World Champion Sword Swallower Dan Meyer finishes a lecture at the Bruce Museum on the "History Art and Science of Sword Swallowing" by swallowing a 100-year-old saw and 6 of Edith Clifford's antique swords from the museum exhibit with 9 of his own for a record 15 SWORDS AT ONCE on November 14, 2010!
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu6S2fcrarg
Man Swallows 100-year-old Museum Exhibit
by Marc Hartzman, AOL Weird News
(AOL News) - Invite a sword swallower to a museum and it's bound to happen: He's going to swallow an exhibit. On Sunday, Dan Meyer did just that when he dropped a 100-year-old serrated saw down his throat.
Meyer, president of Sword Swallowers Association International (SSAI), swallowed the tool in front of a packed lecture hall during his presentation on the history and science of sword swallowing at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT.
"It felt kind of bumpy on the edges and it kinda hurt," Meyer told AOL News. "I had to go very slowly and carefully. My throat's a little sore after doing it. The saw is probably more painful than anything else I've ever swallowed."
The sharp-toothed saw once belonged to an early 20th-century sword swallower named Edith Clifford. Elegantly clad in Victorian dress, she was billed as the "Champion Sword Swallower of the World" from 1899 to 1922.
"It's quite a privilege," Meyer said. "This creates a connection for me to Edith Clifford, now that I've swallowed the same prop she's swallowed."
The saw, along with a dozen other long, sharp objects, was on loan from Meyer for display at the museum's "Circus! Art and Science Under the Big Top" exhibit.
It is believed to be the first artifact pulled from an exhibit to be swallowed.
"Sword swallowing is one of those things that absolutely fascinates people," the museum's director of education, Robin Garr, said. "I think that's proven by the sheer fact that this program is sold out. It's a strange feat, that's for sure -- I don't know if I'll actually be able to watch it."
But everyone else did.
After discussing the history of sword swallowing and its many dangers, Meyer put an end to any lingering doubt that the stunt is faked as he lowered an arsenal of steel into his stomach.
He eased the crowd into it, starting with swords of various lengths before making the audience wince with a pair of hedge clippers, a giant razor, and the historic saw.
As a finale, Meyer attempted a personal record of swallowing 15 swords at once, 6 of which once belonged to Clifford. Meyer tilted his head back and successfully dropped the stack of swords down his gullet.
"I'm elated," he said. He more than doubled his previous record of 7 at once.
It was a fitting tribute to Clifford, who was said to have swallowed up to 15 swords at once. During shows she gulped down a giant straight razor and had a bayonet shot down her throat by the recoil of a fired rifle.
Meyer swallowed the straight razor but has yet to attempt the bayonet stunt.
"I thought that might be something to work up to, but you know how hard it is to carry a gun around these days, and get it on a plane or into a venue for an event? What a hassle! If I become an Edith Clifford protege, I may have to work up to it. But I'm not wearing any of her skirts!"
Meyer began swallowing swords nearly 10 years ago.
"Some people have a midlife crisis and buy a Corvette. Me? I took up swallowing steel," he said.
Even Houdini was impressed after witnessing Clifford swallow the bayonet in a 1919 Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey show. In his book "Miracle Mongers and Their Methods," Houdini wrote about sword swallowers and said Clifford was "the most generously endowed. Possessed of more than ordinary personal charms, a refined taste for dressing both herself and her stage, and an unswerving devotion to her art, she has perfected an act that has found favor even in the Royal Courts of Europe."
Though Clifford proved immune to the many blades thrust into her body, a cancerous right ovary eventually claimed her life in 1942.
In addition to the museum event, Meyer lectures around the world on the art and science of sword swallowing as the winner of the 2007 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine. He has appeared on numerous TV programs including "America's Got Talent", "Stan Lee's Superhumans" and "The Today Show". He's also gobbled blades underwater in a tank of sharks for "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!"
But swallowing the saw was a first.
"Most of the other swords I swallow pretty regularly day in and day out," Meyer said. "But Edith's saw is historical, a one-time deal. This was a special event."
Meyer's saw swallowing feat was special enough to be featured in a Ripley's Believe It or Not cartoon on April 8, 2011
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