Kneeling with the sword down his throat, folks stand silently staring at Erik Kloeker at Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. Saturday is the sixth annual World Sword Swallower's Day and there are slated to be about 200 people at other Ripley's properties across the country and a few international spots swallowing swords at exactly 2:23 p.m., 13 seconds. The time coincides with the date, 2-23-13. To add to the run on 23s, Kloeker is 23 years old. He began swallowing swords as a 16-year-old after watching his older brother perform the feat. Kloeker's great grandfather did stunts in the circus, "but it skipped a few generations," he said. And the sword, he said, is nothing special. "I just picked it up at a flea market somewhere," he said. Photo by Janet Blackmon Morgan / jblackmon@thesunnews.com JANET BLACKMON MORGAN — jblackmon@thesunnews.com Buy Photo