WEBVTT - How Sword Swallowing Works 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.560 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know? 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:16.720 From house Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:20.360 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:23.840 which makes this stuff you should know? Like you didn't know, 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:26.119 and if this is your first time, if you really 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:30.000 didn't know, Welcome to the dark Side. Your life has 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:35.280 just fever changed. You are officially addicted. That's right. Um, yeah, 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:38.640 that's that's what I got. I'll take shoulders for five 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:44.400 hundred back. Okay, yeah, yeah, and that way you said 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:47.920 when I suggested this one, I typed it. Yeah, and 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:49.919 I think you thought it was funnier when I typed it. 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:52.600 I heard it, Okay, I heard I heard it in 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:58.440 my head founded, much like that. Darrell Hammond, Sean Connery, Yeah, um, Chuck, Yes, 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:03.320 have you ever seen in the movie Days Being Confused? Uh? Yeah, 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:05.679 In fact, I remember the first time I saw that movie. 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:08.440 Oh yeah, let's here in Athens at the Georgia Theater. 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.760 That was a great place to see that movie. That 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:16.200 was wonderful. Remember when whenever they showed I think his 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:22.880 name was Washington. That no, which character the black guy. 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.440 I think you're thinking of the sweat Hogs. That was Washington, right, 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:29.680 But I think his name was Washington Took. I think 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:31.959 I'm not sure, but yes, clearly I could just be 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.160 thinking of that guy because they both have frozen. They 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:38.120 were set in the seventies. But um, he has that paddle, 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:40.920 it says soul poll on it. Do you remember like 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:43.600 the whole theater just erupting the first time that showed 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:46.880 that that was awesome. I remember I thought Matthew McConaughey 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:50.280 was not an actor. Oh, like, he was really Waterson. 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:52.000 I thought he was a real dude. They just dug 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:54.559 up in Texas. Oh yeah, because that was like the 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:56.600 beginning of his career, the first thing I ever saw 0:01:56.680 --> 0:02:00.760 him and Ben Affleck and that's It's a great movie. 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:04.040 Parker Posey. Yeah, well that brings me to my point. 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.559 Parker Posey, you remember the part during the Beer Bust 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:11.040 where Parker Posey's funneling beer through a beer bong and 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:13.080 like she's got it for like a half a second, 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:15.840 maybe a second and a half, and then but it 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.160 just like pours out her mouth and all over her face. 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.520 At that moment. The first thing I thought of is 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:25.880 I'm sure everybody thought as well when they saw that 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:31.720 very suggestive part was Parker Posey would be terrible at 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:36.120 sword swallowing. That's what I thought, because it takes a 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:41.760 certain amount of relaxation to swallow a sword, and after research, 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:45.880 I found that a sword swallow will make an excellent 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:48.360 beer funneler. I haven't funnel the beer in a long 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.560 Time's been a while for me. It's probably good when 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.320 you're forty to be able to say that I lost 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:57.040 access to beer funnels, and I think that's kind of 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.399 what happens. Like you just don't go to places where 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:02.080 there's a beer final not anymore. But you can always 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:03.840 shock in a beer as long as you have a 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:06.000 pen and a beer can. I never got into any 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:08.760 of that, to be honest, kig stands all that silliness. 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:11.200 I was just like, just have a drink it. I 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:14.360 don't prefer being upside down. I've never done a kigstand 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:19.440 really never. It's really um. You're like, you know what 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:21.520 it feels like to be torn apart by a gang 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:23.720 of angry toughs because there's like a couple of guys 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:28.840 like you're Yeah, you're it's really kind of scary. You're 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:30.959 on the edge there. We don't recommend any of those 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:33.120 things now. And while we're at it, this is the 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:37.640 ultimate c o A. Please anyone out there, never ever, 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:42.600 ever try to swallow a sword or anything except food, 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:46.200 obviously in beverage, right, but no food larger than the 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:48.720 end of a football. Yeah, do not do not do 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:52.680 not try this at home ever ever ever. Okay, Yeah, 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.680 Josh and Chuck officially think you're stupid if you try 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:58.280 to swallow anything after listening to this, or if you 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:04.680 participate in backyard wrestling. Yes, equally dangerous. All right, so Chuck, um, 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.640 let's talk about swords swallowing. I'm excited about this one. 