John Cummings was an American sailor who began swallowing pocket knives when drunk after witnessing a French man pretend to swallow a knife. In June of 1799, he swallowed four knives in one night. In Boston, in 1805, he swallowed six more knives in one night and eight knives the next morning. Nine months later, drunk again in England, he swallowed five knives on December 4th and nine knives on December 5th. He later died in the hospital with pitch black lungs and feces.