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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| Sylvia Browne on Exploring Psychic Powers Live!Sylvia Browne and James Randi give very different accounts of a show. Who is right?  Sylvia Brown(e) in 1989 TV Special "Exploring Psychic Powers Live!" BackgroundOn June 7 1989, a TV special titled Exploring Psychic Powers Live! was shown on American television. Hosted by actor Bill Bixby, the show contained live tests of people with claimed paranormal abilities, all vying for a $100,000 prize if they passed their test. Part of that prize money was the then-$10,000 prize that James Randi was offering to anyone who could prove paranormal abilities under agreed-to conditions. The other $90,000 was provided by the show's producers. Appearing on the show to give a demonstration of psychic powers (but not competing for the prize) was a then-little-known Sylvia Brown (she had yet to add the "e" to her last name). In more recent years, Browne and Randi have told very different versions of what happened during Browne's segment of that show. This article will examine both of their versions of events, and then analyze the actual video of Brown(e)'s performance that night. Sylvia Browne's VersionOn the March 06 2001 broadcast of CNN's Larry King Live titled "Are Psychics Real" (CNN transcript here), Sylvia Browne appeared with psychic James Van Praagh against a panel of skeptics, including Leon Jaroff, whose article "Talking to the Dead" (critical mostly of John Edward) had recently appeared in Time Magazine. At one point in the show, Jaroff asked Browne about that 1989 show:
So, according to Browne, she was set up to fail, with the entire audience filled with Germans who could not speak English. James Randi's VersionIn his March 5 2004 Commentary (available here), James Randi (noted investigator of psychic and other paranormal claims) describes Browne's appearance on that show quite differently. Within a section of the commentary titled "Sylvia Browne is a Liar" (Randi is not known for pulling his punches), Randi talks about Browne's statements on Larry King Live, and gives a very different account of events:
According to Randi, all the people Browne spoke to in that audience spoke fluent English except for one German gentleman who did speak English. What Really HappenedFortunately, the actual video of Browne's appearance on that show has recently been made available (YouTube version available here), allowing us to see just what happened that evening. Here is a complete transcript of the video, interspersed with my remarks about Browne's performance. Introduction Bill Bixby introducing Brown
This is a classic "out" used by cold-readers (cold reading is a method used to create an illusion of psychic powers). By saying this, Brown(e) insures that, no matter how wrong she is in a reading, she can simply say "Well, this is something which has yet to happen." Reading: Woman #1 Woman #1
The woman did not seem particularly enthusiastic about the reading, and seemed to speak fluent English without a trace of a foreign accent. Reading: Woman #2 Woman #2
Note that Browne, totally failing in her reading, did indeed use the "in the future" out which she had prepared for herself. And again, this woman also seemed to speak fluent English without a trace of a foreign accent. Man #1 Reading: Man #1
Here then is the German gentleman Randi mentioned in his commentary. He seemed to speak reasonable English, but could not validate anything Browne said, since it was all future-related. Reading: Woman #3 Woman #3
Once again, fluent English, no hint of a foreign accent. Note how Brown starts off in the present tense ("Who is Kathy"), and when that fails to get a response, once again takes the "in the future" out ("she's going to be in school with you"). Also, when her "therapy work" guess gets no response, she immediately broadens it greatly ("you're going to be dealing with people that have to do with therapy. In other words, advising people, helping people, talking to people."). When that still gets no response, she moves on. Reading: Man #2 Brown talking to Man #2
Again, no hint of an accent, speaks English just fine. And when Browne's "show business" guess bombs, she turns it into a joke. Closing Brown wrapping up the segment
Brown's whole closing statement makes little sense, and does not sound like something spoken by an English major, let alone someone with a Master's Degree in English Literature. AnalysisBrowne's performance here as a "psychic" was pretty bad, to put it mildly. The only thing even close to a "hit" was when Woman #1 thought that someone she had recently met could possibly be the person Brown was describing. If the audience had been instructed - as Jaroff states - to only respond with "yes" or "no," this would definitely spoil a cold-reading act. Cold-readers depend on the person being read to provide them with the information which they then feed back as though they received it "psychically." Without that unwitting cooperation on the part of the person being read, a cold-reader will generally fall flat, as Browne did on this occasion. But this article is about analyzing her and Randi's accounts of the show. So, let's analyze the statements Browne made on the Larry King Live show regarding why she did so poorly:
Randi's version seems very much on the money. The only one of his statements which is not totally supported by the video was that only one out of the 140 audience members was German. Just from viewing the video, there is no way of knowing about those members of the audience with whom Browne did not speak. ConclusionSo, it is inescapable that Browne was 100% wrong when she described her participation in this show. But is she, as James Randi says, a liar? Browne seems to have a history of assuming that she can say whatever she wants about something, and that nobody will look it up to see if she is telling the truth or not. And unfortunately, many of her followers tend to take her statements at face value. And without the actual footage, it would have been impossible to determine who was telling the truth, Browne or Randi. Luckily, the video is now available, and it is quite obvious to me at least, that Sylvia Browne is indeed a liar. Update: May 29 2007James Randi, upon reading this article, sent me the following note:
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