Dean Radin

Like many people, I was skeptical about reports of spoon-bending because it is so easy to bend a spoon at the neck using mild force, and there are many conjuring methods that can create the illusion of a bending spoon. In 2000, I attended a spoon-bending “party” in which I was able to observe, close-up, people attempting to bend spoons. I decided in advance that the only bend I might find interesting would be of the bowl of a spoon, because to do this without tools and/or leverage is beyond the capability of most people, including myself. While watching a woman who said she had bent a spoon in this manner once before, I held a similar spoon (the one pictured below, a heavy silver-plated soup spoon).

After 5 minutes of intently watching the woman attempting to bend a similar spoon, to my surprise my spoon started to bend! In accordance with previous claims I had read, the bowl momentary felt like putty, and I easily pinched the bowl over as shown. It immediately hardened up, and it felt cold throughout. I used a thumb and one finger to make this bend, with hardly any force. I immediately checked my fingers for noticeable marks after the bend, and there were none, confirming that I had not unconsciously forced the bowl to bend. All of my attempts to repeat this effect later, both with and without the use of force, failed. Examination of the bend reveals it to be clean and smooth, with none of the characteristic cracking or discoloration that appears in spoons that are forced to bend using tools. I have no easy explanation for this phenomenon, but I cannot deny my own experience. This bend was not due to a conjuring trick or to enhanced strength that can potentially arise in certain dissociated states.