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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Email: “Duped by Sylvia Browne’s Son, Chris DuFresne”An email from a woman who believed that Sylvia Browne and her son were authentic psychics - until she got a “reading.”
BackgroundTo all appearances, it would seem that Sylvia Browne is grooming her son, Chris DuFresne, to be her successor in the “family business.” He has co-authored books with her (such as Animals on the Other Side and Christmas in Heaven), as well as having written some on his own (such as My Psychic Journey: How to be More Psychic and My Life With Sylvia Browne), all of which are sold on Sylvia Browne’s web site. He also performs psychic phone readings, advertised on a page on her site. A 20-30 minute phone reading with Sylvia Browne currently costs $750, while one with Chris DuFresne costs $450. On that same page, his psychic abilities are described as follows:
The EmailOn November 22, 2006, even though the StopSylviaBrowne site had not yet opened, I received an email from a woman who had, up until recently, believed that Sylvia Browne and Chris DuFresne were true psychics. Here is that email, shown here with the author’s permission (I have blacked out woman's name and email address.):
AnalysisTo anyone familiar with cold reading (a technique used by stage magicians and mentalists - and phony psychics - to fool an audience into thinking the performer know things which they don't), some statements in this letter will stand out as blatant indicators of this particular type of trickery:
A cold reader will try to get information out of the person being read.
If the person being read does not supply the cold reader with information, it limits what the cold reader can come up with, particularly if they are not a very adept cold reader.
This is cold reading at its most basic. If the cold reader is good at what they do, or the person being read less observant than this woman was, it isn’t obvious that this is what is happening. So, was this a “cold reading?” There is no way of proving that it was, even if we had a recording of the entire conversation. But it certainly has the earmarks of a badly-done cold-reading. And if it was a “true psychic reading” (assuming such a thing exists), it certainly sounds like a very poor one. A Second EmailIn obtaining this woman's approval for my publishing her email on the site, I received a second email from her. Here are some excerpts:
It would be interesting to find out if this is indeed typical of how dissatisfied customers are treated.
Again, saying that the "psychic" would do better with specific questions is classic cold reading. Speak Up!The woman asks an interesting question in the first email (emphasis mine):
I think that one reason more people haven’t spoken out is a fear of looking foolish. It can be difficult to shout to the world “I’ve been duped!” This of course plays into the hands of the person who did the duping. A person not only has to be outraged, but to have enough courage and caring for others to come forward in an attempt to help others from being duped. Another possible reason there has not been more emails like this one out there: up until now, there was no place on the Internet focused solely on examining what Sylvia Browne does. Now there is. I would imagine that there are many others who have come away from a reading with Sylvia (or her son) less than impressed. I have already been promised an audio tape of just such a reading. Expect an article about it in the upcoming weeks. If anyone else has had a reading with Sylvia Browne or Chris DuFresne – whether you were satisfied or not – I would be interested in hearing about it. I will not publish your comments (or any recordings/transcripts you send me) without your express prior permission to do so. Any such emails, tapes or letters would be greatly appreciated, and can be sent to me via any of the means listed on this site’s Contact pages. My thanks to this woman for sharing her experience with me, and for allowing me to post it here. 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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