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:10.680 Kind of cool. Yeah. Um, this is part of our 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:15.600 ongoing circus arts collection. Have we already done one human cannonball? Okay, 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:17.040 we've gotta get tight rope in there and then we're 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.200 all set. Well, we need to do like freaks too. 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.480 Uh yeah, just sideshow freaks, or maybe even like a 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:28.960 history of the sideshow. That would be pretty awesome, I agreed. Alright, So, um, 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.560 what other kind of freaks would I've just been talking about? 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:34.960 I don't know, um, you know the kind of meat 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:37.960 on the Friday night have you seen have you seen 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.560 that movie Freaks? Oh yeah, we've talked about that one, 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.919 all right. Um, yes, so Chuck, let's talk about the 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:46.680 history of sword swallowing, shall we. Yeah. I was kind 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.520 of surprised to learn that it started out with sort 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:54.520 of religious undertones or are they overtones? I think sword 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:59.320 swallowing is so that, um, it would be an overtone 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:02.320 and overtone. It's not very subtle. Early on in India 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.800 about four thousand years ago, they kind of the same 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:09.280 folks who are doing the firewalking and snake handling to 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:14.040 sort of show their oneness with God would swallow swords. Yeah, 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:16.560 like they were protected and they will be like look 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.440 what I can do. Yeah, I'm boastful. Yeah, funk here 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:21.840 this is what they're called. F A k I r 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:26.359 okay um and uh. Yeah, sword swallowing has been around 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:29.920 for four thousand years. Uh. And there's apparently still a tribe, 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:33.000 although I couldn't find, um the name of the tribe, 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.880 but it's in the Indian state of andrew Pradesh. And 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:40.880 um they apparently still passed down sword swallowing skills from 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:43.599 father to son. Yeah. Yeah, so we know where it 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.000 came from and we know it's ancient. Started in India, 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:49.680 started to move around the Far East, the Mid East. Um. 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:56.000 Typical path things will follow China, Japan, Mid East language civilization. 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.640 It all just followed the same path as sword swallowing 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.839 hit Japan, UM and China. In the eighth century, a 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:08.680 d in Japan and became part of Sanu Sangaku Sangaku 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:14.240 one of those two, which is basically like street performance, right. Um. 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:18.400 And then apparently it got picked up again later on 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:23.880 in India again and it's the cradle of it. Um 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.800 by the whirling dervishes, the rebirth of swords swallowing, Yes, 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.720 the first one by the dervishes, right. The whirling dervish. 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:35.400 Dervish is a beggar of the Sufi mystic order of 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:39.760 monks and um, they would kind of whip themselves into 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:43.200 a frenzy, hence the term whirling dervish. Uh. And there's 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:47.520 a specific order of dervishes um called the Order of 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:55.120 Refis refights. My Indians getting rusty and they eat glass, 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:59.839 walk on coals, swallow swords basically the original it's like 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:03.000 a revival of the original the original reason people would 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:09.200 swallow swords. And then it comes to Europe, and as 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:11.320 with all things that came to Europe from the outside, 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:15.680 the Catholic Church persecuted anyone who could swallow a sword 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:19.200 man fun killers back in the day, but that was 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:21.480 not enough to kill it. It was basically just a 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:26.200 loss of enthusiasm by the public. Um by the nineteenth 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:30.360 century in in Europe, everybody's like, we've seen this before, 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:34.160 we know what's going on. It's all an illusion, a trick, 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:37.360 which we'll get to in a minute. Um. But then 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.600 it hits America and there's a guy um from Madras, 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:46.040 an Indian man named Senna Sama. And on November seventeen, 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:49.360 which will henceforth in the s Y s K Pantheon 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:54.800 of dates be referred to as sword Swallowing Day, Yeah uh, 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.040 in New York City at St. John's Hall, for one dollar, 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.960 adults could see the first person to ever swallow us 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.880 order in the United States and for a dollars a 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:05.640 lot of money back