The Truth About Uri Geller

313 Pages·2011·3.68 MB·English

by  James Randi

AUTHOR’S NOTE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION: WHO IS URI GELLER?
HOW DOES URI DO IT?
ABOUT THE “SRI REPORT”
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
ANDREW WEIL’S SEARCH FOR THE TRUE GELLER
THE MAN WHO “DISCOVERED” URI GELLER
THE TIME MAGAZINE EPISODE WITH GELLER
THE WONDERFUL TELEPORTATION TO AND FROM BRAZIL. . . OR HOW NOT KNOWING
ENOUGH ABOUT THE SUBJECT CAN BE VERY EMBARRASSING
PHOTOGRAPHS THROUGH A LENS CAP
THE PERSONS BEHIND THE GELLER MYTH
THE SPANIARD WITH THE X-RAY EYES
THE OLD BROKEN-WATCH TRICK REVEALED
HE DIDN’T FOOL THEM IN ISRAEL!
ALAN SPRAGGETT THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET, THEN THE TOWEL
GELLER’S MAJOR AMERICAN TV APPEARANCES
GELLER IN ENGLAND
A CENTURY AGO: SAME GAME, DIFFERENT PERSONNEL
THE MAGICIANS’ ATTITUDE AND HOW IT CHANGED
CONCLUSION: WHAT GELLER HAS DONE, AND WHERE HE CAN GO FROM HERE
OBJECTIONS TO THIS BOOK
APPENDIX
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE JREF

Dedicated to Uri Geller and Shipi Shtrang, two men who fooled the world—
almost
“I’ll have you hanged,” said a critical and ignorant king, who had heard of The
Psychic’s Powers, “if you don’t prove that you are a mystic.”

“I see strange things,” said The Psychic at once. “A golden bird in the sky, and
demons under the earth.”

“How can you see through solid objects? How can you see far in the sky?”

“Fear is all you need.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE

Since this book was first published in 1975 under the title The Magic of Uri
Geller, much has occurred in the Geller saga. I will attempt to bring the reader
up to date.

I have not revealed this previously, but it is surely time to do so. In May of
1975, just before the book was committed to the hands of the printer, I sent Uri
Geller a registered, carefully composed letter. It was received by him personally
at his apartment in New York City.

The letter offered Geller a way to ward off the dilemma that my book was
sure to bring about. I told him that I would meet with him at a time and place of
his choosing to discuss what we might work out so that I would not have to
proceed with publication. It was something I was willing to forgo if a better
solution could be arrived at, but I was convinced that the truth had to be told, one
way or another. Though I did not say in the letter what offer I would make, I was
prepared to accept a statement from Uri to the effect that he had performed his
deceptions in order to show that scientists are easily fooled and that the media
are inclined to snap up every paranormal claim they can find, uncritically. In
other words, I was offering him a way out that would not only make him a hero
and a prince of hoaxers, but also pave the way for him to step into legitimate
show business as an established conjuror.

He could have avoided the albatross I was about to hang about his neck, the
book would be the official announcement of his revelation to the world, and
we’d all be a lot happier.

Knowing the business as I do, I have no doubt that this man could have
rescued himself and become a huge success in the theater had he chosen to
accept my offer of that private talk. He chose not to, and the manuscript went to
the printer.
Weeks before the book was released, I received two letters, both from the
same lawyer, on behalf of Geller and two scientists who had tested and validated
his powers. The letters stated that, if I made any untrue statements about these
individuals, I would be sued for libel. Fair enough. In order to prove libel, a
plaintiff has to prove that an untrue statement was made. Obviously, every
statement in this book was carefully read and considered by that lawyer. I was
never sued.

In March of 1977, I received a letter from Yascha Katz, Geller’s former
manager, offering to “discuss” the matter with me. I had referred to him as a
“dupee” rather than as a “duper,” and he found that to be a suitable premise upon
which he might approach me. Enlisting the interest of the Italian RAI television
folks, who had just completed a lengthy and very negative study of paranormal
claims through journalist Piero Angela, I flew to Israel to interview Katz. What
he told me was the single greatest indictment of Uri Geller I’d ever heard. This
former colleague claimed that Geller owed him upwards of $30,000 in unpaid
commissions and that he (Katz) had been dumped after Geller got his start in the
United States. He described the scene at the airport in Tel Aviv when he and
Geller were boarding the plane to America. Katz had asked, one final time, if his
apparent powers were the real thing or a deception. Uri had looked into his eyes
and sworn it was all kosher, and the two had walked hand-in-hand up the ramp.

Katz described how he had then been dragooned into serving as a confederate
in the Geller vaudeville act, peeking into sealed envelopes, tossing objects over
his shoulder as “materializations” credited to Geller, and listening in on
conversations to obtain needed information for the deceptions. He had done this
when his regular confederates, Shipi Shtrang and others, had been unavailable.

The expose was broadcast in Italy and published in New Scientist magazine in
England. Geller then loudly proclaimed that Katz had stolen money from him,
and Katz countered by announcing that he was suing Geller. Nothing ever
happened. Ever since, the popularity of this psychic superstar has been waning.
Most of the scientists who formerly supported him jumped off his comet as it
dimmed. Others have simply lapsed into silence on the subject. The Stanford
Research International folks merely grumble that Geller was “only 3 percent of
the total work” they carried out in the paranormal field and declined to discuss
the matter further—except to insist that they were not fooled in the first place.
Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ have contradicted themselves. They said early
on in the drama that if they ever even suspected a subject of using trickery, they