Uri Geller Spoon video -- what a farce!!

[UnTrickaBLe]

When I found this on Skeptic Report I had to :rolleyes:

What an obvious, cheap, poorly performed magic trick! How could ANYONE fall for this? What is Uri doing anyway, scamming bored housewives at a local restaurant?


http://www.skepticreport.com/images/gellertrick/fork26.jpg


The Video...haha (http://www.skepticreport.com/resources/videospoon.avi)


The story...

http://www.skepticreport.com/psychics/urispoon.htm

[Nigel]

I always wondered, if he can bend spoons with his mind, why he had to hold the thing. He can move compasses without touching them, I'd be more impressed if he laid a spoon on a table, concentrated, and it bent. (Not that that'd be proof, but it'd be a little harder to explain.) Holding it, it's too easy.

I asked this some time ago, but don't recall getting an answer. If someone did, I apologize. I recall seeing Geller when he first burst on the scene in the 70s. He made an appearance on the American TV talk show the Mike Douglas Show, and claimed his power came from aliens from the Andromeda galaxy. I admit I have no proof for that, simply my own recollection. Has anyone else heard that? Is it my own malleable memory? I've not read of it anywhere, even in Randi's books. Just my memory. But it stuck with me lo these many years. Any confirmation would be appreciated.

[CFLarsen]

Originally posted by Nigel
I always wondered, if he can bend spoons with his mind, why he had to hold the thing. He can move compasses without touching them, I'd be more impressed if he laid a spoon on a table, concentrated, and it bent. (Not that that'd be proof, but it'd be a little harder to explain.)

Oh, I've seen it done several times. By a magician. You can buy the cutlery on the Internet... ;)

[Nigel]

Originally posted by CFLarsen


Oh, I've seen it done several times. By a magician. You can buy the cutlery on the Internet... ;)
Thanks. Shows how limited my experience is in these matters. :)

[UnTrickaBLe]

Originally posted by CFLarsen


Oh, I've seen it done several times. By a magician. You can buy the cutlery on the Internet... ;)

;)

[davidhorman]

I have not been able to establish when and where the video is taped.

Clause, if it's any help, I'm fairly sure it was filmed in a sort of cafe at some English football club. I do know that it was part of a feature on Noel's House Party, which belongs to an era of British television otherwise left unrevisited.

David

[jimmygun]

This is the first time I have seen Uri do his thing on tape. I will admit I didn't catch the moves when I saw him on tv but this video shows not only a slight of hand bend of the spoon but an obvious, amateurish piece of misdirection. I will let my believer buddies look at the video but I am sure they will not 'see' or acknowledge the trick.

[CFLarsen]

Originally posted by davidhorman
Clause, if it's any help, I'm fairly sure it was filmed in a sort of cafe at some English football club. I do know that it was part of a feature on Noel's House Party, which belongs to an era of British television otherwise left unrevisited.

David

Thanks - but being fairly sure, and certain are not the same things. But I'll changed the text accordingly. :)

[davidhorman]

I've now watched the clip - wasn't there an even more damning part at the start where you can see him bending a spoon until the table?

David

[UnTrickaBLe]

I would love to see some more Uri spoon-bending videos if they exist.

[Checkmite]

Originally posted by Nigel
I asked this some time ago, but don't recall getting an answer. If someone did, I apologize. I recall seeing Geller when he first burst on the scene in the 70s. He made an appearance on the American TV talk show the Mike Douglas Show, and claimed his power came from aliens from the Andromeda galaxy. I admit I have no proof for that, simply my own recollection. Has anyone else heard that? Is it my own malleable memory? I've not read of it anywhere, even in Randi's books. Just my memory. But it stuck with me lo these many years. Any confirmation would be appreciated.

I very distinctly remember reading in a (Charles Berlitz, I think) book when I was younger, about how when Uri was younger, he was out playing in some fields or whatever when he saw a UFO that came down and hovered very close, and shot him with a beam or something before taking off. Ever since then, according to my memory, Uri has had the amazing mental ability to take 5 minutes to bend a spoon. I don't recall whether Geller claimed to know where the aliens were from.

[HenDralux]

I agree with most of Claus' interpretation in that video, but the bit I'm not too sure on are the frames 8 to 13 from the top of the page...where Claus suggests the woman may bend the spoon a little.

Surely that would have taken quite a bit of pressure for her to bend it whilst Gellar held the 'bowl' of the spoon (and I assume Claus isn't insinuating that the lady was 'in on the trick).