then, I agreed, but this is 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:07.640 a big deal, and you would think it would have 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.120 taken off right then, but no, it wasn't until eighteen 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.240 nine at the Chicago World's Fair that it became very 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:15.640 popular in the US. Yeah, I wonder what else was 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:19.000 big that year that wasn't the ice cream here wasn't now, No, 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.400 that was St. Louis in nineteen o three. Okay, so 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:25.320 pretty ice cream of course, Swords wallow Horse. You know, 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.160 if ice cream had been around, people be back. I'd 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:30.120 rather to see ice cream, right. This was the year 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:33.760 that electricity was a big one. Yeah, that was the 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:38.479 one that The Devil in the White City is said. Okay, 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.160 it's pretty good, but you can wait for the movie. Now, 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:44.280 that was it coming out. Apparently Leo DiCaprio is playing 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.120 the bad guy. Of course he is. I don't know 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:52.080 why I said that he rarely plays bad guys. Yeah 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:55.000 that's true. Yeah, although he wasn't that good of a 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.719 guy in Shutter Island. Uh, well, we don't want to 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:03.200 ruin that. It doesn't at her okay. Uh. It died 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:07.120 out again in the nineteen fifties because of you know, 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.320 it's on the carnival circuit and I guess all these 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:12.080 new fangled rides sort of took away from the whole 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.040 side show aspect. And then I love how this points 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.160 out that the you know, The Internet and video games 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:21.720 also helped kill swords swallowing, Like, really, yeah, I didn't 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:23.480 know that one had anything to do with the other. 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:28.160 It did. The Internet and video games pretty much killed 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:30.920 everything but the Internet and video games and TV. Yeah, 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.599 but now you can research and watch sort swallowing on 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:39.760 the internet. Now that is gorgeous thinking. I'm very impressive 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.839 that one. Alright, So that's pretty much the history of 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:47.120 swords swallowing. There's I guess towards the beginning of the 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:51.240 twentieth century when it became very popular in the US. 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:55.960 There is also a lot of controversy over whether it 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:59.480 was a trick or an illusion, and Harry Houdini himself 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.600 said it's a trick. There's a trick to it, and 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:07.760 he wrote in um, his very famous book The Miracle Mongers, 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:14.400 and expose right um that people who swallow swords first 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:19.760 backstage swallow a metal sheath that they slide the sword into. 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.679 All Right, I gotta stop you here. How it's you're 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:24.920 still swallowing the thing that's just as long and it's 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:28.760 made of metal, and you're pretending like it's not in there. 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:30.839 You're walking around talking a lot. I don't know it 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:32.800 seems easier just to learn to swallow this. I mean, 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.120 it's not like and we'll cover this. Actually, might as 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:36.880 well go ahead and say it. The swords that they 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:40.840 swallow aren't sharp edged. No, they are still pointyes, but 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:43.880 it's not like they're swallowing razor blades. I get the 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:48.400 impression that they're pointy ish. Well, yeah, a dull point 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:50.440 I would say, yes, But I mean that can't be 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:53.480 much worse than the sheath. So I think the sheath 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:59.000 is Maybe Houdini was being funny and Tracy Wilson missed that. Maybe. 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.800 So she goes on to point out that the Encyclopedia 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:06.360 Britannica says that it's a magic trick as well, and 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.600 that it's not a that it is some sort of 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:17.360 illusion or hoax or fraud. But really, apparently the the 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.640 basis of um sword swallowing is quite real. Like the 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:26.400 person is swallowing a sword, right, So let's how how 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.440 do you do that? Well, Josh, if you're gonna talk 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:32.400 about swallowing a sword, then we need to talk about swallowing. 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:35.280 And if you're gonna talk about swallowing, you got to 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.240 talk about the g I tract. Yes, not the g 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:42.640 I bill, the g I gastro intestinal tract. It's got 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:45.800 a couple of types of muscle. It's got a skeletal 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:50.520 muscle tissue and smooth muscle tissue, little lubrication layer called mucosa. 