0:00:03 > 0:00:05Uri Geller.
0:00:05 > 0:00:07We all think we know everything about him.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09After all, he's been on our television screens
0:00:09 > 0:00:15for more than 40 years performing his little miracles.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18Bending spoons, bending forks, bending keys,
0:00:18 > 0:00:20and seeing things at a distance
0:00:20 > 0:00:23and drawing them with sometimes uncanny accuracy.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Today, 40 years since his first TV appearances,
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Uri lives in a palatial home on the banks of the River Thames.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32And he's still working on entertaining us.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39His garden is like a map of his mind, full of New Age wonders.
0:00:40 > 0:00:45Where do I start? That lantern is from Mount Fuji.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48John Lennon, who...we were good friends,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50he said, "Find spirituality."
0:00:50 > 0:00:54And Yoko says, "Go to Japan." And I went to Japan.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Let's go through the torii gate.
0:00:57 > 0:00:58The Japanese legend says
0:00:58 > 0:01:03if you go through a torii gate, you enter spiritual realms.
0:01:03 > 0:01:04Shall we do that?
0:01:07 > 0:01:11Imagine we are in spiritual realms now.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14And this is what John gave me.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18I mean, he claimed that he got it from an alien.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20An alien hand stretched out
0:01:20 > 0:01:24and dropped this into the palm of his hand in the Dakota building.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26And he gave it to me!
0:01:26 > 0:01:28And I carry it everywhere I go.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30It's heavy.
0:01:30 > 0:01:31It's unexplainable.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35And I get thousands of emails from people asking me,
0:01:35 > 0:01:39"Uri, did you have it tested? Give it to scientists.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42"It could be something really from another planet."
0:01:42 > 0:01:45And you know what I say?
0:01:45 > 0:01:48I don't want to test it.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51I don't want to find out that it's made in Taiwan.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54Well, that's Uri Geller through and through.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57Yet there are tantalising clues
0:01:57 > 0:02:01that suggest there's more to him than meets the eye.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Supposing his public career as a famous
0:02:04 > 0:02:08and sometimes notorious entertainer has all just been a front.
0:02:08 > 0:02:13For years, he's let drop hints about something far more cloak and dagger.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16Secret work as a psychic spy
0:02:16 > 0:02:18for military and intelligence agencies
0:02:18 > 0:02:20in the Americas, Britain
0:02:20 > 0:02:25and for Israel's legendary secret intelligence agency, the Mossad.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Perhaps that explains the extraordinary security measures
0:02:29 > 0:02:31installed all over his estate.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12'If I may, let me tell you how it started in me, in Uri Geller.'
0:03:14 > 0:03:18I always had this James Bond in mind, you know.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21I was a great storyteller in school.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24I could fantasise and imagine things
0:03:24 > 0:03:28and I would utter them out and create a story about everything.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32And I would tell stories in front of my class and so on.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35So when my parents divorced,
0:03:35 > 0:03:39my mother fell in love with a Hungarian Jew
0:03:39 > 0:03:41that lived in Cyprus, Nicosia.
0:03:41 > 0:03:48And he had a bed and breakfast, a little motel or establishment.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51We had 12 rooms which he would rent out.
0:03:51 > 0:03:57We're talking about 1960, '61.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02One day, I befriended a guy called Yohav Shacham
0:04:02 > 0:04:05who stayed in our little hotel.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10Yohav saw me bend a spoon and a key and I did telepathy with him.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14And I told him one day, "Yohav, I can read your mind,
0:04:14 > 0:04:18"and I know that you're an Israeli spy, aren't you?"
0:04:18 > 0:04:21He said, "Uri, when you grow up
0:04:21 > 0:04:24"and you have to join the Israeli army,
0:04:24 > 0:04:28"I want you to go to the paratroopers.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30"Then go to officer's school, and I'll help you.
0:04:32 > 0:04:33"I'll get you into the Mossad
0:04:33 > 0:04:37"because your capabilities, your abilities, are incredible.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39"And we need them."
0:04:39 > 0:04:43You can imagine, you tell this to a 13-year-old, 14-year-old kid,
0:04:43 > 0:04:45I'm over the moon.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48"Wow, I'm going to be the greatest spy in the world.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50"I'll work for the Mossad.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55"And I'll read minds and I'll bend gun barrels."
0:04:55 > 0:04:58To make a long story short, 18, 19,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02I go back to Israel, I join the paratroopers, jump out of planes.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06I do my stuff and then I go to officer's school.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08I do exactly what Yohav told me.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16But, you know, that when I was in the paratroopers
0:05:16 > 0:05:18and the Six Day War started,
0:05:18 > 0:05:23my unit, we were sent to Ramallah in Jerusalem.
0:05:23 > 0:05:29We were under tremendous attack by the Jordanian Patton tanks.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32And some Israeli jets threw napalm bombs
0:05:32 > 0:05:35and some didn't hit the right target.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37And it was a mess.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40And suddenly, from behind a rock,
0:05:40 > 0:05:46a Jordanian soldier jumps out holding a weapon.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48And he was about to shoot me.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52And I was holding my Uzi,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54and I looked him in the eye, Vikram.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00He looked into my eye and it was like time froze.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04Then suddenly, my whole life played like a movie, in a flash,
0:06:04 > 0:06:06in a split-second in my mind.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10And I snapped out of it, luckily, because I realised
0:06:10 > 0:06:14that whoever is going to press the trigger first will survive.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17And I was faster than him and I shot him.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20I killed him.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Soon after that, I was wounded in my two arms.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28And I woke up in Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Only then it dawned on me what I've committed.
0:06:33 > 0:06:39And the ideological power in you,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44the love for Israel, for the Jewish nation worldwide,
0:06:44 > 0:06:49was imbedded in me even deeper because of that war.
0:06:54 > 0:07:00So at 20 years old, with the Six Day war over, and won,
0:07:00 > 0:07:02Uri Geller knew three things.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06He was deeply committed to the cause of Israel,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09he wanted to become a spy for the Mossad
0:07:09 > 0:07:14and he had some pretty extraordinary paranormal powers.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18He began making his living using these paranormal powers,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20playing Tel Aviv nightclubs,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23and made home movies of everything he did.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26We've drawn on his personal archive in making this film.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31As Uri became more famous all over Israel,
0:07:31 > 0:07:33he also began his lifelong pattern
0:07:33 > 0:07:36of making friends with influential people.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40Well, we were both very, very young,
0:07:40 > 0:07:42maybe going back almost 40 years.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47I was in a special unit in the army and Uri came to entertain us.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52At the time, there was a song in Israel,
0:07:52 > 0:07:59a popular song about how the bananas come out in this shape.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03And they said there was a secret man who comes at night
0:08:03 > 0:08:06and he bends the bananas.