I totally agree trickery is going on, but I'd like possibly a better explanation of how he at least gets the spoon to the degree of bend seen in pic 14 from the top. Is it really just expert sleight of hand?

[CFLarsen]

Originally posted by HenDralux
I agree with most of Claus' interpretation in that video, but the bit I'm not too sure on are the frames 8 to 13 from the top of the page...where Claus suggests the woman may bend the spoon a little.
Well, it was a suggestion... :)

[CFLarsen]

And it was on this day that a strange thing happened —at that young age of three or four. Before I describe it, I want to make it plain that I know it sounds like a small child’s fantasy, like something out of Alice in Wonderland. That doesn’t make it any less real. It is more than real. I was very young, but my memory of the incident is now and has always been so clear that there is no question that it happened. I didn’t know then exactly what was happening to me. I had to accept it the way it was happening. With a child’s mind, I didn’t ask questions of myself then, the way I do now. But it’s important to remember what happened, because it might just possibly be a clue to the results of the tests I’ve undergone in university laboratories.

In that garden many years ago, it was late afternoon but still light. I had been playing all alone, sometimes dozing and dreaming in the garden during the afternoon. Suddenly there was a very loud, high-pitched ringing in my ears. All other sounds stopped. And it was strange, as if time had suddenly stood still. The trees didn’t move in the wind. Something made me look up at the sky. I remember it well. There was a silvery mass of light. And I even remember the first thought that passed through my head:

What happened to the sun?

This was not the sun, and I knew it. The light was too close to me. Then it came down lower, I remember, very close to me. The color was brilliant. I felt as if I had been knocked over backward. There was a sharp pain in my forehead. Then I was knocked out. I lost consciousness completely. I don’t know how long I lay there, but when I woke I rushed home and told my mother. She was angry and worried. Deep down, I knew something important happened.
I went back to the garden many times after that, hoping to see that brilliant, silvery mass of light again. It never appeared again, however, much as I wanted it to. My mother, of course, dismissed it as a childish fantasy, I kept my thoughts about it to myself. But today, in light of all that is happening with these energy forces, I think about it often.

Uri Geller: My Story (p.96-97)

This is interesting. Sunstroke? Small brain malfunction of some kind? Remember, he is 3-4 years old at the time, he would have no idea what happened to him.

The ringing in his ears, loss of sense of time, light seen similarly to those who experience hallucinations often misinterpreted as NDEs, sharp pain in forehead.

Hm?

[Nigel]

So at least according to his own book, (and possibly Berlitz), he doesn't say "they" came from anywhere specific. Interesting. I wonder then why I remember it as Andromeda. The only way to find that out for sure would be to find the old Mike Douglas tapes and watch them. Which I would find a way to do, if I cared enough. I don't. In the meantime, I can only say that's the way I remember it. I won't say it's the way it happened, because it may or may not have been that way. But I remember it that way.

It's enough for me at this point to believe he's not a legit anything.

[bozothedeathmachine]

I remember seeing him on 2 talk shows several years apart. He had an audience member whom he had never met (;)) draw a shape on a piece of paper. Without looking he then did the same thing. They were both triangles "exact to the millimeter" in his own words. The thing is he did this on both shows, with someone he had never met, it was the same ***** triangle, and these shows were many years apart. I don't know why, but I have a memory for that kind of crap, and that's how it happened. This dude is so full of crap I'm surprised it isn't leaking out of his ears.

Hold on, someone's at my door. It must be Gellar's lawsuit. What a dickwad.

[Stainless_Steel_Rat]

It's only obvious between the 15-17 second marks that he's bending it... :) You know, I always carry my spoons in 2 hands... I might drop it otherwise...


SSR

[hgc]

Originally posted by Nigel
...The only way to find that out for sure would be to find the old Mike Douglas tapes and watch them. Which I would find a way to do, if I cared enough. I don't. ...Care, please care. Museum of Television & Radio (http://www.mtr.org/welcome.htm) - this place has tapes of everything.

[Nigel]

Originally posted by hgc
Care, please care. Museum of Television & Radio (http://www.mtr.org/welcome.htm) - this place has tapes of everything.
I try to take requests, so I'll rephrase my statement. If I can find the time (or make the time :)). Maybe after the kids go to bed.

[TheBoyPaj]

The guy on this demo video (http://www.penguinmagic.com/europe/product.php?ID=488) is quite good, too.


(I know it's a link to a commercial site, but hopefully the mods will see it as educational?)