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:56.120 And then skeletal muscle is involunteery, I'm sorry, voluntary, And 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.200 if you're talking about your upper g I, you're talking 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:02.400 about your mouth, you're farring in your upper esophagus. The 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:06.920 smooth muscle is involuntary, and they work in concert to 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:11.079 help you swallow junk. Right, So the top stuff is 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:14.200 all voluntary, Like you can move your tongue, you can, 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:16.480 you can. Yeah, you start off doing it on purpose 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.880 when you chew and swallow, right, But then it gets 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.040 to a certain point past the what is it, the 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:25.400 upper esophageal um sphincter. Yeah, that just cracts me out. 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:28.000 Once it gets past that, which is kind of high 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:32.160 up towards the top of the esophagus. Yes, then it's 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:35.320 like you said, it becomes all involuntary. It's automatic, which 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:40.080 makes it very difficult to control anything that happens after that. Yeah, specifically, 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.440 the you know, your epic epiglotis goes into action because 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:45.320 that keeps stuff from going down into your lungs, which 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:49.880 you don't want. Bullus is food is chewed food and saliva. 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.640 That's the best word ever in bullus b O, l u, 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:57.640 s and um. Once you've done all the voluntary action, 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.400 it does a pretty cool thing. It gets down to 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:03.440 the part of your esophagus as the smooth muscle, the 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:10.480 involuntary muscle and paristalsis takes over and that's basically you're 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:14.160 It just squeezes it down like an inch at a time. Yeah, 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:17.960 you know how your esophagus is ringed, Yeah, right, Um, 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:21.480 those rings are little bands of muscle, and then they 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:24.720 squeeze just above the bullus and just shut it down there. 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:30.560 Finally it gets to the lower esophageals fixter and that opens. 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:34.760 You have to laugh every time that that opens, and 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:39.160 the bullus drops into the stomach to be digested and 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:43.960 then eventually pooped out. So that's what happens. That's that's 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:50.320 life that we just described life. The trick here, not trick, 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.280 but on the way down it passes by things like 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:58.520 your trachea, your heart, your a order which I thought 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:03.080 was part of the heart. Well it's a it's the artery, 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:05.360 the main artery that connects to the heart, and I 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:13.080 saw the vena cava was also separate. That's the main vein. Yeah, 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:19.200 And the diaphragm is the the muscle that moves up 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.000 and down which allows us to breathe. And and we 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.520 say all this because the sword is passing right through there. Yeah, 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.840 I mean it takes the same path as your food does. Yeah, 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:31.640 pretty much, yeah, pretty much exactly. We have our ribs 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:34.120 because we've got so many vital organs right there, they 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:39.080 need extra protecting um. And so we circumvent the ribs 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:41.920 when we swallow swords and just go directly past all 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:44.640 that stuff, all that soft tissue, right. Yeah. But there's 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:49.800 a difference, a big difference here. Swallowing food requires a 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:52.640 lot of contraction of muscles, and which you want to 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:54.280 do when you swallow a sword, is you want to 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.720 relax all those muscles, even the involuntary ones, which is 0:14:57.960 --> 0:14:59.720 we'll get in into how to do that in a 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:03.120 minute here. But it's sort of the opposite of even 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.680 though it follows the same path, the muscles are doing 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:10.920 things they shouldn't do, aren't trained to do, at least, well, 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:13.640 that's kind of the point of sworce swallowing. Like if 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.080 you one of the reasons we warned you against sword 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:19.600 swallowing is because you can't just swallow a sword the 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.920 first time you try it. No, you you could, but 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:27.280 you would kill yourself. Um. Sword swallowing actually takes a 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:31.840 lot of practice, and a lot of horrible, horrible practice too. Um. 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:36.240 You have to train. You have to train your involuntary 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:43.240 muscle to work voluntarily, right, Yeah, or to not volunteer 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:47.760 at all. That's a great point by by um relaxing. 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:51.320 So the voluntary stuff, and let's talk about this. This 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:55.160 is I guess now we've reached sword swallowing one on one. 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.760 The first part is easy because it's all voluntary muscle. 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.200 You move your tongue out of the Yeah, you open 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.280 your throat. Um, you tell your head back. You always 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:07.080 see a sword swallower tilts his head back. It's intuitive. 