After all the “discussion” on the post Spoon bending instructions and pictures and the skeptics requiring from Shannan to record a video of him bending a spoon, here it is. Shannan has recorded the video, sent it to me and I’ve uploaded it to YouTube. Watch the video, decide for yourself if it’s for real, and write in the comments. By the way, the original video is higher quality 640×480 pixels, but YouTube only allows 320×240.
Further discussion on spoon bending is in the forums at Spoon bending discussion.
I wish you’d dated when this was posted. The quality of the video log is pretty poor, so is the science. I experienced this first hand, decades ago, and I still remember. I was invited to an experiment/party. I only knew two peeps there, the one who invited me and the one who came with. We could bring our own spoons or they had a box full to share or use at will. Two hosts were experimenting, collecting data. They explained the party format: Statistically, there is a higher chance of success in a group. There were 20 ~ 30 peeps all through the house. We were given basic observations & instructions to focus energy and ‘jump’ it into the spoon. We held it firm in one hand and tested the strength with a thumb and finger of the other hand. It took a while and then, “Woah!” it worked for somebody. Then, like popcorn popping, other peeps spoons went soft, when mine did it felt like … idk, taffy? I spun the spoon around the handle like a wax model. Most odd experience I’ve had. I don’t ‘believe’ – I know.
Is this a joke? He bent the spoon with his hands. That is not a psychic ability. Make it bend without ever touching it, and not on a part of the spoon that is easy to bend by hand (i.e. try turning the BOWL of the spoon INSIDE OUT.) Then I’ll be a believer.
Fake, nothing but a simple trick. He rubs the spoon with his thumb to heat it up right at the weakest part of the spoon, anyone can do this. People like him are the reason very few people believe things like this are real.
he did not heat up the metal enough to make it bendable by rubbing his finger on the spoon. everything is made of little particles moving aroud really fast, those particles all have tons of space within and between them. if you can control that space you can control matter.(my opinion through research)
Shannan, you rock. Spoon was just like putty, like a rubber band. Thanks for getting it on video!
Folks, there’s nothing paranormal about it. Bend a spoon with your mind? No. It’s Qi (or Prana, if you prefer) that softens the metal so it bends like rubber. First you focus your mind to direct the Qi(which is available to everybody, btw)through your body, out your hands, into the spoon. Then when you feel the metal soften, you bend it (yes, with your hands). After, the metal hardens again and you have a nice art object.
Simple, no psychic phenomena required, just basic, well-documented (like 6000 years of direct experience) movement of energy using the human bodymind. That’s what bodymind was made for, after all.
I’ve stumbled upon this site by accident. Being brought up by skeptic parents I initially thought that Shannan was simply someone who’d seen “The Matrix” too often. But I had to try it out for myself, before I decided I permanently belonged to camp “it’s nonsense.”
My first try, failed. Second try, failed again. I would try and bend it with my hands as much as I wanted; it only resulted in sore palms and fingers, and a barely unchanged spoon. I wanted to give up, but decided I’d try it ONE LAST TIME after giving it a rest.
3rd try: I read up on Shannen’s instructions, about unfocussing and tried that. The previous times I was fully concentrated on the spoon, as if I wanted to stare it into loops. This time I merely closed my eyes, breathed in and out evenly and sort of yelled for the spoon to bend bend bend. And it did! I bent it in 3 loops! It suddenly felt like rubber! (I’m bad at explaining, I know this sounds weird.)
Here you are people. I am one of the skeptics. But my judgement comes AFTER I try it for myself. You can say all you want about “someone pre-weakened the spoon, etc.” but this is no joke. The spoon I was working with was pretty thick and in order to bend it with your bare hands, you’d end up with your hands being very very sore (and then I’d still doubt I’d be able to put 3 loops in it)
I guess you guys probably won’t believe me, but I wanted to put it up anyway. Needless to say this little experiment resulted in renewed interest for this stuff, which I previously thought to be BS. Just give it a try people! If I can do it, you can!
GO SHANNAN!
So impressed by your flack-taking ability!
You are gorgeous. Good luck with practicing Telekinesis 🙂
Peaceout
I’ve just seen this for the first time and would like to say first of all that you show remarkable restraint and courage. It is difficult to put forth a concept as controversial as the psychokinetic force and then take the hits from the people who doubt, and even more difficult to weather the storm that follows gracefully. My compliments!
Also, my compliments on the manner of your presentation. I like the unassuming approach and generally low-key nonshowmanship approach.
Watching you maneuver the spoon like that is impressive, whatever the force involved. The spoon looks genuine to me, plus I see little motive for this to be a fake. It’s not as if you merely snapped it at a preweakened point, nor is there monetary or fame gain to be had here (at least, to my knowledge). If anything, you seem to play down the self-attention thing and seem to want to play up the “find otu for yourself” concept.
I am curious about the other psychokinetic discoveries you’ve made, and also if you’d made any more progress toward the telekinetic area of research.
The human mind is a powerful thing, and it would be interesting to find someone who has reached past some of the haze that most of us live behind…
Although he doesn’t put the spoon through a stress test, it doesn’t mean he’s a fraud. Like someone said before, just keep an open mind.
At least he made a video and provided instructions. Don’t be a jackass and make up theories because you can’t do it. A lot of things in this world are unexplained..
next time do it without rubbing it and use a thicker better quallity spoon i can bend crap like that without “focusing energy”or anything its not that hard.
I hope nobody gets mad at me about posting this but check out the clip:
http://www.hanklee.org/quicktime_movies/ghostspoon.mov
The significance of this (or other similar clips I could have posted) is that this comes from a magic dealer. It’s a demo of a trick that anyone could buy for a few bucks and, with the proper quite mundane skills, perform. No camera tricks — what you see is what someone there would see (if a magician who bought found out otherwise, they would demand — and get — their money back).
Unless you are able to control the situation and know what you are doing you cannot trust that you know what is happening. This is why use of “special subjects” in parapsychology is treated so gingerly in parapsychology — even by those with strong knowledge of prestidigitation. Magicians fool other magicians all the time.
That’s interesting (where did you find it?), but I don’t think that a trick spoon was used in Shannon video. Rather, without proper controls, one could just select a spoon that’s good for the job. A couple of bucks and a few trial runs and you can find a spoon just right for any purpose (after a bit of shopping around, I found a robust looking soup spoon the head of which breaks off — after only bending it back once! It snaps like a twig…).
So, I don’t think that annealing, pre-weakening, or trickery was used. Bending a spoon in loops is just plain easy!
Where did I find it? Its from the website of a magic dealer that I use. There’s at least one more demo video on that site (in fact, a much more impressive one, but with a less convenient URL). I haven’t counted but there are probably dozens of metal-bending tricks for sale from there without demo videos. Other dealers will have others available
Off-hand, I do not know whether this is done with a “trick spoon”. Some “tricks” are sold that do not involve any prop — what you are buying is the knowledge of the technique. You might also be buying a gadget (“gaff”) that makes bending an ordinary spoon easier or more deceptive. Or instructions for making your own such gaff.
The point is not how this particular bending is done (it might even be PK: that it *could* easily have been done conventionally and that therefore we do not have good evidence that it was done using PK does not mean that it wasn’t). The point is that much more convincing demonstrations can be done by trickery and you can’t tell — not by film and not in person unless you can control the situation and know what you are doing (and even then, probably not for certain).
Okay…I haven’t been here for a while…I’m going to ask this questions again. Please, Mr. Rohde, WHAT brand of spoon did you use?
I think I have it (apparently, so do some other people. I’m not the only one who’s curious…).
Please, I’d very much like to know precisely what brand of spoon was being used.
Thanks.
I was in Waikiki, HI recently. There is a street performer named Travis who does this. However, he makes it very hard for anyone to doubt that it is real. He starts by bending a spoon that he is holding by the tip with only two fingers. Then he asks someone in the audience to hold one. I had seen him perform a couple days in a row (a little skeptical that he had planted people in the audience) so I quickly jumped out and voulanteered. While I held the spoon, which was absolutely real, he made it bend! It was totally firm before and after the bend. Not some soggy lead like peice of treated metal. This is the reason that I found this blog.
He did other really cool convincing things too. I don’t know about this video because…well… it’s a video but it can be done.
I hate to have to break this to you, Morgan, but magicians can easily do that. See “The Truth About Uri Geller” and read about Randi’s encounter with Alan Spraggett, for one particularly good example of just how good a magician can be at this kind of thing.
I’ve done this for family members. The tricks quite easy, once learned.
I had a friend hold onto the botton of a fork — and by rocking it back and forth, I made the prongs appear to spring outward. I made it appear as if a key bent when I stroked it. I rubbed a nail, and lo!, it developed a slight bend. I then sat it aside — later, when looked at again, it had bent more, apparently on its own.