0:08:06 > 0:08:12And I remember that we met the secret man who bent the bananas.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Well, he didn't bend bananas, he bent spoons.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17And he did these amazing things,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21and it made a tremendous impression on me when I was a young soldier.
0:08:21 > 0:08:22And that's how we first met,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25and then we met again and again and again
0:08:25 > 0:08:28and each time, I was amazed more. I'm still amazed.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31I haven't the faintest idea how he does these things.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Very early in my career, I was taken
0:08:39 > 0:08:47to a place called Midrasha.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49It's just out of Tel Aviv in Herzliya
0:08:49 > 0:08:51on a hill and it's top secret.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55You know, cameras everywhere and barbed wire.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58There were all Mossad and Secret Service agents
0:08:58 > 0:09:02and generals and spies and...you name it.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06And I was taken there to give a big lecture,
0:09:06 > 0:09:08and I think I blew their minds.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11I moved the hands of a watch.
0:09:11 > 0:09:12I did mind-reading.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17I instilled pictures in other people's minds.
0:09:17 > 0:09:22I did things that they
0:09:22 > 0:09:25could grab and twist
0:09:25 > 0:09:31and use for their own missions.
0:09:31 > 0:09:37So for me, to get to work for the Mossad later on,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40which I can't talk about what I did,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42but I dealt with all the oldies there,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45people like Moshe Dayan, a couple of generals,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49the head of Mossad and Aharon Yariv.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54He asked me if I can do certain things.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59And which I answered to some yes, to some no.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03And then to the ones that I said yes,
0:10:03 > 0:10:09he arranged me to execute those requests,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12and those, I cannot talk about.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15It was just an interesting situation
0:10:15 > 0:10:18because I believe that that performance
0:10:18 > 0:10:22was watched by a scientist called Itzhak Bentov,
0:10:22 > 0:10:27who wrote back a letter to an American scientist,
0:10:27 > 0:10:32saying that he's just seen this young guy called Uri Geller
0:10:32 > 0:10:35who does these most amazing things,
0:10:35 > 0:10:40bending spoons and forks and reading minds.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43And somehow, that started it.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47The Americans at that time were worried about Nina Kulagina
0:10:47 > 0:10:48moving things on the table
0:10:48 > 0:10:52and matches and bell jars.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55And they were worried.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58"Hey, the Russians have these amazing psychics
0:10:58 > 0:11:01"that can do these things, why don't we have somebody?"
0:11:03 > 0:11:06And that's how it all started.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09That letter got to the desk
0:11:09 > 0:11:15of one of the high officers in the CIA.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Then they said...
0:11:18 > 0:11:20They all knew that the Russians
0:11:20 > 0:11:23were ahead of the Americans in psychical research,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26and probably one of the heads of the CIA said,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29"Get this guy. "Bring him to America."
0:11:29 > 0:11:33The very senior CIA officer
0:11:33 > 0:11:36who handled Uri Geller's case was Dr Kit Green.
0:11:37 > 0:11:42One afternoon, I got a telephone call on my desk,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45in the headquarters building.
0:11:45 > 0:11:52And the phone call initially was on what we call the red line.
0:11:52 > 0:11:53It was a classified line.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57It was an intelligence agency of a very powerful ally
0:11:57 > 0:11:58of the United States of America.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00And they were troubled
0:12:00 > 0:12:04because a member of their military, an enlisted man,
0:12:04 > 0:12:09who was doing things for them that they couldn't understand
0:12:09 > 0:12:14that appeared to have an electromagnetic aspect,
0:12:14 > 0:12:20That he was capable of altering highly-sophisticated electronics,
0:12:20 > 0:12:25which included imaging electronics, at will.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27And they didn't know how he was doing it.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31At the time, I had a position of leadership in the division
0:12:31 > 0:12:33that was responsible for life sciences,
0:12:33 > 0:12:35biological and chemical warfare.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38So I got the first call, and the question was simply,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40"Can you help us?"
0:12:40 > 0:12:44My response initially was, "Of course. I'll be glad to try."
0:12:46 > 0:12:50And so it was that Uri came to America in 1972.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Landing at Washington DC,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55he made his way out to the Stanford Research Institute
0:12:55 > 0:12:57near Palo Alto, California.
0:13:00 > 0:13:01The Stanford Research Institute
0:13:01 > 0:13:04has always been at the cutting edge of emerging technologies.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Sometimes SRI's research is a bit speculative,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11but it's always serious science, even when studying the paranormal.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16I got my PhD at Stanford University
0:13:16 > 0:13:19and then went to Stanford Research Institute.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24Basically, my work was primarily in lasers and quantum electronics.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28So I did many years, published many papers
0:13:28 > 0:13:31and a textbook and so on,
0:13:31 > 0:13:35in the physical sciences and lasers and quantum electronics.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39And yet, you haven't been scared in your lifelong career
0:13:39 > 0:13:42of looking at things that, a kind term would be,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45are at the sort of periphery of classic science.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51That's true. But to a physicist, if it moves, it's physics.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54And so, if there's an observable,
0:13:54 > 0:14:00and that's what at some point in my career I was exposed to,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04I said, "OK, here's something that apparently occurs,
0:14:04 > 0:14:07"so there must be some physics here.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09"So let's take a look at it."
0:14:09 > 0:14:14I'd never bought an ESP journal
0:14:14 > 0:14:17or never subscribed to Fate Magazine.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19No, I wasn't interested at all.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21In fact, as it turns out,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24the only reason I got involved in this
0:14:24 > 0:14:29was that I was interested in what we now call quantum entanglement.
0:14:30 > 0:14:36In 1972, when Hal and I started the programme at SRI,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40we had already, in our previous incarnation as laser physicists,
0:14:40 > 0:14:46we had both done hardware research for the CIA.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48We had built things.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51I'd built a laser listening device,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54which I don't think I'll go into right now,
0:14:54 > 0:15:00but I'd used a laser to get information from distant places.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02So I knew people in the CIA.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07Hal did also from his early experience in naval intelligence.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11And in the early '70s,
0:15:11 > 0:15:16we had done research with a retired police commissioner, Pat Price.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20Pat Price caught their interest
0:15:20 > 0:15:22because he seemed to have astonishing powers
0:15:22 > 0:15:26of seeing things taking place a long way away.
0:15:26 > 0:15:32Russell Targ and Hal Puthoff called this psychic talent remote viewing.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37We did a series of experiments where once a week,
0:15:37 > 0:15:42Hal would be taken off somewhere to a random location,
0:15:42 > 0:15:47Price and I would sit in the laboratory and work together.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52He would be the psychic and I would be the psychic travel agent
0:15:52 > 0:15:56to try and help him describe where Hal was hiding.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59These are the first words the man said.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02I seen, er...
