WEBVTT 00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:06.599 From the unexplained to the mundane, come join 00:00:06.599 --> 00:00:21.230 us on a Journey to the Fringe. Love that for 00:00:21.230 --> 00:00:24.449 us. We are your podcast hosts who really don't 00:00:24.449 --> 00:00:27.050 have a physical form that you're going to be 00:00:27.050 --> 00:00:29.010 intaking, which is why we can tell you all about 00:00:29.010 --> 00:00:31.230 that, Taylor and Chelsea. I'm really glad we 00:00:31.230 --> 00:00:35.030 finally passed that testing. I know. We actually 00:00:35.030 --> 00:00:37.530 had to make a few cutbacks on our end to get 00:00:37.530 --> 00:00:39.649 to that level. Let's not worry about the lead 00:00:39.649 --> 00:00:41.990 that actually came up on it. Don't worry about 00:00:41.990 --> 00:00:44.570 it. Don't think about it. It's fine. That's how 00:00:44.570 --> 00:00:47.070 environmental impact works. If you don't think 00:00:47.070 --> 00:00:49.210 about it or if it's inconvenient for profit, 00:00:49.210 --> 00:00:51.869 it doesn't actually do anything bad. Exactly. 00:00:51.890 --> 00:00:54.210 If that's one thing that we've learned this week. 00:00:54.329 --> 00:00:56.829 We're here today doing one of those things that 00:00:56.829 --> 00:00:59.429 we probably should have done many, many years 00:00:59.429 --> 00:01:02.270 ago when we started this podcast. And that is 00:01:02.270 --> 00:01:06.450 going over somebody who is fundamental, not necessarily 00:01:06.450 --> 00:01:08.849 in like anything we specifically talk about, 00:01:09.170 --> 00:01:11.489 but within the fringe community. And that is 00:01:11.489 --> 00:01:14.560 a man by the name of Uri Geller. Uri Geller, 00:01:14.819 --> 00:01:18.140 who has come up on an episode or two already. 00:01:18.420 --> 00:01:20.780 Yeah, he's come up on at least two episodes that 00:01:20.780 --> 00:01:23.420 I can think of off the top of my head, if not 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:26.579 more. We're finally doing it. He sits in a weird 00:01:26.579 --> 00:01:30.000 fringe category that doesn't quite come up perfectly 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:32.159 with anything we really talk about, other than 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:35.939 specific topics and people. But he's very well 00:01:35.939 --> 00:01:39.180 known, not just in paranormal and fringe communities, 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:42.540 but world renowned. Yeah, I think he's been on 00:01:42.540 --> 00:01:44.900 a lot of like talk shows and stuff like that. 00:01:44.900 --> 00:01:46.980 He's probably a little bit more mainstream than 00:01:46.980 --> 00:01:49.379 people we usually talk about. Yeah, it's gonna 00:01:49.379 --> 00:01:52.359 be I think a three -part look at him. First part's 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:55.140 gonna be looking at basically his start to where 00:01:55.140 --> 00:01:57.239 he starts to get famous. From there we're gonna 00:01:57.239 --> 00:01:59.959 go from where he is famous to what happens for 00:01:59.959 --> 00:02:02.200 the rest of his career. And then we're gonna 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:04.799 look at a few other things on the third part 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:07.920 outside of those. That's fun. Just to keep it 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:09.759 vague because there's a lot of twists and turns 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:11.699 we're gonna have. to go through. Don't spoil 00:02:11.699 --> 00:02:14.379 it for me yet. I'm just excited to hear how he 00:02:14.379 --> 00:02:17.659 gets famous. Okay, and I'm just curious, when 00:02:17.659 --> 00:02:20.300 you hear the name Uri Geller, or Yuri Geller, 00:02:20.419 --> 00:02:23.000 what comes to mind for you? His spoons bending, 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.819 watches stop and working, first and foremost, 00:02:26.180 --> 00:02:30.099 and men who stare at goats, right? Yeah, Project 00:02:30.099 --> 00:02:32.500 Stargate, right? Or Stargate Project. There's 00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:34.680 a lot of things I learned that surprised me. 00:02:34.819 --> 00:02:37.659 I'm gonna really enjoy seeing where he falls 00:02:37.659 --> 00:02:39.659 in the asshole ranking at the end of the year. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:43.379 Who knows? Maybe he's a nice guy. And... I feel 00:02:43.379 --> 00:02:46.000 like you know. We just owe him an apology for 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:48.699 saying things like that. I know, but you guys 00:02:48.699 --> 00:02:53.180 don't at this point. I'm soon to know. There's 00:02:53.180 --> 00:02:55.199 a bunch of places I had to take from for this 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:58.180 episode. Yuri Geller has a website. I took some 00:02:58.180 --> 00:03:00.699 information from there. Wikipedia is always a 00:03:00.699 --> 00:03:03.180 great source. Yeah, it is. And there's just a 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:05.199 ton of stuff written about him in the Times of 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:08.080 Israel, Jerusalem Post, and many just different 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.400 news articles where I pulled from. But for the 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:12.199 most part, a lot of the stuff's gonna come from 00:03:12.199 --> 00:03:15.719 him himself