Sylvia Browne

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Sylvia Browne (born October 19, 1936) is an author of numerous books on spirituality who claims is a psychic and medium. She is the regular featured guest on The Montel Williams Show and hosts her own hour-long show on Hay House Radio, discussing paranormal issues and giving callers psychic advice.

Browne is not without criticism and controversy. In 1988 she declared bankruptcy, and in 1992 she was convicted of investment fraud and assigned 200 hours of community service.^[1][2]

Browne has critics who assert she is a cold reader. She has had a long running feud with noted skeptic James Randi who has pointed out that her readings are indistinguishable from those achieved by mentalists using cold reading and hot reading techniques.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Later life 2 Paranormal claims 2.1 Criticism 3 Television and radio 4 Books, business, and church 5 Legal issues and criminal conviction 5.1 Sago Mine controversy 5.2 Montel Williams controversies 5.3 Browne vs. Randi 5.3.1 Browne's responses to Randi 6 References 7 Books 8 See also 9 External links 9.1 Official 9.2 Predictions 9.3 Media/transcripts 9.4 Critical of Browne

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Browne was born Sylvia Celeste Shoemaker in Kansas City, Missouri as the elder of two daughters of Bill and Celeste Shoemaker.^[3] She acquired the surname Brown during the third of her four marriages, and enhanced it with a final e for her stage name.

Her father Bill Shoemaker was Jewish and Celeste Shoemaker was an Episcopalian.^[4] Bill had many jobs including mail delivery and jewelry salesman, and served as vice president for a major freight line. Browne’s maternal grandmother, Ada Coil, who also claimed to be a psychic medium, was a devout Lutheran.^[4] To establish stability, the family decided to convert to Catholicism and they were all baptised together when Browne was a young girl. She said that visions started appearing when she was three years old and that her grandmother Coil helped her understand why she had them. Browne also had a great-uncle who claimed to be a psychic medium.

Browne never received a degree from any accredited college, however, she taught English in a Catholic grammar School for a few years before working as a psychic performer full-time.

In a March 2001 interview with Larry King, Browne stated that she is Jewish.^[5]

[edit] Later life

Browne began performing psychic "readings" in 1974 and has attracted followings of supporters and detractors.^[3] She has performed thousands of one-on-one readings and with a wide variety of groups and individuals. Browne claims to have provided information to police departments and the FBI.

Her son Christopher also claims to be psychic, and her website says "if Sylvia is the best psychic around - then Chris is the second best."^[6]

She is divorced from Gary Dufresne, and is divorced from Kenzil Dalzell Brown. Sylvia acquired the surname Brown during the third of her four marriages, and enhanced it with a final e for her stage name.

[edit] Paranormal claims

She also said she knows what it is like in Heaven, or the Other Side. In her book Life On The Other Side, she says the temperature is a constant 78 degrees Fahrenheit (25.6 °C), that there are no insects (unless one wants there to be), that pets go to Heaven, and that one can build one's house wherever one wants it to be unless it obscures the view of a river or some trees, in which case one needs permission.^[7] She asserts that the other side exists approximately three feet above ground level and at a "higher vibrational level" and so is difficult for humans to perceive. However, like other psychics, she claims to have been born able to perceive a wider range of "vibrational frequencies".

Browne declares that she can see angels and that they look similar to depictions in paintings, but have different traits depending on their "phylum". Her grand-daughter who is purportedly psychic claims to have witnessed the angels that Browne states come around humans.^[8] She also once claimed on Montel to be able to tell people the time and method of their death, and will reveal it if a person wants to know; she claims most people simply do not want to know.

Browne professes the ability to speak with her spirit guide, "Francine," and has given details of fifty-four of her own former lives as divined by her.^[9]

[edit] Criticism

Although Browne has made many public "predictions", her accuracy rate has been no better than educated guessing.^[10] Among her predictions, that Bill Clinton was falsely accused in the Lewinsky scandal (proved incorrect), that Bill Bradley would win the 2000 U.S. presidential election with the Reform Party coming in second,^[11] the "hiding in caves" of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, the death of bin Laden (later reported by the CIA as incorrect), a verdict of "guilty" in the 2005 child molestation trial of Michael Jackson^[12], and the appearance of alien life on Earth by the year 2010.^[13] Browne appeared on CNN's Larry King Live days before the September 11, 2001 attacks and failed to predict the event,^[14] but after the fact claimed she had disturbing dreams involving a lot of fire in the week preceding the attack.

[edit] Television and radio

Browne is a frequent guest on US television and radio programs. She has appeared numerous times on Larry King Live as well as the Montel Williams Show and Coast to Coast AM. During these appearances she usually discusses her abilities with the host and then performs readings of audience members or callers.

Browne appeared as a guest on the May 24, 2006, episode of The Montel Williams Show. When a woman in the audience said she had "lost her boyfriend tragically...a few years ago", specifying "September eleventh", Browne responded with her standard answer that the reason the body couldn't be found was that it was in water. Browne seemed confused, saying, "I keep seeing him in water. Is there any way he could have drowned in water?" When the woman protested, Browne added that the boyfriend "says that he couldn't breathe and was filled with water." Browne seemed to suggest to a dumbfounded Montel Williams that the water the boyfriend was in might have been from the firemen trying to put out the fire.

On some occasions other guests at her appearances have included skeptics, with James Randi being one of the more frequent. These shows often feature verbal sparring between the two, with both trying to convince the audience that the other is wrong. In March 2004, their feud escalated on the popular St. Louis radio program, The Paul Harris Show, when Randi came out and called Browne a liar, referring to her claims about Randi's Million Dollar Challenge and other statements she had made about Randi.^[15]

[edit] Books, business, and church

Browne has written a number of books. She is the head of the Sylvia Browne Corporation, and the founder of a church in 1986 in Campbell, California, known as the Society of Novus Spiritus. According to its website, the church employs forty ministers, and refers to itself as "Gnostic Christian."^[6] It states that it follows the same traditions and teachings which Jesus himself followed, yet does not exclude Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, or Hinduism. The society teaches the Biblical works of Jesus Christ while also incorporating the Gnostic Gospels (ex: Gospel of Mary Magdalene), and says that while the Bible is a "marvelous book" and should be used as a teaching tool, it is not the "unaltered word of God".^[16]

[edit] Legal issues and criminal conviction

In April 1988 Browne declared bankruptcy.^[2] In 1992, Browne and her estranged husband were indicted on several charges of investment fraud and grand theft.^[1] The Superior Court of Santa Clara County, California, found that Browne and her husband sold securities in a gold-mining venture under false pretences.^[1] In at least one instance, they told a couple their US $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.^[1] Browne pled no contest to securities fraud and was indicted on grand larceny in Santa Clara County, California on May 26th 1992.^[2]

On June 6, 1992, the San Francisco Chronicle noted that "Sylvia Brown claimed to have strong psychic 'feelings' that the mine would pay off."^[1] Browne said her inability to foresee her own conviction by claiming that her psychic abilities do not work on herself and calling her critics 'ignorant'.^[1]

Court documents show that 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.^[1] Dalzell's disposition included "County Jail 4 months with credit for time served of 21 days," while Sylvia's included 200 hours of community service.^[1]

[edit] Sago Mine controversy

Many critics say an incident involving Browne on January 3, 2006, on the U.S. radio program Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, is evidence of her deception and fraud.^[17] 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 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. A transcript of the conversation follows:

Noory: Of course, this is after the fact, with the 12 or 13 coal miners they found successfully.

Browne: I know.

Noory: Had you been on the program today, and had they not been found, would you have felt as if, because they had heard no sounds, that this was a very gloomy moment, and they might have all died?

Browne: No, I knew they were going to be found. Uh, you know, I hate people who say something after the fact. It's just like I knew when the Pope was dead and I said it on, thank God I was on Montel's show, and I said, according to the time, it was 9-something and whatever Rome time was, and I said he's gone, and he was.

Noory: We're going to follow that story this hour when we're with you, Sylvia, taking phone calls and then…

Browne: Right.

Noory: For those of you who are with our affiliate stations, I will be live in that last hour of Coast to Coast.…

Browne: Yeah, I don't think there's, I don't think there's, I don't really think there's anybody alive. If there is, I think maybe only one, I just don't believe that there's… I haven't heard anything because I've been with you, but I just don't think they are alive.

Noory: That's frustrating.

Browne: It's terrible, isn't it?

Noory: O.K, let's go the phones.

Later in the program, Noory once again brought the issue up with Browne, in what many see as an attempt by Noory to allow Browne to correct her previous contradiction. Instead, they claim, Browne came out looking worse.

Noory: Sylvia, with the accuracy rate that you have, and it is very high, of the few that you get wrong, do they sometimes become right, maybe later on?

Browne: Yeah, but see I never… I didn't believe that they were alive

Noory: What's that? The miners?

Browne: Uhuh.

Noory: Oh, okay.

Browne: No, I think that they're… and see I've been on the show with you, so I don't know but I don't think that there's any that are gonna make it.

Noory: Well, that's not a good situation.

Browne: No.

Noory: Thirteen were in there, they said one had died, 12 were alive.

Browne: Well, there's 12 gone

Noory: I think the misunderstanding for you was that I was telling you, after the fact, that they were alive. Had that story not broken while we were on the air… what do you think would have happened ? And that's where I think we threw a curve ball at you.

Browne: Yeah, no, I just believed that they were gone.

Noory: Well, I think unfortunately you may be right.

This has been highlighted by many as a clear example of Browne's lack of psychic abilities, citing her sudden reversal of opinion when informed of the development.^[18] James Randi wrote on his website "For anyone not familiar with the methods of these charlatans, this would appear to be a calamitous failure, a blow-out, a total screw-up - but not to anyone familiar with the callous lies of Sylvia Browne.".^[19]

Many skeptics have also criticized Noory for failing to be more direct with Browne about this change of view. Browne has been quoted many times as saying that she is not 100% accurate.