I stroked the handle of a spoon — it appeared to curl upward. I’ve done, on several occations, an exact replica of the above Shannon Rohde trick. Not much of a trick — I located what appears to be the brand of spoons he used (they look just the same). It turns out that they can be bent in loops like that quite easily. The video is just a guy bending a spoon with his hands.
To get back to my narrative…then, the finale! I took two spoons. I let the person hold them, and tap the bowls together, to make sure they were solid. I took one (chosen psychically, of course), and, while they held it, I rubbed it — and it got weaker…and weaker…and eventually broke in two.
Note the qualifiers: “appeared,” “apparently.” It seems incredible, but it’s not.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=h3X9h1WlQpA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WPxEA_cCm0o
http://youtube.com/irritatedbyGeller
Ah, some sanity! But I must note, I don’t think annealing is necessary. You (or at least I) can simply bend a spoon/fork right out of the box. They just aren’t that strong.
And it looks like Shannon has strong arms…it’s simply a person bending a spoon with their hands. Easy.
It would look 100% more convincing if you bent the spoon with your MIND not ure hands.
http://youtube.com/irritatedbyGeller
makes for an interesting comparison.
LOL! You seriously believe this?
C’mon, you’re not that stupid, are you?
I can’t decide if I think it’s real or not. One one hand, the spoon is thin, and spoons like that are bent easily by firm ice cream(I used to accidently “ruin” spoons by bending them a little scooping ice cream). On the other hand, most spoons, not even ones that thin, don’t bend well THAT much. Like I said, I’m not sure. And why did he rub it for about 17 seconds before bending it? The instructions on the website I’ve seen that told about cutlery-bending (www.fork-you.com) don’t say anything about rubbing, just holding it. Maybe its a different method, but this video looks kinda fake.
There’s something not right about this video. Two tests I would like to see prior the bending and twisting: First have him tap the spoon on a hard surface so we can “hear” the metal and have him scoop some icecream with the spoon prior the whole meditation & bending routine.
Paranormal Investigator
2012 will be a shocker indeed, get ready for a big change people!
I can’t figure out if this is a joke or not. If it is, kudos to you sir.
If it’s not… erm… no, it’s got to be a joke. 🙂
I see…
You can use the power of your mind to first rub the spoon with your thumb, then twist it with your hands.
That is so amazing. I never knew the mind was so powerful that it can move fingers and hands.
You rule man!!
this video wasnt what i was expecting at all…it made me think it was actually just a joke, im pretty sure i can bend a spoon like that. i was expecting the spoon to bend all by itself. not with you focusing then bending it. thats what ive always thought spoon bending was.this didnt really prove anything to me.
Hi Shannan,
Thanks for the instructions and the video. I have practiced telekinesis for years and know about psi energy and how to use it but for some reason I had trouble with spoon bending for years. No matter what I did it didnt work for me. The same day I read your page I could make a coil out of a spoon and it really turned soft in my hands. The key I guess was not looking at the spoon while starting with the first bend, I guess I owe you a big thank you for that 🙂
thanks
reza
hey how about you try make the spoon wilt just holdingit at the tip of the handel
if you can do that i will believe but so far you show no proof and your probably just trying to mock us Wiccans.
Rupert, congradulations on being Wiccan. I don’t think anyone has said or shown anything in any post on this subject about ‘mocking us wiccans’.
I, being Wiccan, and speak on behalf of the rest of ‘us’, feel that you accuse wrongly and make the rest of ‘us’ look bad by saying that. Wether the demonstration is real or not, none of this shows any proof that any faith is being mocked, least of all Wicca. You’re barking up the wrong tree.
To Shannan, I’ve seen the video, and do not believe nor disbelieve you. It does not matter if I do either way. It only matters that you believe. Good luck with everything.
For the Record Rupert, I am not Wicca. My religon is Spiritualism.
There is a difference….
Here’s one for you and your video:
Get a bag of 2d nails, a 2×4, a hammer, a single dice, and a magnet.
Pour the nails onto the table, and with the magnet pick up at least 6 and lay them out in a row, 1 through 6.
Roll the dice and pick the nail represented by the die roll and bend it, the other 5 nails pound into the 2×4. If this is done in a straight forward manner, I don’t think there would be any doubt. AND you can use both hands.
Best regards,
J Bone
Too funny.
Well, you did exactly what you said your were going to do.
1. Meditate
2. Get into a “mind over matter state”
3. Bend the spoon
Anything of a psychic, psychokinetic, or supernatural nature? No. And there was no claim of it either.
I can meditate, get into a “mind over matter state”, and then drive my car — my mind, by way of my hands, are controlling the vehicle, therefore Mind Over Matter.
I can and do bend spoons in the same fashion, anyone can. Now if the spoon bends like the one in the Matrix, now *that* would be something.
If you’re going for a demonstration of psychokinesis you’ll need to say so, and a few more “checks & balances” in the way of 3rd party observers. I want to believe that this can be done via PK, but I haven’t seen anything conclusive.
Best regards,
J Bone
You are thinking of Telekinetic, not Psychokinetic. There is a difference. But thanks for posting
According to, amongst others, Wikipedia these are the same thing. Thanks for not answering.
your question did not require an answer.
Originally, when what were then known as “psychical researchers” wanted a term for the hypotheses that physical mediums were using their minds to make things in the seance room around (as opposed to forming a conduit to allow spirits to do it) they came up with the term “Telekinesis”. Later parapsychologists, extending this beyond the seance room, realized that this coinage was poor and replaced “telekinesis” (distant movement) with “psychokinesis” (mind movement). External groups who were interested (spiritual, entertainment, science fiction, skeptics, etc), generally continued to use the term that was generally considered archaic by the scientific community.
Some individuals in these other groups decided to make a distinction relevant to their view of these phenomena between the two previously synonymous terms. Generally they did not agree on exactly what the distinction was, and the distinction was most frequently introduced, not as new, but as if it were an already accepted, stamped in stone, fact.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with using terms, especially archaic terms, within your community to make specific distinctions understood by that community. It happens, though, as here, that members of that community honestly don’t realize that their usage is quite narrow and is not general usage.
No disrespect or criticism — you were attempting to share knowledge, which is a very positive thing — but there is no generally understood distinction between psychokinesis and telekinesis, and there is specifically no distinction in the community that coined both terms (except that when people talk about telekinesis it has a tendency to sound to this parapsychologist, at least, a bit like someone trying to speak King James English).
I feel the rubbing of the thumb was a decoy! he just wanted to divert our attention from the possibility that it could be bent without doing the “mind’ thing at d first place!
kudos to him for diverting our attention!
A spoon made in China. Every once in awhile, at work, I will find a random spoon that doesn’t match the rest of the utensils we have. They weigh next to nothing and are extremely thin. With a little practice, anyone could do this “trick”.
Hi Shannan. Nice video. My son went to a PK party hosted by Jack Houck and I was impressed by the look of the utensils that he was able to bend.
Have you been able to bend the bowl of a spoon? That would be difficult to explain away.
Big Deal! A spoon is relatively fragile. Many women are easily able to bend car bumpers without touching them at all.
ya am having troble with it i do all things all i can do it bend it nerly into a loop tips plz send them to christian_breen@hotmail.co.uk
Oh, I read the Gardner article in one of his many books which consist of collections of his articles. That kind of threw me off, because I didn’t associate the article with the Skeptical Inquirer.
And about my, I guess you’d call it a “sweeping conclusion” (would you?), I’ve done a fair bit of research on the topic and was drawing a conclusion from a lot of cases I’ve looked into (and I make my “research” sound more dignified than the actual perverse curiosity that drives most of my interests).
“Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack.” True! I just suck at wording what I mean (at least the first time around). What I meant is that controlled psi experiments come up with a negative results. So that’s not lack of evidence, that’s more like falsification. 🙂 And I “didn’t justify” this conclusion, because this was a blog comment; would have taken up too much space.
And while I’m talking to a real parapsychologist: all parapsychologists refer me (or people in general) to “better research,” but when I follow their suggestions, I never find this “better research,” and eventually wind up back at Geller (not cool!). My conclusion is that I’m talking to the wrong parapsychologists.
So, to get the point, in the process of learning deeper statistics, I’d like to use parapsychology to apply it – so, if I wanted really high-quality psi research, where would I turn to?
Thanks (I hope I’ve cleared up what I mean).
PS. My general conclusion is best summed up by a brief bit on parapsychology in Victor Stenger’s book “God: The Failed Hypothesis.” I think it was on page 90-93.
