A Man Who Bent Metal With His Mind—LIVE on TV! The Astonishing Story of Uri Geller

If you ever wondered if someone could really bend metal with the power of their mind and do it live in front of millions, you’re not alone. In the 1960s and ’70s, a man named Uri Geller claimed just that—and for a while, much of the world watched in disbelief. He twisted spoons, bent keys, moved compasses, and even read minds right on live TV. Was he the world’s most convincing psychic, a clever magician, or a puzzle science just couldn’t solve? Let’s explore the life and experiments of Uri Geller, “A Man Who Bent Metal With His Mind—LIVE on TV” and became a household name and a controversy that still sparks debate.

If you want to see some of these moments, check out the original ZM टीवी वीडियो.

Early Life and the First Hints of Psychic Power

Uri Geller was born in 1946 in Tel Aviv, then part of Palestine and now Israel. From a young age, strange things seemed to happen around him. When he was only six, his mother handed him a bowl of soup and a spoon, expecting an ordinary meal. But when young Uri gripped the spoon, it snapped and fell into the bowl. His mother thought the spoon was weak, but it kept happening.

Uri later said he realized it wasn’t just luck. He sensed something unusual within himself—a strange force he couldn’t control, but wanted to understand.

At school, he showed his friends. He grasped a spoon, focused, and bent it with a touch. Kids watched, wide-eyed, as the spoon twisted in his hands. The mystery of his mind-readings started not long after. He claimed he could sense what others around him were thinking.

A Young Soldier with a Secret

At 18, Geller joined the Israeli army. In 1967, during the Six-Day War, he was wounded. Once he left the military, Uri didn’t settle for a desk job. Instead, he stepped into the world of clubs and parties, using his “powers” as entertainment and a way to make a living. Yet what looked like party tricks would soon capture the world’s attention.

The Rise of a “Psychic Star” on Stage

Geller started out in small clubs across Israel. His early acts included bending metal, moving compasses, and making keys twist—often with just a touch or sometimes, he said, no touch at all. Most folks figured he was a street magician with quick hands. But no one could prove how he did it.

What did Uri Geller do on stage?

• Bent spoons so smoothly they seemed to turn to putty.
• Warped keys with just a touch of his finger.
• Commanded compasses to spin or shake with nothing but a word.
• Asked volunteers to draw a picture in secret, then tried to “read” it with his mind.

Audiences were shocked. Some tried to solve his tricks, but most couldn’t. Uri kept saying he wasn’t a magician but a psychic, able to do the impossible using mental strength.

Fame on American TV

By the late 1960s and early ’70s, Geller took his act to the United States. The media, always on the hunt for new stories, quickly latched on to him. He appeared on popular talk shows and in well-known magazines. People tuned in by the millions to watch him work his wonders.

Viewers saw him soften spoons with a touch and “restart” broken watches just by asking TV audiences to try at home. These weren’t just clever edits: the stunts happened in real time, right before everyone’s eyes. Uri Geller became famous almost overnight, as “A Man Who Bent Metal With His Mind—LIVE on TV” drew headlines and debates across the country.

The Spoon Bending Miracle—and a Nation Watches

Geller’s most famous feat was “bending” spoons. Sometimes, he seemed to do it with no more effort than holding the utensil between his fingers and concentrating. Spoons drooped, twisted, and even snapped apart, sometimes falling right to the ground.

He’d tell the audience:

If your wristwatch at home has stopped working, take it off and hold it in your hand. I’ll try to restart it with my mind!

Reports flooded in. Many claimed their watches started ticking again. Some believed, some doubted, but the wonder was real.

“As spoons bent and keys curled, audiences stared in shock and disbelief!”

Fans brought him objects to test, hoping they’d see their own miracle happen.

Science Steps In: The Stanford Experiments

By 1972, Geller’s abilities sparked real interest from the scientific community. If he truly held psychic powers, maybe science could measure it.

Stanford Research Institute (SRI) decided to put his claims to the test. Physicists Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ invited Uri to their lab for a five-week investigation.

“Uri Geller demonstrated enough success that we recommend further scientific study to understand these phenomena.”
—Stanford Research Institute Report

The team ran a series of experiments to see if his acts were just tricks, lucky guesses, or something more.

The Drawing Test: Mind Reading on Paper

The first big experiment was a drawing test. Researchers locked images in sealed envelopes. Some of the pictures were known only to a third-party; even the scientists didn’t know what was inside.

Geller’s task? Without opening the envelope, try to reproduce the image on a blank sheet of paper.

He admitted sometimes he didn’t “feel” anything. Out of 10 envelopes, he declined to try two altogether. But for the others, his drawings came eerily close. Sometimes he drew the image in reverse, sometimes in a simple form, but always recognizably similar to the hidden picture.

(If you’re curious, just imagine sketches that seem uncannily close to their sealed originals—a weird and fascinating result.)

The Sensing Test—Finding Hidden Objects

Next came “dowsing,” or sensing hidden objects. Ten aluminum cans sat on a table. In each session, a random can contained a ball bearing, a magnet, water, sugar, or other items. The cans were shuffled so no one, not even the scientists, knew which held what.

Geller slowly passed his hands over the cans, focusing. He started out cautious, but as tests went on, his confidence grew. Soon, he’d immediately choose the right can, correctly identifying which ones held hidden objects.

He repeated a similar feat on the famous “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” Even then, if he felt uncertain, he’d simply refuse to answer, but most times, he got it right, stunning crowd and hosts alike.

Test Steps and Objects:

• Numbered aluminum cans, with only one containing a hidden object.
• Objects including ball bearings, magnets, water, and sugar.
• Geller asked to identify the can with the item—by sensing, not touching.
• Succeeded in most attempts, both in labs and on TV.

