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Sylvia Browne: World Renowned Psychic or Notorious Fraud? 
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Post Sylvia Browne: World Renowned Psychic or Notorious Fraud?
Everything I have ever seen or read about SB screams "FRAUD".

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Her ex-husband believes she is a fraud as well, having been married to her from 1959 until 1972:

"It's difficult to get involved with her, I try to get her out of my mind as much as possible, but the evil that she spews out there, and the damage she does to people - unsuspecting people that are in crisis situations - is just atrocious."

Gary Dufresne, Browne's former husband of 13 years http://stopsylviabrowne.com/articles/in ... snes.shtml


Predictions

Although Browne has made many public predictions, scientific skeptic James Randi says her accuracy rate has been no better than educated guessing. Among her claims were:

That Bill Clinton was falsely accused in the Lewinsky scandal – proved incorrect.
That Bill Bradley would win the 2000 U.S. presidential election with the Reform Party coming in second – he did not and they did not.
The "hiding in caves" of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein – Hussein was found in a "spider hole" in the ground near Tikrit and Osama bin Laden was hiding in a mansion in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
The death of bin Laden – later revealed by the Central Intelligence Agency, and later by his 2011 killing, to be incorrect.
A guilty verdict in the 2005 child molestation trial of Michael Jackson– Jackson was acquitted of all charges.
The cure and prevention of breast cancer by the end of 1999

Janet McDonald, an author of books for young adults, describes her experience receiving a psychic reading via phone, for which she paid Browne $700. Browne predicted a "really long life" for McDonald, who died of cancer at 53 just over four years later.

On September 3, 2001, Browne stated on Larry King Live that she would accept the James Randi Educational Foundation's $1,000,000 challenge to demonstrate supernatural abilities in a controlled scientific test. James Randi stated in 2007 that Browne had not contacted him and no longer wished to reach him.

A January 2007 episode of Anderson Cooper 360 featured Linda Rossi, Browne's business manager for 35 years, and James Randi. Randi proposed a test where Browne would provide readings for ten sympathetic people, each of whom would then identify their own reading among the ten. Rossi declined on Browne's behalf.

A detailed three-year study of her predictions about missing persons and murder cases, by Ryan Shaffer and Agatha Jadwiszczok for the Skeptical Inquirer, has found that despite her repeated claims to be more than 85% correct, "Browne has not even been mostly correct in a single case." The study's authors collected Browne's televised statements about 115 cases and compared them with newspaper reports that are believed to be factual. They found that in 25 cases where the actual outcome is known, she was completely wrong in every one; and in the rest, where the final outcome is unknown, her predictions could not be substantiated. The study indicates that the media outlets that repeatedly promote Browne's work have no visible concern about whether she is untrustworthy or harms people.

Investigator Joe Nickell believes modern day self-proclaimed mediums like John Edward, Sylvia Browne, Rosemary Altea and James Van Praagh are avoiding the Victorian tradition of dark rooms, spirit handwriting and flying tambourines as these methods risk exposure. They instead use "mental mediumship" tactics like cold reading or gleaning information from sitters beforehand (hot reading). Group readings also improve hits by making general statements with conviction, which will fit at least one person in the audience. Shows are carefully edited before airing to show only apparent hits and to remove anything that does not reflect well on the medium.

(OP's Note: That kind of deflated me and I stopped following John Edward on You Tube and had nearly forgot all about him until Sylvia Browne was brought up. She and John have done shows together in Vegas and Atlantic City for years. I have also heard from sceptics that John uses "spotters" in the audience lines waiting to get in to his show. These people clandestinely mill around recording people's conversations prior to being let into the studio or conference. It's helpful information being fed into the green-room to John. Word on the street is also that he is a very mediocre Ballroom Dancer at best.)

Browne's performance scheduled for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on April 1, 2011 was cancelled "due to unforeseen circumstances." It was later confirmed that she suffered a massive heart attack while in Hawaii on March 21, 2011.