“”Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack.” True! I just suck at wording what I mean (at least the first time around). What I meant is that controlled psi experiments come up with a negative results. So that’s not lack of evidence, that’s more like falsification.”
No, it is simply a lack of evidence, which is still not evidence of lack (a falsification). It is only a falsification of the claim that “all parapsychological experiments will produce positive evidence of psi anomalies,” a claim which noone is making.
Its the positive parapsychology results which stand as a falsification of the conventional view. The prediction of the conventional scientific theories is that such results will rarely happen. In fact they frequently do even under tight controls.
Go to “http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm” (a great site generally, by the way. There you will see many spectacular images of complex, solar atmospheric halos. According to you, if I go outside right now, a sunny day with some sign of high cirrus clouds, and I do *not* see the full halo display then I have “falsified” that the phenomena exist at all. In fact, the halos depend on complex, precise conditions the existence of which can only be deduced on the basis of observing a particular kind of halo (conditions like a particular range of sizes of a particular kind, out of many possible, of exceptionally regularly shaped ice crystals all aligned quite precisely.
Check out Dean Radin’s “The Conscious Universe” or Richard Broughton’s “Parapsychology: The Controversial Science”. For that matter, you might look into “Extra Sensory Perception After 60 Years” by Rhine, Pratt, Stuart and Smith (published in 1940). All of these summarize various areas of research results, discussing the criticisms and covering the statistics in detail.
Choosing one easily available block of evidence, you might check out Daryl Bem’s Ganzfeld articles at “http://www.dbem.ws/online_pubs.html#psi”. Dr Bem was a skeptical psychologist (as opposed to being a “skeptic”) who was brought in by Charles Honorton to evaluate his experimental design. Dr Bem felt that the design was good enough that a positive result would be clear evidence of psi phenomena. He joined the experimental team. The results were positive, as were the replications.
Keep in mind that virtually nothing can be concluded from a post hoc analyses, unless carefully done as in a proper meta-analyses (where the analytic criteria are set before the data is looked at). Also, there is a limit to how much analysis you can do without the raw data.
Of course, if you really believe that an experiment that fails to show an effect proves that no experiment could have shown a positive result (I’m a bit unsure what the happy face meant) then you’ll find a way of teasing the
I suppose that we do, occasionally — everybody does. Do you have any evidence (note: that Martin Gardner says that they do is not evidence) that we do so more than most? Note, we’re talking about parapsychologists by which is meant trained scientists specializing in the scientific evaluation of apparent anomalous communications. (One of the requirements of critical discourse is that people making claims are responsible for demonstrating them).
Out of sheer curiosity, why did you mention the Skeptical Inquirer at the end of your comment?
Let’s see, you were quoting one of the founders of the magazine in question, in an article that he probably (though I don’t know for sure) published there, bringing in argumentative ploys frequently found in its pages. Its reasonable to suppose if you aren’t someone who confuses its strident advocacy with critical discourse then there is someone out there responding with a “right on!” to what you wrote who does.
No reason, I guess.
Ah yes! Some classic “skeptic” argumentation. The essence of the argument:
“Yes this event doesn’t have any particular bearing on the issue (see how even handed I am — I’m admitting that). But I would really like to be able to draw a conclusion anyway — I’m a rationalist which means that I should always be able to make definite statements. Therefore I’m declaring that lack of evidence *should* be equated in this case with evidence of lack — QED, I win.”
This is a favored argument by Randi (he is at times much more explicit about invoking it than you are here), for example. You are using the variant where you make an unsupported claim that this is “representative of the general quality of parapsychological evidence”. Even if this were true it would be completely irrelevant — to make a point you need to refute the best argument, not the poorest or even representative evidence.
I’m not saying, by the way, “you can’t entirely disprove it”, so stop setting me up as a straw man. If this were clearly fraudulent (which it is not) it would still only demonstrate the completely uncontroversial statement that frauds exist. Piltdown man does not disprove the existence of real fossils of archaic human ancestors.
Skeptical Inquirer is not a manual of valid critical thinking. It contains good material and bad — the only requirement is that the “right” conclusions are reached.
Before I continue, I want to peform a bit of perfunctory clarification — I’m not sure if you think that I was using the “heads I win, tails you loose” arguement. I was suggesting that parapsychologists use it. Just hope that at least that much is clear (I couldn’t really tell from your comment).
And the issue is a little more complicated than you make it sound (but you do have some good points, and once I get clarification on this thing I’ll answer ’em to the best of my abilities).
I got a bit tired with the squabbling so I haven’t read all the statements.
I am a parapsychologist. I believe that there is strong evidence of psi phenomena. I believe that I am open minded about any particular demonstration being an example.
There are many people who are deceivers or who are self deceived. I think that it is naive to accept everything that appears paranormal or which is claimed to be paranormal as being paranormal.
I saw nothing particularly convincing in this film of a paranormal event. That doesn’t mean that there wasn’t, just that it looked no different than what could be produced quite normally — either through trickery or through self-deception.
I would like anyone who claims to see evidence of fraud to back that up — a mark does not constitute, nor does simple rubbing with a finger, nor does the phenomena not corresponding to what you believe it would constitute if it did exist though you know it does not.
On the other hand, asking people to just believe you when you claim to be doing marvelous things is insulting and frankly, suspicious. When I do a magic trick I want people to suspend belief and enjoy the show. When I do an experiment I want them to be rationally critical.
I’ve seen lots of magicians do better spoon-bending tricks. That doesn’t mean this was a trick — it just means you haven’t shown me anything to lead me to believe that what you did is paranormal. Some of your reactions and language are suspicious but don’t really prove anything.
“Head I win, tails you loose.” I appreciate your comment, but (being the nit-picking person that I am), you also use the tired old statement “just because this one isn’t real doesn’t mean that the others aren’t.” (not precisely what you said, but a paraphrase for clarity). Yes, totally true, but this is representative of the general quality of parapsychological evidence — the “others” that are supposedly real apprear no more real than the “frauds.”
As Martin Gardner points out, it’s a “heads I win, tails you loose” arguement — no amount of evidence seems indicate to parapsychologists in general that there is no psychic phenomena, and the “you can’t entirely disprove it!” arguement crops up. Similar arguements exist for God, and Richard Dawkins deals with that nicely in The God Delusion; absolute proof one way doesn’t mean that a severly strong aruguement one way doesn’t exist.
But like I said, I appreciate your comment, because this video doesn’t represent anything unique.
i can twist it without bendinig it down. like u wich then makes it very easy to my lil bro cud do that wut u just did
that is easy i can do that byt strength alone i can twist the spoon with bendin it down i just hold top and bottom with 2 fingers and twist it ur trickinhg urself.make a video of u bending the bowl of the spoon
You guys are all skeptical
just like the government
just like any “American Citizen” would have been taught growing up
Paranormal things arent real
why?
because the government says so, because skeptics say so
but of corse maby theres a couple people willing to break that “cookie cut grown up” style of life and maby believe this
i mean did any of you idiots see Sony’s PK lab
they said it was positive for paranormal activity but they had to shut it down cause they couldnt incorporate anything into there games
im a 130 pounds , a fucking skinny ass white guy, im 18
i took a thick spoon, almost twice the thickness as say a Denny’s resturant spoon
and gave it to my 230 pound friends (who is not a fatass mind you hes got some strength and sure he could bend maby a half inch at each struggiling attempt than hed have to reposition his hands and try more
i took that damn spoon, did my meditation, found a good emotion channeld, and bent a complete 110 degrees, almost clamshelling the bowl to the shaft part, IN ONE MOTION, i did not repostion my hands once
i hope this gives the idea of whats going on here, its not that were bending spoons and forks with are mind, is that were using are mind to help bend it, and youll find it very easy to bend things that normally people cant do.
i believe shannan no worrys man
id wish we could talk on a messenger or somehing i have sooo much to ask you
Let the skeptics out of there cages now
here comes the flame
=]
When you write that coherantly I’ll reply. 🙂
Best wishes Shannon with the telekinesis. I look forward to seeing you with the spoon with one hand … and watching it bend in the middle. I trust that you do this soon; I am also curious to read the critical comments of the skeptics when they see this video. Then, I’d like to see the Great Randi do the same.
Well, I’d say that Jay learnt something: he conduced a control by letting his muscular friend try to bend the spoon; he then used the psycho kinetic method to achieve an easy bending. Congrats Jay for demonstrating a simple application of the scientific method … and not talking about what should, or shouldn’t, be.
To convey some flavor of what’s going on in the video, go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=qUxWdIQVT_c
At the top of these here lines of babble, you say “send Randi this way.” I don’t know the man, but I can send you in the direction of his web site for info on the million dollar challenge.
