(This really isn't current news anymore, but I wrote it for my other blog when it happened and I still feel it's important)
The recent outright failure of alleged psychic Sylvia Browne to correctly divine the whereabouts of Shawn Hornbeck has shown once and for all, in my opinion, that she possesses no supernatural powers whatsoever. If any of you happened to miss the segment on Anderson Cooper 360 which talked about Browne and her failure regarding Shawn Hornbeck, I will provide a brief summary. The show in question aired Friday, January 19 at 10:00pm, Eastern Standard Time. The particular segment ran about five minutes, but it was five minutes well spent. In it, Cooper showed a surprising amount of skepticism for a CNN reporter; it surprised me because other CNN programs such as Nancy Grace and Larry King have featured alleged psychics with little or no skeptical points of view. The title of the segment was also very appropriate. DEAD WRONG was the phrase projected behind Cooper as he introduced it.
The segment goes on to report that in 2003, Browne appeared on the Montel Williams show where the parents of Shawn Hornbeck asked her about the whereabouts of their missing son. Browne told Shawn's parents that he was dead, plain and simple. Browne answered in the negative to Hornbeck's parents' question, "Is he still with us?" She went on to describe the location in which Shawn's body could be found and what Shawn's kidnapper looked like. She was completely wrong in both accounts.
If anyone reading this supports Browne in any way, buys her books, consults her for "psychic" readings, please stop. I am well aware that it is your money and you can spend it as you wish, but providing any financial support to such a "psychic" is, in my opinion, extremely ill-advised. Not only are you wasting your money, you are providing Browne with the means to continue her despicable work.
