IMG_2361
Blog powered by Typepad

« The Shroud (photo) | Main | When did you stop beating your wife? »

Comments

I personally have never even heard of Sylvia Browne, but I don't live in America so I guess she isn't that famous elsewhere.

On the note of paranormal fakery, there's a psychic/medium, Colin Fry, who holds his own show, 'Sixth Sense with Colin Fry' in a similar vein to John Edward's Crossing Over.

I have seen the show listed on television, but have never watched an actual episode; he appears to be quite famous for what he does. However, I remember a friend of mine telling me that he was clearly faking it with tricks like cold reading, etc.

I'd be curious to see what your impression of him is (assuming you've heard of him), since he's the only famous psychic I've actually seen or heard of on television.

Except for 2000, her predictions are liberal wish lists. Maybe she got so full of herself, she thought she could will that Democrat Goody Bag into happening.

"The Pope Will Die." Well, no shit. Who doesn't?

Brins,

I've never actually seen Colin Fry, so I can't evaluate him. It is quite difficult to evaluate a psychic who performs on his own TV show in any event; since he controls the environment (and, on a taped show, the editing), there are definite opportunities for trickery. On the other hand, sometimes even TV psychics come up with information that does seem to be inexplicable by the standard skeptical arguments. I have not seen Sylvia Browne do this, but I have seen John Edward do it quite often - which is why I have a much, much higher opinion of Edward.

Is Edward legitimate? I have written three online essays on that topic and still have not reached a definite conclusion. The essays can be found at www.michaelprescott.net/essays.htm . If you want my gut feeling, it is that Edward does have legitimate abilities. I reserve the right to change my mind, though.

The best documented cases of mediumship are from a century ago, when mediums were willing to be tested for long periods of time under trying conditions. Leonora Piper of Boston and Gladys Osbourne-Leonard of England were both tested for over a decade (the latter for 20 years) by highly competent investigators. Neither was ever tainted by the faintest whiff of scandal. Eileen Garrett, an Irish medium, had a similar track record in the middle part of the 20th century. My essay "R-101," also found at the above Web page, covers one of Garrett's most famous cases.

I am by no means a skeptic, and I think the "cold reading, etc." type of argument cannot cover the better cases. But it's necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff - and there is a lot of chaff!

DH,

Yes, she seems to be quite liberal - though she hedged her bets in 2004 by predicting that Kerry would win the election on one show, and that Bush would win on another!

Again ... why do people think just because she predicted for the year it will happen for THAT year? "The Pope Will Die" ... she NEVER said WHEN ... but he passed away in April 2005 ... just because it didn't happen in 2004 does not mean it will not happen ... DUH

>"The Pope Will Die" ... she NEVER said WHEN ... but he passed away in April 2005 ...

Everybody dies eventually. Unless there's a time limit on the prediction, it's meaningless. Isn't this obvious?

I WAS a believer of Sylvia Browne until what I recently read in one of her books. She says she saw a "real honest to god fairy" on a trip to Ireland! She seems to be confident that we will believe ANYTHING she makes up.

I am curious as to why you think John Edwards is real though- as he obviously can control his own shows. And also, what do you think of the Van Pragh guy?

>I am curious as to why you think John Edwards is real though- as he obviously can control his own shows. And also, what do you think of the Van Pragh guy?

I have some essays about Edward at www.michaelprescott.net/essays.htm . He comes up with personal details that I think would be very hard to obtain by trickery.

I saw Van Praagh on a TV show once and wrote about it here. I was pretty impressed with him at the time, but as often happens, some doubts kicked in later.

The comments to this entry are closed.