Challenge info:http://randi.org/research/index.html
FAQ:http://randi.org/research/faq.html
Application:http://randi.org/research/challenge.html
Among other things, you’ll find good evidence that the million dollars exists (a common complaint about it), and you’ll learn a lot about the challenge procedure. For one, everyone always says that Randi has set it up in such a way that he could hide undesirable results, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Here’a a relevant article:http://www.csicop.org/si/2005-07/randi.html
So, that’s all ya need, man, and I look forward to seeing the outcome of your attempt at the million. Good luck, Shannon
I have a suggestion for a future experiment (and video): use your powers to soften and dent the bowl of the spoon. And, to prove that it really is solid before you do it, you should tap it firmly on a hard surface prior to bending it, rather than timidly displaying it like most spoon bending videos depict. Well, it’s an idea.
i would do a better job if i had that power…i’d bend the bowl of the spoon
Mr. Rhode, what brand of spoon did you use in your experiment? Many spoons can be bent like you did in the video by brute force — but I can’t know for sure if your spoon is one of them unless I know more specific information about it.
Thanks.
The funniest part of this (I can only assume Mr. Rhode posted this as a joke) is that other better magicians (Randi included) can have the darn thing break off without having to twist it up.
No wait, the FUNNIEST part is that people are responding here as if they actually believe a man can bend metal with his mind.
Because we all know that if we had such powers, we’d spend our days ruining the silverware.
So stupid.
If responding in this forum makes you believe, then you too are guilty of believing in Mr. Rhode. 😀
For anyone who is trying to disprove what this guy (shan something or other) did, why r u wasting ur time? He never said it was with his mind, you chose to watch the video, and DOZENS of people have already said what you said. “The spoon is pre-bent!” or “It’s obviously magic… obviously…”
To anyone who’s trying to convince the non-believers (myself included) why r u wasting ur time? Like with the people who post on how unhealthy it is to be a ‘non-believer’. You say choosing to not believe what you do is unhealthy. This is like the mentality of Christianity… in the DARK AGES!!! Don’t give people advice on how they should think! Besides, you all sound like zoned-out hippies! “Just be at ease man, free your mind and believe!”
Oh, and Shan whatever your name is. It does look fake. I don’t think you did have to use mental powers. If you did, thats cool. Just a suggestion (and a real one, not fake) try and post a video of something you can do ONLY because of mind-energy-manipulation, etc. Hey, maybe you’ll convince me then too. But, I can bend a spoon like that too. Not all, but some.
Sorry, child, but he’s the one with the absurd claim so it’s HIS place to be proving things, not the visitors. And what he claims is preposterous. He seems to think we’re actually stupid enough to believe his parlour tricks. Sad, really….
but you can hardly blame intelligent people for being insulted by this sort of crap.
…It’s not preposterous, just because you don’t believe doesn’t mean that I don’t have to.
He’s a great man! and you’re just jealous that you can’t do what he can
Y’know, i don’t care if you guys think this is fake, I think it’s freakin sweet. And you’re all concentrating on Math+Science+Pysics, you don’t see the cool possibility that this can be real.
I don’t know about you guys being so pissed off, I like it and I approve of Telekinetics and Mind over Matter.
I find it all fascinating and very cool, you guys are just so bored you have to try to prove him wrong.
Compare what people have accomplished by “concentrating on Math+Science+Physics” to what we have achieved by psychic means. I too believe our minds give us amazing power over the world, but I think this spoon-bending stuff demonstrates a misunderstanding of what our minds are good for.
bruised ego? no.
preparing litigation? yes.
out of everyone here you deserve my huggs the most and best wishes.
Who do you think you are kidding? People are only afraid of *smart* lawyers. I’m no fan of spoon-bending, but if you think you have a cause of legal action here, I laugh in your face, shyster.
I’m finding this whole thing increasingly absurd. In responce to an earlier question you asked me, Shannon… yes, I AM in fact an attorney. And the questions of legality regarding all of this are becoming rather more intriquing to me by the minute. Fraud is a lucrative area for those who bother to expose it.
As for your sarcastic and sanctimonious responces to your critics, I suggest you tread very carefully indeed.
Fraud? You have no case, Mr. angry attorney. There’s no indication that Rohde is anything but sincere.
To many people, this psychic stuff is a serious spiritual matter. I’m not one of those people; I’d say that presenting two-handed spoon bending as a psychic phenomenon is nonsense. Here’s the deal: Their right to profess what they believe does not depend on what I or anyone else thinks of those beliefs.
Hey — didn’t they go over this stuff in law school?
noted.
this response was for angry reader. Stating that his response was noted, laughed at and then tucked away 25 feet of thought at the very and mean VERY bottom. It is amazing how people threat cause of bruised ego. Next time you go to church repent of your sins to your god. Maybe you won’t be so angry….
Curiouser and curiouser.
Hello everyone; I would to comment on this subject of spoon bending abilities… I will neither confirm nor deny that the person bending the spoon on the video has such an ability ….. But yes I will say that according Einsteins theory matter and energy are ” equivalent.” We live in a world governed by Newtonian Physics that describes the world at large at the macro scale of things etc……Wich according to the established Physical rules that governs our world says “spoon bending is not possible or should’nt be possible… Yet , alot of the rules that governs our Universe at the macro scale of things ….Fails horribly at the quantum levels or the Quantum Universe …..General Relativity or Newtonian Physics falls apart ….. Completely… It is governed by a different set of rules … you might as well call it Alice and Wonderland kinda Universe ….Where the impossible becomes possible etc.. It is for this very reason that I keep an opened mind…… Dont quote me on this but I did find an interesting article explaning in theory how spoon bending was possible ….. It says something like there’s some kind of residual kinetic mental energy that gets transferred to the spaces between the molecules or atoms of the spoon etc…. from the fingers to the spoon ..
Why do people still think that the spoon will bend while using ONLY the mind power?
What a dissapointment 😀
I thought he was going to bend the spoon with his mind but it looks cool anyway. Next tme try a stainless steel pipe like this guy does at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR5n_64Fbuk&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efunpcgame%2Ecom%2FJokes%2FCrazy%2Dqiqong%2Dbend%2Dmetals%2Ehtml
Here’s some backup for you, Shanan.
http://www.jackhouck.com/pk.shtml
IDIOTS we humans are very advanced we still dont know what exactly what the human brain can all do.It is ver likely he did bend that spoon with his mind.Plus abot that stupid crease thing its a DECORATION i got a whole bunch of spoons like that its a deco.
Did anyone else expect to see the spoon bend using ONLY the mind? I was surprised (and dissatisfied) with the use of hands to bend the spoon. Real spoon-bending uses only the power of the mind (if it can be done at all)…not a parlor trick of concentrating then bending a spoon with one’s hands.
I have created a new blog called Shannan’s Psychic Journal.
http://shannan-rohde.blogspot.com
This will be my notes from my journey towards mediumship and psychic experiences I have. This blog will also be about my life growing up and my experiences. With photos and full critique.
YOU ARE ALL WRONG!!! HE IS REALLY BENDING THE SPOON WITH HIS MIND.. I WILL EXPLAIN: HIS MIND SENDS THE SIGNAL TO THE MUSCLES IN HIS ARM TO USE THE FORCE NECCESSARY TO BEND THE CHEAP CHINESE STEEL SPOON. THEREFORE, HE HAS USED THE POWER OF HIS MIND TO BEND THE SPOON…
that is only the physical aspect of it. The mind is a totally different part all together. When Meditating I am concentrating on how soft the spoon is and how it WILL bend with ease.
I have also been readying about High Iron content in your blood stream will also give you “More mind Strength.” This I believe is the secret to Telekinetics, expanding your Aura and focusing it with the Aura of the object.
But I’m still practicing..
Lets assume the point where the spoon bends first is about 1/4 in by 1/16 in. This results in a plastic section modulus (Z) about the weak axis of 2.44×10^-4 in^4. Stainless steel varies in yield strength (Fy) from 30000 to 130000 lb/in^2. Yield strength is the point at which if more force is applied, the metal deforms permanently and will not snap back. The moment (aka torque) required to bend the spoon is M = Fy Z. It looks to me like Shannan is gripping the top of the spoon and applying force about 1.5 inches (y) from where the spoon bends, so the force he must apply is P = Fy Z / y. That comes to about 7 lbs for cheap stainless steel and 32 lbs for very high strength stainless steel.
I gave it a try and my numbers felt about right. Just about anybody can apply that much force. however, in my opinion Shannan does it in his video quickly and smoothly, and that’s the key to this whole thing. Not that it’s supernatural, just that his meditation beforehand improves his spoon bending.