[hgc]

Originally posted by hgc
Care, please care. Museum of Television & Radio (http://www.mtr.org/welcome.htm) - this place has tapes of everything. Well since I have a lot shorter walk over to 52nd Street than you do, perhaps I'll do it myself.

Anyone know the date of Uri's appearence on Mike Douglas? How about the date of The Tonight Show where Randi set him up to fail?

[Nigel]

Originally posted by hgc
Well since I have a lot shorter walk over to 52nd Street than you do, perhaps I'll do it myself.

Anyone know the date of Uri's appearence on Mike Douglas? How about the date of The Tonight Show where Randi set him up to fail?
I'd say you have about a 1,200 mile shorter walk than I do. :)
But I didn't say I didn't agree to look. Whoever finds it (if it exists, remember, this is my memory we're going by) and posts it firsts, wins.

[HenDralux]

Originally posted by CFLarsen

Well, it was a suggestion... :)

Yeah I know Claus. Just wondering if anybody has an alternative suggestion, the spoon does appear to be more bent than when he first begins to just before he rises to show other people. I'm guessing the spoon was a tea-spoon from the cafe/restaurant and it was an impromptu incident filmed by another person there...so, unless it was a set up, or Gellar switched spoons, the spoon itself must be a normal everday teaspoon.

Tried bending a tea-spoon in full view of others myself by applying pressure...s' not that easy. That is some expert sleight of hand.

[walthrup48]

I remember watching that clip when it was shown on TV*. IIRC (!), a few seconds after Claus' clip ends, part of the shelf unit (briefly shown) collapses and much is made of that as an effect of Uri's powers.

Uri retracted the 'higher beings gave me my powers' tale in his book 'The Geller Effect', co-authoured with Guy Lyon Playfair. Chapter 13.

Temperamental TV card willing, I'll upload clips of Geller's appearance on 'The Salon' last year (where he uses his powers for psychic drawing and unscrewing the lid off a jar). Link soon.

*Edited to add: Er, I was made to watch Noel's House Party by my parents. Honest.

[Nigel]

Originally posted by JimTheBrit
I remember watching that clip when it was shown on TV*. IIRC (!), a few seconds after Claus' clip ends, part of the shelf unit (briefly shown) collapses and much is made of that as an effect of Uri's powers.

Uri retracted the 'higher beings gave me my powers' tale in his book 'The Geller Effect', co-authoured with Guy Lyon Playfair. Chapter 13.

Temperamental TV card willing, I'll upload clips of Geller's appearance on 'The Salon' last year (where he uses his powers for psychic drawing and unscrewing the lid off a jar). Link soon.

*Edited to add: Er, I was made to watch Noel's House Party by my parents. Honest.
Geller retracted the 'higher beings' bit? So he actually had claimed it? That he even claimed it would mean a lot to me, because that means I can trust my memory (in this case, at least). Wow. I'll have to find the book in my trusty library (no spending my money to give to that sob, let me tell you!) and have a look. I'll still have a go at trying to find the Mike Douglas show though.

[Loki]

A few bits and pieces (dragged only somewhat willingly from my memory)

1. Saw Uri on Jay Leno about 3 years ago - he said then that the source of his powers was "unknown", but he babbled something about his mother being "psychic", and hinted that perhaps it was genetic.

2. Saw Randi on a Aussie morning TV show a few years ago when he was here for a conference. He was interviewed outside. He produced a fork which he claimed was "perfectly normal, unaltered, borrowed straight from the hotel". He held it up to the camera between thumb and forefinger, rubbed it gently for 5 seconds or so, and it broke into two. Sure looked convincing.

3. Saw Uri on a TV show hosted by David Frost a few years back. The show sent a reporter to Paris, and did a live cross to her from the London studio as she stood at the Eiffel Tower. She faced the camera, held a piece of paper out of camera shot, and drew something. Uri was in the London studio. He watched the reporter on the monitor, "concentrated", then produced a paper and drew a picture. The reporter then showed her drawing to the camera. Uri's picture matched! (it was a simple "smiling face", or "smiling sun" I think). Nice trick - much better than his spoon bending.

Uri might have made a reasonable magician, if he wasn't such an ass.

[Patricio Elicer]

Originally posted by UnTrickaBLe
I would love to see some more Uri spoon-bending videos if they exist. Just a tip for everyone interested in watching Randi at lenght debunking psychics and the like:

The Skeptic Society (http://www.skeptic.com) released a 3 VHS tape set of Randi's speech at the 1998 Skeptics Society Convention. His lecture was called "James Randi's Solved Mysteries Workshop".