or Wikipedia. If I've learned everything, 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:18.979 it's always he himself is a good source. Yes, 00:03:19.219 --> 00:03:23.139 Uri Self. Uri Geller was born in Israel on December 00:03:23.139 --> 00:03:27.219 20th, 1946. His parents were Hungarian and Austrian 00:03:27.219 --> 00:03:29.620 descent. This part comes directly from his website 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:32.099 and claims he's a distantly related relative 00:03:32.099 --> 00:03:35.639 to Sigmund Freud on his mother's side. So sometimes 00:03:35.639 --> 00:03:39.500 he'll call himself Uri Geller Freud or Uri Freud 00:03:39.500 --> 00:03:43.319 Geller. but like not actually proven. He might 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:45.580 be. I didn't look that far into it just because 00:03:45.580 --> 00:03:48.539 I don't understand he's a psychic. Why does it 00:03:48.539 --> 00:03:50.699 matter if you're related to Sigmund Freud? It's 00:03:50.699 --> 00:03:56.280 true, a psychologist. So I just didn't find it 00:03:56.280 --> 00:03:58.740 that important to get to the lowest of it And 00:03:58.740 --> 00:04:00.860 also once we get going you're gonna realize there 00:04:00.860 --> 00:04:03.680 are too many stories to look into to stop it 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:08.080 every single Like this next sentence at the age 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:10.479 of four He had a mysterious encounter with a 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:12.879 sphere of light while in a garden near his house 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:15.979 a retired Israeli Air Force officer who was an 00:04:15.979 --> 00:04:18.740 eyewitness to this encounter Validated this mystifying 00:04:18.740 --> 00:04:21.939 event decades later. No, that's it. That's all 00:04:21.939 --> 00:04:24.500 he says there is way more about that out there 00:04:24.500 --> 00:04:27.120 the guy just says it happened yeah he's like 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:28.740 oh yeah I remember seeing this little kid see 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:31.000 it and this was like 30 years after the event. 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:34.360 That's fucking weird. Okay. He seems to try to 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:36.779 place that as like where his powers came from, 00:04:36.779 --> 00:04:39.120 but like he's got like five different stories 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:41.139 of where his powers came from. That's the one 00:04:41.139 --> 00:04:43.519 in his bio though, so that's the one he's sticking 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:46.319 to for now. I do seem to remember this aspect 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:49.120 of Irugiela from wherever I've heard about him 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:51.319 before. He first became aware of his unusual 00:04:51.319 --> 00:04:53.920 powers when he was about five. One day, during 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:57.040 a meal, his spoon curled up in his hand and broke. 00:04:57.139 --> 00:04:59.279 Although he had applied no physical pressure 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:01.980 to it. His parents were somewhat shocked, and 00:05:01.980 --> 00:05:04.259 Rory did not mention the incident to anyone else 00:05:04.259 --> 00:05:06.699 at the time. He developed these powers in school 00:05:06.699 --> 00:05:09.459 by demonstrating them to pupils, which directly 00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:11.360 contradicts that last sentence, but anyhow his 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:13.259 mother thought he inherited this from Sigmund 00:05:13.259 --> 00:05:20.360 Freud. You ever hear that about cigarettes, right? 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:23.040 Yeah, how these spoons just curled up. Yeah, 00:05:23.160 --> 00:05:24.160 it's like the number one thing people know about. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:26.720 And sometimes a cigar is just a bending spoon 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:29.790 that you cannot control in any way. If there's 00:05:29.790 --> 00:05:32.730 one thing that I learned in college, it was that. 00:05:33.069 --> 00:05:35.529 When he was 11, he went to live in Cyprus, where 00:05:35.529 --> 00:05:38.529 he remained until he was 17. And this is outside 00:05:38.529 --> 00:05:42.550 of both Wikipedia and his own bio. He claims 00:05:42.550 --> 00:05:45.629 that this house also doubled as a safe house 00:05:45.629 --> 00:05:48.889 for Massad, so he got like spy connections during 00:05:48.889 --> 00:05:52.720 this time. Whether or not we can verify that, 00:05:52.980 --> 00:05:54.920 like I said, all these stories, there's just 00:05:54.920 --> 00:05:57.040 so many of them that you can't look into every 00:05:57.040 --> 00:05:59.360 single one of them. Did you check with Mossad? 00:05:59.660 --> 00:06:03.079 I put an email out and now we're on a list. That's 00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:05.420 all they said. Hopefully we'll get an email. 00:06:05.819 --> 00:06:07.519 No, that's what they said. They responded, we're 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:10.459 on a list. Okay, good. We've got one email now. 