Shannan, you’ve kept pretty cool in the face of some hostile bastards here, good job.
Thank you, and I actually understand your math. I agree as well with it. As far as the people here go. They don’t know the first thing about me except a few pictures that I personally choose to put up here. Also a video on a different link. I control my reactions and set more of a mood, kind of like gas on a fire.
What people don’t understand here, if I choose how to make the mood and control the energy here. I and 10 friends of mine had a bet; I told them I could do something that will make a certain result with people and reactions. Basically every action has a reaction.
Also people have been going on what other people wrote and are “Following the leader”, this is something I also included on my bet with my friends. It really is fascinating how humans are just cattle and that they are conditioned to follow certain “Norms.”
Over 75% of them didn’t even read the post. I appreciate everybody here and there opinions.
I did read the post, I did try to spoon bending test. I learned the trick, I went on Youtube and caught a bunch of people performing it. I am getting both sides of the issue, from people like Randi and Prescott. Hardly “following the herd.”
Please, enough insults, I have a simple question I that I would like answered: What is the brand of the spoon? I think I’ve nailed it, based on appearance. One buck for six at Wal-Mart, right? “Stainless China” on the back of the handle, a flower pattern imprinted on it. They are not packaged with anything but tape around the handle under the bowl. Bad quality considering the 1.50 spoons beside it. Is this the type of spoon that you used? I’ve asked that question repeatedly. Please, I’d like an answer.
Thank you.
Well done VTech, I’m glad to see that someone else has brought standard materials knowledge to the table, although I didn’t check your calcs, I will assume that they are correct (I hate working in Imperial units).
However, Mr Rhode if you “Understand” what the maths is describing, than you realise that this demonstration is not demonstrating anything beyond any humans normal physical capability, and as for the “quickly and smoothly” part demonstrating the mental abilities you profess, that is just a matter of PRACTICE.
Please, if you are going to make claims of this nature, demonstrate these abilities in a manner whereby the abilities are beyond doubt taking a role in the demostration.
If you can do this for real… Try for the 1 millon $ prize from JREF…
This guy is so fake it is sad just to watch him… In other words this video is *BULLSHIT!*
Examples..
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/260958/spoon_bending_revealed/
This is Parlor/Stage magic people…
http://www.expertvillage.com/videos/magic-tricks-telekinesis-spoon-bending-explained.htm
The people who believe this guy is bending spoons with his “PK” ability need to really have a reality check… If he can do it with his mind then why does he even hold the spoon in his hands?
google metal annealing…..a silver spoon that has been annealed at that thickness would be easy to bend in the same way…..like someone else said, if you are using your mind, set it on the table a and do this. Good Luck Uri Geller wannabe…..oh yeah…..Uri Geller was a FRAUD too.
Spoon Metal Madness feast with “Roadhead”… rock on dude!!
Sorry I had to, your name made me think of the 80’s on MTV with heavy metal rockers ball on friday nights.
Why do people always bend spoons? Why does no-one use their powers to bend iron bars?
Everyone knows that there is no spoon…
right Mr Anderson?
“The fact that you are so hell bent on discounting the idea of possibility…”
I’m not hellbent on discounting anything. It’s up to people who make claims to prove their claims, not up to others to disprove them. I am simply suggesting that the likelihood that you bend the spoon with your mind alone is vanishingly small. It’s also a common stage magic trick to do this.
You have provided a video that shows you bending a spoon made of unknown material and treated in an unknown manner. And you are clearly bending it with your hands and not with your mind. How about if you put the spoon on a table and bend it without touching it? That would be more interesting.
I’ve got your 640 x 800 video (thanks) but it’s still not as clear as I would like. I will see if I can find some enhancing software that will work with it but it may take some time.
No problem. Time is all we have. I am currently training to try this using Telekinetics instead of Psycokinetics. I hope I can achieve it. The sad thing is, even if i put a video here with the telekinetics. It would not matter. The main goal of this whole descussion is trying to help people understand that when they put there mind to something they can achieve anything. But 80% of the people cannot understand this concept. I feel bad for each and every one of them.
Yes, if only the unwashed 80% (1) could tap into these hidden reserves, what a world this would be! We could indeed achieve anything! Which makes me wonder why the 20% (2) who have mastered this arcane and ancient ability haven’t fixed the world yet. What are you waiting for? Get crackin’. Unless when you say “anything” you mean superfluous nonsense.
(1), (2) courtesy of the Institute for the Generation of Unfounded Conversational Statistics Used to Make the Speaker Sound Credible of North America (www.IGUCSUMSSCNA.org)
We can achieve anything and your choice is to mangle flatware?
Seriously, the great power of our minds is intellectual, not psychic. The real world works on consistent and in many cases discernable principles. Achievement is the result of action guided by intelligence.
When you present two-handed spoon bending as a psychic phenomenon, you’re not demonstrating the power of the mind. You’re wasting it.
Amen to that! What trouble the simple question like “demonstrate what you say to me” causes! It basically boils down to that — you say something, and you demonstrate it. Simple, timeless, and straitforward.
And remember, I’m talking about bending with the mind, not the hands, feet, strings, cables, heat, devil assistance, voodoo, or any other BS.
actually, voodoo bending would be cool. maybe you could add that to your repetoire.
……..Okay, I get the picture White Tigers, Lords of Death, guys in funny suits throwing plastic explosives while poison arrows fall from the sky and the pillars of heaven shake, huh? Sure, okay, I see Charlie Chan, Fu Manchu and a hundred howlin’ monkey temples, and that’s just for starters, right? Fine! I’m back! I’m ready, goddammit let me at ’em! -Jack Burton
Hell, how about bending a toothpick on a table, or folding a sheet of paper with your mind. Should be considerably easier than a spoon.
I’ll bet you can’t fold that spoon in half 7 times. (in half, not bend 7 times)
🙂
you know out of everyone here, that makes sense. 7 times would almost make it as strong as a Japanese Katana. Hmmmm now ya got me thinking.
*BULLSHIT! This Video is BULLSHIT!!! Cheap Chinese steel… and a typical parlor/stage magic at its worst…*
you my friend, are so very wrong.
Hey, I have a spoon made out of unbendium. Do you think it can be bent? Fairy or no fairy, you won’t be bending this spoon any time soon.
….. your mother’s a freegan
well then, maybe you can.
Oh and your mothers so fat her skins transparent.
OMG, I just watched the video again, and I figured it out. There is a fairy, or some type of sprite in the upper right corner. If you watch closely, it uses it’s fairy magic on the spoon, or maybe on the spooner, and this is how it bends. It is sending fairy magic through that other fairy, into his fairy hands, and voila, bent spoonage.
LOL, that was funny…
Isn’t the point of this video to be a joke on us moron’s who came here when we saw a link for spoon bending. of course there is going to be someone in the video acting serious, and then bends the spoon with his hand. I don’t care if he rubbed it first, heated it in the oven, or made it out of clay. It’s being bent by his hands, not mind, but then again, did the first page say he would bend it with his mind? I don’t see it. It says “Look out the window or at something for about 1 second and start to bend the spoon.” No minds, just hands. There is no need to warm up a spoon to bend it with your hands unless you are a small child, or you paid money for a really strong spoon. This is very funny, unless you are serious, and think you are somehow softening that weak ass spoon with your mind. I can bend a couple of those things at one time, and I’m no Arnold. That’s the weak part of the spoon. Lay that sucker on the table, bend it without touching it with anything but your mind, or energies, and that would be a video.
James Randi sucks!
How do you know?
I’d like to see this with a high-quality spoon. The spoon in the video is thin and cheap-looking. Such spoons are generally very easy to bend. I have some like that which are very easy to bend and twist.
2 words, Memory Metal
http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/JCESoft/CCA/CCA2/MAIN/MEMORYM/CD2R1.HTM
google it
depending on the molecular design, if you heat it up, or cool it down it becomes very malleable. its quite rigid when at a “normal” temperature, but can easily bend, frames for glasses are made out of a similar material.
the main point of this “power of the mind” jibba-jabba is the proof of “people hacking” or social engineering(google it). if you pretend you yourself believe something, and have the right audience, you can sell ice to eskimos, sand to iraqi’s. anyone who has had to convince a person over the phone that this specific software patch will fix their problems, but they need to get off the phone while doing it, knows exactly what i mean.
skepticism and broad knowledge is a virtue.
Interesting I just went there and read that. I don’t think it appies to the spoon tho, unless someone can heat there hands hot enough to do it. But if won could, then i would execpt this as a reason spoons bend with ease.
man I can’t spell today
It does apply to the spoon if its made out of that material, which it may or may not be. You don’t need extreme temperatures to work with a memory metal substance. Slightly warm, or chilled water, or gravy, are enough to allow you to manipulate the metal, that site is just an example.
