News and Views

In 2004 Amanda Berry’s mother asked Sylvia Browne for news about Amanda. Sylvia said “She’s not alive honey.” Her mother died a year later from heart failure, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the shock and disappointment hastened that end.

Similarly, in 2004 Browne told the parents of missing child Shawn Hornbeck that their child was dead, but he too was found alive four years later. The website “Stop Sylvia Browne” has many, many articles describing her errors and her arrogance when confronted with them. And here’s an article documenting 115 of her predictions without a single one verified correct. FBI state that no case has ever been resolved as a direct result of information provided from a psychic.

I guess “Psychic” falls under freedom of religion or freedom of speech, but it’s a shame that hucksters like Sylvia Browne and John Edwards can manipulate desperate people’s emotions and fool them out of their money the way they do. Hopefully, widespread publication of failures like this will help immunize people against their tactics.