CIA-RDP96-00787R000200080018-5.pdf

Approved For Release 20Q1/03/26;:, CLAFROP,96-0078ZR000200080018-5 Spoon-bending science ae Gellermania continues, albeit in a muted form, as British scientists continue to examine children who bend cutlery and a major French firm has launched an investigation of a metal-bending psychic and magician Joseph Hanlon On a rainy June night, five apparently sane men drove 100 miles to a lab in Bath to watch a girl try—unsuccessfully —to bend a spoon “paranormally”. This trek provides evidence that parascience, and metal bending in particular, continues to attract the attention of serious scientists.…

ee Approved For Relegse 200#03f26':tCIAIRDP96-00 7R6R000200080018-5 81 Girard. By all accounts, the Girard studies are on a much higher plane than the Geller circus. The most striking difference is that Girard openly admits to being a trained magician and to having a listing in a French magicians’ annual. Noting that Geller is also a trained magician, Crussard writes that this merely “proves that such people have an attraction toward illusionism’’ and that special precautions must be taken. Crussard concludes that the metal bending effect is a combination of mind and body— psychic and magic—wh…

82 . Approved For Relegse 2004/0 3/26ist CHAHRDP96-007QGR000200080018-5 found during a proper scientific experiment that Girard used a trick, “it would be very disillusioning for me. But I would certainly tell it—this must be published as well.” Girard was also tested a year ago by Taylor, who says that it was he who told Crussard that Girard was a magician, Although Girard was able to perform under Taylor’s tightest conditions at that time, Taylor also says they were “not 100 per cent” and have been made considerably tighter since then. Taylor refused to say if he had seen Girard using his il…

€ - Approved For Relegse 2007/63726': GIAURDP96-007QZR000200080018-5 83 — ESS ee Finding a home for stray fact Was the ‘‘Miracle of Fatima” simply ball lightning? Are the strange dull sounds heard by George Darwin 80 years ago related to those reported in the British press last year? Adrian Hope Independent American journalist I. F. Stone, with his famous weekly newsletter, routinely embarrassed politicians and public figures by reminding them in print of official lies told years ago. Apart from a prodigious memory, Stone relied mainly on clippings continually gathered from other publications,…