The Geller Phenomenon
The article from 1974 featuring an amazing story about my uncle.
The article from 1974 featuring an amazing story about my uncle.
Forewords.
The following will be the translation of an article published in a Norwegian magazine in 1974. The magazine was called NÅ or NOW in English and doesn’t exist in any digital archive to my knowledge.
I finally obtained a scan of the magazine from my uncle Tor. He kept it safe all these years, because he is the spoon bending kid featured in it!
I grew up hearing stories about this (and their other even more exciting adventures into the fringe) from my dad when I was a kid. Basically they we’re communicating with spirits (extra-dimensional entities) and this led to all kinds of crazy experiences throughout their childhood and early youth!
I’m actually urging them to collaborate on a book about all this craziness that they experienced, currently they’re separately writing down what they can remember and will later compare their notes. When they’re done I will do what I can to translate and publish those stories too.
The article:
Originally written by Gunnar Moe. Translated by Joakim L. Christiansen (me).
Does this explain Geller?
«I get to hold the fork myself and almost drops it on the floor. It’s moving inside of my hand!»
«Look, he knows how to do it too!» the whole family shouts.
Writes Gunnar Moe about his experiences, when he was out to expose the Geller effect…
One by one the kids show up on a floodlighted scene. A sharp light blinds them at first, before they notice a bunch of undecided and unknown faces in the audience. With their eyes they’re scanning around to find their parents who are among them somewhere.
The audience is waiting in excitement… And among them are men of science; doubtful unknown faces barely visible to the kids, a shrink, a psychiatrist, a chemist and a metallurgist. The press and famous magicians.
“Magic Circle Norway” are having one of their best days, finally under strict control it will now be proven whether the “Geller effect” is just tricks and deception, or if it isn’t…
Five Norwegian “small Gellers” have the opportunity to win 50,000 NOK if they can manage to reproduce what they’ve already shown to friends and family. They’re sitting there on the scene, rubbing and rubbing with an intense focus. While the whole audience is holding their breath. Is the miracle going to happen here right in front of their eyes…?
But no, no “Geller bending” took place, as most probably expected?
Is the “Geller effect” finally proven a hoax? I’m sitting in my office and wondering about this when the phone suddenly rings. «I know you’re going to write an article about Geller and the show which took place at Magic Circle» says the voice of a man. He presents himself, but his name is totally unknown to me.
«I want you to know the full truth and what’s really going on when children like these are claiming to be able to bend metal objects in unexplainable ways» he says.
Where is he calling from?
He gives me a detailed explanation on where to find him. It’s a small obscurely located office in the middle of the city. «There’s no name on the door. Just ask for me when you’re there. I preferably don’t want to be out in the spotlight» he says.
MENTAL MAGIC!
«What’s happening is known to everybody who has dabbled with mental magic or mentalism, which it’s also known as»
He looks like a normal person. Absolutely not like any mystical magician. But he is one of those who knows the most about this kind of magic, according to himself.
Mentalism, what’s that?
«Mentalism has its roots in mental magic, and it’s basically the same technique witch-doctors and medicine-men always has been using. And which Uri Geller knowingly also is using.
It’s miracles in the physical plane. It’s magic with thoughts, feelings, willpower, past and present… It’s a form of “magic trick”, but there are only a few of the professional magicians today who have mental-magic tricks on their program» he explains.
«A real metal-magician neither acts like a normal magician. Far from it, he has to do everything he can to not be confused with someone who does magic tricks with high-hats and cards! Just as Uri Geller he starts his seances with a few introductory tricks. He “reads thoughts”, does some telepathic exercises and make watches start ticking again… All of this is fully explainable, but necessary to create the right mood, the right atmosphere needed for the real mental magic to start»
He takes an artistic pause in his explanation, and continues…
«But then, when this is done, that’s when things start to happen. It’s just like in an awakening-seance. Hidden human powers are summoned, and from now on nobody can predict which kinds of inexplicable phenomenons will occur…»
What is it he’s trying to make me believe?
«I think that the first time these children ever bent anything, that it then was a real phenomenon» he says in a serious tone. «But the explanation doesn’t exist in the plane of what the parents or many others believe. The bending is being done unconsciously. But after a while they’re driven to outright cheating; when they’re continuously pushed to repeat it again and again. The danger is that they risk getting stuck in a kind of classical conditioning, just like Pavlov’s famous dogs…»
Then he starts talking about one of the mental-magic seances he participated in hosting a few years ago.
