Saturday, June 1, 2013

James Randi: TV Psychic Sylvia Browne Wrong Again

The self-proclaimed “psychic” made famous by TV propagators including Montell Williams, Maury Povich and Larry King, is facing the music for giving the family of Amanda Berry false information about her disappearance on The Montell Williams Show in 2004.
Amanda Berry went missing just before her 17th birthday in 2003. Berry’s mother, Louwana Miller, was later told by Sylvia Browne that Berry was dead. Miller would not live to find out that her daughter was indeed alive, held captive for nearly a decade along with two other women -a case that rocked the country. Miller, who died at the age of 43, just three years after her daughter’s disappearance, was convinced by Browne’s words, “She’s not alive, honey,” to the end.


According to Amanda Berry is dead, psychic tells her mother on Montel Williams' show (republished), in an interview with The Plain Dealer’s Stephen Hudak, made shortly after filming the show with Browne, Miller said she was “98 percent” certain about the validity of Browne’s predictions.
“With those blunt words, Browne persuaded Miller to accept a grim probability that has become more likely with each passing day,” Hudak reported. “Miller went back to the West Side home where she had been keeping Amanda’s things in careful order and cleaned up. She gave away her daughter’s computer and took down her pictures.”
Browne had told Miller that her daughter had been murdered, would be found in water and that the two would only be reunited in heaven.
Both the mainstream media and social media alike were quick to point out how very, very wrong Browne was. Facing the backlash, Browne responded with a standard non-response in a statement to the Huffington Post, which should be noted, is a platform that also promotes pseudoscience, and was named by Skeptoid as one of the Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites, by Alexa rank and Google Page rank.
“For more than 50 years as a spiritual psychic and guide, when called upon to either help authorities with missing person cases or to help families with questions about their loved ones, I have been more right than wrong. If ever there was a time to be grateful and relieved for being mistaken, this is that time. Only God is right all the time. My heart goes out to Amanda Berry, her family, the other victims and their families. I wish you a peaceful recovery.”
Browne’s response is one that many high-profile psychics in her position often give. Irrespective of the current circumstances, Browne chose to continue the charade by attempting to resolve herself of responsibility for causing unimaginable heartache to a mother and family at a time the FBI and police authorities believed that Berry could still be alive. Browne had her chance to face the music and admit that her self-proclaimed psychic abilities are a sham and a manipulative money making one, at that.
As James Randi, legendary skeptic, professional debunker and founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation, says in a recent episode of The Randi Show, Browne’s ship finally appears to be sinking.

“Sylvia Browne needs to be put out of business permanently” Randi says. “I think that can happen and I look forward to that day.”

Randi points out that both he and JREF have been after Browne and her claims of supernatural abilities for some two decades. Despite a tacit verbal agreement by Browne on an episode of Larry King Live that she would put her abilities to the test in JREF’s renowned million dollar prize challenge, she has never followed up on the opportunity to prove herself right. 
She has, however, continued to provide herself many opportunities for proving herself disastrously wrong. Browne’s proven track record of being a total fraud includes her 2003 Montell Williams Show-derived prediction that Shawn Hornbeck, aged 11 when abducted, had been murdered and would be found in a wooded area between two jagged boulders.
Hornbeck’s was also another tragic case of being kidnapped and held captive. He along with another boy, were luckily found alive and well in their captor's home in rural Missouri. However, just as in the Berry case, Browne's utter refusal to face reality and take responsibility for her actions, demonstrates her true character.
“[Browne's] a monster," says Randi. "She invents things off the top of her head very carelessly and callously. And she doesn’t care what effect her pronunciations have on the people she’s supposed to be serving."
And with the recent explosion of TV psychics of all stripes, those claiming to communicate with spirits, predict the future, read minds and solve crimes, the sinking ship that is Sylvia Browne, perhaps one of TV land's most prolific psychics, is a most welcome sight. It also leaves one wondering why Anderson Cooper isn't also calling up the hosts of these shows for their roles in proliferating the profiles and business interests of outright frauds such as Sylvia Browne.



1 comment:

  1. A woman I knew tried to call Sylvia Browne's hotline once - $900/hr quoted w a 6 mth waiting list. The woman should be done on extorting $$ from the vulnerable.

    ReplyDelete

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