Sago Mine controversy

On January 3, 2006, Browne was a guest on the U.S. radio program Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. At the start of the broadcast it was believed that 12 of 13 miners trapped by the Sago Mine disaster had been found alive. When Noory asked Browne if she had had any psychic premonitions regarding the men — if she had felt "that this was a very gloomy moment and that they might have all died?" she replied, "No, I knew they were going to be found." Later in the program it was revealed that the earlier news reports had been an error, and only one of the men was believed to have survived. At this point, Browne contradicted her earlier statement, stating that "I don't really think there's anybody alive", and, "How crazy for them to report that they were alive when they weren’t!" Browne later argued that she had never specifically stated that the miners would be found alive, only that they would be found, and that she was referring to the bodies of the dead miners being found. In the October 3, 2007 episode of Coast to Coast, Noory identified this incident as the reason he has not invited Browne back to the show.

The Montel Williams Show

Browne was a weekly guest on The Montel Williams Show for many years. In episode known as "Sylvia Wednesdays," she took questions from audience members asking for advice about health, love, and finance, as well as information about deceased or missing loved ones. In 2000, Brill's Content "examined ten recent Montel Williams programs that highlighted Browne's work as a psychic detective (as opposed to her ideas about "the afterlife," for example), spanning 35 cases. In 21, the details were too vague to be verified. Of the remaining 14, law enforcement officials or family members say that Browne had played no useful role."

In 2002, Browne told Gwendolyn Krewson that her daughter Holly, who had been missing for seven years, was living in Hollywood, California and working as an exotic dancer in a nightclub. In 2006, dental records were used to positively identify a body found in 1996 in San Diego, California as that of Holly Krewson.

Browne stated that Ryan Katcher, a nineteen-year-old who disappeared during the night in November 2000 in Illinois, had been murdered and could be found in an iron mine shaft a few miles away from the Katcher home. Katcher was later found in his truck in a pond in Illinois and had died of drowning.

In 1999, Browne told Audrey Sanderford that her six year old granddaughter Opal Jo Jennings had been taken from Tarrant County, Texas to Japan and forced into "slavery" in a town she named as "Kukouro" or "Kukoura". No such town exists in Japan. In August of the same year, Richard Lee Franks was arrested and charged with Jennings' abduction and murder; he was convicted the next year. Jennings' remains were found in December 2003, and autopsy revealed that she had died from trauma to the head within hours of being abducted.

In 2002, Browne told Lynda McClelland's daughters that their mother had been abducted by a man with the initials "MJ" and taken to Orlando, Florida but that she was still alive. McClelland's body was found buried less than two miles from her home in Pennsylvania. The man charged and convicted for the murder was David Repasky, McClelland's son-in-law. He had been present for the reading.

In 2003, Browne claimed that eleven year old Shawn Hornbeck had been abducted by a very tall man with long black dreadlocks and a blue sedan, and that his body could be found near two large, jagged boulders in a wooded area about 20 miles southwest of Richwoods. Her claims led to numerous people calling in with tips regarding possible spottings of the rock formations Browne had mentioned. Hornbeck was found alive four years later, having been abducted by a white man with short brown hair who drove a small white Nissan pickup. Browne told the New York Daily News, "I'm terribly sorry that this happened, but I think my body of work stands by itself. I've broken case after case... I think it's cruel to jump on this one case in which I was wrong."

In 2006, Browne told the fiancée of murder victim Robert Hayes that he had been robbed by a man at a casino for his poker winnings and that there was video evidence. However, police later revealed that Hayes was having an affair and was robbed by the woman and three other people in a setup at an ATM. There were no press reports about him going to a casino or playing poker. She predicted the crime would take a "good two years" to resolve, but the case and trial happened within a year of Hayes's death.

In January 2007, Anderson Cooper reported on Browne's 2003 claims and interviewed the Hornbeck parents, Randi, and Browne critic Robert S. Lancaster. Browne declined to be interviewed. Hornbeck’s parents, Pam and Craig Akers, reported that in order to “talk to [Browne] additionally,” they would have had to pay her standard fee. Craig Akers recalled the standard fee as $700 for one hour. Browne’s business manager issued a statement denying that Browne has ever charged a fee for her work on a missing person’s case.

