All Episodes

July 5, 2025 46 mins

Dan Meyer started life as a scared, shy, skinny wimpy kid who suffered from social anxiety disorder and was teased and beat up by bullies. He vowed someday to do real magic, real feats and somehow fly around the world like a superhero defying death and saving lives. After a near-death experience with malaria fever as a missionary in south India in the place where sword swallowing started, Meyer decided to put his fears to death and take on risks and challenges. Over 20 years later, he added sword swallowing to his bucket list of goals.


After 14,000 unsuccessful attempts over 4 years, Meyer finally swallowed his first sword in 2001. Since then, sword swallowing has taken Meyer on a remarkable journey to impact lives around the world, on over 100 TV programs, on 9 TED Talks, on 16 Got Talents including the finals of America’s Got Talent and Sweden’s Talang, and live in over 60 countries around the world.


Dan Meyer is one of more than a hundred sword swallowers featured in the book, To The Hilt: A Sword Swallower’s History of Sword Swallowing, coauthored by sideshow historian Marc Hartzman and published by Schiffer Publishing, now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Target, Walmart and more:


For more on To The Hilt book, visit

https://ToTheHiltBook.com


Buy To The Hilt on Amazon:

https://amzn.to/3EbUsQf


Listen to more To The Hilt Podcasts, both historical and modern living sword swallowers:


To The Hilt Podcasts

https://www.swordswallow.com/podcasts.php


#ToTheHilt #ToTheHiltPodcast

#swordswallower #DanMeyer

#swordswallowers #history

#swordswallowing

Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Paper Ghosts: The Texas Teen Murders

Paper Ghosts: The Texas Teen Murders

Paper Ghosts: The Texas Teen Murders takes you back to 1983, when two teenagers were found murdered, execution-style, on a quiet Texas hill. What followed was decades of rumors, false leads, and a case that law enforcement could never seem to close. Now, veteran investigative journalist M. William Phelps reopens the file — uncovering new witnesses, hidden evidence, and a shocking web of deaths that may all be connected. Over nine gripping episodes, Paper Ghosts: The Texas Teen Murders unravels a story 42 years in the making… and asks the question: who’s really been hiding the truth?

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.