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:14.339 He then returned to Israel, served as a paratrooper 00:06:14.339 --> 00:06:16.420 in the Israeli army and fought in the Six Day 00:06:16.420 --> 00:06:19.759 War of 1967 during which he was wounded in action. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:23.279 From 1968 to 69, Uri worked as a model being 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:25.579 photographed for many different ad campaigns 00:06:25.579 --> 00:06:28.259 and in 1969 he began to demonstrate his powers 00:06:28.259 --> 00:06:31.120 of telepathy and psychokinesis to small audiences. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:33.899 By the end of 1971 he was a household name throughout 00:06:33.899 --> 00:06:36.240 Israel thanks to his numerous stage appearances. 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:38.720 He was given a huge boost by then Prime Minister 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:41.360 Golda Mir who when asked on a national radio 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:43.379 program what she predicted for the future of 00:06:43.379 --> 00:06:46.379 Israel she replied don't ask me ask Uri Geller. 00:06:46.660 --> 00:06:49.600 His performance included his trademark spoon 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:52.399 bending describing hidden drawings and making 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:55.639 watches stop or run faster. Geller said he performed 00:06:55.639 --> 00:06:57.560 these feats through willpower and the strength 00:06:57.560 --> 00:07:00.069 of his mind alone. His apparent ability to bend 00:07:00.069 --> 00:07:02.389 metal objects during his television appearances 00:07:02.389 --> 00:07:04.529 came to be known as the Geller Effect and made 00:07:04.529 --> 00:07:06.889 him a celebrity. That's where he starts to get 00:07:06.889 --> 00:07:09.750 big in Israel, and for a second here we have 00:07:09.750 --> 00:07:12.889 to adjust what we're looking at with the story. 00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:15.600 away from Uri Geller and towards a man by the 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:19.019 name of Andrija Poricic. Poric, it's a hard name 00:07:19.019 --> 00:07:21.199 to say, but he's an American medical doctor. 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:25.459 He lives 1918 to 1995. He's an inventor, doctor, 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:29.660 researcher, and he's really big into the UFO 00:07:29.660 --> 00:07:32.420 paranormal psychic community. He made a ton of 00:07:32.420 --> 00:07:35.439 money off of basically creating hearing aid technology. 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:38.199 So he devoted his life to studying psychic phenomenon, 00:07:38.660 --> 00:07:41.300 and he identified gifted individuals, which included 00:07:41.300 --> 00:07:44.160 people who I haven't looked into at this point, 00:07:44.300 --> 00:07:46.980 but probably are future episodes, Eileen Garrett, 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:49.920 Peter Herkos, and the Brazilian psychic surgeon, 00:07:50.139 --> 00:07:52.879 Eriko. As well as looking into UFOs and extraterrestrials, 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:55.100 psychedelic mushrooms, and altered states, in 00:07:55.100 --> 00:07:59.160 1971 he stumbled across Uri Geller. So Puharich 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:02.740 heard from inventor Itzjak Bentov that a young 00:08:02.740 --> 00:08:04.720 Israeli performer was doing things that didn't 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:07.470 look like stage magic. Buharach was intrigued 00:08:07.470 --> 00:08:09.589 and he flew to Israel to meet Uri Geller and 00:08:09.589 --> 00:08:11.930 he became instantly convinced that Geller's abilities 00:08:11.930 --> 00:08:14.930 were real, and possibly extraterrestrial in origin, 00:08:15.170 --> 00:08:17.629 which is also why he upplays that orb story from 00:08:17.629 --> 00:08:21.819 when he was four. In Puharich's book, Uri, 1974, 00:08:22.060 --> 00:08:24.420 he describes his belief that Geller was in contact 00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:26.899 with a non -human intelligence called Spectra. 00:08:27.060 --> 00:08:29.579 This framing is what permanently welds Geller 00:08:29.579 --> 00:08:33.860 to UFO lore, but also keeps him separate. Puharich 00:08:33.860 --> 00:08:37.460 arranges Geller to basically move to the US in 00:08:37.460 --> 00:08:40.059 1973, and he puts him in touch with the Stanford 00:08:40.059 --> 00:08:42.879 Research Institute, SRI, and Edgar Mitchell. 00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:47.320 of Apollo 14 and previous asshole lore. Through 00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:50.480 Puharich, he secures experiments at the Stanford 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:53.399 Research Institute with physicists Hal Puthoff 00:08:53.399 --> 00:08:56.460 and Russell Targ on Uri Geller, and this positions 00:08:56.460 --> 00:09:00.399 Geller as a subject of interest for US intelligence 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:03.059 agencies. And basically, this guy sets him up 00:09:03.059 --> 00:09:05.730 for everything that we remember him for. This 00:09:05.730 --> 00:09:08.049 is basically putting him at the forefront where 00:09:08.049 --> 00:09:11.509 he's going to go on his media campaign as well 00:09:11.509 --> 00:09:14.730 as be researched by actual scientists who think 00:09:14.730 --> 00:09:17.509 that ESP is a real thing. Like the Men Who Stare 00:09:17.509 --> 00:09:19.610 at Goats thing, right? Exactly. Which we did 00:09:19.610 --> 00:09:22.009 a full episode of. And that's why, Chelsea, you 00:09:22.009 --> 00:09:24.250 think it's interlocked, these two, Uri Geller 00:09:24.250 --> 00:09:27.049 and Men Who Stare at Goats or Stargate, correct? 