I guess the title says it all. There's almost 6 hours of Randi catching the psychics in the "moment of truth" as he calls it, among other things. Original TV footage of psychics in action is included, and you will see a very young Randi in many of them.

From memory, there are 4 or 5 different clips showing Geller on his habitual spoon bending, remote viewing and watch fixing performances, and being caught on the "moment of truth".

Really amusing videos, highly recommended

The Geller's video on the opening post of this thread is part of a longer video. In the workshop, Randi shows a segment in which Geller performs a remote viewing act (guessing a drawing) to the same woman sitting on the table, and obviously is caught in "the moment of truth" :D. Randi explained that Geller was unaware that he was being taped on that restaurant, though he didn't give more details about that

More info on the videos, prices, etc are here:

http://www.skeptic.com/avtapes.html

The codes for the videos are AV66, AV67, AV68


DISCLAIMER: this is not a commercial advertisement, I'm not involved with the Skeptic Society in any way :)

[TheBoyPaj]

Uri claims his powers came from a strange light he encountered as a child. Here is a picture which he seems to claim depicts the event:

http://www.uri-geller.com/pics/beam.jpg

It is mentioned here:

http://www.uri-geller.com/uri-biography/uribiog1.htm

[CFLarsen]

"At the age of four he had a mysterious encounter with a sphere of light while in a garden near his house."

Compare that with his account in the book.

Where does the "sphere" come in? The picture shows quite another event, namely something - a monolith or something - emitting the light. And where, in the book, does he describe the saucer?

The picture very much resembles old paintings of saints being blessed by God or angels.

[Marian]

That looks like a giant blue condom.

Great between this and the vulva on the wall, people are going to think I'm the resident pervert around here! ;(

[HenDralux]

You must've experienced some odd condoms in your time Marian. That little hooky bit at the top would worry me greatly.

[UnTrickaBLe]

Originally posted by hgc
Well since I have a lot shorter walk over to 52nd Street than you do, perhaps I'll do it myself.

Anyone know the date of Uri's appearence on Mike Douglas? How about the date of The Tonight Show where Randi set him up to fail?

Oh man... I would LOVE to see either of these. :D

[Thomas]

Originally posted by Marian
That looks like a giant blue condom.

..With a hole in it. Poor Uri, no wonder he turned out the way he did after such an experience. Disgusting.

[davidhorman]

Randi explained that Geller was unaware that he was being taped on that restaurant, though he didn't give more details about that

It was supposed to be a hidden camera stunt - incompetent waiters, crazy fans, that kind of shenanigans. As I recall Noel Edmonds did make a fairly big thing of "we caught Uri Geller cheating!" and yet no-one seems to remember it. I even emailed Randi about it once, to check I wasn't misremembering, and he said, yes, we have the tape, and it's hilarious.

David

[UnTrickaBLe]

Originally posted by davidhorman


It was supposed to be a hidden camera stunt - incompetent waiters, crazy fans, that kind of shenanigans. As I recall Noel Edmonds did make a fairly big thing of "we caught Uri Geller cheating!" and yet no-one seems to remember it. I even emailed Randi about it once, to check I wasn't misremembering, and he said, yes, we have the tape, and it's hilarious.

David

If someone could get their hands on a high-quality, unedited version of this, it would be great.

[UnTrickaBLe]

Originally posted by Patricio Elicer
Just a tip for everyone interested in watching Randi at lenght debunking psychics and the like:

The Skeptic Society (http://www.skeptic.com) released a 3 VHS tape set of Randi's speech at the 1998 Skeptics Society Convention. His lecture was called "James Randi's Solved Mysteries Workshop".

I guess the title says it all. There's almost 6 hours of Randi catching the psychics in the "moment of truth" as he calls it, among other things. Original TV footage of psychics in action is included, and you will see a very young Randi in many of them.

From memory, there are 4 or 5 different clips showing Geller on his habitual spoon bending, remote viewing and watch fixing performances, and being caught on the "moment of truth".

Really amusing videos, highly recommended

The Geller's video on the opening post of this thread is part of a longer video. In the workshop, Randi shows a segment in which Geller performs a remote viewing act (guessing a drawing) to the same woman sitting on the table, and obviously is caught in "the moment of truth" :D. Randi explained that Geller was unaware that he was being taped on that restaurant, though he didn't give more details about that

More info on the videos, prices, etc are here:

http://www.skeptic.com/avtapes.html

The codes for the videos are AV66, AV67, AV68


DISCLAIMER: this is not a commercial advertisement, I'm not involved with the Skeptic Society in any way :)

I don't even have VHS anymore. :(

Maybe they should work on putting together some DVDs, or hosting videos on their website.

