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Sword Swallowing Traditional Cache

Hidden : 10/29/2015
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

A micro magnetic cache at a cemetery's edge. Please respect any mourners present as well as the cemetery in general. It's not near any graves. NO night caching. Bring a pen and tweezers.


 I was trying to come up with an unusual angle for this cache and realized that the cemetery's fencing is a typical cast-iron variety in which the uprights look like spears. The trees lining the fence have grown to begin to "swallow" the fence....and there's the angle!

Sword swallowing is an ancient skill in which the performer passes a sword through the mouth and down the esophagus to the stomach. The performer does not actually swallow in the traditional sense; the natural processes that constitute swallowing are repressed in order to keep the passage from the mouth to the stomach open for the sword. Originally it was an Eastern feat to demonstrate physical and spiritual self-control, power and/or union. As you can imagine, the practice is dangerous and there is risk of injury, and with the demise of circus "side shows" --and the increase of common sense?!?-- it is less common than it was a century ago.  Online sources will tell you that there were at least 29 deaths from 1880-2006. One good thing did come from it, however: The abilities of sword-swallowers have proven useful to the progress of the development and advancement of the medical procedure known as upper endoscopy. 

(I do not think that anybody in this cemetery actually died from this, of course!) 

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

pvtnerggr-fvmrq pnzb'rq ghor jvgu n zntarg

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)