In August 2007 ,the Montel Williams Show was awarded The Truly Terrible Television (TTTV) Award for peddling pseudoscience and superstition to its audience for every episode that has showcased Sylvia Browne. Other winners have been Psychic Detectives, Paranormal State and SciFi's Ghost Hunters.

In June 2008, Ofcom ruled that ITV2 "breached standards with a repeat of the Montel Williams Show in which a 'desperate' couple were told by a psychic their missing son was dead - even though he turned up alive last year." The ruling concerned "breaching rule 2.1 of the Broadcasting Code, which relates to protecting viewers against offensive material."

On December 29, 2009 at the Gibson Amphitheater at Universal Studios Los Angeles, skeptic and mentalist Mark Edward approached the microphone during the question portion of Sylvia Browne's show and said he had been hearing voices in his head, they were giving him the names...Opal Jo Jennings...Terrence Farrell...Holly Krewson and the Sago Miners. Browne could not tell that he was lying and explained that the voices were his spirit guides.

Legal issues and criminal convictions

In 1992, Browne and estranged husband Kenzil Dalzell Brown were indicted on several charges of investment fraud and grand theft. The Superior Court of Santa Clara County, California, found that Browne and her husband had sold securities in a gold-mining venture under false pretenses. In at least one instance, they told a couple that their $20,000 investment was to be used for immediate operating costs. Instead, the money was transferred to an account for their Nirvana Foundation for Psychic Research. Browne pleaded no contest to securities fraud and was indicted on grand larceny in Santa Clara County, California on May 26, 1992. Browne and Brown received one year probation each. Dalzell's disposition included "County Jail 4 months with credit for time served of 21 days," while Sylvia's included 200 hours of community service.

The prosecution rests. (Disclaimer: The whole kit and kaboodle above was copy/pasted from Wikipedia)

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No one was seriously injured or libelled in the re-telling and copy/pasting of this story and artwork which is available to anyone on Google or Google Images.

Sincerely,

Mouse

PS: The Defence may now present their case to the jury. Go on: ya know ya wanna!

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Last edited by A Nony Mouse on Sun Apr 29, 2012 7:54 am, edited 2 times in total.



Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:29 am
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Post Re: Sylvia Browne: World Renowned Psychic or Notorious Fraud
I think the probability of psychics being frauds is quite high, especially when money is involved. I also think the possibility of psychic phenomena existing is quite good. So where does that leave me? In a position of uncertainty.

One thing seems odd -- would a true psychic need or even pursue public attention? I think not. Surely they would foresee all the problems that public scrutiny would bring.

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Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:00 am
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Post Re: Sylvia Browne: World Renowned Psychic or Notorious Fraud
Yeah it was strange to me when she nailed it....I certainly would never try to explain it. If I were to say "I believe" I would have to know what it is I "believe in" :giggle: and I don't have a plausable theory for any psychic mediumship....I have some ideas about dreams, thats a little different.

I think that most people who even might have an ability of this sort cannot control it...and the fraud factor looms large, heck they might even be a bit of both. Let me address a few of the critisicims which I have to look at

a) Randi is as dogmatic as his adversaries.....He makes it impossible and has been proven wrong...by frauds no less! Example: whether Billy Meir is real or not? He had Randi fooled with a good deal of his original photos, Randi never paid and eventually other obvious fake photos were found...no comment as this Meir issue is a can of worms!

b) Most of the incidents cited are ambivalent...does anyone really know where Bin Laden was/is? I would trust Platt's analysis before the governments!

c) There is often dueling stats.....Psychics are in fact used by police departments at times, including Platt. Why? well if they really had no better chance of success I don't think forensically they would be asked for.

d) Ex spouses? well not the most credible source material. I never had an ex wife so I can't speak from experience but I have heard some dooseys!

