"Psychics" Useless in Abduction Cases

Post Reply
User avatar
Doug
Posts: 3388
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2006 10:05 pm
Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
Location: Fayetteville, AR
Contact:

"Psychics" Useless in Abduction Cases

Post by Doug »

Image
Liars Browne and Van Praagh

Back in February, 2003, “psychics” Sylvia Browne and James Van Praagh were consulted by the parents of missing 11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck – Pam and Craig Akers. That young man just recently turned up – very much alive and well, in rather sharp disagreement with the prognostications of the humbug artists. The Hornbecks had talked February 11th with Sylvia Browne on the Montel Williams television show, where she informed them that Shawn was "no longer with us," which means “dead.” She said his body was in a wooded area “about 20 miles southwest of Richwoods, Missouri.” She said it would be near two large, jagged boulders that “seem out of place in that area,” and she added that the bicycle he was riding when he disappeared, is in a dump "in another state." ...She said that Shawn had been taken by a "dark-skinned man, he wasn't black – more like Hispanic." She said the kidnaper had long, black hair worn in dreadlocks and was "really tall." He was driving an older model blue sedan, she said, a car with fins like in the late 1950's and early 1960's Chevrolets...

The Akers also appeared in television segments on “Beyond” with James Van Praagh, another equally accurate “psychic.” He led the search in an entirely different direction, suggesting that a person who worked in a railroad car plant was involved, and that the body “might” be concealed in a railway car. Again, totally wrong, in all respects...

See the rest here.
"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."
Barbara Fitzpatrick
Posts: 2232
Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:55 am
Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0

Post by Barbara Fitzpatrick »

I'm "agnostic" as to whether or not there are "real" psychics among the over 6 billion people on this planet - but I'm absolutely one with you guys about TV psychics. And those who tell folks their kids are dead should have something more unpleasant than looking foolish happen to them. They may have - probably do have - probability on their side, but that's no reason to make people give up before they have to.
Barbara Fitzpatrick
User avatar
Doug
Posts: 3388
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2006 10:05 pm
Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
Location: Fayetteville, AR
Contact:

Post by Doug »

CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" had a roast of Sylvia Browne on this topic on Friday, January 19th. It re-ran a few days later. See a synopsis here after scrolling down a bit.

The following is the transcript of the exchange between Craig Akers (Shawn's stepfather) and Pam Akers (Shawn's mother) and the psychic Sylvia Browne:

CRAIG AKERS: Can you tell how far from the area he was taken?

SYLVIA BROWNE: Maybe about 20 miles.

CRAIG: And he's still within a 20-mile radius even now?

BROWNE: He's still within a 20-mile radius of -- let's say, here's where you are, 20-mile radius, but it's really southwest of where you are.

CRAIG: Southwest.

BROWNE: So whatever is southwest, because it looks like this is -- here we go again with the wooded, with the -- you know, the wooded areas. So southwest of you.

PAM AKERS: Is there any landmarks around?

BROWNE: Yeah. Strange enough, there are two jagged boulders, which look really misplaced. Because everything is trees, and then all of a sudden, you've got these stupid boulders sitting there.

MONTEL WILLIAMS: And he could be found near there?

BROWNE: He's near the boulders.

PAM: Is he still with us?

BROWNE: No.

CRAIG: Do you see the bicycle anywhere?

BROWNE: I think the -- see, here's what's strange. I think the--the--the bicycle is in another state in a dump.

In other words, Sylvia Browne was telling his parents the worst possible news -- that Shawn was dead, and that his body was in a rocky, forested area within 20 miles of their home. For the next three weeks, the search reportedly focused on finding Shawn's body in that prescribed area.
I think the police bear some responsibility for allowing the search to be in some part guided by the bullshit of a "psychic."
"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."
Barbara Fitzpatrick
Posts: 2232
Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:55 am
Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0

Post by Barbara Fitzpatrick »

Doug, you have a point, but if the police (with their limited staff to put on any one case) have zippo clues as to where somebody is, even a psychic gives them a place to start. No worse than flipping a coin - unless they don't move on when they don't find anything.
Barbara Fitzpatrick
User avatar
Betsy
Posts: 800
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:02 am

Post by Betsy »

Do you ever watch a show on A&E called "Psychic Detectives" or something like that? Some of those people (not all, because some only get right what could have been gotten through good guesses) are either really psychic, or the TV show has been edited to make it look that way. One guy nailed it by saying the murderer they were looking for had hung himself in a tree in this forest, exactly what he was wearing right down to his shoelaces had been taken off. It was very exact and he turned out to be exactly right. I'm not saying it convinces me that there are really are psychics, but it was pretty compelling. The only thing is, the show might be acted out or made up; otherwise, he was right on.
User avatar
Doug
Posts: 3388
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2006 10:05 pm
Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
Location: Fayetteville, AR
Contact:

Post by Doug »

Barbara Fitzpatrick wrote:Doug, you have a point, but if the police (with their limited staff to put on any one case) have zippo clues as to where somebody is, even a psychic gives them a place to start. No worse than flipping a coin - unless they don't move on when they don't find anything.
DOUG
The "psychics" give them a place to start, by why encourage them when one can flip a coin instead and get results just as good? At least the coin has the virtue of putting the guesswork up front and being honest.
"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."
User avatar
Doug
Posts: 3388
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2006 10:05 pm
Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
Location: Fayetteville, AR
Contact:

Post by Doug »

Betsy wrote:Do you ever watch a show on A&E called "Psychic Detectives" or something like that? Some of those people (not all, because some only get right what could have been gotten through good guesses) are either really psychic, or the TV show has been edited to make it look that way. One guy nailed it by saying the murderer they were looking for had hung himself in a tree in this forest, exactly what he was wearing right down to his shoelaces had been taken off. It was very exact and he turned out to be exactly right. I'm not saying it convinces me that there are really are psychics, but it was pretty compelling. The only thing is, the show might be acted out or made up; otherwise, he was right on.
DOUG
Those shows are unreliable. A few years ago a large, labor-intenstive study was conducted of police departments in major cities in the U.S. The departments were asked whether psychics have EVER been of some help in solving cases. No such cases were known to exist.
"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."
User avatar
Dardedar
Site Admin
Posts: 8193
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:18 pm
Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0
Location: Fayetteville
Contact:

Post by Dardedar »

Betsy wrote: ...are either really psychic, or the TV show has been edited to make it look that way.
DAR
That and the fact checkers don't investigate to see if the psychics are exaggerating, fudging, the accuracy of their claims after the fact.
One guy nailed it by saying the murderer they were looking for had hung himself in a tree in this forest, exactly what he was wearing right down to his shoelaces had been taken off.
DAR
I have read articles which investigated these sort of claims indepth (as opposed to the type of investigating the TV producers would do. Remember it is their job to make an exciting, goose bump creating awe inspiring show, not find out the truth of the matter). What they found was the psychics were distorting, exaggerating or out right lying about their true claims. It is amazing what bold liars some of these people are (Sylivia Brown being a biggie).

D.
Barbara Fitzpatrick
Posts: 2232
Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:55 am
Designate the number of cents in half a dollar: 0

Post by Barbara Fitzpatrick »

Yeah - Sylvia Brown is right up there with the bible on claims of prophesy. People conditioned to believe the bible are preconditioned to believe phychics.
Barbara Fitzpatrick
Post Reply