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:09.440 But at the same time, the reason why is because 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:13.880 they're lining up the pharynx, the throat with the esophagus 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:16.760 so that it's a straight shot as straight as possible 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:19.320 from the from the mouth all the way down right. 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:25.040 That's right, um. And then after that, chuck, well, you 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:29.160 slip the sword down in there, and it passes through 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:33.160 the mouth and pharynx and upper esophagal sphincter into the 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:37.120 esophagus itself. And the esophagus has got a little curve 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:40.120 to it, so the sword is actually gonna straighten it out. 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:43.360 And Tracy even points out that sometimes it's nudging organs 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:45.000 out of the way as well on the way down. 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.320 That's why you usually swallow a swords slowly and and 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.480 the lube sword as well. Yeah uh. And then um 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:55.320 loose either by saliva or artificially, right, some people use 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.120 um uh petroleum jelly or vegetable or something, whatever your 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:03.040 flavor is. So that's how it's done. Pretty cool, that's right. 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:06.600 That's pretty much all there is too. It's but again 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:13.040 it takes some tremendous practice. Um. And also depending on 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.280 the type of the story of the length of the sword. 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.080 You said it was blunted, it's not sharp, still kind 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:24.000 of pointy, but it's as dull as possible. Um. But 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:28.320 the length of the sword is also very important as well. Um. 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:33.520 Usually from your teeth to the cardia, which is uh 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.920 where basically where the stomach connects to the esophagus, where 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:43.280 your lower esophageal sphincter is. Um, it's about forty centimes 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:47.840 in the average person. Yeah, okay, so right, so if 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:51.720 you swallow a sword that's longer than forty centimeters, um, 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:54.600 you are going to it's gonna have to go into 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:58.199 your stomach. That's that's a big deal. Yeah. And what 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:02.480 I've gotten is most sword allowers don't do that. Um, 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:06.480 it's not by accident that the Sword Swallowers Swallowers Association 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:13.000 International UH defines that length at thirty eight centimeters. That 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:16.680 you know, to qualify. So if it's forty centimeters, they said, 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:19.520 let's make it get a couple of centimeters short, right, 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:21.600 But this is just the typical person. It could be 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:23.919 much shorter. That's just to qualify. I don't know, I 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:26.640 thought it had to be that long. No, No, I'm 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:30.320 saying you're the distance cardia could be shorter. So even 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:33.240 with that shorter sword, you still may be in your stomach. 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:36.239 But yes, if you just if you get it all 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:38.720 the way down to a couple of centimeters above your cardia, 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:43.280 the s s AI, it still considers you a sword swallower, 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:46.600 which I think is nice. That is nice, but chuck, Um, 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:49.919 if you if you are taking a sword all the 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:52.720 way down to your cardia into your stomach, the sword 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:55.520 is literally in your stomach. That's crazy. Not only have 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.680 you relaxed, like all the voluntary muscles in your mouth, 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:02.639 you've relaxed all of voluntary muscles on your on your 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:07.520 larynx and in your esophagus right, all the involuntary muscles. 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:10.280 But you've also managed to figure out how to relax 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:14.199 both of your esophageal sphincters, the top one and the 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:16.800 one above your stomach, so that you can pass a 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:22.719 sword through without damaging it. And is nuts. And they 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:26.439 do recommend, by the way, um, nothing over twenty four 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:30.000 sixty one because at that point you were well into 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.840 your stomach. Yeah, that's the s s ai again. Yeah, 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.840 And I guess anything over that you might go hit 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:39.879 the bottom of the stomach, but you don't want to do. Also, 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:42.000 I want to point out that there is also a 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:47.560 long tradition of sword swallowers who juggle, and often do 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:52.439 this on horseback while juggling dude, unicycles, cartwheels, They do 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:54.920 all sorts of crazy things. So really, to me, just 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:59.439 standing stock still and swallowing a sword, that's impressive. Have 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:02.719 you ever seen drop? There's this. I don't know if 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:04.840 it's a new move, but it's a move where you 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:08.920 put it down like halfway and then you move your 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:13.239 hands and you let it drop by itself and you 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:18.199 actually tighten your catch it with your esophageal muscles. That 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.760 is control, pretty good control. Yeah, yeah, And they always 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:23.639 take it out really quick to if you notice, because 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:27.159 you're we'll talk about the gag reflex, but you're suspending 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:29.840 that and you can only do that for so long. 