I would say that psychic ability is something that is there.... sometimes we all can tap in a bit? but the control a psychic claims? is something I am unsure of and I am skeptical. I would never try to explain Platt's nailing my situation and I will conclude this post with a story WHY I would never do so:

There is a famous story about Arthur Conan Doyle and Houdini. Houdini had been friends with Doyle and they had a falling out because of this event and Doyle's reasoning:

Doyle became a Theosophist who really drank the Psychic koolade and Houdini was visiting his friend (Doyle) one day. Houdini told Doyle that he could show him a trick that Doyle would never be able to explain...Doyle took the challenge, the premise being that Doyle waws more guillable than he thought. Sure enough, Houdini lets Doyle take a deck of tarot cards. He tells Doyle to take the deck in the other room, put a card in his pocket and they will have a walk together at which time Houdini will tell Doyle the card he has picked in nhis pocket. Sure enough Houdini out on the walk picks the correct card. Doyle is flabbergasted. He winds up accusing Houdini of really being psychic and lying about it, they never talk again.

Now: heres the thing. Houdini could convince anyone he had special ability....remember what he actually did, he had doyle take a card, jacket it in a room away from his eyes and picked the card while in pocket away from the deck. How did he do this?! What kind of logic could explain this trick?


Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:39 pm
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Post Re: Sylvia Browne: World Renowned Psychic or Notorious Fraud
If Houdini can examine the deck, he can determine which card is missing.

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Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:54 pm
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Post Re: Sylvia Browne: World Renowned Psychic or Notorious Fraud
If Houdini can examine the deck, he can determine which card is missing.


Yes but thats just it....he never did.

I should restate the ruse: so me and chico are at a table, some deck of cards with a lot of choices is presented..... I tell chico "take the deck, pick a card put it in your pocket leave the other cards in the room" I will tell chico when we have walked a bit that the card in his jacket is ____.


Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:10 pm
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Post Re: Sylvia Browne: World Renowned Psychic or Notorious Fraud
Here's the same task, but using my rules. I'm thinking of a card. Tell me which card it is.

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Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:56 am
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Post Re: Sylvia Browne: World Renowned Psychic or Notorious Fraud
Here's the same task, but using my rules. I'm thinking of a card. Tell me which card it is.


you can set a person up so that you could conceivably pull that off. have a conversation with the person, talk about how well you pitched in high school, how you passed the appraser exam your first time, etc etc and then ever so nonchelantly somewhere mention the word "ace." these guys are very sneaky,

I think that Houdini found a way to figure out a pattern to Doyle's thoughts and made it so that card pick was hardly random.


Sun Apr 29, 2012 4:51 am
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Post Re: Sylvia Browne: World Renowned Psychic or Notorious Fraud
dsimon3387 wrote:
and then ever so nonchelantly somewhere mention the word "ace." these guys are very sneaky...

Of that I have no doubt.

What kind of ace?

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Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:22 am
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Post Re: Sylvia Browne: World Renowned Psychic or Notorious Fraud
dsimon3387 wrote:
and then ever so nonchelantly somewhere mention the word "ace." these guys are very sneaky...

Of that I have no doubt.

What kind of ace?


Discernment works differently on different levels. Our own continental Psych tradition is very vanilla but other avenues have produced mind control technology and even stuff that can be considered Psychic....The trick is to ask yourself at what point where you can associate things, predict them and exerscize that talent....are you a psychic? Remember that the dichotomy between believer and unbeliever was not so clear traditionally. Durkheim was a French Athiest, a child of the revolution and he famously said religion is an efforvescence that makes more energy than the sum of it's parts. Telling is in essence that some mechanics are at work.

The Russians work with this technology....remember pavlov?

So an entertainer for example can eventually watch you pick up a spoon and tell how you were tiolet trained...if you were breast fed, etc.... It becomes almost psychic and they can eventually tell you what card you will pick.

Another way to look at it is (via Husserl) the mind as a reciever and how much we can learn studying it to ascertain info of the phenomena. Again an example, remote viewing. Is Remote Viewing really about getting information about a phenomena or about getting information about how we take in info, about the pure act of taking in so much information mentally and using only a small amount of that info because we are only trained to see a small part of this info.


Sun Apr 29, 2012 3:36 pm
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Post Re: Sylvia Browne: World Renowned Psychic or Notorious Fraud
Thanks DS for showing some of the moving parts with this phenomena. Most things become more complex when your dealing with relativism. Its hard to catch.

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Sun Apr 29, 2012 4:26 pm
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