sylvia browne psycic or fraud? and why?

Answer 1

~~~ Sylvia Browne seems nice enough,BUTT!! .....she lies too much. If my husband had a message for me,he'd come directly to me and not a stranger. And he obviously has nothing to say because I can't even conger him up on a Ouija board. ....Cliffy...phone home. I miss you. ~~~

Answer 2

Sylvia Browne is about as far from being legitimate as I am from the Andromeda galaxy. She asks leading questions like "who do you want to contact?" A person with true psychic ability doesn't ask ANY questions of the person they are reading for because they truly get impressions from the spirit world.
Besides, her fingernails are DISGUSTING and the several face-lifts she's had were done by a back alley surgeon in some third-world country, they're so bad.
Get over yourself, Sylvia; you are a charlatan!!

Answer 3

Complete and UTTER fraud. She has been proven many times to have a rate of success no better than that of the average guesser.

Her 2006 record of predictions was analyzed in early 2007 (sourced below) by a blogger and the results were as follows:

Predictions: 32 Hits: 3 Misses: 29

3.3% of the time Browne positively predicted an event that actually occurred and occurred the way she predicted

96.7% of the time Browne either predicted something that didn't happen, or predicted a completely different outcome for a predicted event.

She charges $750 for a 20 minute phone "reading", or currently a whopping $1000 per person for a 'salon reading' where a small group of suckers, er people pay to meet with her in a group. She will know way in advance of the full identity in EITHER setting, which makes it relatively easy to do a bit of "research" on her prospects. The remainder is accomplished by cold reading techniques.

Her site lists many other 'events' wher you can see her at ticket prices ranging from $50 - 150 each.

In 1992, Browne and her ex Husband were arrested and convicted for securities fraud by the state of California for their part in a gold mine scam. According to the criminal complaint filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, the Browns told investors their money would be used to pay operating expenses at the mine. Sylvia Brown claimed to have strong psychic "feelings" that the mine would pay off.

Instead of paying for the mine, the complaint alleges that the Browns transferred at least $27,000 in investment money to an account maintained on behalf of the Nirvana Foundation for Psychic Research, which the Browns founded in 1974. One month after the transfer, in April 1988, the Browns declared bankruptcy in the mining venture, the complaint said. You'd think a psychic would have seen that one coming, huh?

Wikipedia also lists many of her dead wrong predictions and 'feelings' including the following:

Sago Mine controversy:

In January 3, 2006, Browne stated on the radio program Coast to Coast AM that the miners in the 2006 Sago Mine disaster would be found. At the time it was believed, due to erroneous news reports, that 12 of the 13 trapped miners had been found alive, but when it became known DURING A COMMERCIAL BREAK that these reports were incorrect, Browne backpeddled saying, "I don't really think there's anybody alive". Browne claimed later that she never specifically stated that the miners would be found alive, only that they would be found. Transcripts and actual recordings show otherwise.


The $1,000,000 challenge:

On Larry King Live March 6, 2001, Browne agreed to take James Randi's challenge in which he offers $1,000,000 for proof of psychic phenomena. On September 3, 2001, Randi appeared with Browne on Larry King Live, and she again accepted the challenge. As of August 2007, she had not been tested and James Randi keeps a clock on his website recording the number of weeks that have passed since Browne accepted the challenge.

Missing persons:

Browne has made false predictions in several missing persons cases, including those of Holly Krewson,Opal Jo Jennings,Lynda McClelland,Ryan Katcher, and Shawn Hornbeck.

Browne has often spoken of working with the police and FBI as a psychic detective, but according to The Skeptics Dictionary, in 21 of Browne's 35 cases, the details she gave were too vague to be verified, and in the remaining 14 Browne played no useful role

She also claims to hold a Masters Degree in English Literature although the school she claimed to recieve it from furnished a researcher a full transcript and stated that she has NO degree, not even a Bachelors Degree, in ANY subject.

Finally, there's her spiritual guide "Francine" that Browne talks about in her many books. But what's really curious is why there are at least 5 different version of how Browne and Francine came to be....all written by Browne herself. You'd think with something as monumental an event as that, the details would stay in your mind forever.

The list of lies and half truths goes on and on. Sylvia Browne is not only a fraud, she is a vile and reprehesible person, preying on the hopes and faith of the vulnerable. I just hope this clears up the matter and points people towards the truth.

Answer 4

She's not even a very good fraud. Hopefully she has deluded herself that she has real psychic powers because the alternative is that she is deliberately preying on people's hopes and fears. And that would be criminal or sick.
I once saw the Amazing Kreskin on T.V. Before he started he explained that all his conclusions were based on simple observations. It was incredible. He had audience members stand and told them their marital status, the color of their cars, little secrets about them. Nobody was impressed. People seem to have a need to believe in some sort of mysterious higher power.

Check out the following website for more debunking of popular delusions.

Answer 5

Fraud, she has the scratching of the head and the asking them to repeat what they said down to a fine art. She doesn't even flinch when corrected by people on info she has wrong.

She also informed Shawn Hornbecks parents that he was dead and in the woods, killed by a Hispanic man and we all know this to now be false. Anyone that charges the amount of money that she does is obviously a money grubbing fraud.

Answer 6

Fraud. Everything she says is completely made up. (But if one calls her on it, she claims that if they are not psychic they can't know! What a con job!) Besides, she's been married and divorced 3 times. You'd think if she was such a great psychic she'd have known what the guys were like before she married them.
She uses what con artists call "cold reading" to get information from people without them even realizing it, then tells them what they want to hear.

Answer 7

Fraud. I seem to recall something about her and the coal miners a couple of years back. nOne ight she was on Coast to Coast (am radio show) and made the comment that she felt they all survived.

The host soon announced that there were new reports that all but one of the miners was dead.

Browne — who was still in the studio taking questions from listeners — had to say something. Now she was just riffing: "I don’t think there’s anybody alive, maybe one. How crazy for them to report that they were alive when they weren’t!" Then she added: "I just don’t think they are alive." She cleared her throat, and there was a deafening pause.

Answer 8

As a rule of thumb, psychic = fraud.
There's no physical evidence that such thing is possible and none of them has been able to probe it under close scrutiny.

Answer 9

i've got faith she is that in case you ever watch her on Montel human beings spill available total lives and he or she merely reiterates this. it particularly is gloomy nonetheless, human beings have misplaced family individuals and he or she is enjoying off of there grief.

Answer 10

Did she tell us about 9-11 before it happened????