Saturday February 28th, 2015 is Sword Swallowers’ Day! A celebration of sword swallowing as a form of entertainment, and a tribute to the advances in medical sciences that sword swallowers have contributed to.

 

Did you know the first endoscopy in 1868 was made possible by a sword swallower?

Did you know that the first electrocardiogram was done using a sword swallower as a test subject in 1906?

Did you know that the British Medical Journal published a study on sword swallowing and its side effects that went on to win an Ig Nobel Prize?

Lots more about the contributions sword swallowers have made can be found in a recent Time Magazine article:

http://time.com/3711869/sword-swallower-paris-1945/

And for the ninth consecutive year, sword swallowers will gather at Ripley’s Believe it or Not locations around the world for the “Big Swallow” at 2:28 PM local time.

The Pickled Brothers will be at 2 locations this year. Travis will be swallowing swords with Sasha Ashley, one of the world’s youngest sword swallowers, at Ripley’s Believe it or Not Odditorium in Gatlinburg, TN.

http://www.ripleys.com/gatlinburg/

Erik will be performing at Ripley’s Believe it or Not in Myrtle Beach, SC.

http://www.ripleys.com/myrtlebeach

Stop by and say hello! Remember to hug a sword swallower for sword swallowers’ day, just not while they’re swallowing a sword!