And to those still arguing about this, in all reality it doesn’t matter, he made a video, he claims he can bend the thing with his mind. So what? I’m Batman. Do you care? Really?
my older brother used to do this trick when i was younger. i remember because he rubbed the handle the same way with his thumb. im not saying you didnt actually focus your mind, the human mind is incredibly powerful, but whatever, i doubt my brother was smart enough to “focus his energies,” which makes me skeptical
Wow. This is complete bullshit. He bends the spoon. With his hands…. I’m not sure how this counts as “psycokinetic”, when it is clearly being bent by physical force, something that is relatively easy to do. Hence, the bent spoons I have from trying to scoop ice cream.
Laughable.
Shannan: I have an open mind – will have to research a bit to determine which side of the belief I fall on, but, I must say one thing:
I compliment you on your ability to handle the public onslaught.
Plus, the simple fact that you aren’t offended that some don’t believe you leans towards truth of word.
Thank you Angel (blushing)
To flirt or not to flirt… that is the question. HA! Is this a slam board, a disscussion group or is it really a place for this fella to try hard and pick up a date? ha!
…or a place to pick up a hard date? {=-O
I’ll have to agree with the good looking guy comment. I’d like to hear from ya! Angelina
Angel_ghost_spirit@yahoo.com
Or to quote popular modern slang, “Yup, -I’d- hit that…” 😉
The physics section is on a different discussion group. This group is about Meta-Physics and Psycokinetics.
I was stating how it was amazing that you bent the spoon using *physical* ability, not *psychical* ability.
The term “meta-physical” or “meta-physics” is meaningless. “Meta-Physical” means, literally, ” that which is beyond what can be grasped by the senses.” Anything that cannot be grasped by our senses, is therefore, “non-sensical”.
Hey, wait a minute. That means metaphysics is nonsense. 😛
I guess your right steve.
(wink)
It is amazing, how through the power of *physics* , you are able to bend that spoon *!!!*
Imagine, if only more people could learn to twist thin metal objects by merely *holding* them.
It would change science as we know it.
Paige is right.
“The fact that you are so hell bent on discounting the idea of possibility, could prove to cause some tension/anxiety and health problems down the road.”
Bent spoons open up great health possibilities!
Nothing is so useful as a bent spoon.
Every home should have at least a hundred or so.
I personally am never without two or three in my car.
“This video is not THAT amazing.. it is simply focusing energy into energy. Very doable by a great many people.”
Yes, yes, yes. Focusing energy into energy.
With practice, love and the healing energy of the Great Woo, it is then possible to move beyond just focusing energy into energy. The next level is focusing milk into milk and then sand into sand etc.
“Bending spoons is doable by a great many people”.
But why stop at spoons!
Hear the clarion call of quality cutlery!!
The electric carving knive in a kitchen near you awaits.
Just start with bending the electric cord and then move on from there. 😉
Cedric you crack me up….
Shannon, would you please post another video of yourself & a spoon, & this time don’t rub it at all?
Also, would you please let the spoon bend by itself, rather than you twisting it with your hands?
That is, would you please just hold it by the end of its handle, & let it bend by itself?
I’m not asking for it to twist around & around of course.
Acually I am in the middle of trying to train myself to do this. The video above is on psycokinetics. What your talking about is Telekinetics. To learn this might take a couple of weeks to a couple of months. But I know I can do this and will. When I do I will post a video, and give very detailed intructions to those that are open minded, and willing to learn.
Neato…I believe it is possible. This reminds me of being hypnotized. I was hypnotized once, and it’s really amazing how powerful the mind is and what it can make possible.
Nice work Shannon!
Thank you very much Seth, please receive positive energy from me. And may all your wishes come true.
Peace and Love to you.
I hope not, it’s the same as saying GOD, Budda, Krishna, and the rest…..Whew!
(As an active Spiritualist some of say ultimate intellegence)
or “infinite Intelligence”
I was wondering if you had something easier for me to try.
Im able to control my energy and send it to anypart of my boby. i can also make energy balls, but i don’t know how to make my energy move somethings or bend them.
I would say stay with the spoons for now. I personally am trying to develope my Psycokinetics to Telekinetics. I saw some videos of people that can bend spoons by just looking at them. I am thinking this is gonna take a little while for me to do it.
Try focusing your PSI Balls into the spoon when holding on to it. The PSI Balls will warm the spoon enough for it to bend. Let me know how this works for you, I really hope you achieve this. When you do it for the first time, you feel like Superman and you can do anything. it is a real Confidence builder.
Good Luck and and may the ultimate intellegence Bless.
Obviously the ultimate intellegence eludes you.
I’d be very interested in seeing another video with him bending the bowl of the spoon.
There is no way to tell if the bending of the handle involves any sort of PK or not — as it is quite easy to bend a spoon handle like this, as I discovered myself.
My 7 year old daughter did that to a spoon in the school canteen one day when she got mad because there was no nutmeg on the rice pudding.
No reno.. that is callled a tantrum and not being in control.
Hi I wanted to mention that in my experience there is definitely something to this technique. What Shannon is doing here is similar to something I learned by accident when I was little. I found that by calming down, concentrating, and visualizing I could pull a straw cleanly in half by pulling each side rapidly apart from one another. It would snap apart in a loud pop.
This might sound easy or ridiculous, but try it yourself. At that time I was a kid and my dad was a weightlifter, and I showed him this “trick” I learned. He got a straw and pulled it… he could stretch it out until it was almost twice its length, but he couldn’t snap it cleanly in half.
I’d be curious to know other people’s results with this trick. Perhaps it’s nothing special, but I always thought it was strange that neither my dad nor my brothers could do it. They thought I was snapping the straw with a fingernail or some other trick, but I honestly wasn’t. All I was doing was concentrating and visualising the straw snapping in half.
awesome BrandonD I am going to try that sometime.
What shannon is doing here.. is… a trick.. magic.. fakery.. funny but just a well known trick…
as you’ll read above.. its not difficult to bend metal.. its all simple work and practice.. and a little showmanship…
and we all bend forks spoons etc that are much thicker than yours…
feel the fork… 🙂
damn you busted me….. Come on open your mind. It’s called Psycokinetics..
Okay, everyone on here keeps asking people who display some skepticism of the claims to “open your mind,” throwing that around and avoiding directly replying to the criticisms. Which is kind of sad, because open-mindedness is a state of mind, not a set of beliefs, or something that should be used as an excuse.
And, uh, I was wondering, do you know what the actual brand of spoon you used for the video was? Many spoons can be bent like that without the use of psychic powers, but it would help me immensely if I knew exactly what kind of spoon you were using.
Thanks.
skepticism or cynicism. Is it truley wise to say That just because we all may not be able to see around the bend, that there is nothing there? The truth is, around the bend wonderous things Exist if that is your intention. You can see around the bend, you can bend spoons and and so much more. But Ego based fear and cynical outburst meerly limit the free expression of possibilities. I deal with skeptical Harshly negative people all the time and I must say that I can understand skepticism but why be an ass about it. Could the voice of intolerance really be the conditioned human ego telling these people that they Themselves are limited by fear and a lack of awareness? Soon the human potential will become undeniable to every one of us. Then who will be left behind? I’m sure that some one will respond with a lame comment to this post. So in advance I musts say, once and for all, Heres my ass, PUCKER UP. To all those who believe in all possibilities I say, Love to you all.
I agree with you 100%. I was one of those poeple that were taught I would go to hell if one used your god given powers and gifts. The christian religon is basically based on fear and control. As a former Luthern I find all what I was taught to be a lie and false. In Spiritualism we have “Proof” that we exist in the summerland.
Thank you for your comment and peace and light be apon you…
I had a creationist for a father, you can bet that that was great (har har). But, I was able to meander out into intellectual fields on my own, and adopted the “skeptical attitude,” for lack of a better term. Actually, the first time(s) that I ran onto “you’re not open minded!” as an excuse were from creationists (the bane of hypocrisy…).
My mother is a Wiccan, for Christ’s sake, this isn’t about intolerance, this isn’t about putting people down. It’s just that, when I saw the video, knowing something about spoon bending tricks, I realized that this could easily be done by simply bending the spoon without psychic powers. The experiment doesn’t demonstrate what it’s supposed to. And, rather than bow to faith, (which is ironically the diametrical opposite of open mindedness), I simply think that the experiment should be re-conducted, using a protocol something like this:
A)The spoon should be left in its package and opened on video
B)It should be demonstrated to be rigid (to make sure that no prior weakening took place) in the following manner: You hold the spoon by the very end of its handle, and hit it VERY hard a table top, with the bowl of the spoon impacting the table
C)You should try to soften and dent the bowl of the spoon. If this isn’t possible, then a rather thick spoon should be used and bent in the manner you did in the video (the thicker the spoon, the better).
