Sword Swallowing - History

History

Originating in south India before 2000 BC, the deadly art of sword swallowing has a long and varied history. During its early history it was used as a demonstration of divine union and power.

The migration of the art to other lands, all the way to Greece and Rome in the 1st centuries AD and most notably China in the 8th century, saw its transformation from divine demonstration to theatrical production. It quickly migrated to Japan, where it became a central part of the Japanese acrobatic theatre, Sangaku. This form of theatre featured an array of performance delights, including fire eating, tightrope walking, juggling and early illusion. In Europe it developed into yet a third distinct type of performance associated with the medieval jongleurs, that of the street performance.

Sword swallowing was performed during the Middle Ages as part of street theatre and was popular at festivals and other large gatherings. It began to die out in the mid-19th century, and was actually outlawed in Scandinavia in 1893. This was due to a declining interest in street and festival theatre and a growing interest on the part of audiences in more "sophisticated" and "proper" theatre.

In 1819, the East Indian juggler and sword swallower Ramo Sammee became popular in the United States after a brief stint in England. He performed in the US and England until his death in London in August 1850. From 1850 to the 1890s a small number of sword swallowers performed in the UK such as Martha Mitchell (c 1855) and Signor Benedetti (1863–95), and in the US, including Lawson Peck (c 1850s), Ling Look (c 1872), Signor Wandana (died May 9, 1875), and Harry Parsons (died December 1880). But the best-known North American sword swallower of this time was Fred McLone, better known to the public as "Chevalier Cliquot", who performed from 1878 to the early 20th century.

In 1893 sword swallowing was featured at the World Columbian Exposition at the Chicago World's Fair. This spawned the beginning of the popularity of the American practice of the art.

Circuses and sideshows quickly became the dominant venue for sword swallowers. Traveling throughout North America and presenting their skills to the show-going public, any connection with religion or divine power was long gone. Sword swallowing became a stunt, and as such, it became competitive. Whereas the European practice of the art certainly saw performers attempting to swallow larger numbers of swords, there seemed to be an undue focus on the novel and bizarre in the American practice. This is understandable, as there were a larger number of sword swallowers performing at this time, and innovation was the only recourse performers had in the effort to make money, for themselves and for their employers.

It is during this time that we see a growing popularity with swallowing longer swords, multiple swords, hot swords, bayonets recoiled down the throat, glowing neon tubes and so forth. With the growing interest in the art came clever innovations. In fact, one could often find sword swallowers on the same bill as the magic greats such as Houdini, clearly indicating their appeal.

Western Europe and England also saw an upsurge in sword swallowing interest during this period, with many cross-Atlantic influences.

During the late 19th century and early 20th century traveling magic shows from the Orient toured Europe and America, bringing some unique twists on standard effects, some entirely new effects (the secrets of which were lusted after by American magicians), and of course sword swallowing, along with their traditional fire eating, juggling and acrobatic feats.

Around the middle of the 20th century saw a demise in circuses in general and sideshows in particular. Today there remains only one full-time permanent sideshow in the world, the Coney Island Sideshows by the Seashore, in New York City, and a very few smaller traveling sideshows. Some attribute the decline of the sideshow to the increased interest in and decreased cost of mechanical circus and carnival rides, as well as the growth of other forms of entertainment such as television, movies, videos and the Internet.

Today many skills typically associated with the circus or sideshows have been appropriated by individual performers and incorporated into their acts, fueling a revival in many of the sideshow arts.