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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"She Was Shot"Browne stuns a couple by telling them that their daughter had been shot. She hadn't. 
The Couple BackgroundOn November 26, 2003, Browne appeared on an episode of The Montel Williams Show entitled "Sylvia Browne Uncovering the Truth", in which she spoke to one such couple whose young daughter had died mysteriously. They came hoping that Browne could tell them how their daughter had died. The Reading
The parents look at Browne in total confusion.
So, Browne's "she was shot" statement is definitely wrong.
Having totally missed with her first guess, Browne now tries to generalize it into "something hit the chest." And, even if we assume that Browne is a "real psychic" (which I do not assume): if she cannot be certain whether it was a shot or something which just hit the girl in the chest, why would she start off by saying "She was shot" as though it was a certainty? If the parents had not known it to be false, Browne - or any cold reader - would have left it at that. It seems a rather heartless thing to say to the parents of a dead child, particularly if you don't know it for a fact.
Now, after she has been told by the parents, Browne says she knows about their daughter falling over. Perhaps she is just telling them that she understands what they are saying, but to someone open to belief in Browne's "powers," she is saying that she already knew.
Williams seems to be trying to help Browne turn a "miss" into a "hit."
Browne's story has now gone from "She was shot" to "Something hit her in the chest" to "Maybe it was TSS." And how does Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) "hit you in the chest?" Also, the symptoms of TSS are flu-like: sudden high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, fainting, or a rash that looks like a sunburn. This "perfectly healthy girl" evidently simply dropped dead. This does not sound anything like TSS, which also would have been detectable in an autopsy. 
Michael and Kathy's Daughter, Michelle
If Browne is cold-reading, which I firmly believe she is, this would seem to be simply an attempt to distract the parents from the fact that so far, Browne's "reading" has been one hundred percent wrong. It is also a way to crank up the parents' emotional state, making them less likely to use logic and reason (which would help them to see through what she is doing). And although Browne's description of Michelle is accurate (though vague), it should be noted that while Browne is describing Michelle, a montage of photographs of the girl were being flashed on the screen, and assumedly, the studio monitors. Browne could have easily seen the photos prior to the show, and if she did not, could have seen them on the studio monitors during the "reading." In fact, in at least one point during the "reading", Michelle's picture is shown on the large screen on the wall right behind Browne and Williams (see picture below), where Browne could easily have seen it. 
Michelle's Picture Behind Browne and Williams
How many seventeen-year-old girls are not worried about their weight - that they are too thin, or too heavy? From the father's reaction, it seems that Browne's tactic of ratcheting up the parents' emotions is working. He wants so much to believe that they are in contact with his daughter that he is not seeing how badly Browne is doing. Which is of course, exactly what a cold-reader would hope for.
Browne is evidently wrong again.
We do not know if this was right or wrong. But Kathy appears to be sleight of build, so guessing that her mother was small as well would be a reasonable cold-reading tactic.
Browne's story has now gone from "She was shot" to "Something hit her in the chest" to "Maybe it was TSS" to "maybe it was a heart attack." And a heart attack, like TSS, is something which could have been detected by an autopsy.
AnalysisAll in all, a very poor "reading." The only two things the parents seemed to confirm were that 1) Michelle was pretty, and that 2) she worried about her weight. And, given that a larger-than-life picture of Michelle was being shown on monitors in the studio at the time, neither of these seem to be particularly impressive "hits." ConclusionA question arises: Browne claimed that Michelle told her some pretty specific things (that she was no longer worried about her weight, and that she used to be self-conscious about turning her foot inward a little), yet she apparently couldn't even tell Browne whether or not she had been hit in the chest? I guess that, if "spirit communication" were possible, a spirit may not know how they died, and so could not answer questions about it. Or that the manner of their death was unpleasant, or no longer of importance to them, and so would not answer questions about it. If that were the case here, it would again leave us to wonder why Browne would state categorically that the girl had been shot, when all she had to go on was a percussive bump to her chest? Another question which occurs to me: Michelle had been dead for five years. Finally, she has a "real psychic medium" through whom she can finally say something to her parents, and all she can come up with is that she is no longer self-conscious about her foot?! It makes no sense. It would seem that the simplest and most obvious answer would be that Browne is not communicating with spirits, but is, as I firmly believe, cold-reading. There may be no greater sense of loss in this world than that of parents whose child has died. I can think of little more despicable than pretending to be able to communicate with the child in front of such parents. 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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