D)At no time after the demonstration of the spoon’s rigidity should it leave the camera’s view – either by being obscured by an object, or by leaving the frame.
E)And, even better, a metal bar should be used (the thicker the better!), which is demonstrated as being rigid in the same manner as the spoon (and all other protocol applies to the bar).
And, to throw the question I asked out there again: what’s the brand of the spoon? I have found that some spoons are much harder to bend than others (duh), but the video’s value as evidence hinges on how easily the type of spoon you used can be bent. And I’m nerd enough to hunt down the brand, if you give it to me.
Thanks for your time, Mr. Rhode (by the way, that’s a cool name).
I do believe that you’re twisting what I’m saying. “Skepticism or cynicism?” All I’m asking is that it be properly demonstrated, a simple request. I’m simply questioning a claim. If the spoon really does become like rubber, if it bends like he claims, I’ll accept it. But thus far, I haven’t seen anything convincing.
Where did you get the idea that this is intolerant? There’s a great episode of South Park, “The Death Camp of Tolerance,” that deals with this. Acceptance and tolerance are two different things. I’m very critical in what I accept — but, if you must know, I’m an “anarchist” in the philosophical sense, believing in no government restraints and total freedom — to believe in whatever one wishes (yes, even spoon bending :-)). BUT, believing something and that something being true are two different things, hence my critical attitude (in the sense that Popper meant it) in what I accept.
“Soon the human potential will become undeniable to every one of us. Then who will be left behind?” What potential? For someone who is supposedly so open minded, you seem to be very, absolutistically certain of yourself and your supiriroity over “skeptics.”
And, finally, what does any of this have to do with whether or not Rhode can really bend a spoon psychically?
On an unrelated (well, I guess sort of related) matter, I’m rather new to this whole “blog” deal, and are all of the comments on here seem so hostile. Almost every comment on here is like that. Is this just a misunderstanding, or are we all really that angry? Something to think about.
Well, I for one never said that there wasn’t anything we don’t know about around the bend, far from it, but that doesn’t mean that what’s around the bend it spoon bending, and the only way to figure it out would be a good experiment, and this video isn’t a good experiment. More avoidance, it seems; all of this talk doesn’t have a lot to do with the central idea here, and that’s the experiment. And if you read through here, there are a lot of good suggestions for better ones (experiments, I mean). Look at post #10.2.1.2.1.1. If you look deeper, person, whoever you are, you will realize that I can’t kiss your ass because you don’t have an ass to stand on. And your ass lies in a better video of spoon bending. Your ass and the spoon are intertwined, one with the universe….
That’s not magic, that’s just brute force *wtfres*
ya you can just tell by my pace I am using brute force…(duh)
Nice one Brandon. Good to see the bit of lateral thinking. A “pop” and not a stretching, you say. I wonder whether Randi would stretch or pop his straws? I must try it next time I have a straw and a little quiet time to myself – imagining the straw breaking in half, cleanly, in the middle. Hmm…
that’s funny, Can I ask why you were here? Or acually ask yourself that.
If you look carefully and freeze frame at approximately 22 seconds into the video (1:38 or so remaining), you can see a crease at 90 degrees to the spoon’s handle where it has been pre-bent or pre-strained. It’s subtle but it’s there. If someone knows where I can get the 640 x 480 original video to download, I’ll try to enhance the line and show it to everyone.
This is, of course, the usual bull. It’s just sleigh-of-hand. And not especially well done.
I just looked again and it’s actually at second 21 *just* before he says the word “unaltered”. The more you look, the more obvious the line is.
Hi mary, The crease your seeing is a decoration on the spoon when being pressed from the factory. The spoon was unaltered. I can send you the raw footage at 640×480 if you wish. Go to my website and contact me there and I will reply with the video for you, which is 24 megs and a .mov file. If you want I’ll even send you the spoon if you pay the postage and shipping. Let me know Mary
Thank you for your reply..
I’d like to take you up on that. You can’t email 24 megs but you can put it somewhere on your web site and email me the link — not the file– (maryyugo ‘at’ yahoo.com) and I will download it from there. I have no need for the spoon. What would looking at it tell me?
While you’re at, why not take and post a clear close up image (JPG will do) of that spoon. Show the decoration “crease” in relationship to where the spoon bent. Uhhun.
mary mary, why so contrary??? You seem to have a rather analytical mind and negative attitude? You are obviously a rigid Left brain processer, which is fine, BUT it can take the true “wonder” out of many things and produce a stressful, bland existance. Here is a great article on Left/Right thinkers…
http://www.mtsu.edu/~studskl/hd/learn.html
and a quiz to see which one you are
http://www.web-us.com/brain/braindominance.htm
The fact that you are so hell bent on discounting the idea of possibility, could prove to cause some tension/anxiety and health problems down the road. Opening oneself up to ALL of their senses and beyond provides a wonderful foundation for experiencing and enjoying all aspects of life! You probably had this ability as a child.. until “they” stole it away from you. Go back mary!!
This video is not THAT amazing.. it is simply focusing energy into energy. Very doable by a great many people.
I replied to this but the reply for some reason appeared at the end of the message string. Maybe I telekinesised it there.
That’s interesting, having experimented around with the spoon bending trick(s), I know that a bend like that is a sign of previous manipulation of the spoon. BUT, some spoons have things like that in them “naturally,” and you can bend a spoon in loops without previously weakening them. Basically, the problem with the video as evidence is that it doesn’t show anything that can’t be done simply by bending a spoon with the (normal) force of your arms.
That spoon looks just barely thicker than a sheet of aluminum foil.
It was 3/8 think.
3/8 what? millimeters? that would be only 1/3 the thickness of a typical spoon.
3/8ths of an inch. A typical spoon width.
Crafty. I’m talking about thickness, you’re talking about width.
How thick was the spoon?
you know what I mean.
I don’t know what you mean. That’s why I’m asking for clarification.
The question is simple: how thick was the spoon that you bent in the video posted at the top of this blog entry?
Can you answer simply and directly?
3/8ths of an inch
You must be thinking of a different spoon, Mr Rohde. Or perhaps you’re not clear on the distinction that I’m making between the width and the thickness of the spoon.
Your fingers in the video appear to be about 1/2 inch wide and 1/2 inch thick. If the spoon in the video was actually 3/8 inches thick as you say, it would appear almost as thick as your finger. But it’s clearly not.
The tip of the handle appears to have approximately the same *width* as your fingers, but again, the thickness is clearly no more than a small fraction of the 3/8ths inch that you claim.
Do you understand the meaning of the word “thickness”, Mr Rohde?
Your right, I was wrong. I thought it was 3/8th of an inch, but it was acually 1/16th of an inch as far as thinkness. Sorry about the confusion and I hope this helps.
well then mr. Rapp… go to your cutlery drawer, grab out a random spoon, any spoon, and have at it! Make the spoon bend easily and fluidly round itself, nice and smooth. Take a video of it while doing it.. post it… go for it.
Should be NO problem, right?
have a good one!
Many spoons can be bent in the manner that Mr. Rhode bends them (without the use of psychic powers, I mean). I’ve managed to get 4, 5 and 6 loops in some spoons. It’s all about the choice of spoons — some don’t bend as well, or as easily, and it also depends on the strength of the person bending the spoon. The video doesn’t show anything that I — or anyone else — can’t duplicate by palpably normal means.
I suggest (I made this suggestion above) that everyone reading this spend several bucks on a variety of cheep spoons, and “have at them.” You’ll be surprised at the results.
Thats it… this man is a direct decendant of the infamous Tom Thumb. As we all know from folklore, Mr. Thumb had increcible supernatural powers, that were obviously passed on to Mr. Rohde. Now the secret it out. Simply amazing that you figured that one out Kilborn… you are one super intelligent human. Kudos!
that was pretty funny.
thats sooo funny.. try doing something more intelligent.. you err.. bent a spoon… just.. bent it… I prefer bending forks with some help from morgan strebler (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5By9c970gRE&feature=PlayList&p=9019FFBF4486C843&index=0)
feel the fork shannan… 😉
SHANNAN, and all: WATCH HIS THUMB. WATCH HIS THUMB. WATCH HIS THUMB. The entire video is set up so that his thumb is minimally visible in the video. However, if you watch carefully you can see very clearly that this guy is first pushing at the spoon with his thumb (against the rest of his hand) and then rubbing his thumb up and down on it to heat it up / weaken the metal. Just watch his thumbs and you can see that the whole thing is a fraud. Then, with it sufficiently weakened (by his THUMB!) he actually twists it off at the end.