0:16:04 > 0:16:06..a boat dock.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08A boat jetty.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Definitely a boat dock or jetty.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14And we did nine trials like that.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18Seven out of those nine were matched first place.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Which is to say, if Hal had been kidnapped by terrorists
0:16:20 > 0:16:24nine days in a row, we would have found him
0:16:24 > 0:16:27the first place we looked in seven out of those nine times.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31These experiments seemed to establish
0:16:31 > 0:16:33that psychics might be able to find hidden people
0:16:33 > 0:16:36or objects at a distance.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38SRI's investigation of Uri Geller
0:16:38 > 0:16:40was initially all about testing his electromagnetics.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Nothing to do with psychic remote viewing.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45But his arrival at SRI soon changed
0:16:45 > 0:16:47the entire dynamic for Targ and Puthoff
0:16:47 > 0:16:50and the CIA supervisor monitoring
0:16:50 > 0:16:52their secret research contract, Kit Green.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56In a very short period of time, a week or 10 days,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58I got a phone call at headquarters.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00It was the chief scientist
0:17:00 > 0:17:02of the laboratory at Stanford Research Institute,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05and he was talking about other aspects
0:17:05 > 0:17:08of Uri Geller's capabilities.
0:17:08 > 0:17:09And I, of course, said,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12"Well, what other kinds of things are you talking about?"
0:17:12 > 0:17:16And without much of a pause, the scientist said,
0:17:16 > 0:17:23"Well, he says he can see things at a distance."
0:17:25 > 0:17:28And I said, "No, he can't."
0:17:29 > 0:17:33And they said, "Yes, he can." I said, "No, he can't."
0:17:33 > 0:17:37And they said, "Well, he's right here. Say hi to Uri Geller."
0:17:37 > 0:17:39I said, "Hi, Uri."
0:17:39 > 0:17:42A voice in the background said, "Hi, Kit."
0:17:43 > 0:17:46And I said, "Well, what can you see?"
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Now, this wasn't on Skype, was it?
0:17:49 > 0:17:52No, no, no. I was on a telephone.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55This is early '70s,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58before Skype and before cell phones and all that.
0:17:58 > 0:18:03He said "OK, I'm sitting at my desk at CIA, Langley, Virginia.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10"I will put something on my desk and let's see if Uri can get it."
0:18:10 > 0:18:14I turned, just as I will do now,
0:18:14 > 0:18:16and I picked up a book,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20which is the same book that I had on my desk
0:18:20 > 0:18:24at the time of this phone call many, many years ago.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27This book is a collection
0:18:27 > 0:18:31of medical illustrations of the nervous system.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35And I had it on my desk
0:18:35 > 0:18:37at the headquarters building
0:18:37 > 0:18:41because I was using it for part of my work.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46And I opened it up to a page and I just stared at it.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51And he said, "Well, I'm seeing something kind of strange."
0:18:51 > 0:18:55So he sat there and he scribbled on paper and crumpled it up,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57threw it away, scribbled some more, threw it away.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01Finally scribbled something down and says,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03"Well, I don't know what to think.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07"It looks like I have made a drawing
0:19:07 > 0:19:10"of a pan of scrambled eggs.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15"And yet I have the word architecture coming in strong."
0:19:15 > 0:19:17So what he handed us was a sheet of paper
0:19:17 > 0:19:20that had this scrambled eggs look
0:19:20 > 0:19:22and the word architecture written across the top.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26I later got a copy of that drawing,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29and I was astonished to find what he had drawn.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Maybe it does look like scrambled eggs,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36but it was a cross-section of the human brain,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39a sagittal section from the side of the human brain.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41The thing that caught my attention was
0:19:41 > 0:19:45he had written across the top of his drawing,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48the word "architecture".
0:19:48 > 0:19:54Architecture, I had written in my handwriting,
0:19:54 > 0:19:58the word, "architecture of viral infection."
0:19:58 > 0:20:01I was looking at the biological warfare effect
0:20:01 > 0:20:04on the nervous system of a threat virus.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09And I'd written on my notes, look, "architecture of a viral infection."
0:20:09 > 0:20:14We then, or he then, they did tremendous analysis
0:20:14 > 0:20:16to see if there was any chance
0:20:16 > 0:20:19that there were any cues over the telephone lines and so on.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21That was a genuine result.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25And there are others like that that we did that we've never published.
0:20:25 > 0:20:31But it certainly convinced us that he has ability.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33Why didn't you publish things like that?
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Is it because that wasn't replicable?
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Well, at the time, it was just kind of a one-off thing,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41but it was primarily because of direct CIA involvement,
0:20:41 > 0:20:45and that couldn't be admitted until 1995.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48So, what did you do next?
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Well, I went and, er...
0:20:51 > 0:20:56..authorised the expenditure of sufficient funds
0:20:56 > 0:21:00to ask the people doing the research
0:21:00 > 0:21:04to expand the experimentation
0:21:04 > 0:21:07under the construct of remote viewing.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11This film describes a five-week investigation
0:21:11 > 0:21:15conducted at Stanford Research Institute with Uri Geller.
0:21:17 > 0:21:2115 drawings were placed in double-sealed envelopes in a safe,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24for which none of the experimenters had the combination.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27This is Geller's representation
0:21:27 > 0:21:30of what he believed was sealed in the envelope.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32At no time during these experiments
0:21:32 > 0:21:36did he have any advance knowledge of the target material.
0:21:36 > 0:21:42In fact, this is the most off-target of the drawings he did.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45Here, the experiment is repeated.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47This time with Putiv as the sender,
0:21:47 > 0:21:50just to check that the identity of the sender
0:21:50 > 0:21:52is of no significance in the experiment.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57This is the drawing Geller has made to correspond to the target object.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59The rectangle on the clipboard
0:21:59 > 0:22:02represents the TV screen in Geller's mind,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06on which he claims to project the image he is trying to draw.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10As you can see, he is quite elated about getting the right answer.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15Here in the laboratory notebook, on the left side of the page,
0:22:15 > 0:22:17you see the original targets,
0:22:17 > 0:22:20and on the right, Geller's responses.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22This is not a collection of correct answers
0:22:22 > 0:22:25out of a long series of correct and incorrect responses,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29this is actually the total run of pictures in the series.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32It is interesting that there is often a mirror of symmetry.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35This type of communication experiment was repeated
0:22:35 > 0:22:37many other times during the five weeks
0:22:37 > 0:22:42with Geller choosing to pass about 20% of the time.
0:22:44 > 0:22:49In this particular case, the target is a three-quarter inch steel ball.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52Geller's task now is to determine
0:22:52 > 0:22:56which of these ten cans holds the steel ball bearing.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59The experimental protocol is for the experimenter
0:22:59 > 0:23:02to remove the cans one at a time
0:23:02 > 0:23:04in response to Geller's instructions
0:23:04 > 0:23:09as he points or calls out a can top number.