«The first strange things to happen I had secretly arranged before the seance. But everything that happened afterwards was totally outside of my control!»
The ones who participated in the seance were absolutely terrified.
«And from now on it was no longer normal magic tricks going on» he says. «It was mental-magic. And I’m going to share a secret with you: If you believe strongly enough, one day you’ll experience things that scare you…»
What is this? Witchcraft? Black magic? Is it just suggestion and hypnosis? What kind of hidden powers exist in a human and how do we summon them?
«It’s an extension of the concept of suggestion. It’s actually wrong to call it “supernatural”. Psychiatrists know these things on a theoretical plane, without actually knowing much about how they can be put into action» he says calmly.
«The interest in these phenomena comes in waves. Now it’s “in” again, just like it was in the years after the second world war»
And Uri Geller is far from the first who has used mental-magic in his shows. He just does it in a brand new way, using a modern medium: He does it through TV.
«It’s fully possible to perform hypnosis through TV» he says. «It’s illegal though. And it would be extremely dangerous, you wouldn’t have any control over the things that would happen in the homes of thousands…»
So did Uri Geller hypnotize his TV audience? Has he committed a serious crime under the radar of everyone…?
«At least I think it sounds quite pathetic when Norwegian magicians are so displeased with Geller, saying his performances are unethical. If he had announced that he was doing “magic tricks”, then he wouldn’t have been able to achieve anything!»
I stumbled out for a walk… «Hidden powers. Witch-doctors. Mentalism…»
TRICKS, CHEATING AND ULTRASOUND
“The truth about Uri Geller” is the name of the book which magician Jan Crosby has written. The Norwegian state TV-channel (NRK) has been fooled, scientists and everybody else has been victims of a “practical joke”, the author claims.
Geller is using nothing but common tricks. There‘s nothing paranormal or “godlike” about him. In detail we get to know how Geller fools his audience. He always use the same approach and he executes it professionally…
Also the Danish magazine “Popular Electronics” has their explanation about Geller’s tricks: «We’re almost certain that it happens through the means of manipulation using ultrasound» they write.
«A sonic pressure-wave is emitted through the medium’s arm (in this case Geller’s) probably at a frequency of 50 to 80 kilohertz, similar to what’s used in sonars in the maritime shipping industry.
The element which converts the electric oscillations into mechanical high frequency vibrations is a barium-titanate plate which is mounted on the medium’s arm. It might even (one must not deny the possibility) have been surgically inserted under his skin…»
The power needed to make a fork bend, eventually causing it to break must be around 50 watts. Which can be transferred from several tiny accumulators hidden in Geller’s belt and pockets, explains Popular Electronics.
In other words; Geller’s tricks can be explained in more than one way. So why are there still so many people who believe in Geller? Is it because humans simply just need something to believe in?
THE PSYCHIATRIST: «DUAL CONSCIOUSNESS»
«Yes» says psychiatrist Herlofsen, head doctor at Lier Hospital. He was part of the control committee in the show held by Magic Circle.
«The human nature is in itself quite weak, often we feel so weak and helpless that we need something bigger to cling on to, something powerful outside of ourselves. And people believe in all kinds of stuff. Some believe in God, others in Marx. And obviously some believe in Uri Geller…»
«What do you believe yourself?»
«I think Geller is a great magician!»
«What then about these children, who themselves are convinced that they are bending spoons using the “Geller effect”?»
«It can be a kind of double consciousness playing us a trick» he says. «Just like when the magician Finn Jon made my necktie dance by itself, in the middle of the air»
He laughs frantically. «I saw it with my own eyes, yet I know that it’s absolutely impossible that something like that can happen…»
«But on the other hand a human can hold multiple personalities, we know about lots of such cases. Many probably remember the movie “The Three Faces of Eve”. And every neurologist knows about this double personality phenomena. Separate minds in one and the same human body, which either knows about each other or not. They are actually examples of what we in medicine call “hysterical states”. And those are states more or less connected with hypnosis and suggestion». But hypnosis typically doesn’t last very long.