The Dice Test: Rolling the Odds

For the dice test, researchers put a regular six-sided die inside a metal box, shook it, then asked Geller:
“When we open it, which side will be on top?”

This wasn’t a one-time fluke. Over 10 tries, Geller refused to answer twice but was correct all eight other times.

“Eight out of ten right, with no way to see inside the box—near-perfect prediction!”

Researchers admitted, the odds of guessing correctly so many times by chance were mind-boggling.

Metal Bending Under the Microscope

The lab also tested Geller’s most famous act: bending metal without physical force. Geller claimed he could bend spoons, forks, and rods just by focusing on them.

But in the strict setting of the lab, things changed. When told not to touch the metal, he failed to bend it. When given permission to touch lightly, he succeeded—but the scientists couldn’t measure or rule out the force he applied. From a scientific point of view, this didn’t count as “proof” of psychic ability.

Bold statement: “In controlled conditions, was it still magic—or just slight of hand?”

The Electronic Scale Experiment

In another unique trial, a one-gram steel weight was placed on an electric scale and covered with glass. Geller wasn’t allowed to touch it, yet the reading on the scale changed after he concentrated on it.

This experiment left the scientists puzzled. How did he affect the reading through the glass, with no physical contact at all?

Naming the Geller Effect

After these sessions, researchers Puthoff and Targ dubbed the mysterious results as “the Geller Effect.” They argued that the phenomena—whether mind reading, dowsing, or influencing physical objects—deserved more scientific study, not simple dismissal.

The “Geller Effect” soon became shorthand for paranormal or unexplained psychic events.

Geller’s Meteoric Rise and Media Stardom

With science now fueling the buzz, Geller’s fame soared. He became a regular fixture on talk shows, news specials, and magazine covers.

Key appearances:

• “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson”
• Feature stories in TIME, Newsweek, and The New York Times
• Dozens of European and American talk shows

He was no longer just a nightclub act; he was now the world’s best-known “mind bender,” earning respect and skepticism in equal measure.

James Randi: The Great Critic

But where there’s stardom, scrutiny follows. James Randi, a well-known stage magician and skeptic, took a keen interest.

Randi claimed he too could bend spoons and keys using sleight of hand—no psychic ability required. He performed Geller-like feats and then explained how he did them. He insisted he wasn’t trying to shame Geller, only that what looked miraculous was actually skillful trickery.

Was it really just a clever trick?
Randi’s criticism left a dent in Geller’s reputation. Doubts crept into the minds of fans who until then believed they’d seen real superhuman abilities.

Geller Steps Back and Finds New Opportunities

After years in the public eye and under skeptical attack, Geller began to appear less on TV. But that didn’t stop him from making money. He turned to private consulting, offering his unique “dowsing” services to oil companies looking for hot drilling spots.

Geller clearly chose a new path, separate from the controversies of public stage and TV magic.

Companies paid him handsomely for advice on where to drill—hoping his mysterious powers could strike black gold.

Working with Intelligence Agencies, Oil Firms, and the CIA

The story gets even more interesting. Uri Geller later claimed to have assisted Israel’s Mossad, the country’s famous intelligence service. He said he used his abilities to help solve tough cases.

In 1973, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also decided to test Geller. After their experiments, agency staff said they found no evidence of fraud.

“We didn’t see any trickery or fraud in Geller’s abilities—he may really have something unique.”
—CIA Agents Statement

Following these tests, the CIA used him for a handful of secret missions.

Spying, Cold War Tensions, and BBC’s Secret Life Documentary

In 2013, BBC aired a documentary, “The Secret Life of Uri Geller,” which claimed to reveal even more. The show said Mossad first recruited Geller, then introduced him to the CIA. His mission? To travel to Mexico, infiltrate KGB (Soviet) circles, and use his psychic powers to disrupt their work.

There, KGB agents were said to be storing CIA data on floppy disks. The documentary suggested Geller managed to “corrupt” the data on those disks—without ever touching them.

Many critics called these claims exaggerated or impossible. The truth, they said, remains tangled in myth and legend.

Limits, Doubts, and Challenges

Even at his peak, Geller didn’t always succeed. He sometimes refused to try predictions if he didn’t feel certain, and openly said so on live TV.

In 1988, a British businessman offered him £250,000 to bend a spoon in a controlled setting. Geller never accepted, fueling speculation that perhaps not every act was real.

Bold statement: “Was Geller hiding something all along—or just protecting his secrets?”

Uri Geller’s Own Take: Science, Magic, or Supernatural?

Geller always claimed paranormal powers, but he also admitted that some feats had simpler explanations.

For example, a stopped watch held in a warm hand for some time may start up again due to body heat, not mind power. He didn’t deny that stage magic and science could explain some outcomes—but insisted his mind-reading and “closed envelope” drawings still had no explanation.

Science vs. Magic: Possible Explanations

• Body heat can sometimes restart a stopped watch.
• Sleight of hand could bend thin metal, keys, or spoons.
• Mind reading and correct drawing of hidden images still baffle many rational thinkers.

Where Is Uri Geller Now?

Today, Uri Geller is 78 and rarely performs for large audiences. His days of live TV spectacles have faded as crowds and media attention have moved on.

Now, he sometimes still demonstrates spoon or fork bending in a lighter way, or shakes a compass for curious guests—but the big stage holds little interest. Some recent clips suggest he may use classic magician’s props, like fake thumbs, yet no solid proof has called his entire career a fraud.

The Famous “Geller Effect” Cadillac

One of Geller’s most famous possessions is a 1976 Cadillac. The car is covered in bent spoons and forks that he claims were once used by world-famous people—a rolling sculpture and a tribute to his career. The “Geller Effect” car reminds fans of the mystery he built and the minds he puzzled.