Criticism of Sylvia Browne

Sylvia Browne is a bestselling American author on the subject of spirituality who describes herself as a psychic and medium. She has been involved in numerous controversies regarding her claims, abilities and predictions. Critics such as James Randi, with whom she has had a long running feud, say that she is a cold reader whose readings are indistinguishable from those achieved by mentalists using cold and hot reading techniques. Recent press coverage has asserted that she is overall inaccurate, claimed to have given insight into how she treats her fans, and reported her feelings about critics like Randi.
Introduction to predictions
Although Browne has made many public predictions, according to James Randi her accuracy rate has been no better than educated guessing. Among her predictions, that Bill Clinton was falsely accused in the Lewinsky scandal (proved incorrect), that George H. W. Bush would defeat Bill Clinton in the 1992 U.S. presidential election (Bush lost), that Bill Bradley would win the 2000 U.S. presidential election with the Reform Party coming in second, the "hiding in caves" of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein (found in a spider hole in the ground), the death of bin Laden (later reported by the Central Intelligence Agency as incorrect), a verdict of guilty in the 2005 child molestation trial of Michael Jackson (Jackson was acquitted), and the cure and prevention of breast cancer by the end of 1999. Browne appeared on CNN's Larry King Live eight days before the September 11, 2001 attacks and failed to predict the event, but after the fact claimed she had disturbing dreams involving a lot of fire in the week preceding the attack. She also stated on The Montel Williams Shows New Years Predictions that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston would have a baby that year (they never had a child, and divorced in 2005).
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.
Of her predictions that might be considered accurate, many are predictions that are easy to make. Examples from the list of predictions for the 21st century cited above: "Elizabeth Taylor ends up back at the Betty Ford Center"; "Neither Warren Beatty nor Donald Trump has any success in politics"; "Air travel reaches an all-time high, but because of overbookings and poor service, the airlines will need to revamp their scheduling practices".
Sago Mine controversy
An incident involving Browne on January 3, 2006, on the U.S. radio program Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, is seen by Browne's critics as evidence of her deception and fraud. The incident, which was broadcast live, involved Browne making her predictions for 2006. Browne and Noory were discussing the nature of her psychic premonitions, when Noory brought up the topic of the then unfolding 2006 Sago Mine disaster.
At the time it was believed, due to erroneous news reports, that 12 of the 13 trapped miners had been found alive. When Noory asked Browne if she had had any psychic premonitions regarding the men, she stated that she had known they would be found alive. Later in the program it was revealed that the earlier news reports had been incorrect, and only one of the men was now believed to have survived. At this point Browne was alleged to have contradicted her earlier statement, stating that "I don't really think there's anybody alive".
Browne later pointed out 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 since.
James Randi
James Randi, a retired stage magician turned investigator of paranormal claims, has been a frequent critic of Browne. On September 3, 2001, Browne stated on Larry King Live that she would accept the James Randi Educational Foundation's to demonstrate supernatural abilities in a controlled scientific test. However, , Browne has said that she has found it increasingly difficult to contact the Foundation or respond to Randi's enquiries.
There are several reasons Browne cites for being unable to complete the JREF challenge:
* She was unable to contact Randi.
* She does not need or want the money.
* Neither Randi nor the JREF has $1,000,000.
* Randi would not put the money in escrow. can be obtained by requesting a copy of the most recent account statement from the JREF, by telephone, fax, letter, or e-mail. Though a few persons have requested and received copies of the documentation, no request has ever come from Browne.
Browne retorts that the JREF refuses to put the money into escrow, a decision that she says implies that the money does not exist. Randi originally defended the decision, highlighting the allegation that the challenge rules clearly state the money will not be placed in escrow. However, as of November 2003, Randi decided to make an exception for Browne, and declared that the money will be placed in escrow, proposing either Larry King or Montel Williams, both supporters of Browne, as suitable escrow agents. Though formal letters were mailed to both King and Williams notifying them of their nomination as possible escrow agents, neither person ever answered. Browne never accepted nor acknowledged Randi's exception concerning the escrow matter.
After making this announcement, Randi stated on his website, "We have now met each and every objection made by Sylvia Browne, except that she does not like me."
Browne's website posted a message sometime after August 1, 2005, apparently directed at Randi, stating that Browne never received confirmation of the existence of the million dollars (which Randi said he sent by certified mail), and suggesting that perhaps Randi sent the package to her previous business address. However, Randi's May 30, 2003, weekly newsletter indicates the documents were mailed over two years before the date Browne said she relocated. Randi said he has a certified mail receipt from the U.S. Postal Service (Certified Mail item #7003 0500 0002 3034 8133) to confirm the package was refused by Browne at 12:08 p.m. on May 22, 2003.
The Montel Williams Show
Browne has been a weekly guest on The Montel Williams Show for many years. In the episodes she appears in, known as "Sylvia Wednesdays," she takes questions from audience members asking for advice about health, love, and finance, as well as information she may have about deceased or missing loved ones. Recently her predictions have come under tremendous scrutiny after the high profile missing person's case of Shawn Hornbeck made headlines and revealed that Browne had given a reading to Hornbeck's mother and step-father four years prior on the show where she told them their son was dead, knew where he was buried and the person who had abducted him had murdered him, which turned out to be all wrong.
On January 30, 2007 Browne's business manager for 35 years, Linda Rossi, appeared with Randi on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360. In a 15-minute interview, Randi proposed that Browne undergo a test consisting of doing "...readings for ten people, ten people that would be chosen because they believe Sylvia Browne and they believe she has powers, and they believe in psychic powers of that sort. ... We would then shuffle those ten readings and give them all to the people who had the readings done for them and ask them to sort them out, which one is your reading? It should be pretty evident that you could take the reading that was made for you, and you could single that out." Rossi replied, "Absolutely not" with Randi noting Browne previously agreed to undergo a test.
Missing persons
Browne has made a number of inaccurate predictions regarding missing persons.
In 2002, Brown 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 predicted 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 "white 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. and convicted for the murder was David Repasky, McClelland's son-in-law, who was 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 could be found near two large, jagged boulders in a wooded area about 20 miles southwest of Richwoods. Hornbeck was found alive four years later, having been abducted by a white man with short brown hair who drove a small white Toyota pickup. Browne told the 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."
In January 2006 Anderson Cooper reported on Browne's 2003 claims and interviewed the Hornbeck parents, Randi, and Browne critic Robert Lancaster (Browne declined to be interviewed). The Hornbeck parents reported that Browne offered to "tell them more" if they booked a private meeting at $700 for 20 minutes. Browne denied having ever asked such a thing.
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."
Legal issues and criminal convictions
In 1992, Browne and her estranged husband were indicted on several charges of investment fraud and grand theft. In at least one instance, they told a couple 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.
Sylvia and her estranged husband Kenzil Dalzell Brown pleaded no contest to a felony charge of "sale of security without permit," made restitution, and received one year probation each. The ruling concerned "breaching rule 2.1 of the Broadcasting Code, which relates to protecting viewers against offensive material."

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