00:09:27.629 --> 00:09:29.909 Interlocked as in... They're inseparable, like 00:09:29.909 --> 00:09:32.750 he is a key fundamental part of Project Stargate. 00:09:33.029 --> 00:09:35.759 He's in it? I think that's... good enough. Anyhow, 00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:38.740 the first thing he does when he gets to the US, 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:41.440 he does some like off the books experiments and 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:44.379 talking to the scientist SSRI, but the first 00:09:44.379 --> 00:09:46.840 thing he gets booked on is Johnny Carson. Right, 00:09:47.059 --> 00:09:49.299 yeah. And he goes and does the Johnny Carson 00:09:49.299 --> 00:09:51.340 show and I'm gonna share my screen with you Chelsea 00:09:51.340 --> 00:09:54.100 so you can see what happens here. Okay, this 00:09:54.100 --> 00:09:57.139 is before Project Stargate or whatever. This 00:09:57.139 --> 00:09:59.500 is before Project Stargate, this is even before 00:09:59.500 --> 00:10:01.960 any scientific papers are written about him. 00:10:02.009 --> 00:10:04.289 which is going to happen at a certain point it's 00:10:04.289 --> 00:10:06.409 just that hasn't happened yet and you we're gonna 00:10:06.409 --> 00:10:08.429 watch this i'm gonna describe it once you watch 00:10:08.429 --> 00:10:10.450 it so that everybody can kind of know what's 00:10:10.450 --> 00:10:13.919 going on here i prefer that they don't Basically 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:15.919 what happens here is he thought he was on here 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:18.360 for an interview, is what he says, but Johnny 00:10:18.360 --> 00:10:21.340 Carson has a table set up of all these different 00:10:21.340 --> 00:10:23.539 experiments that he says he's able to perform. 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:27.440 One is that they have ten vials of water that 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:30.659 are in metals so that you can't tell which one 00:10:30.659 --> 00:10:33.080 has water in it, only one does and he's able 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:35.220 to identify it. They have stopwatches there so 00:10:35.220 --> 00:10:37.779 you can stop time, they have spoons that he can 00:10:37.779 --> 00:10:40.720 bend, they have envelopes of things that people 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:43.710 on the cast have drawn. guess what they are and 00:10:43.710 --> 00:10:49.009 they just said like pick whatever you want yeah 00:10:49.009 --> 00:10:51.830 so he takes a shot at guessing which one of these 00:10:51.830 --> 00:10:56.549 has water in it so he does this for a while and 00:10:56.549 --> 00:10:58.870 then he's like no I can't do it just not feeling 00:10:58.870 --> 00:11:02.929 it today Johnny just not feeling it and then 00:11:02.929 --> 00:11:04.789 he's like okay I'll move on to the spoon fair 00:11:04.789 --> 00:11:08.100 enough Also, I love just like offhandedly Johnny 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:11.100 Carson smoking like non -stop this whole episode. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:15.679 Look at the carpet, too Yeah, so he makes somebody 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:17.340 else hold a spoon and then he starts rubbing 00:11:17.340 --> 00:11:21.080 the spoon and then he's like Oh, oh look at that. 00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:25.879 It's bent. I bent it. I Was expecting Johnny 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:28.200 Carson to light another cigarette with that cigarette 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:33.480 he just went out. Yeah That's amazing what you're 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:38.769 allowed to get away with He doesn't want to do 00:11:38.769 --> 00:11:41.509 anything That's more or less the show Chelsea 00:11:41.509 --> 00:11:44.110 gave him a bunch of experiments where he wasn't 00:11:44.110 --> 00:11:45.990 able to bring anything They just provided it 00:11:45.990 --> 00:11:48.250 and it goes completely flat and he's like, no 00:11:48.250 --> 00:11:51.259 you don't believe in me. So I can't do it. You 00:11:51.259 --> 00:11:53.480 can't make me do it on the spot because I only 00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:56.460 got 20 minutes. Plus I didn't bring these spoons, 00:11:56.460 --> 00:11:59.139 so this is just not feeling right. How do I know 00:11:59.139 --> 00:12:01.399 you didn't rig them so they can't? These are 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:03.879 unbending spoons. These are unbendable spoons, 00:12:03.980 --> 00:12:06.059 of course. So to give people an idea of what 00:12:06.059 --> 00:12:09.200 we just saw, on August 1st, 1973, Geller appears 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:12.080 on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. James 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:15.220 Randi says that Johnny had been a magician himself 00:12:15.220 --> 00:12:16.720 and was skeptical. We're going to learn about 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:18.879 James Randi in the second part of this three 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:21.240 -part series. He was skeptical of Geller's claimed 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:23.500 paranormal power, so before the date of taping, 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:26.000 Randy was asked to help prevent any trickery. 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:28.700 Accordingly, the show's staff repaired its own 00:12:28.700 --> 00:12:30.759 props without informing Geller and did not let 00:12:30.759 --> 00:12:33.779 Geller or his staff anywhere near the props. 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:36.720 When Geller joins Carson on stage, he appears 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:38.820 surprised that he was not going to be interviewed, 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:41.200 but instead was expected to display his abilities 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:44.840 using the provided articles. Geller's point says, 00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:47.200 and you heard this, this scares me. And as you 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:49.289 know, I told your people what to bring. and I'm 00:12:49.289 --> 00:12:51.509 surprised because before this program your producers 00:12:51.509 --> 00:12:53.669 came and he read me at least 40 questions you 00:12:53.669 --> 00:12:56.129 were going to ask me." Geller was unable to display 00:12:56.129 --> 00:12:58.669 any paranormal abilities, saying, I don't feel 00:12:58.669 --> 00:13:01.309 strong, and expresses his displeasure at feeling 00:13:01.309 --> 00:13:04.149 he was being pressed to perform by Carson. And 00:13:04.149 --> 00:13:06.730 according to Adam Higginbotham, the result was 00:13:06.730 --> 00:13:09.470 a legendary emulation, which Geller offered up 00:13:09.470 --> 00:13:11.970 flustered excuses to his host, as his abilities 00:13:11.970 --> 00:13:14.309 failed him again and again. Quote, I sat there 00:13:14.309 --> 00:13:16.970 for 22 minutes humiliated, end quote Geller told 00:13:16.970 --> 00:13:18.549 me. When I spoke to him in September, Quote, 00:13:18.549 --> 00:13:20.970 I went back to my hotel devastated. I was about 00:13:20.970 --> 00:13:22.889 to pack up the next day and go back to Tel Aviv. 00:13:22.950 --> 00:13:25.289 I thought that's it. I'm destroyed. End quote. 00:13:25.450 --> 00:13:26.990 This appearance on this tonight show with Carson 00:13:26.990 --> 00:13:29.570 and Randy had orchestrated to debunk Geller's 00:13:29.570 --> 00:13:32.250 claimed abilities backfired according to Kickin' 00:13:32.250 --> 00:13:34.769 Bottom. To Geller's astonishment, he was immediately 00:13:34.769 --> 00:13:37.370 booked on the Merv Griffin show and he was on 00:13:37.370 --> 00:13:39.929 his way to becoming a paranormal superstar. That's 00:13:39.929 --> 00:13:42.210 crazy. Quote, the Johnny Carson show made Yuri 00:13:42.210 --> 00:13:44.870 Geller. End quote. Geller said, to an enthusiastically 00:13:44.870 --> 00:13:47.230 trusting public his failure only made his gifts 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:50.059 more real if he were performing magic trips they 00:13:50.059 --> 00:13:53.259 would surely work every time so like just failed 00:13:53.259 --> 00:13:56.120 up with it interesting and then of course after 00:13:56.120 --> 00:13:59.039 that is the famed Stanford Research Institute 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:02.120 experiments on Uri Geller I should say I do say 00:14:02.120 --> 00:14:05.080 I do apologize interchangeably Uri Geller or 00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:08.279 Uri Geller it is he will always say worry Geller 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:11.179 but he always says Western people call him Uri 00:14:11.179 --> 00:14:13.759 Geller and that's just like what they do so I'm 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:15.639 gonna fall back to that sometimes too by accident 00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:17.879 because it feels more natural, but his name is 00:14:17.879 --> 00:14:20.980 technically properly said Uri Geller. So Hal 00:14:20.980 --> 00:14:24.169 Puthoff and Russell Targ. Do this experiment 00:14:24.169 --> 00:14:26.710 on him, and here it is. SRI performs an eight 00:14:26.710 --> 00:14:29.870 -day experiment on him in August of 1973 between 00:14:29.870 --> 00:14:32.509 August 4th and 11th. This was designed to test 00:14:32.509 --> 00:14:34.970 Rory Geller's paranormal perception using picture 00:14:34.970 --> 00:14:37.710 drawing tasks under controlled conditions. Geller 00:14:37.710 --> 00:14:40.070 was usually placed in a locked, acoustically 00:14:40.070 --> 00:14:42.110 and electrically shielded room, while Target 00:14:42.110 --> 00:14:44.610 drawings were created elsewhere, sometimes in 00:14:44.610 --> 00:14:46.190 another building, sometimes on the East Coast, 00:14:46.230 --> 00:14:48.370 sometimes on a computer screen. The authors, 00:14:48.529 --> 00:14:51.269 Putoff and Targ, present this series as evidence 00:14:51.269 --> 00:15:19.279 that Geller demonstrated Okay, that was going 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:22.929 to be my next question. August 4th, Saturday. 00:15:23.190 --> 00:15:25.149 Geller is locked in a shielded room. Targets 00:15:25.149 --> 00:15:27.710 are chosen by randomly opening a dictionary and 00:15:27.710 --> 00:15:30.389 drawing the first drawable, drawboard. Target 00:15:30.389 --> 00:15:33.409 1 found Fuse, drawn as a firecracker. Geller 00:15:33.409 --> 00:15:35.750 says he sees a cylinder with noise coming out 00:15:35.750 --> 00:15:38.389 of it and draws a drum and cylindrical shape. 