In "Photo 2" we see a close-up view of the young man's bizarrely distorted hand. The Incredible Hulk-like transformation is not a trick of magic but a common effect of motion blur. Notice also the bright highlight on the young woman's fingertip.

Photo 3

In "Photo 3" we see two separate frames from the same Israeli video scene showing similar chunky distortion effects on the tips of both of Uri Geller's thumbs. But the video footage makes it readily understood that Uri could not possibly have placed pointlessly thick thumb magnets on both of his hands. Bright studio lighting (spectral highlights) and motion blur (slow shutter speeds) are the actual reasons for the apparent fingertip swelling. Notice how it also disfigures the ears of the subjects.

I spent several days studying the Geller video over and over, frame-by-frame, and came to the unexciting conclusion that the thick fingertip effect is nothing more than ordinary motion blur. Uri briefly touches his forehead and rubs his left thumb in the video scene but there is nothing out of the ordinary observable in his hair or behind his ears.

I'm sorry to report that after I posted my video analysis results on Wikipedia, persons who aren't really interested in objective truth (but would rather smear what they dislike) promptly deleted my posts. I'm even sadder to testify that the mainstream media has bought into and carried this piece of intellectual dishonesty for some years now, without the slightest concern for accuracy or scientific facts.

I don't really claim to know how Uri Geller can influence the magnetic needle of a compass. But if you think he visibly cheated in the video, please excuse me for proving you are wrong.

Well-known examples of motion blur are astronomers' time exposures of the night sky in which the Earth's rotation causes stars to appear as bright smear-lines or wide concentric circles. It's the very same principle that makes rapid hand movements look like fingertip swelling in the Uri Geller video frames.

And if you're still not sure about my video analysis, mull over this: In December of 2008, I received an e-mail from someone named Oscar in Sweden who is not really an Uri Geller fan but remarked, "I think it's wrong of skeptics to claim that he cheats without any proof." Oscar suggested that he could post a video reply and said, "I have tested it at home and in a lab, and also have had a huge interest in magnets for several years, and no magnet of that small size can affect anything that far away. So get a small magnet, like a fridge magnet (10 gauss) and a standard compass, bring it over the compass and you can show that you have to go closer than 5 cm. or something like that to be able to control the compass, but it still does not move like it does in the video." In other words, a magnet small enough to hide in someone's hairline can't possibly make a compass needle shift as much as it does in the Uri Geller video.

Click on the 'NEXT' arrow for page 3

Share this article with: