Uri Geller’s powers can convert even the strongest skeptic into a believer. From psychic abilities and the gift to bend spoons, magic truly comes alive in his hands. But is it real or fake? Thrillz investigates.
Back to When It All Began
In the heart of Tel Aviv, Israel, within the midst of despair and destruction, a miracle was conceived. On 20th December 1946, Uri Geller took his first breath in the big world. Little did he know, that he was destined for a life as a Magician, bringing joy and wonder into everyone’s lives.
The Hebrew name “Uri” translates to “My Light” and derives from “Uriel”, God’s most trusted archangel – a fitting crowning for a born magician.
Uri Geller first took note of his powers when he was just five years old. Whilst sitting at the dinner table, little Uri Geller would watch his spoon bend, without rhyme or reason. His parents were stunned; but Uri continued to develop them in secret whilst at school. (A real-life Matilda…) This trick would later be dubbed “The Geller Effect”, the ability to bend metal, more formally known as dowsing.
At 7 years old, Uri’s powers progressed further. He developed an ability to stop time with psychokinesis. Okay, not physically stop time. But he could stare at a watch and move the hands forward or backward an hour. On that same day, the little magician also realised the clock’s hands were bent, too. At this moment, Uri Geller finally began to embrace his powers.
The Magic Behind Uri Geller’s Ability to Bend Spoons
Those of you familiar with this magician will maybe have witnessed Uri Geller bend spoons, whether from a YouTube video or in a live performance. Either way, the process is unfathomable.
Geller appears to gently rub the metal object without heat or force, and as if by magic, the spoon bends at his touch. It appears like the material’s composition changes into plastic, until it is bent at a ninety-degree angle.
Whilst a Magician will never reveal his secrets, we can safely say that bending spoons is not a one-off trick. Geller has replicated this power with the touch of his finger, just as quickly as you can say “bend spoons”. It is probably what Uri Geller is most famed for, which many radio programmes and TV shows have asked him to perform.
Hello… Are You There?
Another well-known prowess of Uri Geller is his paranormal perceptual ability. Psychic tricks often receive mixed reviews; the inability to explain something often confuses people. As humans, we like to disconfirm our fears – no one wants to believe that monsters are real, for example. Hence why Geller’s performances as a psychic tend to be dubbed as a fraud.
Contrary to popular belief, Geller has proved time and time again that he is a force not to be reckoned with. If you don’t believe us, maybe the CIA will convince you.
No, you’re not hallucinating – you read that right. The US Intelligence agency turned to Uri Geller for his psychic powers to help them solve mysteries and crack cases. In fact, Geller was recruited as a spy by the CIA known as “Operation Stargate” to help them find the person behind the JFK assassination (amongst other classified cases) using his supernatural powers.
Geller’s Powers Transform into a TV Show
Magician and illusionist, Uri Geller, translocated his stage shows onto the small screen. In 2005, Sky One was privy to Uri’s Haunted Cities, watching Geller embark on a series of journeys to visit the world’s most haunted landmarks, from London to Scotland and beyond.
In some twisted irony, Uri Geller also hosted the TV series Phenomenon which followed ten mentalists who demonstrated their abilities to a panel of judges and a live audience. Geller was on the search for the next great magician, or who would be fooled by their tricks.
Geller became somewhat of a television personality, appearing on ITV’s popular series I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! in 2002. Although he was the first to be voted off the show. Perhaps fellow contestants and the audience alike were scared of a paranormal intervention…
Uri Geller: The Master of Illusion
Amongst many of Geller’s powers are telepathy (the power of thought), telekinesis and describing hidden drawings inside an envelope. This is an experiment you may have seen by Derren Brown, in which the magician asks a series of questions to a random member of the audience who has put a drawing inside a card.
But Geller has also used his abilities to destroy an entire computer tape at Tokai University, and completely stripped a floppy disk in Switzerland of its data. Computer experts were left gobsmacked, for they couldn’t explain the unexplainable.
In 1989, Geller famously stopped London’s most famous landmark Big Ben at 11:11 – Uri’s mystical number – not once, not twice, but three times. So the question still remains: are these powers real or fake?
Geller vs Randi
On one such unforgettable experience, Uri Geller performed on the Carson Tonight Show back in 1973. In the interview, Geller revealed that he needs time and faith from the audience in order to make the unknown happen. “I call it a power,” he says, “there are no tricks here, if I do it, it’s done with real power”.
To his frustration, Geller was unable to call on his powers whilst sat opposite Carson. He believed that the conditions of the experiment were flawed, but all of this was designed as such. Uri Geller’s nemesis and fellow illusionist, James Randi, had informed the producers that they should acquire their own materials, from pictures in envelopes to spoons.
James Randi had talents that could put Houdini to shame, but he was also under the impression that Geller was a fraud. He even wrote an exposé on Geller, which details every way in which this magician possesses no more magic than a scam artist.
During the Tonight Show, Geller felt pressured to provide the audience with a performance; instead, he failed to use his abilities to his advantage. After this, Gellerism revealed itself as nothing more than a stunt show. However, Uri Geller was able to bend a spoon using one of the guests as a lovely assistant, thus redeeming himself and his unambiguous manner.
Proving Geller’s Abilities at the Stanford Research Institute
Uri Geller’s performance and incredible abilities were traversing time and space, until Germany and the US finally caught wind. Uri lent his service to the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in California in the ’70s and ’80s, who documented the experiments on film.
The magician managed to correctly guess the odds on eight out of ten throws, as well as discover the location of hidden objects. Odds which are faced at a trillion to one.
This success was a sign that Geller’s spoon bend power and other abilities were down to more than just luck or chance; the results of these experiments were later published in the British Journal Nature.
Other leading scientists, such as Brian Josephson (Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for Physics in 1973), Professor JB Hasted and David Bohm (who worked with physicist Albert Einstein on the Aharonov-Bohm effect) have performed a number of experiments on Uri Geller. All of which confirm his powers are significantly more than a fluke.