00:15:38.539 --> 00:15:41.159 Target 2 finds Bunch, draws a bunch of grapes. 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:44.139 Geller reports drops of water and purple circles 00:15:44.139 --> 00:15:46.440 and then draws a bunch of grapes. Both Target 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:49.600 and Geller's drawings have 24 grapes. The authors 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:51.720 emphasize that they found no sensory leakage 00:15:51.720 --> 00:15:54.019 in the shielded room protocol. Quote. In our 00:15:54.019 --> 00:15:56.159 detailed examination of the shielded room and 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.519 the protocol used in these experiments, no sensory 00:15:58.519 --> 00:16:01.240 leakage has been found, nor has any defect in 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:03.480 the protocol been brought to our attention. Day 00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:06.600 2, August 5th, Sunday. Geller is again in the 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:09.379 shielded room, target drawn in an office half 00:16:09.379 --> 00:16:12.350 a mile away. Target 1. Outland of a man that 00:16:12.350 --> 00:16:15.230 evolves into a devil with a trident. Geller produces 00:16:15.230 --> 00:16:18.450 several drawings. Moses. Tablets. An apple with 00:16:18.450 --> 00:16:20.909 a worm and snakes and a composite of the Ten 00:16:20.909 --> 00:16:23.590 Commandments. God and a trident. He does draw 00:16:23.590 --> 00:16:26.429 the trident, but not the figure. Target 2. A 00:16:26.429 --> 00:16:29.129 simplified solar system. No orbit lines. Geller's 00:16:29.129 --> 00:16:32.120 immediate reaction is space. His drawing resembles 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:41.690 the target's and also omits orbit lines. From 00:16:41.690 --> 00:16:44.049 this, it seems clear that Geller does not simply 00:16:44.049 --> 00:16:46.210 copy lines from the target picture, but rather 00:16:46.210 --> 00:16:49.309 he does perform some mental processing on them 00:16:49.309 --> 00:16:52.769 before drawing them himself. August 6th, Monday, 00:16:53.029 --> 00:16:55.590 a picture is drawn by a scientist outside the 00:16:55.590 --> 00:16:57.970 usual group and locked in the shielded room before 00:16:57.970 --> 00:17:00.830 Geller arrives. Geller is then led to the room 00:17:00.830 --> 00:17:03.090 and asked to reproduce the picture from inside. 00:17:03.289 --> 00:17:06.089 He draws several images, rejects them all, and 00:17:06.089 --> 00:17:08.490 says he gets no clear impression. Target draws 00:17:08.490 --> 00:17:11.349 a rabbit. Port states, he drew a of pictures, 00:17:11.430 --> 00:17:13.609 all of which he rejected as not being applicable. 00:17:13.690 --> 00:17:15.809 He said that he got no clear impression and passed. 00:17:15.869 --> 00:17:18.009 The target was a rabbit and nothing Geller drew 00:17:18.009 --> 00:17:20.490 in any way resembled a rabbit. Crucially, the 00:17:20.490 --> 00:17:22.990 author adds that the picture was drawn by a scientist 00:17:22.990 --> 00:17:26.109 Geller is not fond of, and that Geller guessed 00:17:26.109 --> 00:17:28.490 this at the outset and later felt vindicated 00:17:28.490 --> 00:17:35.529 when he learned he was right. August 7th, Tuesday. 00:17:35.690 --> 00:17:37.849 Two target pictures attempted while Geller is 00:17:37.849 --> 00:17:40.430 in the shielded room and hooked up to EEG. Targets. 00:17:40.710 --> 00:17:44.089 They drew a tree in an envelope. De Geller. Experiences 00:17:44.089 --> 00:17:46.650 difficulty. Produced no matching drawings and 00:17:46.650 --> 00:17:49.250 passed again. Report notes. Quote. He experiences 00:17:49.250 --> 00:17:51.369 difficulty. Did not make a drawing that corresponded 00:17:51.369 --> 00:17:53.430 to either drawing and then passed. End quote. 00:17:53.650 --> 00:17:56.910 And then key lines again. Quote. The same skeptical 00:17:56.910 --> 00:17:59.690 experimenter who drew the rabbit was the EEG 00:17:59.690 --> 00:18:02.210 operator on this second unsuccessful day. End 00:18:02.210 --> 00:18:07.230 quote. Wednesday, August 8th. Three targets this 00:18:07.230 --> 00:18:10.109 time. Geller feels unsure and passes on the first 00:18:10.109 --> 00:18:13.490 drawing. He says it might be a horse, but the 00:18:13.490 --> 00:18:15.869 target drew a camel. Geller draws for the second 00:18:15.869 --> 00:18:18.730 target a curved line with squares underneath. 00:18:19.009 --> 00:18:20.869 This says he doesn't know what it is and passes. 00:18:21.049 --> 00:18:23.450 It was the Golden Gate Bridge. And Geller quickly 00:18:23.450 --> 00:18:25.789 says he sees a flying swan for the third target 00:18:25.789 --> 00:18:28.009 over a hill. Draws a bird and is confident the 00:18:28.009 --> 00:18:30.529 target is flying as a flying seagull. His drawing 00:18:30.529 --> 00:18:33.329 is judged correct. Then comes the important part 00:18:33.329 --> 00:18:36.240 here. Quote, in these experiments deducted with 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:38.980 this shielded room, six days' work was done. 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:41.619 Good results were obtained on the four days where 00:18:41.619 --> 00:18:45.000 there was no openly skeptical observer, except 00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:48.680 the experimenter whom Geller had learned to accept. 