«We actually know nothing about what’s going on in the brain when these things happen» says Dr. Herlofsen.
«But if you had seen with your own eyes that one of the children managed to bend a spoon without using muscle-force, what would you have believed then?»
«Then I would have had to re-evaluate my own position… There are no absolutes in this world.
There actually exists a device which can measure if muscle force is used by the way. Such a device would have been much more reliable than the persons watching the subject» says Dr. Herlofsen.
«I believe there are powers in us only a few of us know how to use. For some people these powers are so strong that they almost becomes an annoyance»
«Is it these powers Geller stimulate?»
«No, I don’t believe so. Then he shouldn’t have been so afraid to participate in controlled experiments»
«Maybe it’s like the mentalist suggests, that Geller only kick-starts the phenomenon?»
Head doctor Herlofsen shrugs his shoulders. «Who knows. It might be…»
So who has the answer?
Dr. Herlofsen is not convinced about anything. He holds every possibility open, but decides to keep himself to the reality we know.
Crosby the magician exposes Geller as a fellow college…
The mental-magician (or mentalist) suggests hidden powers and has partial support by the science.
And Geller continues on…
I went on to visit the home of one of the children who participated in the Magic Circle show.
«I’VE BENT 50 OBJECTS»
13-year old Tor Christiansen. Oslo city, Norway.
«No, I have absolutely not lost my faith in that I can bend things!»
He doesn’t look like a disillusioned and exposed trickster who‘s fooled both mother, father and friends. And the parents are not convinced either, after the show they attended.
«Look here» says Tor and shows me a tea-spoon with a handle which is noticeably bent in two places. «I bent this the day after the show»
His older brother Jan nods his head confirmingly. «I saw him doing it without using any force. I’ve seen him do it many times»
«I’ve also bent keys and nails, all in all I think around 50 different objects» says Tor. Many of my classmates at the school have seen it, especially that time we went on a trip to Høvringen. Then my teacher also saw it, I just barely touched a spoon and then it started waving up and down…
«Like this» He demonstrates it by waving up and down with a spoon.
«Sometimes I bend things just by looking at them» says Tor and shows me his Geller-look.
«Would you manage to bend this?» I ask him, and give him the key to my postbox.
The clock is just past 9 in the evening. The whole family is gathered in the living room. Tor is trying to bend the key, but has to give up after 20 minutes.
«Myself, I’m a little skeptical of this» says Tor’s dad, Bjørn Christiansen who is a technical drawer.
But Tor is not ready to give up yet. Mrs. Lizzie Christiansen is sent to the kitchen to find some utensils he can bend.
«I’ve forbidden him to try it on the silverware!» she says laughing.
Tor picks a little fork. I control it thoroughly first, it’s made out of stiff rust-free steel. He then holds it in his left hand at the end of the pointy end, and begins to touch carefully where it is at its thinnest.
We stay there talking, time goes by fast. Nothing has happened with the fork, but I keep my eyes on it…
«Will you be disappointed if Geller is exposed as a hoaxer?»
«No, because I don’t think that will happen» says Tor without a doubt. «Because it’s not any tricks, and it’s as easy as that!»
He bent his first spoon already the day after the Geller TV-show last autumn, he says. «You just need to get the spoon “over the edge” and from then on it’s easy.
Once I bent a water faucet at the school. And now they’ve replaced it, but the janitor was very confused…»
«What do you think allows these things to bend?»
He looks worried and looks towards his brother Jan. «We know what, but we don’t want to say…»
«Do you think it’s something that has to do with God, like Geller claims?»
He nods. «Yes».
«Children can see things grownups can’t see» says Mrs. Lizzie.
«I’m open to everything» says the father. «There might be a lot of strange things between heaven and Earth that we don’t know about yet»
I look at the watch, it’s soon half past eleven. Now Tor has been sitting for more than an hour rubbing that fork. Okay, that was that, I think for myself. Let’s try to end this gently…
It’s a little sad for Tor. I take some pictures of him while I keep my eyes on the fork. «Well, I guess this speaks to your advantage» I say. «That you didn’t try to trick me»
Then suddenly he shouts out with excitement: «It’s starting, it’s starting!»