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.119 That's why they you know, you see him do it 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:34.520 and then it's like tada, and they yank it back 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:39.200 out really quickly because they want to live. That's right. Yeah. Um, well, 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:42.520 speaking of the gag reflex, that's one of the things 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:44.680 that has to be overcome and training, you know. Let's 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:48.360 let's get into the reflexing. Okay, Well, reflexes exist outside 0:20:48.359 --> 0:20:51.480 of the brain. They're actually regulated by the brain stem. 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:54.400 I didn't know that. Actually, Well, that's how how somebody 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:57.080 can still be considered alive even though their higher faculties 0:20:57.080 --> 0:20:59.320 are gone, because they still have reflexes. It makes sense. 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:01.639 I just never really out about it that way. But well, 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:04.679 may I describe how it reflects works. So basically, you 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:09.160 have a receptor nerve ending that detects, in this case, 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:12.280 in your throat detects some sort of object or intrusion 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:15.880 that shouldn't be there. Basically, the only stuff that should 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:18.640 be there is fluid and chewed food as far as 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:21.360 your receptors are concerned. But yes, if a sword or 0:21:21.720 --> 0:21:25.399 any other metal object um makes its way into your throat, 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:27.840 the receptors are going to figure this out and they're 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:31.640 gonna send an electrical impulse to your central nervous system 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:37.159 in the brain stem. The in the integration center is 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:39.360 what it's called. Yeah, that's kind of like it's kind 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:41.400 of sounded to me like a call center. Like literally, 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:43.360 I mean, it happens so quick, but it's like, what's 0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:45.840 the nature of your emergency, sir? Exactly, Like I've got 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:48.280 a sword in my throat, but this is the brain stem. 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:51.399 So it's all done on like um punch cards like 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:55.240 they used to play Tic tac toe in the hanging chads. Um. 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:58.880 So your your brain stem says, Okay, well there shouldn't 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:01.240 be a metal object there. Just go ahead and direct 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:05.880 the muscles of the throat to gag and that produces 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:09.600 what's called a wretch, and that's meant to expel the 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:15.040 foreign object. What swords followers do is mute or dull 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:17.679 this reflex so that it doesn't happen at all, and 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:20.760 they do it by setting it off time after time 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:26.720 after time, unbelievable. They make themselves gag as much as 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:30.960 they can until it doesn't work, which is dangerous. It's 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:33.919 very dangerous. And if you didn't get the idea before 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:37.159 from the initial c O, a sword swallowing is a 0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:41.880 very very dangerous pastime, profession, whatever you're using it for, 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:46.960 I would imagine there at a higher risk for choking. Choking, Um, yeah, 0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:49.399 because the point of the gag reflexes to get that 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:51.920 stuff out. That piece of steak comes flying out when 0:22:51.920 --> 0:22:55.359 you wretch it up. Uh. And ideally, if you don't 0:22:55.359 --> 0:22:58.320 have a gag reflex, then yeah, that's bad news because 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:00.840 that steak just stays in there and die. You know. 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:03.520 I had a friend um who when I was in 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:06.720 elementary school, his mom got an emergency tracking out of 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:09.560 me with a steak knife. Oh yeah, Dad, you always 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:11.600 hear about the stories she had the little scar and 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:16.080 everything cheese. Someone in a restaurant door. Oh wow, yeah, 0:23:17.240 --> 0:23:20.640 I mean a steak knife, no anesthesia, know nothing, steak 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:24.680 knife and then a straw or pent cheese. I've never 0:23:24.720 --> 0:23:28.040 seen anything good like that happen. I didn't see it happen. Yeah, 0:23:28.119 --> 0:23:29.880 but I mean I've never I'm just saying I've never 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:33.639 seen any like awesome life saving situation. I want to 0:23:33.680 --> 0:23:35.800 be a part of one one day, just not on 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:41.320 the side. Uh so what what other dangers? They actually 0:23:41.320 --> 0:23:45.800 did a study um of and they want to ignoble 0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:47.919 prize for the study. I found out in two thousand 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:52.280 seven and they studied a hundred and ten um English 0:23:52.280 --> 0:23:56.200 speaking sword swallowers and basically just ask him a bunch 0:23:56.200 --> 0:24:00.359