0:23:09 > 0:23:14He has made his choice, the steel ball is found.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18On the other 12 targets,
0:23:18 > 0:23:22he did make a guess and was correct in every instance.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25The whole array of this run had a probability
0:23:25 > 0:23:28of a trillion to one.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30Here's another double-blind experiment
0:23:30 > 0:23:34in which a die is placed in a metal box.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38This is a live experiment that you see.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41The box is shaken up. In this case, Geller guessed
0:23:41 > 0:23:43that a four was showing.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46You will note that he was correct
0:23:46 > 0:23:50and he was quite pleased to have guessed correctly.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54Out of ten tries in which he passed twice and guessed eight times,
0:23:54 > 0:23:56the eight guesses were correct.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00And that gave us a probability of about one in a million.
0:24:00 > 0:24:01We would point out again
0:24:01 > 0:24:06there were no errors in the times he made a guess.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Now, behind the scenes, of course, er...
0:24:09 > 0:24:12we were approached by...
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Israeli intelligence.
0:24:15 > 0:24:22And, um...they had been working with Geller in Israel,
0:24:22 > 0:24:25but they had only been doing operational things,
0:24:25 > 0:24:29they had not had any chance to do anything scientific.
0:24:29 > 0:24:30And so they asked us
0:24:30 > 0:24:34if we would be willing to share with them
0:24:34 > 0:24:37whatever we found out in a scientific venue.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Um...that wasn't my call.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43So that was up to the CIA if they wanted to do that.
0:24:43 > 0:24:49Hal Puthoff said that Israeli intelligence officers
0:24:49 > 0:24:51came to visit him, asking if he would provide them
0:24:51 > 0:24:55the same information he was providing CIA.
0:24:55 > 0:24:56Are you aware of this?
0:24:59 > 0:25:02- Um... - It's definitely what Hal said.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06Yeah. I have to just think how to say what I will say.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08Um...
0:25:08 > 0:25:13I'm aware that my...
0:25:13 > 0:25:17work there at SRI and other places
0:25:17 > 0:25:21was constantly monitored
0:25:21 > 0:25:23by Israeli sources.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25I'm aware of that.
0:25:25 > 0:25:31I'm also aware of a rumour
0:25:31 > 0:25:38that said that while I was at SRI,
0:25:38 > 0:25:45the CIA suspected that I was acting as a double agent.
0:25:46 > 0:25:53Our CIA contract monitor, who was concerned, as were we,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56maybe this guy is not really psychic or whatever.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59Maybe it's just Israeli intelligence has a mole
0:25:59 > 0:26:03biologically implemented
0:26:03 > 0:26:07with who-knows-what devices.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12Maybe there are all kinds of efforts going on behind the scenes
0:26:12 > 0:26:14with secret microphones and secret pick-ups and so on
0:26:14 > 0:26:17to try to make him look like he was psychic
0:26:17 > 0:26:20in order to scare the potential enemies over there
0:26:20 > 0:26:22that there was this magical guy.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Truth of the matter is we were very worried about that.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Every night, when the end of the day came,
0:26:28 > 0:26:33we would be tearing out the tiles in the laboratory
0:26:33 > 0:26:36to see if there were hidden microphones and all kinds of things.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40What we've demonstrated here are the experiments
0:26:40 > 0:26:42we performed in the laboratory.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46This film gives us the opportunity to share with the viewer
0:26:46 > 0:26:48observations of phenomena
0:26:48 > 0:26:53that in our estimation, clearly deserve further study.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57Did you report on your work with Geller to the CIA?
0:26:57 > 0:27:00We sent a formal report to the CIA
0:27:00 > 0:27:04with the Geller data in it.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08I might even have a copy of such a report here that I could show you.
0:27:08 > 0:27:15Er...er...perhaps I won't do that.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19I can say, yes, we did, we did report to the CIA
0:27:19 > 0:27:22in a formal SRI report.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31So it started with pretty small funding, as a small thing...?
0:27:31 > 0:27:35I think my first project was 56k.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38How much do you think it all added up to over the years?
0:27:38 > 0:27:40Over the years, er...
0:27:41 > 0:27:45..maybe 20 million or so.
0:27:45 > 0:27:46We ended up having...
0:27:48 > 0:27:51..several dozen remote viewers,
0:27:51 > 0:27:54a large cache of people.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56We were supported by the CIA,
0:27:56 > 0:28:00Defence Intelligence Agency,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Army Intelligence, NASA.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07You see, I'm able to tell you that
0:28:07 > 0:28:10only because the programme has been declassified,
0:28:10 > 0:28:11or I'd have to kill you all
0:28:11 > 0:28:15as soon as I announced who was paying for the programme.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19So SRI's remote-viewing programme
0:28:19 > 0:28:21expanded to training dozens of remote viewers,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24while spreading across many government agencies.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29Meanwhile, Uri Geller took a different path.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35With the SRI findings as his calling card,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38he took his show on the road as a psychic entertainer.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41And in New York, his first American talk show appearances
0:28:41 > 0:28:44made him instantly famous across the US.
0:28:44 > 0:28:45Stanford Research Institute
0:28:45 > 0:28:49came up with an almost unanimous opinion that he was legitimate.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51Uri Geller.
0:28:53 > 0:28:54Then Uri moved to London,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57where his very first British television performance
0:28:57 > 0:28:58caused a sensation.
0:29:00 > 0:29:01Ladies and gentlemen, Uri Geller.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03APPLAUSE
0:29:07 > 0:29:09I don't want to waste a lot of time on it.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11It could be a boat, a ship.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19Geller seemed to be demonstrating extraordinary paranormal powers.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24And overnight, became headline news.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29Britain was entranced by this psychic performer,
0:29:29 > 0:29:33and he joined the ranks of the superstars of the day.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35And now the world came calling.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39Especially Mexico, where Uri's secret life
0:29:39 > 0:29:41took yet another extraordinary turn.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44After the David Dimbleby show
0:29:44 > 0:29:46in England for the BBC, it went worldwide.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50Everybody around the world wanted to witness that happening.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54So I was invited and Mexico was one of the channels.
0:29:54 > 0:29:55Uri Geller.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58APPLAUSE
0:30:02 > 0:30:04The camera there, close up.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:30:08 > 0:30:11All right, all right, the human aura.
0:30:11 > 0:30:12PRESENTER TRANSLATES THROUGHOUT
0:30:12 > 0:30:15This is what...this is a person.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20Look how many levels of aura a person has.
0:30:21 > 0:30:26And the wife of President-elect Lopez Portillo, Munsi,
0:30:26 > 0:30:31was watching me, because she was into this, the stuff of the mind.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34And she just fell in love with what I did.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38So she ordered her guards to bring me to her house.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40That's how it all started.
