The Geller After Effect

Financial Times 17/08/2002 by Julia Llewellyn Smith:

“He started rubbing the spoon telling us to keep watching it. It bent,
but not only that — he put it down and it continued bending.”

“I believe in the possibility of psycic ability, especially after witnessing Uri Geller bend one of my own spoons before my eyes! (it even continued to bend when he let go of it!).”

Cheri Freund’s illustration

 

“Uri’s lecture and spoon bending was truly amazingI had never experienced a sense of energy or witnessed anything like that ever before, the heavy spoon just continued bending on the counter top.”
Brigadier Charlie Hobson Royal Marines.

“Has anyone got a spoon?” he asked, almost before we had had time to sit down.I produced one guiltily from my pocket. He seized it, held it in one hand, and proceeded to stroke it gently with the fingers of his other hand. It bent. There, right in front of my disbelieving eyes, it began to curve.

He held it up in front of him in the tips of his fingers and it continued to curve until it had kinked into almost a right angle. Then he signed it with a flourish and handed it triumphantly back.”

“Geller called for a spoon from the cafeteria in the building and an employee of the bookstore went to get one.He then started rubbing the spoon between his thumb and forefinger and the spoon began to bend. He then asked yours truly to hold it and continued answering questions. He then turned around and asked me if the spoon had bent further. I didn’t answer even though it obviously had because I was thinking “He’s using the power of suggestion”. But the people next to me answered yes and I eventually had to agree. I was no plant and neither were those with me.”
Mr G. White

“One minute I was stirring my cappuccino with this spoon, the next minute Uri picked it up and started rubbing the neck lightly with a finger. I saw a hump forming, which was impressive, and I thought that was it. Then the handle began to bend up! And what’s really amazing is that when Uri handed the spoon to me, it continued to bend!”

“Uri picks up the spoon and walks right up to where I stand. He holds up the bowl of the spoon, which is upside down and parallel to the floor; it is twelve inches away from my face. Uri strokes the neck of the spoon lightly, and immediately, discernably, the handle begins to move up. He holds the spoon aloft and walks it like a trophy through the crowd. It continues to bend, as if the neck were plastic.”
Jane Bernstein

“…guests inspected a metal tennis racket from the club pro shopand declared it straight and sturdy. But after Geller applied several light strokes to the racket’s surface, the racket bent and continued bending for some time.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Uri’s humble shack on the Thames.
Unfortunately, the spoon he gave me continued to bend for several hours after my departure, so it’s now totally useless in the kitchen!”
Dr. John F. Murray

“Here is a bigger wonder. Geller handed the spoon back to Paul and we both saw it continuing to bend. Geller was nowhere near it.”
Editor of Fortean Times

“We examined the spoon. Saw the BA inscription. Uri had a short-sleeved shirt on so his arms were bare. He was at pains to hold the spoon at arm’s length away from his body. His assistant did not come within touching distance of the spoon.
Uri took it to the fireplace (still holding it out) and we followed very closely. He said the metal in the fireplace would help. We crouched down (all 4 of us), the spoon some 6 inches from our eyes. At the point it was not bent. I know this because Uri was holding it in his finger tips, upside down, by the bowl and the stem was clearly visible. He then stroked it with his other hand’s finger tips. I was thinking, ‘If this is heat or chemicals the spoon will start to droop downwards as it softens’. It didn’t, instead it bent upwards. He did not take it out of our sight and bring it back bent.
It moved while we watched it. He then walked back to the sofa and coffee table. (Remember he was wearing short sleeves and we were watching all the time). He placed the spoon down on the table and we all looked at it, because we were fascinated. As we watched the spoon (Uri was well away from it), started to curl up even more, probably doubling the bend by the time it stopped. Nobody was touching it during this time.

When it stopped moving I picked it up. I asked Uri how he did it and he said, ‘I have no idea to be honest.’ I looked at the inscription on the spoon – it was right where the bend was, but was undistorted and not cracked at all. I would have expected one of these two things if it had been chemically softened or forcibly bent. (This is quite a thick spoon and would be difficult to bend.) We were mystified because with all three watching so closely the only non-paranormal method we could imagine was the use of heat of chemicals (although we couldn’t see how that could have been done either), but the lack of distortion counted that out.”
Jenny Smedley (www.jennysmedley.com)

“I had the pleasure of meeting Uri Geller in August 1999 on the day of the total solar eclipse. We both were guest of Quest for Knowledge Magazine on the Channel ferry ‘Pride of le Havre’. Uri, of course, bent a spoon for me and, as much as I wanted to stay skeptical, I was utterly convinced that his powers are genuine. It has to be seen to be believed.”
Robert Bauval

“We’ve all seen it; he gently rubs the spoon and it bends towards his rubbing finger… almost more impressive than the act of bending it was that it really did seem to continue bending after he handed it to me… say from 45 to 90 degrees…” Chris Stein

“Geller strokes the spoon with his index finger, almost instantly it droops. I touch it – it is boiling hot and continues to bend after Geller lets it go.”
Cannock & Rugeley Chronicle, 28 November 2002

“There is no question in my mind that Uri’s talents are for real”.
Ruth Montgomery, 1913-2001: A past President of the Prestigious National Press Club also Washington DC reporter & author.

“I finally get to him, and ask him to bend the spoon for me. After some protests, he takes the spoon, rubs the handle a bit with his finger, stops rubbing the spoon, and the spoon starts bending. He hands the spoon to me half bent, and the spoon keeps bending while it is in my hand.

No shit. Uri was wearing short sleeves, and I didn’t see anything that made me want to cry “shenanigans”! The bent spoon was definitely the same spoon that I originally handed him.”

“On April 9th, 1992, your humble Smear editor met the famous psychic (?) Uri Geller and family, at a posh hotel in Miami, to discuss our mutual troubles with James (“The Amusing”) Randi and other matters. We were all sitting having “tea” at a table in their spacious tea room, when Geller suddenly picked up the spoon from his place setting, and walked your editor over to the nearest wall. There he touched the spoon very lightly near its middle, whereupon the spoon started to bend on its own for a period of perhaps thirty seconds without being further touched by Geller or anyone else.
Afterwards he autographed the spoon, now bent at a 90 degree angle, and let us keep it.”
 Editor, SMEAR

“Hynek tried to be very specific as to his observation: Uri held the key in his hand, with the small part sticking out. It started to sag. Then Uri put the key on a table and the key continued to bend. Hynek emphasized this(which is why I remember his description) Uri was not touching the key, yet Hynek could easily see it continuing to bend.
The resulting bend was 20-30 degrees with much of that coming after Uri removed his hand form it. … Hynek has the table surface as a reference “point” and the key, sitting “alone” on the table, continued to bend without anyone touching it.”