WEBVTT

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... magician and investigator of
psychic phenomena.

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Don't laugh;
this is science.

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For 25 years, Randi has
explored the world of the

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paranormal and tested
claims of supernatural powers.

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Now, Randi journeys to Russia to
challenge psychics never

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before seen in the west.

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After decades of research, can
we finally discover

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the secrets of the psychics?

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Major funding for Nova is
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for public broadcasting and by
annual financial support from

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viewers like you.

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From the earliest days,
man has believed that

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dreams and the supernatural are
in some way real.

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All over the world
psychics demonstrate

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powers that their
followers accept as

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modern-day miracles.

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Here, in Moscow, psychic
healers treat the sick

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with chants and incantations.

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And, in the Philippines,
psychic surgeons perform

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operations without knives.

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A metal spoon turns liquid
in the hands of a psychic

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performing in Britain.

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This is happening.

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Nearly everywhere,
fortune-tellers find the

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future in cards, crystal
balls, and palms.

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Three out of four Americans say

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they've had a psychic experience.

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Today, you can even find
a psychic at the mall.

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Purveyors of the supernatural
have created

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a multi-million dollar industry.

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But, are psychic phenomena what
they appear to be?

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My name is James Randi,
the Amazing Randi.

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I'm a magician.

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Okay, I have here a pen...

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For the past 25 years,
I've been investigating

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the claims of psychics.

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A psychokinetic
demonstration of a

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supernatural nature.

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Watch this.

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Psychics often say that an
object can be moved using

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only the power of the mind.

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And it moves in a miracle
fashion like that.

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Isn't that amazing stuff?

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Stop!

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Magicians can produce
the same effect.

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Of course, I was just
blowing on the pen.

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But, a little suggestion
and a little distraction

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go a long way.

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As a magician, there's
nothing I like more than a

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well-executed illusion.

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Just look at what my
friend Jamy Ian Swiss can do.

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There are those who use
magic tricks for more than

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entertainment; they
convince people that what

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they do is real, that
they have special powers.

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Magical thinking, you
know, is a slippery slope.

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Sometimes it's harmless
enough, but other times

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it's quite dangerous.

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Personally, I'm opposed to
that kind of fakery, so I

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have no reservations at
all about exposing these

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people and their illusions
for what they really are.

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I've investigated the
claims of hundreds of

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psychics.

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People aren't always happy
with my conclusions, but I

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do have my supporters.

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In 1986, I was honored
with a MacArthur Award.

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Unfortunately, most of the prize
money went into defending myself

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against a series of libel suits related to one of my

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earliest and most controversial investigations.

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The subject was Uri
Geller, a young Israeli

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who claimed to have
supernatural powers.

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His remarkable affinity
for metal and his psychic

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abilities are well
documented all over the world.

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In the early 1970s, Geller
became a superstar,

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the most famous psychic
in the world.

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Okay, just a second, look
at me.

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Visualize everything that you
drew once more.

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He claimed to read
people's minds.

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I'm going to
show what I got.

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Anything wrong, then I'm wrong,
but it really came very
strongly.

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It could be two mountains
with a round thing on or

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two people - I , uh, I...

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Can I show?

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Yeah.

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Am I wrong?

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You're right.

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I'm right.

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Good.

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That's what I got.

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He claimed to bend
keys with his mind.

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I know you're going to think
this is a set-up, friends,

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and old Tom has never
conned you on anything.

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This - this guy is bending
this key by rubbing it.

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It was bent at about, uh,
a one-degree angle when

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you started out, and it's
coming up on 45 degrees now.

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It's still moving.

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Are you thinking, "Bend?"

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Is that what you're doing?

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Yes, I'm saying, "bend."

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Hard, soft?

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I'm saying, "Bend,
bend, bend!"

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And sometimes I
say, "Bend, baby!"

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But, Geller was best known
for his way with spoons.

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Hold the tip of this
spoon very, very gently.

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Okay.

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What I'm doing is I'm
trying to melt the metal down.

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It's like feeling...

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It's going...

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Yeah.

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I did not force it at
all in my hands....

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There's no force at all.

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Look.

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The whole...

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You see it's becoming...

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... fall off.

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It's - touch it here
where I'm stroking it.

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There is absolutely no...

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That is eerie!

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I have a wisdom tooth...

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As you can see, the metal
is beginning to crack here.

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It's breaking.

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Yeah.

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Look, it's becoming -
it's like putty wax.

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You see?

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Look.

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And keep - keep
stroking it here.

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You see - don't, don't you see,
the crack is becoming bigger?

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Yep.

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I melt the metal
down so - so...

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I want it to bend.
I just say, "Bend."

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You melted it.

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Now, wait a minute,
wait a minute.

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Keep stroking your keys
more and people at home,

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want your watches to start
working, or if there is a

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radio that is broken,
want it to start working.

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Television broken - just want it
- all those broken things.

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Now...

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What Geller was saying,
effectively, was that

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wanting things
could make them so.

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I felt that claim
had to be challenged.

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The media, even some
scientists, were taking

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the Geller phenomenon
seriously, so I decided to

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show, for starters, that I
could at least duplicate

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these effects using trickery.

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Now, a key can be displayed in
such a way

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that it looks like it's
bending.

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For example, just by
stroking it,

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you'd swear that it's bending
right up before your eyes.

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Magicians call this
process ratcheting.

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But, to do this, the key
has to be bent in advance.

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The hard part, of course,
is how to go about bending

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the key without letting
them catch you.

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Now, there's several ways.

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I could, for example, take it
and press the tip

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against the top of the table.

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That would do it.

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Or, in shifting my chair
backwards or forwards, as

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I just did, I could've
taken it and dropped it

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below the level of the
table and pressed the tip

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on the chair I'm sitting
on,

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which is exactly what I just did.

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Did I fool ya?

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Mentalists have
duplicating hidden

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drawings for years.

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If Mr. Geller had chosen to use
trickery,

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he could've used any of a
number of techniques.

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One favorite involves turning
your back and

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covering your eyes while
the drawing is being made.

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Now, I've always wondered
why you would cover your

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eyes while your
back is turned.

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But, melting metal is
something else again.

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It's done something like
this, and it gets soft.

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So, I say to it, "Bend,
bend, bend," and it bends.

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Of course, it does take
a little preparation.

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In fact, it takes a
lot of preparation.

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Now, this isn't proof
positive that other

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demonstrations aren't the
result of supernatural power,

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but isn't this a more reasonable explanation?

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And then, of course,
there was Mr. Geller's

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appearance on The Tonight Show.

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I got a call after they
booked him to appear.

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Will you welcome,
please, Uri Geller.

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Johnny had been a magician
himself and was skeptical.

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I was asked to help
prevent any trickery.

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Nice to see you.