0:30:40 > 0:30:41She was amazed.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44She introduced me to her husband.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48And that, you know, opened up so many doors. I mean, gosh!
0:30:48 > 0:30:50And that's why I was in Mexico,
0:30:50 > 0:30:53and that's where the CIA contacted me.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57- Clearly for the first time. - Tell me about that.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02I got a call from a guy called Mike.
0:31:02 > 0:31:07And he said, "We know what you did at Stanford Research Institute.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10"I've seen the reports.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13"And, um...can you help us?
0:31:13 > 0:31:16"Can you do certain things with the power of the mind?"
0:31:16 > 0:31:21And they gave me a few tasks, like, for instance,
0:31:21 > 0:31:25to spy on the Russian embassy,
0:31:25 > 0:31:27the Russian embassy in Mexico City.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30It was the biggest, the largest spying centre
0:31:30 > 0:31:33in Latin America for the KGB.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38Mike explained me that every 10 or 15 days,
0:31:38 > 0:31:40I can't quite remember,
0:31:40 > 0:31:45there is a diplomatic pouch that goes out of the Russian embassy
0:31:45 > 0:31:47with secret stuff in it.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50And there are floppy disks inside.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53Whether I could erase them.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56I said, "Yeah, I can erase floppy disks."
0:31:56 > 0:31:58Whenever the information went out,
0:31:58 > 0:32:00they were always in diplomatic pouches,
0:32:00 > 0:32:05chained with a handcuff to the wrist of one of the KGB agents.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07The flight would go to Paris,
0:32:07 > 0:32:10and then they would get off the plane and take another to Moscow.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14I would sit behind them and I would think, "Erase, erase, erase."
0:32:16 > 0:32:19This was, for me, I was living James Bond.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22I was living the movies.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24It was a fantastic feeling that,
0:32:24 > 0:32:28"Wow! I was doing something for the CIA!"
0:32:28 > 0:32:32How did word get back to you that it had worked?
0:32:32 > 0:32:33Because they asked for more.
0:32:33 > 0:32:38It's unlikely that CIA will ever confirm Uri's story.
0:32:38 > 0:32:40Either way, he stayed close
0:32:40 > 0:32:42to Mexico's president and his wife Munsi,
0:32:42 > 0:32:47especially Munsi, in the capacity of a sort of psychic bodyguard.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50But he sometimes wondered just how he'd gotten into this
0:32:50 > 0:32:53and whether it was really just good luck.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56I always, even to this day,
0:32:56 > 0:33:01I suspect that this gig was arranged by higher forces.
0:33:01 > 0:33:06And there I was, instilled into the President-elect,
0:33:06 > 0:33:10Lopez Portillo and his wife.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13Who knows? Maybe even the invitation
0:33:13 > 0:33:19to go to Mexico by Mexico's Televisa channel,
0:33:19 > 0:33:22who knows who pulled the strings there?
0:33:22 > 0:33:26I must have been followed to Mexico.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29I was injected into Mexico.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32And then things started kind of moving around.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37So, what was he doing being an undercover agent in Mexico?
0:33:37 > 0:33:39Did he ever tell you the story?
0:33:39 > 0:33:42Uri Geller worked for the Mexican government
0:33:42 > 0:33:44in an undercover capacity.
0:33:44 > 0:33:51If he'd be at a, say, President of Mexico event
0:33:51 > 0:33:54and he sensed through his,
0:33:54 > 0:33:56for lack of a better word, powers,
0:33:56 > 0:34:00that there was a danger present in one or two people,
0:34:00 > 0:34:02he would bring it to their attention
0:34:02 > 0:34:04and they would see that person
0:34:04 > 0:34:06wouldn't have any access to the President.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10I was a federal agent for the Mexico Treasury at that time.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13The President made me a Mexican agent.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17And I've done quite a lot of stuff for the Mexicans, too.
0:34:17 > 0:34:23Having that credential, it opened a lot of doors.
0:34:23 > 0:34:29They gave him a beautifully-engraved 45-calibre revolver.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32Automatic. Not a real... Automatic.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36He brought it in next time he came into New York on a plane.
0:34:36 > 0:34:38He was stopped by customs.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40They took it away from him.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42You can't bring guns into this...
0:34:42 > 0:34:45particularly New York, it's pretty strong in that area.
0:34:45 > 0:34:50So Uri called the Mexican authorities that he knew,
0:34:50 > 0:34:53they called the US authorities.
0:34:53 > 0:34:58So the law then said that a federal agent of another country
0:34:58 > 0:35:00can carry a weapon into another country,
0:35:00 > 0:35:02and they had a treaty with America.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05But for some reason, they took the gun away.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08Charlie came and returned it and that's where I met him.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12My boss, for lack of a better word,
0:35:12 > 0:35:14special agent in charge, said,
0:35:14 > 0:35:18"You know, Koczka was down there with the Mexicans.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20"Have him go up and find out what this guy's complaint is,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23"because we are getting heat through state department."
0:35:23 > 0:35:26So I got the gun back and gave it to him.
0:35:26 > 0:35:27That's how I first met him.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Did he have a badge as well?
0:35:30 > 0:35:34He had an engraved credentials.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36Unlike mine. I can show you what mine looked like.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39His was engraved very nicely, yes.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42I never asked Uri how he got that work or whatnot,
0:35:42 > 0:35:45and how long he did it.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47But that's how I met Uri Geller
0:35:47 > 0:35:50on 57 Street in New York City for the first time
0:35:50 > 0:35:52and got him back his gun.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05# There's a man who lives a life of danger
0:36:06 > 0:36:12# To everyone he meets he stays a stranger
0:36:13 > 0:36:16# Yet every move he makes
0:36:16 > 0:36:18# Another chance he takes
0:36:18 > 0:36:24# Odds are he won't live to see tomorrow
0:36:24 > 0:36:27# Secret agent man
0:36:27 > 0:36:30# Secret agent man... #
0:36:30 > 0:36:33Now that Uri was back living fulltime in New York,
0:36:33 > 0:36:36he seems to have been able to keep up his undercover work.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40For instance, it seems that he was maintaining pretty serious links
0:36:40 > 0:36:43with the powers that be in Israel.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52Uri's friend Byron Janis
0:36:52 > 0:36:55is one of the world's most celebrated pianists,
0:36:55 > 0:36:58seen here being honoured by President Reagan.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04He is married to Gary Cooper's daughter, Maria,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07which explains the three Oscars in the house.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09And they are major supporters of Israel.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16Byron and Maria caught several glimpses of Uri's secret life.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18Do you know much about that?
0:37:18 > 0:37:20- I know a little about it, yeah. - Some.
0:37:20 > 0:37:26Some, yes. Because we had experiences with Mossad.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31Once, as a matter of fact, we had Ariel Sharon here,
0:37:31 > 0:37:34so he could talk to him a lot about Israel.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37So we knew that was a strong connection.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40And to meet in a private home, you know,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43to all intents and purposes, it never happened, but...
