: Any of that stuff can be typed into the search

507
00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 1: bar how stuff works dot com and that means, now, Chuck,

508
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:37,560
Speaker 1: it's time for listen to mail. I'm gonna call this

509
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:41,800
Speaker 1: blood type follow up. Guys are just googled good podcast

510
00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:45,640
Speaker 1: and found your name, and I think you're serious. Although

511
00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:49,320
Speaker 1: I google good podcast and I didn't see anything. What

512
00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:52,280
Speaker 1: comes up? Uh? There was one article about how to

513
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 1: do a good podcast and it was like, enunciate very clearly,

514
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,440
Speaker 1: stick to the point, and keep it short. We're away

515
00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:04,080
Speaker 1: of breaking rules. Uh. So I just enjoyed your latest

516
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,240
Speaker 1: podcasts and have a contribution on the subject of blood type.

517
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:10,200
Speaker 1: To put it simply, the transfusion rate is sixty to

518
00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:13,040
Speaker 1: ninety million eaters per hour for the first fifteen minutes,

519
00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:16,760
Speaker 1: although each hospital has its own policy in an exact rate,

520
00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:22,080
Speaker 1: but it UH on average it is sixty to ninety

521
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,360
Speaker 1: After about fifteen minutes, the rate can be advanced to

522
00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,280
Speaker 1: one hundred to one hundred and twenty million eaters per hour.

523
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:32,360
Speaker 1: The rationale is that if an acute hemolytic reaction is

524
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:34,200
Speaker 1: going to occur at will happened in the first fifteen

525
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,440
Speaker 1: minutes of a transfusion, and the slow rate keeps the

526
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,840
Speaker 1: infused volume low. So, using a little advanced math to

527
00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:43,920
Speaker 1: answer your question, it takes as little as sixteen to

528
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:47,240
Speaker 1: twenty two point five million leads of incompatible blood to

529
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,520
Speaker 1: cause a reaction. Of course, these are rough estimates, that

530
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:52,520
Speaker 1: they do give you a hint of how a little

531
00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:55,920
Speaker 1: bad blood can cause a big problem. Thanks for doing

532
00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:57,959
Speaker 1: the show. I look forward to going back and listening

533
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,440
Speaker 1: to old shows as well as the current new ones.

534
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,240
Speaker 1: I hope I didn't just make myself look like an idiot.

535
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,000
Speaker 1: Far from it, Dan, you sounded pretty dang smart, I

536
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:11,160
Speaker 1: would say so. Um. Yeah. Also, it's really weird to

537
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:16,440
Speaker 1: U two get feedback that quickly, like we recorded that

538
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:20,160
Speaker 1: two days ago and bam, we've got an answer. I

539
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:22,680
Speaker 1: really enjoyed that. We I kind of wish we could

540
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:27,440
Speaker 1: do this alive, but that wouldn't work. We've tried that before.

541
00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:31,240
Speaker 1: It never does work. Um, well, I guess it's it.

542
00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:37,320
Speaker 1: Do you have anything Do you want to call for anything? Uh? Okay, um,

543
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:42,120
Speaker 1: if you have any kind of circus arts background or

544
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:44,720
Speaker 1: your family, does we want to hear about it? Because

545
00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:48,640
Speaker 1: we find that kind of stuff fascinating. Um. Also, by

546
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:51,400
Speaker 1: the way, the black guy in Dason confused his named

547
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:56,760
Speaker 1: Melvin Spivey. Really it was way off, so sorry about that. UM.

548
00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:00,200
Speaker 1: You can tweet to us at s Y s K podcast.

549
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:04,440
Speaker 1: You can send us stuff on Facebook at facebook dot

550
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:06,800
Speaker 1: com slash stuff you Should Know, and you can also

551
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:10,200
Speaker 1: send us an old fashioned email to stuff podcast at

552
00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:17,440
Speaker 1: how Stuff works dot com. Be sure to check out

553
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:20,680
Speaker 1: our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how

554
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,239
Speaker 1: Stuff Work staff as we explore the most promising and

555
00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:29,440
Speaker 1: perplexing possibilities of tomorrow, brought to you by the reinvented

556
00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:32,160
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you