 Hadji Ali was born into a working @-@ class family in approximately 1887 or 1892 , depending on the source consulted , probably in Egypt . His fame was as a practitioner of a recognized vaudeville subgenre known as a " regurgitation act " , involving the swallowing of material or objects and their regurgitation in various ways . Ali became aware as a child that he possessed an unusual gastric ability . He explained in response to audience questions at a performance held at St. Mary 's Hospital in Niagara Falls , New York , in May 1926 , that while swimming in the Nile as a ten @-@ year @-@ old boy , he naturally discovered that he could swallow a large amount of water and blow it out like a whale spouting . He continued to develop and refine the ability as he grew older . A more dramatic version of these events was provided by Ali 's daughter , Almina Ali , in an interview in England after his death . She stated that his abilities were first learned through a single incident : while bathing in the Nile , he inadvertently swallowed a fish and an ample volume of water . Instead of dying , as those present thought he might , Ali simply regurgitated the liquid and the fish without ill effect . 