0:37:43 > 0:37:49They were obviously prepping him for something, that kind of thing.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54If that's really the case, maybe they called on Uri
0:37:54 > 0:37:56when Palestinian hijackers
0:37:56 > 0:37:59burst into the news on July 4th, 1976.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02They took over an Air France plane full of Israelis
0:38:02 > 0:38:05and flew it down to Entebbe airport in Idi Amin's Uganda.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09They began getting ready to kill their hostages one by one.
0:38:11 > 0:38:17Entebbe. You were in some way involved on the raid on Entebbe.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20Could you tell me something about that? What was it about?
0:38:22 > 0:38:24I can tell you this.
0:38:24 > 0:38:29Just imagine that I have a zipper on my lips here...
0:38:31 > 0:38:33..and I just zip my lips.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36I can't talk about that.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41Whatever you heard from other people, you heard.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45I will not confirm nor deny.
0:38:45 > 0:38:47That's all I can tell you.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52In a daring commando raid, Israeli forces flew 2,000 miles
0:38:52 > 0:38:56and stormed Entebbe airport at the very last moment
0:38:56 > 0:38:57and freed all the hostages.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01The raid's thrilling success astonished the world,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04especially as Israeli planes had somehow crossed
0:39:04 > 0:39:07Egyptian airspace undetected.
0:39:07 > 0:39:08What do you think is out there
0:39:08 > 0:39:11that people are saying about you and Entebbe?
0:39:12 > 0:39:17Um...what I read and hear
0:39:17 > 0:39:19is that, um...
0:39:19 > 0:39:23I knocked out the radar systems,
0:39:23 > 0:39:25all the way through to Entebbe,
0:39:25 > 0:39:30when...the raid took place,
0:39:30 > 0:39:34in which Benjamin Netanyahu's brother was killed.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41And, um...that's how Israeli aeroplanes
0:39:41 > 0:39:45got safely into Entebbe.
0:39:45 > 0:39:46That's what I hear.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05It was one week almost to the minute after they'd taken off
0:40:05 > 0:40:07on their ill-fated flight to Paris
0:40:07 > 0:40:10that the crew and remaining passengers
0:40:10 > 0:40:12landed back on Israeli soil.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14It was coincidentally at the exact hour
0:40:14 > 0:40:18at which the hijackers' ultimatum to the Israeli government was due to run out,
0:40:18 > 0:40:22and the hostages had been warned by their captors that they would die.
0:40:22 > 0:40:23You see, you've got a major problem
0:40:23 > 0:40:27with me and the story of Uri Geller,
0:40:27 > 0:40:30is because those certain important secret,
0:40:30 > 0:40:32confidential, top secret things
0:40:32 > 0:40:35that I've done cannot be told.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37Now, if others say them,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40that's fine, it's not me saying.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42So if you've got a scientist saying,
0:40:42 > 0:40:47"Oh, Uri did knock out the radar systems
0:40:47 > 0:40:50"for the planes to be allowed to fly
0:40:50 > 0:40:54"without being detected into Entebbe",
0:40:54 > 0:40:58you know, by knocking out the radar systems,
0:40:58 > 0:41:02if someone else says it, then someone else says it.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04You will not hear that from me.
0:41:07 > 0:41:09Just think, use your imagination.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12Wouldn't I have been asked
0:41:12 > 0:41:15to do certain things of this nature?
0:41:15 > 0:41:16Of course!
0:41:16 > 0:41:19# Secret agent man...#
0:41:19 > 0:41:22As Uri says, secrets have to stay secret,
0:41:22 > 0:41:25unless they get declassified later on down the line,
0:41:25 > 0:41:28like the Stanford Research Institute's work with Uri
0:41:28 > 0:41:30for the CIA eventually was.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38But could radar systems conceivably be knocked out by paranormal powers?
0:41:38 > 0:41:42Well, psychic ops like that were being explored by the US military
0:41:42 > 0:41:44quite independently of Uri Geller
0:41:44 > 0:41:48in their own continuing quest to militarise the paranormal.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53Centred at Fort Meade, outside Washington DC,
0:41:53 > 0:41:57the 20-year top-secret project, codenamed Stargate,
0:41:57 > 0:42:00included training soldiers in extra-sensory perception,
0:42:00 > 0:42:01things like remote viewing,
0:42:01 > 0:42:05and psychokinesis, things like spoon bending, and more.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11One of the driving forces behind the now declassified Stargate programme
0:42:11 > 0:42:14was an army colonel called John Alexander.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18Alexander, though now officially retired from the army,
0:42:18 > 0:42:20continues to be a central figure in developing experimental,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22alternative forms of warfare
0:42:22 > 0:42:25under the heading of non-lethal weaponry,
0:42:25 > 0:42:27which includes psychic operations.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29He lives in Las Vegas now.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32You pioneered the work in non-lethal weaponry.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35Well, from a military perspective, yes.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37What is non-lethal?
0:42:37 > 0:42:40Things that don't kill you.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42What kind of things don't...?
0:42:42 > 0:42:46Well, I run from the low-end things you know about,
0:42:46 > 0:42:51from rubber bullets, if you will, which aren't rubber.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53But pepper spray to tasers,
0:42:53 > 0:42:57to the high-end, strategic incapacitation.
0:42:57 > 0:43:02How do you eviscerate the infrastructure of a nation state?
0:43:02 > 0:43:08In the abilities that you've encountered, or investigated,
0:43:08 > 0:43:10do you think there are people
0:43:10 > 0:43:13who've got the ability to take down a radar system?
0:43:13 > 0:43:17One of the original questions that was asked
0:43:17 > 0:43:20when we were doing the teaching people metal bending and all that,
0:43:20 > 0:43:23they would come out with the impractical,
0:43:23 > 0:43:26"What are you going to do, bend tank barrels?"
0:43:26 > 0:43:27My response was, "No,
0:43:27 > 0:43:31"I think what we're going to go after are computers."
0:43:31 > 0:43:33I don't need to take them down.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36All you have to do is make them unreliable.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40Because everything we have is based on computer models and applications.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44So if you get to where you don't trust those computers,
0:43:44 > 0:43:49basically everything we run now is on digital information,
0:43:49 > 0:43:53that would be really significant.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55Well, one of the things, again, when you say,
0:43:55 > 0:43:57"What can you do with psychokinesis," for instance,
0:43:57 > 0:44:01um...attacking computers.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Do you know of any operations that Uri took part in?
0:44:04 > 0:44:06Not operational, no.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10Would you call Uri in as a consultant?
0:44:10 > 0:44:14I'd love to, but remember, I don't run the army any more.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16You see, we're talking, Vikram,
0:44:16 > 0:44:18we're talking about,
0:44:18 > 0:44:23what, 1973, '4, '5, '6, '7, '8.
0:44:23 > 0:44:271970, those were the years, the hot years.
0:44:27 > 0:44:33Um...yeah, and then there are things
0:44:33 > 0:44:35that I cannot talk about, I can't.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42By now, Uri had a powerful new friend.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44Senator Claiborne Pell,
0:44:44 > 0:44:47Head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49Senator Pell had a senior aide,
0:44:49 > 0:44:53a much decorated navy pilot, Scott Jones.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56Uri and Claiborne were buddies.
0:44:56 > 0:44:57How did that happen?
0:44:57 > 0:45:01Well, he volunteered his service to Claiborne.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05And Claiborne, of course, was always looking for a good psychic.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08And he knew he had a good one in Uri.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10And so they became friends.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12And I don't know how,
0:45:12 > 0:45:14every time Uri came to the United States,
0:45:14 > 0:45:16he would show up at the Senate.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18I mean, Pell would invite him.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20Did you ever see him bend a spoon?
0:45:20 > 0:45:22HE LAUGHS
0:45:24 > 0:45:26Yes, indeed.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30Pell called me up one day and he said,
0:45:30 > 0:45:32"Scott, Uri is coming into Washington.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35"I want you to host him."
0:45:35 > 0:45:37I said, "Sure, I'll be glad to."
0:45:37 > 0:45:43I said, "Let's do it under very closed circumstances."
0:45:43 > 0:45:47And so Pell arranged for a secure space.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51There were a few of them on the hill that are double secure,
0:45:51 > 0:45:56so whatever happens inside cannot get out electronically.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00There's one of them in the rotunda of the Capitol.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02Did you take him to Capitol Hill?
0:46:02 > 0:46:04No, but I was there with Scott Jones.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07I think Scott and Senator Claiborne Pell
0:46:07 > 0:46:10were the ones that had invited him.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13I was there with the Commanding General of Intelligence
0:46:13 > 0:46:16in the Security Command,
0:46:16 > 0:46:20and sitting in the front row, listening and watching.
0:46:20 > 0:46:22And what happened?
0:46:22 > 0:46:24Well, first of all,
0:46:24 > 0:46:27Uri was not there to bend metal or to do metal tricks.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31He was there to discuss the plight of Soviet Jews,
0:46:31 > 0:46:32which was really his interest.
0:46:32 > 0:46:35The people present were congressmen,
0:46:35 > 0:46:37a few senators, mostly staffers.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40We actually were in what's called a skiff,
0:46:40 > 0:46:46a special place that I didn't even know existed in the Capitol itself.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49He talked, and what happened was people said,
0:46:49 > 0:46:51"Bend something, bend something!"
0:46:51 > 0:46:55And he said, "OK, but I don't have anything."
0:46:55 > 0:46:57I knew what they would have in the way of hardware,
0:46:57 > 0:47:01it would be the silver-plate for the Senate.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05And the guy that was running it, I invited him in,
0:47:05 > 0:47:09who ran the space, and he brought in a bunch of silverware
0:47:09 > 0:47:12and put it out and so Uri told him, said,
0:47:12 > 0:47:14"Leave the knives alone, you're not ready for that,
0:47:14 > 0:47:16"but spoons and forks will be fine."
0:47:16 > 0:47:21Well, what actually happened, and this is the actual spoon,
0:47:21 > 0:47:25and he was holding it thusly,
0:47:25 > 0:47:29and importantly, he came down from the top, not like this,
0:47:29 > 0:47:31because most of the ways you fake it
0:47:31 > 0:47:33is when you have control of the neck.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35That did not happen.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39He came like this, and this was bending upwards,
0:47:39 > 0:47:43which you can imagine with any force, you would expect to go down.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47Then he placed it on the back of a chair right next to him,
0:47:47 > 0:47:50and he went on talking because he was not interested in bending.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53He was interested in, again, talking about...
0:47:53 > 0:47:57This was the bad old days, Soviet Union still in place,
0:47:57 > 0:48:01they're trying to emigrate to Israel, that was the focus.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04It continued to bend for a bit, or certainly appeared to,
0:48:04 > 0:48:08fell on the floor and ended up in my pocket.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13But was spoon bending and the plight of Soviet Jews
0:48:13 > 0:48:16really what that day was all about?
0:48:16 > 0:48:18Uri thinks not.
0:48:18 > 0:48:24There was another agenda behind that Capitol Hill, shielded room,
0:48:24 > 0:48:26from Russian eavesdropping.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28I think there was something else.
0:48:28 > 0:48:33It was a good way of introducing me
0:48:33 > 0:48:38to decision makers for later-on projects.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41- Can you tell me any of those projects?- No.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43Can you tell me anything you can't tell me?
0:48:43 > 0:48:44THEY LAUGH
0:48:44 > 0:48:47I love that. "Can you tell me anything you can't tell me?"
0:48:50 > 0:48:52Even with Senator Pell's strong backing,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55in 1995, the American congress
0:48:55 > 0:48:58abruptly terminated its secret psychic programmes,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00despite their many successes.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04And Scott Jones went home to rural Texas.
0:49:06 > 0:49:12It ended because of a very senior science person at DIA,
0:49:12 > 0:49:16who was also an evangelical,
0:49:16 > 0:49:17born-again Christian.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23And psychic phenomena is incompatible
0:49:23 > 0:49:25with their belief structure.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28I can't imagine that the military,
0:49:28 > 0:49:31or the intelligence community,
0:49:31 > 0:49:35would ever fully shut down something that might enable them
0:49:35 > 0:49:37to gather intelligence better. Is that right?
0:49:39 > 0:49:42Let me not comment.
0:49:42 > 0:49:44But I think your logic is very powerful.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48So, you know something you don't want to tell me?
0:49:48 > 0:49:50Perhaps, yes.
0:49:52 > 0:49:57And so, in 1995, the government's psychic programme was disappeared
0:49:57 > 0:49:59without any obvious traces.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03Life in the corridors of power in Washington DC
0:50:03 > 0:50:05ostensibly returned to normal.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09And maybe Uri Geller went deep black, too.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12Because from now, until 2001,
0:50:12 > 0:50:14there's no trace of his spy craft.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17Though unconfirmed rumours have come in from Korea
0:50:17 > 0:50:19about Uri looking for hidden North Korean tunnels.
0:50:20 > 0:50:22And from Operation Desert Storm
0:50:22 > 0:50:26about Uri looking for mobile Iraqi scud missile launchers.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31And from Iraq, helping pinpoint their secret nuclear reactor
0:50:31 > 0:50:33for the Israeli air force to strike.
0:50:38 > 0:50:40Has he talked to you about any of these things?
0:50:40 > 0:50:43He has not. Well, I've heard those stories.