00:18:48.980 --> 00:18:52.259 End quote. So, of the first six days, there's 00:18:52.259 --> 00:18:54.960 what they deem four good days, unless of course 00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:57.180 somebody who's skeptical in any way of Yuri Geller 00:18:57.180 --> 00:18:59.619 is present, in which case they fail completely. 00:18:59.880 --> 00:19:02.259 It continued from there. August 9th, Thursday 00:19:02.259 --> 00:19:04.079 experiment moves to a different shielded room 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:05.900 near the computer facilities. Target is drawn 00:19:05.900 --> 00:19:07.940 on a computer graphics screen. It's a kite. Geller 00:19:07.940 --> 00:19:10.279 in the shielded room asks via intermediaries 00:19:10.279 --> 00:19:12.460 whether the target is a geometric or an object. 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:15.019 He first draws a square with a diagonal and then 00:19:15.019 --> 00:19:17.319 some triangular airplanes and then passes. The 00:19:17.319 --> 00:19:19.559 author considers his first drawing a good representation 00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:22.990 of the target. Friday, August 10th. Again, two 00:19:22.990 --> 00:19:25.289 computers store targets. First one's a church. 00:19:25.529 --> 00:19:27.269 Picture drawn and stored in computer memory. 00:19:27.309 --> 00:19:29.730 No visible trace remains. Geller's attempts share 00:19:29.730 --> 00:19:31.910 some elements common, but he doesn't identify 00:19:31.910 --> 00:19:35.109 it as a church and passes. Second one is an arrow 00:19:35.109 --> 00:19:36.930 through the heart. Target is stored with the 00:19:36.930 --> 00:19:40.990 TV intensity off, so it's invisible in the lit 00:19:40.990 --> 00:19:43.250 room, which I don't quite understand what that 00:19:43.250 --> 00:19:45.670 means. Geller immediately draws an arrow under 00:19:45.670 --> 00:19:47.970 a rounded brick and then an arrow inside a suitcase. 00:19:48.069 --> 00:19:50.150 And the author says, quote, we consider the arrow 00:19:50.150 --> 00:19:51.650 in the su - case similar to the target, which 00:19:51.650 --> 00:19:53.690 was an arrow through a heart." End quote. And 00:19:53.690 --> 00:19:55.390 I think we can skip just to the conclusion of 00:19:55.390 --> 00:20:00.329 the report here, Chelsea. As a result of Geller's 00:20:00.329 --> 00:20:02.490 success in the experimental period, we consider 00:20:02.490 --> 00:20:05.390 that he has demonstrated his paranormal perceptual 00:20:05.390 --> 00:20:08.470 ability in a convincing and unambiguous manner. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:10.880 They frame the week as a success overall and 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:13.319 emphasize the hits and treated the failures as 00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:16.660 either unsuitable targets, emotional issues, 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:19.940 or experimental complications. And they're very 00:20:19.940 --> 00:20:22.559 critical. They even say at this point good results 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:24.519 were obtained on the days where there was only 00:20:24.519 --> 00:20:28.019 no openly skeptical observers present. Every 00:20:28.019 --> 00:20:30.500 day that they have bad things happen, they're 00:20:30.500 --> 00:20:32.339 like, yep, skeptical person's there, so it's 00:20:32.339 --> 00:20:35.160 just not pro - that's not good. I feel like that's 00:20:35.160 --> 00:20:38.059 not the answer though, so is there more to - 00:20:37.869 --> 00:20:42.559 What's going on here? That's what Stanford Research 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:45.200 Institute's conclusion is, is that he has psychic 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:48.359 powers unless somebody who's skeptical is anywhere 00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:50.319 near him. I don't know, I'm just so skeptical 00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:53.619 of Uri Geller. I just - Oh, don't worry, we're 00:20:53.619 --> 00:20:55.819 gonna learn more about what happens from there. 00:20:55.960 --> 00:20:57.579 Yeah, I just - the odds of getting something, 00:20:57.619 --> 00:21:02.200 I'm just wondering what the odds are of rightfully 00:21:02.200 --> 00:21:04.819 guessing something. Like, if I was in a room 00:21:04.819 --> 00:21:07.519 for eight days - Not only that, Chelsea, from 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:09.890 me describing those days, did It did not seem 00:21:09.890 --> 00:21:12.509 like he was having open conversations with the 00:21:12.509 --> 00:21:15.430 scientists who believed him. Now that you say 00:21:15.430 --> 00:21:17.690 that. If you're somebody who's able to glean 00:21:17.690 --> 00:21:21.029 information easily from conversation with people 00:21:21.029 --> 00:21:23.849 who especially believe you have powers, it would 00:21:23.849 --> 00:21:26.990 be very easy. That's true, as if you're a grifter 00:21:26.990 --> 00:21:29.170 for a career. And they even said at one point 00:21:29.170 --> 00:21:31.269 he asked whether or not it was geometrical or 00:21:31.269 --> 00:21:34.289 objects for the kite and then started drawing 00:21:34.289 --> 00:21:36.190 a kite and then was like, no, that's not it. 