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27 inches of steel for lunch?

Tobias prefers a sword to eating fire (From the Spring 2011 issue of SONOMA)

 

 

 

 

 

Tobias Weinberger gave up eating fire because it was too dangerous.

"It says right on the box of kerosene 'Can cause cancer,'" he points out.

So he started swallowing swords instead.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Swords are free of harsh chemicals and no one has ever claimed they cause cancer. They can, of course, perforate the esophagus or, in rare cases, puncture the stomach. In the long, arcane history of sword swallowing, very few have died in the line of duty. Far more likely than death, and a lot less dangerous, is the impulse to gag. That takes some getting use to.

Still, "It's better if the audience thinks it could kill me," Weinberger smiles, looking at the sword tattoo on his forearm, "Theoretically, you could puncture a lung, or your heart, or the bottom of your stomach. I have had friends that have done that."

But the 31-year-old Weinberger is a born showman and, for him, the entertainment value outweighs the risk. For the past 10 years he has been touring the country aboard an old bus, like a modern day Merry Prankster, with the Yard Dog Road Show. Calling themselves a "Hobo Carnival," the Road Show is as close as you can get to a vaudeville act from the 19th century, a dozen or so performers peppering audiences with everything from burlesque to sideshow acts to punk rock music, all wrapped into one confetti-covered show.

Yard Dog was the perfect fit for Weinberger, who early fell in love with the spotlight and instinctively gravitated toward the avant-garde. At 12, he convinced Sonoma magician Roger Rhoten to take him under his wing and quickly learned the basics behind slight of hand, deception and mystery.

Magic was good, but danger was better. A seasoned fire-eater himself, Rhoten refused to teach Tobias the ropes until he was 18 and old enough to handle the responsibility that comes with putting a flaming wad of kerosene between your lips.

"Roger didn't want to teach me but I said I was gonna do it anyway so he decided he better teach me right," Weinberger remembers.

When he decided he wanted to swallow swords, Rhoten couldn't help him so, lacking an instructor, Tobias taught himself, referencing anatomy books and his knowledge of yoga. He began by swallowing a letter opener, training his brain to ignore the urgent signals of his gag reflex.

"Once I could do that easily, I moved up to a bayonet," he says, adding he can now swallow a 27-inch sword, which is close to the longitudinal limits of the human gut.

After Weinberger put together a three-person sideshow act, he quickly caught the attention of Yard Dog Road Show, who invited him to join the troupe and gave him the stage name "Tobias the Mystic Man." During shows, Tobias swallows chair legs, long balloons, glowing neon tubes and, of course, his trusty sword, engraved with the mysterious name Robert Crimble.

He admits that every now and again accidents occur. While on stage in Atlanta, the sword would not go down his throat "so I just kept forcing it and forcing it," he says. Then he felt the unmistakable pressure of the blade piercing his stomach. While he was able to finish his act, he walked off stage and immediately began vomiting blood.

Despite giving himself an ulcer, he has no plans to leave the limelight anytime soon. "I imagine I'll always be an entertainer," he says. "Whether I'll always swallow swords, I don't know."
 

 

 

From the Spring 2011 issue of SONOMA