We freeze! Now we’re all watching the fork which Tor is holding with the tip of his fingers in his left hand. We gather around him and he gently taps the handle with his right middle finger. And watch, the handle is slowly bending upwards!
I get a freezing feeling starting at my lower spine and moving up to the hairs in my neck as the fork is clearly moving around by itself…
Tor has control over it now, his left hand is stiff and still, I can clearly see that. It’s not an optical illusion, or is it? Is it just Tor who tilts the whole fork slowly upwards?
No, it’s bending, in a continuously more pointed angle! Now he isn’t even touching it, just staring hard at the point that is bending.
«Now I’m not going to even touch it» he says with victory in his voice. «It’s gotten past the edge now, look!»
The fork stops bending just to vibrate gently, then bending downwards and then straightening itself almost back out again.
Tor touches it again, this time at the underside of the handle. And the fork immediately responds: It curls back up…
I’ve become hot and dizzy. This can’t be true! No one will believe this…
Tor just keeps “playing around” with the steel.
Then I get to hold the fork myself and almost drops it on the floor. As it’s moving, inside of my own hand!
«Look, he knows how to do it too!» the family shouts all at the same time.
Then, finally, it stops. Then it had become a dead, cold and normal fork again.
While driving home I had a strange feeling in my stomach. If a flying saucer had landed on the top of my car I wouldn’t even have been surprised.
End of article, closing words.
Growing up hearing these stories has helped me to maintain an open mind about everything “paranormal”. Today I’m basically an expert on the paranormal and I’ve also had some of my own mind bending experiences.
But if you’re new in this field, I guess this must be very hard for you to take seriously and believe in. I guess I can’t say anything to convince you, but I think that it’s important for everybody to learn more about these things. In my opinion it will make it easier for you to deal with our future, because soon these things will be common knowledge. And it might blow your mind to pieces if you’re not prepared at all…
So what is this Geller effect?
Today we call such phenomena “mind over matter”, and specifically anyone bending spoons or moving things with their “thoughts” are practicing what’s known as telekinesis (or psychokinesis).
Basically it can be explained that the physical rules of this universe can be affected by the minds of the ones who are around to observe them. Then we the observers are actually also a kind of maintainers of these rules, hence our opinions about what’s possible or not can affect “reality”.
This is basically what the anonymous mentalist was describing. Hence why such magicians often start by tricking the audience into believing that wild things are possible; to put them in the right mindset and in effect actually making these things possible! Creating an environment where the laws of physics become fluid!
Just think about it…
The Maharishi Effect
Because what happens if lots of people gather somewhere and pray for something? With a high enough percentage of people believing that they’ll be able to make a change; they actually seem to be able to do just that!
This is actually called the Maharishi Effect and they managed to lower the crime rate in Washington, D.C. by 11% by applying this method. Also it sounds a lot like the placebo effect doesn’t it? And don’t get me started on the “double-slit experiment”…
Yeah, underlined words are actually links to where I urge you to go for more information about these subjects, please do and educate yourself!
So how can I learn more about what “reality” really is?
If you’re interested in “waking up from the Matrix” I have actually found the most effective method for this.
First, allow yourself to listen to what people have to say without judgement and without your own reasoning trying to make sense of things (just put them on a shelf somewhere, but do not lose them completely).
And do not confuse the word “God” with your own understanding of it, because you’ll need to re-learn the meaning of this word. Hence do not turn off a video whenever someone starts talking about “God”. Instead listen and understand that everybody has their own ideas about what “God” is…
So, who knows more about spirituality than the people who’ve actually witnessed themselves dying and going to these realms? The answer: Those people of course! Not any holy book, nor any religion…
Hence the most important lesson for you is to listen to these people!! They’ve had what’s known as Near Death Experiences (meaning they died and were resuscitated). So go to YouTube and search for “NDE” and “Near Death Experience” and listen to what these people experienced! Listen to at least 100 such videos (not necessarily the same day…).
Yup, I’ve done that myself and you need to listen to several of them before you’re able to start connecting the dots. Here are some videos to get you started:
Jayne Smith’s Profound NDE
Eben Alexander: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey through the Afterlife
All of these
Edit: I created a NDE playlist on YouTube that I keep updated with new videos.
Good luck on your journey!
A copy of the original magazine / article:
