A look at the claims, predictions and behavior of a media "psychic".
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A look at the claims, predictions and behavior of a media "psychic".
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Coast To Coast AM: The Sago Mining DisasterSylvia Browne makes a prediction about something which has already happened, but still gets it wrong despite appearing to change her story. 
CNN Headlines January 4, 2006 Many "psychics" claim to have precognitive powers - the ability to see events which have yet to happen. Sometimes, after an event has happened, a "psychic" will claim to have predicted it beforehand, with no proof of that prediction ever having been made. Not a prediction, but a "postdiction", if you will. You might think that "postdictions" would be 100% accurate. After all, it doesn't take any special powers to "postdict" last week's winning lottery numbers, last month's celebrity divorces or last year's election winners. But what happens if a "postdiction" is made based on inaccurate information? In January of 2006, Sylvia Browne seemed to show us the answer to that question - on live radio. BackgroundIn the early morning hours of January 2nd, 2006, an explosion rocked the Sago Mine in Buckhannon, West Virginia, resulting in thirteen coal miners being trapped deep in the mine. The efforts of rescue teams to locate the miners was the subject of much national news coverage. Nearly two full days later, the body of one of those miners was found, leaving twelve still unaccounted for. Then, around 1:30am on January 4th (EST), a welcome report hit all of the national news wires: all twelve of the remaining miners had been found alive! A half-hour after this news was first reported, the January 3rd episode of the late-night radio show "Coast to Coast AM" began (due to time zone differences, it was still January 3rd on the US West Coast, where the show originates). George Noory, the show's host, spoke about the report during the opening segment of his show, and interviewed a West Virginia reporter about the good news. The guest for the second and third hours of that night's show: Sylvia Browne. Sylvia "Knew They Were Going to be Found"After Ms. Browne was introduced in the second hour (11pm PST - more than an hour after it was reported that the twelve miners were alive), the following conversation took place between Browne and Noory:
Despite her saying that she hates "people who say something after the fact," she seems to be doing precisely that: after it has already been reported that the miners were all found alive, she says that no, she wouldn't have been gloomy, thinking that they were all dead, because she knew they would be found. However, after she made this "postdiction", the news agencies put out a gut-wrenching correction to the earlier story: only one of the twelve miners was alive. With the one miner who had already been found dead, this meant that of the thirteen miners who had originally been missing, twelve were dead. Sylvia's Story Seems to ChangeAfter the corrected story hit the airwaves, Noory and Browne had the following exchange:
So, after it was announced that only one of the thirteen miners was alive, Ms. Browne's revised her postdiction: "I don't really think there's anybody alive. If there is, I think maybe only one." Her Story Changes Yet AgainLater in the show, Noory seems to give Ms. Browne a chance to explain why she had been so wrong about the miners:
But she wasn't right. Even though she seemed to revise her story yet again, saying now that none of the miners will "make it," she was again incorrect. As of this writing, Randal McCloy Jr. - the one miner who was found alive - is still alive and is currently suing the owners of the Sago Mine. Noory Seems DoubtfulLater, Noory spoke with his listeners about the whole series of events, and seemed to be somewhat doubtful of Ms. Browne's interpretation of her earlier statements (emphasis mine):
Noory then went on to play clips from the above-quoted portions of the show, demonstrating how Sylvia changed her story "a little bit." Noory's openly doubting a guest's claim is not a common occurence, and in fact is the only time I recall hearing him do so in all the times I have listened to the show. ConclusionIn essence, Noory asked her: if the news hadn't already announced that the miners were all alive, would she have assumed they were dead? Her answer: "No, I knew they were going to be found." Now, it is true that Sylvia did not specifically state that she she knew the miners would be found alive. But from the context of her response, her implication seemed clear to me (and evidently, to George Noory as well): she knew they would be found alive. A postdiction. And, tragically, an incorrect one. A final observation: It is interesting to note that as of this writing (November 2006), Sylvia Browne has not been a guest on the show since the events described above, despite having been on a total of eight times between 2002-2005 (this from the Coast To Coast site's list of her appearances). Related LinksClicking on any of these links will load a separate browser window for viewing the linked page. StopSylviaBrowne.com is not responsible for the content of any of these linked pages.
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