The only ‘mystical’ thing here is that given how easy it is to fake such things using video (such as doing a better job of “pre weakening” the spoon) why this video was so bad. In fact, it’s so obviously fake I’m wondering whether this was supposed to be ironic humor and I just missed the sarcasm.
Folks, if you honestly believe that this video shows a man bending a spoon with his MIND rather than with his THUMB then you are only fooling yourself.
Hi James, The rubbing of the thumb is a transfer of kinetic energy to the spoon, kinda of knocking on a door to enter. I assure you this is not a fake video.
I don’t doubt the authenticity of the video, but see my comment above, which I’ll summarize: a spoon can be bent in that mannter without the use of psychic powers, quite easily too.
But hey, it looks cool 🙂
Just for the record, the amount of heat you can put into metal by rubbing it with your thumb isn’t nearly enough to make a difference. My dad was a foundry worker, I know metal quite a bit through him. If the heat from rubbing it with your thumb was enough, you’d be able to ‘wilt’ them by just holding them over a candle. I understand wanting to approach something rationally, but know what you’re saying when you do, okay? 😉
So, if you are to believe that this has nothing to do with something so mundane as simple physics and/or mere trickery he should be able to do the same thing with a crowbar or an I-beam, n’est-ce pas?
> So, if you are to believe that this has nothing to do
> with something so mundane as simple physics and/or
> mere trickery he should be able to do the same thing
> with a crowbar or an I-beam, n’est-ce pas?
Who said it has nothing to do with something so mundane as simple physics? Were you responding to me? I said no such thing, so if you are, you’re responding to something that wasn’t really said. Simply stating the obvious fact that rubbing metal with your thumb isn’t enough to make it “limp” is in no way, shape or form saying it must be “magic”. And by and large, I don’t see where he claimed that it is. I see him saying it’s “mind over matter”, but not in any sense other than the same sense that makes people able to lose weight or do 200 pushups, things like that. Now I -do- see where he says he believes he can -learn- to bend it by telekinesis, and that has yet to be proven. But I don’t see where he claims anything really all that spectacular or unbelievable about this particular video.
yea, James, you gut it all figured out, ha ha watch your head
Right…. rubbing with a thumb will heat a spoon enough to weaken it? You’ve been worshipping the “Amazing Randi” too long.
However, bending a spoon with your hands rather than with your mind is terribly dissapointing.
I don’t know what I think about this.
What I do know is that one of the skeptics must have a video camera and a flimsy spoon.
Let’s see some demonstrations of how this is faked.
This is lame. All you have to do to bend a spoon is be strong. Spoonbending is bending a spoon with your mind, not with your hands.
I don’t know if he was really bending the spoon with his mind or not, but I _do_ know he’s one hell of a good-looking man. Dayum!!!
Sorry, just had to say it. 😉
Ok everybody, There is the video for you to enjoy, make your own decisions. Say what you will but know this was for real and I love each and everyone of you.
Matter of fact, send Randi this way…
I watched this video closely, and he begins rubbing his thumb on the back of the spoon at .54 seconds and finishes at .37 seconds (counting down)–simple mathematics tells us he was only rubbing the spoon for 17 seconds.
James, I want you to rub the back of a spoon as hard as you can with your thumb for 17 seconds, bend the spoon with the ease that Mr. Rohde did, and post a video of it.
I triple-dog dare you.
The part you missed is that the spoon is pre-weakened. See my comment below about the crease visible across the spoon.
If someone wanted to do this convincingly, the spoon would have to be tested by an independent third party or with a vise and some weights to show it’s unaltered. Then, without cuts or edits, and showing the spoon at all times, it should bend without being touched. That would be convincing. Problem is, nobody can do it because spoonbending is simply a stage magic trick.
I obtained several spoons and was able — using nothing more than the normal force of my arms — to bend them in up to five loops, just like Mr. Rohde. I suggest that this experiment be conducted by people reading this; it turns out that most spoons can be bent in at least three, and at most five, loops quite easily, just as appears in the above video. And by “quite easily” I mean that it can be made to appear “effortless.” Spoons aren’t as strong as they’re cracked up to be.
c-‘mon – if he is supposed to be using his mental energies – why does he need to rub it at all – talk about gullible! That’s the oldest trick in the book!
Whats that fairy picture in the background? I think the fairys bent the spoon.
Jamie
Ok ass, the spoon was obviously softened up by having been bent out of shape and back a few times before the camaera started–look at the kink in the metal at the beginning. Then he bends it with the amazing power of the human thumb, then he grabs it with his other hand and bends it some more. Don’t you have eyes?
I don’t have much silverware, especially spoons, so I was reluctant to try it out.
However, I’m not quick to discount it. Not only do I have an incredibly open mind but I have conducted my own experiments in the past that worked.
When I was about fourteen, I watched an episode of “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” concerning hypnosis used in place of anethesia for operations.
I practiced on my little brother and his friends, hypnotizing them so their hand or foot would go numb. Then I added my own special instructions and woke them with the directions that when I counted down to one they would begin to have feeling regained. That way they could test it out themselves.
You should have seen my dad and his friends trying to elicit reactions from them as they pinched their hand. “You can’t feel this?” It wasn’t so funny once I counted down and they could feel the pain from the inflicted wounds.
Of course kids are more believing than adults, making it easier in my opinion to hypnotize them. I tried it out on older friends and family with no success, though they did like the feeling of relaxation.
My point is that you can’t achieve anything that is considered unbelivable until you can open your mind to the possibility. You don’t have to throw yourself into something without consideration but to always be skeptical means that you will never see nor experience the wonders that the mind is truly capable of.
Very well written Karma. You Truly are wonderful…
if what u can do is real than u need to see james randi!
We thought that you will just hold the spoon and bend by itself while you meditate. Please answer as soon as possible.
Shannan Rohde i have 1 simple request.I think you are fooling many people with this spoon bending stuff.I wish to talk with you for abaut 10 minutes – mauby less.Ill be very gratefull if you can give me your ICQ or Skype so we can talk there.Email me at boris89@abv.bg.
I think the spoon was already softened somehow. He shows us all angles of the spoon first, but he put’s no pressure on the spoon to show it’s unaltered and stiff prior to doing the bending..
I suppose no one is going to believe this but i’ve done something similar, but it was to a key.
It was when i was a little younger (12, 13) and had spent an hour or so watching this uri geller special (a famous spoon bender) and became so convinced that i would be able to do it I went upstairs and practiced on a key i had in my pocket. I must’ve been concentrating for over an hour (a very long time for a kid!) and thought i hadn’t got anywhere when i suddenly checked the key and it was twisted in a spiral shape. It was so exciting I ran down to tell my dad, but of course he played skeptic though to this day can’t decide ‘how’ i must’ve done it. It was twisted so sharply in a spiral, and was a thick key, there is no way it could’ve been done without specialist equipment. The fact i was trying to bend it seemed irrelevant as clearly my concentration had done something, albeit not exactly what i was aiming for. Rather dissapointingly i have not been able to do this since, and as i get older it seems less and less likely to me, even though i was there and remember doing it!!
I don’t know if uri geller or the bloke in the video are faking or not – but i’ll tell you one thing, it is possible to do.
I was getting some ice cream out of a carton the other day and I was so intent on getting that sweet sweet treat that my psychic energies went through my arm and bent my spoon in the yummy vanilla.
One question… who couldn’t bend a spoon like he did? When I first watched the video I seriously thought it was a joke, and laughed at how funny it was that everyone was expecting it to just bend, but he fooled us and just bent it with his hands. I’m shocked to think that anyone could take that seriously, and think it involved some sort of “psychic” energy. WHO COULDN’T DO THAT? Spoons are incredibly weak, especially such a flimsy one like he has there (and which has a huge head to grab onto, and also after looking at it again has obvious distortions and a very strange look to it’s handle just bellow the head, which are probably the result of preweakening it by bending it). My joke about ice cream is completely true. When I was younger we had a big spoon like that that we used for an ice cream scoop, and it bent all the time with very little force at all. This video is a joke, intentional or not.
You DID bend the spoon. I’ll give you that.
One slight flaw though. You used your hand to bend it….. it’s quite obvious when you actually grab hold of it with your other hand and start twisting it around?
It’s like me saying i can move a pencil with my mind.
1. look at it for a bit and pretend to ‘meditate’
2. put my left hand close to it and look like i’m concentrating hard.
3. then suddenly stick my right hand out and flick it across the room with my index finger…
WTF …. this is so much bullshit. :$