[edit] Montel Williams controversies

Critics such as Jon Donnis point to a number of inaccurate readings on the Montel William show.^[20] In one incident, parents in the crowd ask Sylvia how their daughter died, Sylvia confidently replies "She was shot." The parents sit with looks of confusion on their faces, as they reveal that their daughter just dropped down dead in her room.^[20] They reveal that the autopsy report revealed no gunshot wounds, no toxins in the blood, nothing.

Another incident which generated controversy occurred on the Montel Williams Show (original airdate not known - rebroadcast on August 16, 2006), when Browne gave a reading to a woman in the audience. The website YouTube has the video clip of the reading.

A transcript follows:

Woman: I lost my boyfriend tragically, um… a few years ago. (choking back tears) They never found him, and I've had such a hard time since. Every day.

Browne: The reason why you didn't find him is 'cause he's in water. And, find him in water…

The woman looks confused.

Browne: (to Montel) it's like the girl that's missing in Aruba. [to woman] You can't find somebody…

Woman: (interrupting) Well, it was…September eleventh. There was no… He was a fireman, but…there was no…

Browne: Well no, you see, I keep seeing him in water.

The woman shakes her head angrily. There is a pause.

Browne: Is there any way he could have drowned in water, someway?

Woman: [shakes her head] They never found a piece of him. Nothing.

Montel: (to Sylvia) From 9/11.

Another pause.

Browne: 'Cause he's… he says he couldn't breathe and he was filled with water.

Another pause.

Montel: Hmm.

Browne: Well, if they were trying to put the fire out, Montel…

Montel points to another person in the audience, trying to move on.

Montel: They couldn't, you know, uh, yeah.

Another pause.

Browne: No, they won't find him, but honey that's okay, because it doesn't matter if they find him or not, he's still over there.

Another pause.

Montel: (indicating another woman in the audience): Yes ma'am.

[edit] Browne vs. Randi

James Randi 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 (JREF) $1,000,000 challenge to demonstrate supernatural abilities in a controlled scientific test.^[21] However, as of 2006, Browne has failed to contact the Foundation or respond to Randi's enquiries.

Over subsequent years Browne has since offered several excuses for her failure to take part in the challenge:

• She does not need nor want the money.
• The money is tainted.
• Neither Randi or the JREF has $1,000,000.
• The tests are rigged so no claimant can possibly win.

In support of her final claim, Browne often quotes Randi as saying that he'll never have to pay the money because "I always have an out." Randi, in turn, responds that this quote is taken out of context and his actual words were "I always have an out—I'm right", referring to his belief that no one can win the challenge because no one possesses any kind of paranormal ability.

Randi also often mocks the logical inconsistency of her statements that she is not interested in the money, yet at the same time requires proof of its existence. He also goes on to point out that money is held by an independent investment firm, Goldman Sachs, and proof of its existence .^[22] 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 with the implication that this is because it doesn't exist. Randi originally defended the decision, highlighting the fact 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^[23] 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. And 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."^[24]

[edit] Browne's responses to Randi

Browne's website posted a message sometime after August 1, 2005, which appeared to be directed at Randi. It claimed that Browne has never seen confirmation of the existence of the million dollars, (which Randi said he sent by certified mail), suggesting it may be due to Randi sending the package to a 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.^[25] Randi said he has a certified mail receipt from the U.S. Postal Service to confirm the package was refused by the intended recipient at 12:08 p.m. on May 22, 2003.

[edit] References

[edit] Books

• Browne, Sylvia; & Antoinette May (1990). Adventures of a Psychic. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. ISBN 0-7394-0178-5
• Browne, Sylvia; & Harrison Lindsay (2000). Life on the Other Side: A Psychic's Tour of the Afterlife Dutton Adult. ISBN 0-525-94539-3

[edit] See also

• Mary Manin Morrissey, a minister with a financial scandal similar to Sylvia Browne's

[edit] External links

[edit] Official

• Sylvia Browne official website
• The Society Of Novus Spiritus -Browne's church
• Sylvia Brown's Online Talk Show at HayHouseradio.com

[edit] Predictions

• Wayback Machine - Past predictions appear here
• Browne's predictions for the year 2000 Still viewable directly her site.

[edit] Media/transcripts

• Are Psychics Real? appeared with James Randi September 3, 2001 on Larry King Live CNN.
• Are Psychics for Real? appeared with John Edward March 6, 2001 on Larry King Live CNN.

[edit] Critical of Browne

• The True Sylvia Brown Revealed from The Business Review
• Chronology of the feud between Browne and Randi from the Skeptic Report
• Sylvia Browne and James Randi's challenge from James Randi Educational Foundation
• Sylvia Browne's predictions as listed on "True or False", an online psychic watchdog
• King of the Paranormal from CSICOP July 31, 2003
• She failed to predict her own criminal conviction
• Her "predictions" are no better than educated guesses -- and often a lot worse
• Friedman, Roger (2006). "TV Psychic Misses Mark on Miners." FOXNews.com.
• Video of Sylvia Brown - Sylvia Brown Tells Woman Whose Fire Fighting Boyfriend Died On 9/11 That He Drowned
• Video of Sylvia Brown - Sylvia Brown Tells Parents Their Daughter Was Shot, When In Fact She Dropped Dead