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:40.220 okay so i don't know why i just glossed over 00:21:40.220 --> 00:21:42.680 that while i was listening to that because i'm 00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:45.440 thinking there has to be something logical to 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:47.880 what the hell is going on here and don't worry 00:21:47.880 --> 00:21:51.799 chelsea we'll get to that next episode But the 00:21:51.799 --> 00:21:54.799 SRI study is so fundamental that in the project 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:57.200 Stargate, which started in 1970, the United States 00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:59.059 intelligence sources believe that the Soviet 00:21:59.059 --> 00:22:01.299 Union was spending 60 million rubles annually 00:22:01.299 --> 00:22:04.059 on psychotronic research. In response, the claims 00:22:04.059 --> 00:22:06.519 that the Soviet program had produced results, 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:09.339 the CIA initiated funding for a new program known 00:22:09.339 --> 00:22:12.220 as Scan8, scanned by coordinate in the same year. 00:22:12.440 --> 00:22:15.440 Remote viewing research began in 1972 at SRI 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:18.019 in Menlo Park, California, and proponents, which 00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:20.890 included Russell Targ and Hal Puth, of the research 00:22:20.890 --> 00:22:23.630 said that a minimum accuracy of 65 % required 00:22:23.630 --> 00:22:26.410 by the clients was often exceeded in the later 00:22:26.410 --> 00:22:29.089 experiments. Targon put up began testing for 00:22:29.089 --> 00:22:32.450 psychics for SRI in 1972, and this included this 00:22:32.450 --> 00:22:36.190 experiment on Ori Geller. This apparently successful 00:22:36.190 --> 00:22:39.329 result garnered interest from the US Department 00:22:39.329 --> 00:22:42.849 of Defense. And because it was so interesting 00:22:42.849 --> 00:22:44.369 to the Department of Defense, they brought in 00:22:44.369 --> 00:22:46.529 a guy by the name of Ray Hyman, professor of 00:22:46.529 --> 00:22:48.390 psychology at the University of Oregon. They 00:22:48.390 --> 00:22:50.480 said, hey, Can you look at this to make sure 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:53.839 everything's above board? Uh huh. He was specifically 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:56.960 asked to evaluate Uri Geller. And that's where 00:22:56.960 --> 00:22:59.819 I'm gonna end this episode. Somehow he seems 00:22:59.819 --> 00:23:03.980 to be failing up with sheer coincidence and I 00:23:03.980 --> 00:23:06.900 don't know skeptics be damned because the skeptics 00:23:06.900 --> 00:23:10.779 are the thing that stop him. This is like I I 00:23:10.779 --> 00:23:13.220 don't even know okay first of all what a cliffhanger 00:23:13.220 --> 00:23:17.099 to leave this on and second of all I wish I had 00:23:17.099 --> 00:23:20.700 this talent. What a talent to have! Yeah, the 00:23:20.700 --> 00:23:23.680 talented bullshit people. Sorry, sorry to Ben 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:27.779 Spoonz. To Ben Spoonz. Well, I will say, I don't 00:23:27.779 --> 00:23:29.559 know if this is the place to put it, but I'm 00:23:29.559 --> 00:23:32.059 going to say it before I forget it. When he's 00:23:32.059 --> 00:23:35.559 been on Coast to Coast AM, people have reported 00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:39.480 watches stopping while he's talking on the radio 00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:42.259 in various places where they're just listening 00:23:42.259 --> 00:23:45.839 to him on the radio or old watches start going. 00:23:46.029 --> 00:23:49.710 And so George would always give or art George 00:23:49.710 --> 00:23:52.789 one of them That's actually a great comment to 00:23:52.789 --> 00:23:54.869 make because I do think it's gonna come up in 00:23:54.869 --> 00:23:57.609 the next episode something along those lines 00:23:57.609 --> 00:23:59.490 So I want you to keep it in mind as we're going 00:23:59.490 --> 00:24:01.890 forward. I'm gonna try I really I literally just 00:24:01.890 --> 00:24:04.650 said I have to say it now before I forget it 00:24:04.650 --> 00:24:07.029 Because yeah, I think there's almost something 00:24:07.029 --> 00:24:09.849 directly quotable that happens in the next episode. 00:24:09.849 --> 00:24:13.769 That's very similar to that. Okay, I just remembered 00:24:13.769 --> 00:24:17.410 but for now I have been Taylor, here with Chelsea. 00:24:17.650 --> 00:24:19.250 We are Journey to the Fringe. Thank you all for 00:24:19.250 --> 00:24:23.650 listening and we'll see you next week. Bye. Thank 00:24:23.650 --> 00:24:26.009 you for listening to Journey to the Fringe. If 00:24:26.009 --> 00:24:28.730 you have liked what you have listened to, please 00:24:28.730 --> 00:24:32.230 like, share, subscribe, or follow, depending 00:24:32.230 --> 00:24:34.930 on what. venue you are listening to us through. 00:24:35.190 --> 00:24:38.509 Also please if possible leave a five -star review 00:24:38.509 --> 00:24:41.490 as that really helps us in the algorithms. Should 00:24:41.490 --> 00:24:43.730 you wish to interact with us please check us 00:24:43.730 --> 00:24:46.869 out on your social media of choice. I bet you 00:24:46.869 --> 00:24:49.470 we are there. And if you really want to communicate 00:24:49.470 --> 00:24:52.309 with us and give us ideas for new episodes or 00:24:52.309 --> 00:24:54.289 tell us that we're wrong and terrible either 00:24:54.289 --> 00:24:57.750 way please send us an email at journeytothefringe 00:24:57.750 --> 00:25:00.789 at gmail .com. For now I'll see you in the next 00:25:00.789 --> 00:25:01.269 episode.