[Nigel]

On the Mike Douglas show, I did find this (http://www.tvofyourlife.com/MIKEDOUGLASSHOW.htm) so far. That doesn't mean I'm finished looking. Still, you guys have pretty well corroborated an old (well, aging) man's memory. Judging from the picture, it's pretty clear (with the saucer image), that Geller claimed aliens gave him his powers. And what did he do with this marvelous power? Did he help bring about peace? Show incontrovertible evidence we are not alone in the universe? NO! HE BENT SPOONS! My god, if that happened to me, I sure wouldn't travel the world like in a circus saying, "Go get your broken watch! I will fix it with the power of my mind!" I'd do something to help humanity (and make some money on the side of course). But I sure wouldn't do some minor stage magic trick like make silverware bend. And how come he uses stuff like spoons? Can't he make a bowie knife bend just using the power of his mind?

It seems to me just asking questions shows the man is a fraud.
But still, people believe. This is only logical.

[c0rbin]

GORT! Klatu Barkta Niktu!

[TheBoyPaj]

Originally posted by Nigel
I'd do something to help humanity (and make some money on the side of course). But I sure wouldn't do some minor stage magic trick like make silverware bend. And how come he uses stuff like spoons? Can't he make a bowie knife bend just using the power of his mind?


Yeah. Why can't he do good stuff like: stop a bullet cold, make the axis fold, change their minds and change the world?

Oh hang on. That's Wonderwoman.

[walthrup48]

Originally posted by Nigel

I'll have to find the book in my trusty library (no spending my money to give to that sob, let me tell you!) and have a look.

Save youself the calories, mate. The book is available to read online on Geller's website here (http://www.uri-geller.com/geller-effect/tge0.htm).

This thread is the perfect place for the following quote from Guy Lyon Playfair (page 218, chapter 14):

"Geller has never been proved fraudulent. Nor has he ever been proved to have genuine psychic abilites beyond any reasonable doubt."

One wonders why Lyon actually agreed to co-write a book on Geller's powers if he felt they hadn't been proved "beyond any reasonable doubt". As for that first sentence ........

[Nigel]

Originally posted by JimTheBrit


Save youself the calories, mate. The book is available to read online on Geller's website here (http://www.uri-geller.com/geller-effect/tge0.htm).

This thread is the perfect place for the following quote from Guy Lyon Playfair (page 218, chapter 14):

"Geller has never been proved fraudulent. Nor has he ever been proved to have genuine psychic abilites beyond any reasonable doubt."

One wonders why Lyon actually agreed to co-write a book on Geller's powers if he felt they hadn't been proved "beyond any reasonable doubt". As for that first sentence ........
Thanks for the tip. Based on that quote, Geller is...what? Not a fraud, not proven real...I'll have to read it to really find out.

[wipeout]

Originally posted by Joshua Korosi
...when Uri was younger, he was out playing in some fields or whatever when he saw a UFO that came down and hovered very close, and shot him with a beam or something before taking off. Ever since then, according to my memory, Uri has had the amazing mental ability to take 5 minutes to bend a spoon.

Originally posted by Marian
That looks like a giant blue condom.

Great between this and the vulva on the wall, people are going to think I'm the resident pervert around here! ;(

Originally posted by Thomas
..With a hole in it. Poor Uri, no wonder he turned out the way he did after such an experience. Disgusting.

LOL! :D :D :D

[WildCat]

Originally posted by HenDralux
Is it really just expert sleight of hand?
No. It is amateurish sleight of hand.

[Questioninggeller]

I asked this some time ago, but don't recall getting an answer. If someone did, I apologize. I recall seeing Geller when he first burst on the scene in the 70s. He made an appearance on the American TV talk show the Mike Douglas Show, and claimed his power came from aliens from the Andromeda galaxy. I admit I have no proof for that, simply my own recollection. Has anyone else heard that? Is it my own malleable memory? I've not read of it anywhere, even in Randi's books. Just my memory. But it stuck with me lo these many years. Any confirmation would be appreciated.

Does anyone have any video of that?

[Steve Knight]

Nigel, Google will answer most of your questions about Uri's 'alien' claims:

"Uri Geller" spectra hoova (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=%22uri+geller%22+spectra+hoova&btnG=Google+Search&meta=)