0:50:43 > 0:50:48And are those stories, er...with or without Uri involved,
0:50:48 > 0:50:51are those examples of applications
0:50:51 > 0:50:54of the kind of abilities that you've investigated?
0:50:54 > 0:50:55Absolutely.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00When you say that he found the reactor in, um...Iraq,
0:51:00 > 0:51:04it is totally believable. It's the kind of thing that we...
0:51:04 > 0:51:09We had a programme running, as you know, for 23 years.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13And what supported us, particularly in our last decade,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16was entirely operational things of that type.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21And then came September 11th, 2001.
0:51:24 > 0:51:30When that horrendous, tragic attack came on the 11th September,
0:51:30 > 0:51:36I was actually a day before that in New York with Michael Jackson. Um...
0:51:37 > 0:51:40All the remote viewers, I believe, were reactivated.
0:51:40 > 0:51:46Because America needed information fast!
0:51:48 > 0:51:51You have said that after 9/11,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54you got a call from someone called Ron.
0:51:54 > 0:51:56Tell me that story.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58The only thing that I can tell you
0:51:58 > 0:52:03is that I was reactivated
0:52:03 > 0:52:05by a person called Ron.
0:52:05 > 0:52:11I can't tell you what nationality and what country.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14Is that because you don't know, or because you can't tell?
0:52:14 > 0:52:17Because I can't tell. Of course I know.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19And what does reactivated mean?
0:52:19 > 0:52:24Well...you know that, for instance, in the spy business,
0:52:24 > 0:52:26there are sleepers, as you know,
0:52:26 > 0:52:29sitting in Moscow or London,
0:52:29 > 0:52:31sleeping for seven, eight years.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34And then they're reactivated.
0:52:34 > 0:52:36"Go to work, we need this information."
0:52:36 > 0:52:38- And you got a call? - And I got a call.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42But so did probably another 150 people.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44And probably in a few countries.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49Is it true that the people who took part in the Fort Meade programme
0:52:49 > 0:52:52were reactivated after 9/11?
0:52:52 > 0:52:57They may have been reactivated on a piecemeal effort.
0:52:57 > 0:53:03I have heard that some of them had been called in to be helpful.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09I mean, right after 9/11, um...
0:53:09 > 0:53:14there was a lot of re-contact of remote viewers.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17Um...and some of them were talking about this
0:53:17 > 0:53:20at remote viewing conferences.
0:53:20 > 0:53:21In fact, I was a voice, actually,
0:53:21 > 0:53:26to try to talk people out of doing that.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30Because after all, if there are terrorist cells in the US,
0:53:30 > 0:53:33you don't want them hunting down remote viewers as targets.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42Something that I've seen around your house
0:53:42 > 0:53:46is you have an awful lot of security.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48Can you talk about that?
0:53:48 > 0:53:51This place is incredibly well secured.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55There are, yes, indeed, dozens of cameras running,
0:53:55 > 0:53:57filming all the time.
0:53:57 > 0:54:04And there are indeed numerous people watching us 24 hours a day.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07Why so much security?
0:54:07 > 0:54:09Maybe it's because of that, again,
0:54:09 > 0:54:12the James Bond, the twist in me.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16But just me knowing that it's covered.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19Because that's what I've been taught,
0:54:19 > 0:54:21to make sure you cover everything.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24That gives me a feeling of security.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28If I was in the PLO or al-Qaeda,
0:54:28 > 0:54:30I would think Uri Geller would be a great target.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34You just said it. Why not? Uri Geller is famous.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37And this is why, you see, the camouflage for me...
0:54:39 > 0:54:44..is that outer, in-built safety device is...
0:54:44 > 0:54:49Hey, I am an entertainer. What do you want from me?
0:54:49 > 0:54:52I'm a showman. I'm in show business.
0:54:54 > 0:54:56Think of that.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58- But...- But!
0:54:58 > 0:55:02There is that other side to Uri Geller.
0:55:04 > 0:55:08And I love that side
0:55:08 > 0:55:10as much as I love
0:55:10 > 0:55:13the totally open show business side of Uri Geller,
0:55:13 > 0:55:18and that side...is the dark side.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22It's what you see in spy movies.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25You know what? In a very strange way, Vikram,
0:55:25 > 0:55:28I love the mystery around it.
0:55:28 > 0:55:33It's my persona, it's what made Uri Geller.
0:55:33 > 0:55:38So...not just stopping,
0:55:38 > 0:55:42just a step before the truth
0:55:42 > 0:55:45and the revelation
0:55:45 > 0:55:50and the true knowledge of what I really did,
0:55:50 > 0:55:52that's Uri Geller.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54That was my life.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56So I will always make sure...
0:55:58 > 0:56:02..that the final truth is never known.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09Final truth or not, what about the science underlying all this?
0:56:09 > 0:56:12Our understanding of things like quantum entanglement
0:56:12 > 0:56:15has come a long way since the 1970s.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18From a theoretical perspective in terms of neurophysiology
0:56:18 > 0:56:21and electrophysiology and neurology,
0:56:21 > 0:56:25I could explain that whole thing.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29It would take me an hour to do it because I'm not facile enough
0:56:29 > 0:56:33at being able to do it in a couple of sentences,
0:56:33 > 0:56:35but I can explain to you
0:56:35 > 0:56:37how synchronistically,
0:56:37 > 0:56:40quantum entanglement in the brain works.
0:56:40 > 0:56:46And I believe that one can construct a very coherent,
0:56:46 > 0:56:49theoretical explanation for these things.
0:56:49 > 0:56:51Truth of the matter is,
0:56:51 > 0:56:56it used to be that science fiction was way out ahead of physics.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59But lately, physics has exploded so much
0:56:59 > 0:57:02into so many different new directions that, er...
0:57:04 > 0:57:08..real physics is actually beginning to outstrip science fiction.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26Are you doing classified work now?
0:57:26 > 0:57:29Right now, I'm not.
0:57:29 > 0:57:31Would you tell me if you were?
0:57:31 > 0:57:34If it were really black, no.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38But you do continue to do something for somebody, don't you?
0:57:39 > 0:57:40No, I don't.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47Are you sure?
0:57:49 > 0:57:52Not that you could tell me, but...
0:57:52 > 0:57:53How could...?
0:57:56 > 0:58:01Given the threats facing Israel...
0:58:01 > 0:58:06given the difficulty of getting good intelligence
0:58:06 > 0:58:09from some of the most dangerous places in the world right now,
0:58:09 > 0:58:13not just for Israel, in an existential way,
0:58:13 > 0:58:16but for the larger concept of sort of western democracy,
0:58:16 > 0:58:19as an American working on this,
0:58:19 > 0:58:24why would they not be asking you to help?
0:58:24 > 0:58:27I don't want to go there, Vikram. Let's not go there.
0:58:36 > 0:58:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd