The Spark

To the Hilt: A sword swallower’s history of sword swallowing will soon hit the shelves by the end of February. Co-Authors Dan Meyer and Marc Hartzman were inspired to write this book through their interest in sword swallowing.

For Dan, he became interested in sword swallowing in 1997.  After he met the sword swallower, George the Giant, he learned there were only 12 in the world and began researching.

“I founded the Swords Followers Association International, started collecting all these bios and all this research, putting it on our website, and I decided that needed to go into a book, “said Meyer.

Dan reached out to Marc seven years ago to write the book. The book will share the historical significance of sword swallowing.

“As far as we can tell, sword swallowing may have started about 4000 years ago, about 2000 B .C. back in ancient India. There's some information, some evidence that it might have been in Mesopotamia as well…It was actually it came to the United States about 1810, 1819, 1820 and then didn't really become popular in the United States until 1893 at the Chicago World's Fair. And then after that, circuses and sideshows started having sword swallowers and it's become kind of a little bit more popular since then, “said Meyer.

For those who read the book, Dan and Marc puts numerous disclaimers to not attempt any of the acts done in the book.

“We do mention in several places throughout the book that no one should try this at home. So, if they're a kid reading this book, they should they should not be inspired to try this. In fact, we talk about the fact that most books try to inspire you and this one, we strongly suggest that you do not get inspired, “said Hartzman.

To the hilt, will also discuss myths and misconceptions about sword swallowing.

“I've pulled a sword out of Dan's throat myself. And people swallow other things also to help prove that that this is where that there's no handle for that blade to go up in. No trickery at all, “said Hartzman.

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The Conestoga Susquehannock people are a Uriscoian speaking tribe indigenous to the Susquehanna River Valley and its tributaries which encompasses parts of present-day Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland according to tribal historian, Michael Mantooth.

“Our oral history and the historical record support that we started in New York, and we actually traveled down the Susquehanna River. So periodically through time, as you track our people and where our villages were located, we move up and down the Susquehanna River throughout, you know, the seasons and throughout the years, and when, you know, a particular site would become depleted or unsafe, we would move to the opposite side of the river or further north or further south.”

Present day, there are under 100 members remaining of the Conestoga Susquehannock people today. According to Mantooth, most of the tribe are over 70 years old.

“So, you know, it puts us in a situation where it's now or never in terms of recognition of our tribal history. It's now or never in terms of return of our treaty guaranteed land in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. You know, it's interesting that today there's a prevailing myth of our extinction, despite 175 plus years of documented history of asking for that land back, not just as indigenous people, but specifically and consistently identifying as Conestoga people over this period of time. You know, so today we're really in a push. You know, we're reaching out to politicians. We're trying to rebuild those relationships to try to preserve our history because it is like every major source still lists us as extinct despite all of this documentation.”

Listen to the podcast to hear more about the tribe, how colonization impacted the tribe, and the five common myths about Native Americans that Mantooth addressed.

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Jennifer N. Sellitti is a lawyer and shipwreck hunter. She is also the author of The Adriatic Affair:  A Maritime Hit-And-Run Off the Coast of Nantucket. The book will be released on February 28. The book tells the story of the collision that sane Le Lyonnais and its aftermath.

The Le Lyonnais collided with the ship called the Adriatic off the coast of Nantucket in November of 1856. And it's the story of both the collision, how 18 people survived this disaster, and the aftermath of the collision, which actually had some political consequences involving the way shipping regulations in the North Atlantic developed from the mid -19th century as nations were grappling with what happened when two ships from different countries met.”

Jennifer spent a decade researching the ship, the people on board, the circumstances of the collision, and the circumstances of people who survived in lifeboats. Some of the research involved divers from her team D/V Tenacious, to locate Le Lyonnais.

“So, what we do is we map the historical data to the hang locations, and then we go out with a side scan sonar. We imagine the ocean floor. We spent two years imagining the ocean floor to find potential targets. And then last summer, we went out to dive several targets, and one of them turned out to be the ship that we were looking for, the Le Lyonnais, and we put divers on it to confirm that identification.”

Jennifer wrote this book for those who are not familiar with shipwrecks and hopes readers takes away the importance of shipwreck preservation.

“I tried to educate readers just on the importance of our maritime history. It's estimated that there are about four million ships on the ocean floor all around the world. We have many, many ships off the east coast of the United States. And each one of those ships really has a story to tell. When you think about what happened to the people on those ships, the stories of the people who lived, the stories of the people who died, there's so much history.”

Jennifer will continue exploring the Le Lyonnais, and shipwrecks off the coast of New Jersey and off the coast of Nantucket.

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Today we are honoring Holocaust Remembrance Day. It’s a day to reflect on the lives lost, resilience of survivors, and lessons we must never forget. Dr. Mark Glick is the only living child of Polish Holocaust Survivors.

“ My parents were born in Poland, about 35 miles apart. My father in a town called Vilna and my mother in a town called Oceana, which would be in modern day Belarus.”

When the holocaust came, it was very difficult for Glick’s parents. They had two different experiences according to Glick.

“My mother was all of her family was killed other than she and her cousin, who were taken to a series of labor camps and concentration camps where they did a lot of manual labor. My father, when the Germans came to his town, they shot all his family, his parents, his brothers and sisters. And he and two of his sisters were able to escape out of the back of their house. And they actually spent the war hiding in caves in the forest in Poland.”

After the holocaust, it was love at first sight for Glick’s parents.

“So after the Holocaust, people tended to go back to their towns to look for survivors. So many people had been killed that, you know, they wanted to try to reconnect. And my parents met in a displaced persons camp. They looked for survivors. Really didn't find any. The story goes that my father was delivering supplies to the displaced person’s camp. He saw my mother and winked at her, and a week later they were married.”

His parents made the decision to migrate to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1949.

“All of their families had been killed. They had no homes. Their homes now were occupied by other people who would not give it back. So, they were looking for places to make a new start. And there were very severe laws that limited immigration into the United States. It took my parents about four years till they could actually find someone. My mother's uncle, who happened to live in Philadelphia, who could sponsor them, bring them to this country and give them a job and a place to live.”

Listen to the podcast to hear more.

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On this week's edition of The Spark Weekly.

Penn Pilot offers showcase aerial photography of Pennsylvania’s landscape from the 1930’s to the 80’s. This tool was started by the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, according to Maurie Kelly, Director of Informatics with the Institutes of Energy and the Environment at Penn State University.

But upfront:

This week’s Journalist Roundtable focuses on the inauguration of Donand Trump and the actions he’s already taken, a new legislative lesion in Harrisburg overshadowed by the death of a state House member. Our journalists this week will be Stephen Caruso of Spotlight PA and Jordan Wilkie, WITF’s Chief Democracy Reporter.

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Our Journalist Roundtable segment for January 24 included Spotlight PA’s Stephen Caruso and WITF’s Democracy reporter Jordan Wilkie. The roundtable segment focused what we can expect policy wise in the new year, Donald Trumps pardoning January 6 criminals, and dismissing pending cases, and the Attorney General investigation into voter fraud.

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Fort Indiantown Gap is hosting what’s known as a war fighter exercise, an event to train and evaluate military units for large scale combat operations. More than 3,000 personnel are taking part between now and mid-February. Col. Kevin Potts, Garrison Commander at Fort Indiantown Gap says it’s a large-scale collective training exercise.

“We're really, it's an it's not so much on the ground like normal soldiers were normal units come and train where they go out. They train in the field, and they do marksmanship qualifications and road marches and things of that nature.”

The exercise trains the commanders and their staff in military decision making.

“Well, fighting a mock battle in a computer system. So, it's kind of like a gaming system, but it integrates the life scenario of soldiers doing the work on the ground inside a computer system. And there's an enemy operating. So, they have a decision in the fight. So is a is a fight the fight the enemy can make a decision and then it changes how they react, how the forces or forces react to what they do.”

This type of exercise focusses on command and control rather than many troops.

“So, a normal brigade commander will have about 3 or 30 500 to 4000 soldiers under him. This is a division level. So you're talking 12, 12,000 soldiers. So instead of bringing 12,000 soldiers to fight, you know, on the terrain, which is extremely expensive, this is their staff. And they do it in a computer simulated world, which reduces 12,000 to 2500. And that includes everybody that needs to be involved in it. So, it's an it's a force reduction or cost reduction, but it's still it gets you to be able to work the method, the processes, the equipment and the procedures on how to actually do the exercise or the operation.”

Due to the large number of military personnel, there will be an increase in traffic in the area.

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Penn Pilot offers showcase aerial photography of Pennsylvania’s landscape from the 1930’s to the 80’s. This tool was started by the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, according to Maurie Kelly, Director of Informatics with the Institutes of Energy and the Environment at Penn State University.

“They are part of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and they had thousands and thousands of paper photographs that were in file cabinets, essentially. And they approached Penn State about scanning those and then putting them online for people to access. So now people have limited access to the paper photographs, but now anyone can access the digital photographs, said Kelly.

The photos come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service. A lot of the photography was originally done for agricultural reasons, now the data is utilized for planning and development, solving cold cases, and more. According to Maurie, the site is used 15 million times a year.

“These people who originally took those photographs in the 30s and 40s had no idea how meaningful and how useful this data was going to be almost 100 years later, “said Kelly.

Scott Hoffman, Retired USGS Scientist and Geographer who also worked on imagery to investigate real world problems for USGS- funded problems in Pennsylvania, shares about the equipment used to capture NHP images.

“A lot of the cameras used were the best at the time. I'm thinking it's a memory for me, but I think it's a Zeiss camera was one of the best cameras in the world at that time. And they were able to collect really detailed imagery far better than anyone could have imagined. The aircraft varied from high altitude jets to turboprop aircraft, but just using the best of what was available at the time within the budgetary constraints, “said Hoffman.

Some of the photos on Penn Pilot came from a project called the National Altitude Photography Project.

“That project was really designed to, I think, for lack of a better way, really try to coordinate something nationally and be used in conjunction with what Maury just described with the agricultural program. And just take it maybe a little further, perhaps give a little bit more detail, create a system where the photograph overlaps in a certain percentage, 30%, let's say for each photograph, there's duplication along the flight path. But it was really a nice step to combine with what the agricultural program was doing, “said Hoffman.

Towards the end of the interview, Scott shared the impact of Penn Pilot, and the importance of preserving those photographs.

“Working with one of the if not the leading mapping agency in the world. But that resource is so, so valuable that it's just so important that we keep it. And as Mari said, you know, funding is everything. And this is a valuable resource that, you know, if there's a legislator that's listening to maybe take a really good look at this and say, hey, look, this is something that we really need to keep going and preserve. “I just think it's so important, “said Hoffman.

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Adam Zurn, Executive Director of Uncharted Lancaster offers kayak tours to see the petroglyphs at Safe Habor. The petroglyphs are so significant because they are probably one of the oldest artifacts in all the Susquehanna Valley. There used to be thousands of petroglyph sites in the Lower Susquehanna, but with the buildings of dams they have been submerged.

“There's a series of about six rocks with like significant carvings on them. The two big standouts are little Indian rock and big Indian rock. This cluster of rocks represents one of the two largest concentrations of petroglyphs in the northeast United States, which is cool.”

Little Indian Rock is said to have the best panel rock art east of Mississippi. Zurn says this rock is really unique as it is full with all sorts of carvings.

“There are three serpent carvings on the rock, and so there is a single carving a serpent and it lines up with the solstice sunrise. And so, you can go out there on the first day of summer and the first day of winter and the sun will come up right where its tail is, it is pointing. And then at a slightly different angle are two squiggly lines, again, representing serpents and those two squiggly lines, the on the equinox or the first day of spring and the first day of fall, the sun rises directly between those two.”

The rock tells a story about their natural environment.

“They know where the sun is going to be on, you know, very specific days. And they're and they're marking these things on the rock. And so, for me, that's just one of the things that make little Indian rock so special. You can go out there and you can see, you know, that these carvings are somewhere between 800 and 1200 years old.”

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Central Pennsylvanian's have been experiencing bitter cold conditions this past week. ABC 27 Meteorologist Dan Tomaso says it's due to the artic outbreak which was a huge area of cold air.

"It's almost like a big blob of cold air that came across the Arctic Ocean, ultimately into Canada and then into the United States."

Tuesday morning's weather broke a record of the coldest morning since 1994, which was the coldest day in Harrisburg being recorded at -22 degrees.

"So to put things into perspective, no records being set, but some of the coldest air we've seen in about 30 years time. And so now looking ahead, we're going to start digging out of that. Temperatures in the middle 30s, upper 30s, as early as Sunday and early next week. And I do think we're going to be out of this extreme weather pattern looking at things kind of flattening out with the jet stream, which means not as cold but also not as warm kind of average."

As for another round of snow, Tomaso believes there is not a huge chance for another snowstorm.

" I think it would be more snow showers and not necessarily accumulating snow, but that's when temperatures are getting into that middle. To upper 30s range. That could be, again, a situation where it's snowing, but maybe it's not accumulating. It's melting on contact. But again, something we're watching, nothing significant. And then beyond that, still not a whole lot going on. We may go into February. Kind of quiet in the snow department as of right now."

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