Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Sylvia Browne - Her 'Miner Mistake' Wasn't Minor!

` When will it end?! Sylvia Brown is best known for regularly making an utter fool of herself while attempting to demonstrate her self-proclaimed psychic abilities on both Montel's and Larry King's shows, as well as a few others.
` I've seen it, and it's pathetic.
` She's become rich and famous over the years, despite the fact that merely watching her at work is painful. I can't imagine how much it must sting every time she flubs a 'psychic' insight. Doesn't she know when to stop?

` This time, however, I think she's really outdone herself. Here, for all to see, is the ultimate (so far!) obvious blunder by this fantasy-prone fraudster, as first covered by a Fox News article by Roger Friedman, and alerted to me via Skeptical Inquirer:

` On January 4, 2006, 'Shameless Sylvia' was doing the paranormalist radio show Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, when they updated a live story about a mining disaster, saying that all but one of the miners had been rescued.
` According to the transcript, Browne had said; ‘I knew they were going to be found. I hate people that say something after the fact.’
` Strangely, it turns out that the report was wrong; all but one of the miners were actually dead!
` When Sylvia was told this, she suddenly changed her mind; ‘I don’t think there’s anybody alive, maybe one. How crazy for them to report that they were alive when they weren’t!’
` After a commercial break she stated; ‘I didn’t believe that they were alive. … I’ve been on the show with you, but I don’t think there’s any that are going to make it.’
` George Noory said to her: 'They say there are 12 gone. I think we threw you a curveball, we were telling you after the fact.'
` Browne continued to do her best to cover it up: 'Yeah, no, I did believe that they were gone.'
` What was really funny, however, is that in truth, one miner did get out alive! So... Browne apparently believed that they were all rescued but one, then when she found out they were all dead, she pretended like she'd thought that none of them would make it from the beginning. And yet, not even that was true!
` What is with this woman? If I were her, I'd take my millions of dollars and run away to a place where nobody has ever heard of me. And get myself in shape.
` But that's just me.

` To see the original Fox News article, check out; "TV Psychic Misses Mark on Miners"

` Of course, James 'The Amazing' Randi has not failed to notice this - the magician has been keeping a close eye on Sylvia ever since she agreed to demonstrate her psychic abilities for him in 2001.
` So far, nevertheless, this has been the closest she's come to actually following through with it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's scary is how many people will still defend people like her even after a big mistake like that!

Anonymous said...

I just want people to realize that nobody is perfect in their job all of the time. Why should it be any different for a psychic? I will admit that the story casts a dark shadow on her, but I will continue to be a fan. I have seen too much not to believe. So she made a mistake. Let's crucify her for it! That's ridiculous!

Spoony Quine said...

` She does nothing but make mistakes when she isn't being vague.
` That is my short answer. I'd write more, but damn it, I am at Open Mike Night and I'd better go.
` For a longer list of reasons, I find that this is helpful.
` Also, this and this are both kind of funny.

Anonymous said...

I understand your point, but we must agree to disagree on this situation.