# Jack Houck Jack Houck was a systems engineer for Boeing Aerospace who became interested in [[Psychokinesis|psychokinesis]] (PK), particularly the phenomenon of metal bending. He observed that people often felt energy coming from their hands during the process and noted that martial arts practitioners spoke of an internal energy, or *[[Qi]]*, that could be summoned with the mind and felt as heat in their hands[^1]. Houck, along with metallurgist [[Severin Dahlen]], wondered if the ability to bend metal had something to do with one's belief system, proposing that PK might be an ability to harness the *qi* energy latent in all people. As an experiment, Houck began hosting spoon-bending parties at his Manhattan Beach home in January 1981[^1]. He developed a three-step protocol for guests: "1). Make a mental connection to what you want to affect [bend]. 2). Command what you want it to do by shouting ‘Bend! Bend! Bend!’ 3). Let go." Houck found that in these high-energy environments, a significant percentage of spoons and forks would bend, with results almost always showing that "Roughly eighty-five percent of the spoons bent"[^1]. Dahlen's metallurgical analysis of the bent spoons suggested that stainless flatware was easiest to bend due to its metallurgical characteristics, and that PK energy somehow converted into heat at dislocations within the metal[^1]. Houck's conclusion was that "everyone seems to be able to do PK." He noted that metal often continued to bend for up to three days, correlating with the *qi* energy discussed in martial arts disciplines. His work attracted the attention of the [[U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command|U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command]] due to its military implications[^1]. In 1983, [[John B. Alexander]] worked with Houck on psychokinesis research, inviting [[Doug Henning]] to attend Houck's spoon-bending parties to provide an expert opinion on whether a group could collectively cheat. Henning was reportedly amazed by the spontaneous bending of a spoon in his manager's hand, indicating no physical force was involved[^1]. ### Footnotes [^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.