A look at the claims, predictions and behavior of a media "psychic".

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Email: KMOV-TV - Sylvia Browne, Real or Fake?

An ex-minister in Sylvia Browne's church gives her thoughts on a TV expose'.

Published: May 13 2008
Written by: Robert S. Lancaster

Promo for the KMOV-TV investigative report

Promo for the KMOV-TV investigative report.

Background

On May 4 2008, Sylvia Browne appeared in the city of St. Louis, Mo., one of the stops on her "Farewell Lecture Tour."

St. Louis is the home of Shawn Hornbeck, the subject of Browne's most well-publicized, most well-known mistake (see articles Montel: Shawn Hornbeck Reading and Follow-up to "Montel: Shawn Hornbeck Reading").

Craig Cheatham, investigative reporter for St. Louis TV station KMOV, decided to do an investigative report on Browne.

This article briefly discusses that report, and the response one woman, previously a minister with Browne's Church of Novus Spiritus, had to that report.

The Report

From the promo: Sylvia Browne being interviewed.

From the promo: Sylvia Browne being interviewed.

The investigative report was broadcast on May 8, 2008, and stressed many points made on this site, especially her failure with the Hornbeck reading.

Most interesting to me was the brief interview the reporter had with Browne (see picture above). Apparently, he approached her as her assistant was pushing her in her wheelchair from her car to the hotel where she was staying.

When the reporter asks Browne if she had anything to say to the parents of Shawn Hornbeck, Browne's assistant looks to see her reaction to this, and immediately starts wheeling her away as she responds to the interviewer with "No, no."

Famous skeptic James Randi was interviewed for the report, and at one point says:

"First of all, Sylvia Browne is not a psychic. She's a monster - in her own way. She's absolutely uncaring, unfeeling... She takes advantage of people who are grieving, who are vulnerable..."

The report was brief, but in the small amount of time he had, reporter Craig Cheatham packed in a lot of information, and made a powerful statement about Browne and what she does.

The promo for the report can be viewed here, and the report in its entirety can be viewed here.

The Email

Mr. Cheatham also wrote a blog entry about the report, in which he further critiques the Hornbeck reading, and discusses Browne herself a bit more.

Many people have left comments about the report, both positive and negative, on the blog entry. As of this writing, 23 comments have been approved and can be viewed. I was quite pleased to note that ex-ministers of Browne's Church of Novus Spiritus had left comments, including Nancy Williams and Rob Samuels, both of whom have been quoted on this site.

Several days after the report aired, I received an email from Cheri Davis. Ms. Davis is another such ex-minister, who for the past year has been providing me with much information, materials and research assistance, but who, up until now, had yet to come forward publicly and discuss her thoughts on Sylvia Browne.

Here, with her permission, is that email:

From: "Cheri Davis" <[email address]>
Date: Tue, May 13, 2008 3:03 pm
To: <[email address]>

Dear Mr. Lancaster,

Here is a comment I just sent to the newscaster in St. Louis who last week reported on the case of Shawn Hornbeck as it related to Sylvia Browne. Maybe it would help your readers to know there are several former ministers who feel obligated to speak up. It seems to me that the same few arguments come up over and over again from otherwise well-meaning (just mistaken) people on Sylvia Browne's behalf.

Here is what I wrote:

Thank you, Mr. Cheatham, for a terrific news story.

I am a former minister for Sylvia Browne's church and have known Sylvia off and on for over 20 years. For all the fans and spiritual seekers reading and commenting here, know that what Mr. Lancaster is doing is in no way related to his lack of belief; it is because he discovered the same thing I and many other former Sylvia Browne ministers/associates, some of who have commented on this blog, discovered, which has led us to believe that Sylvia is a con artist who needs to be stopped.

Perhaps there are genuine psychics and mediums in the world who really do want to help people, but in my opinion, Sylvia Browne is not one of them. As a former minister, I, like so many others, figured this out the devastating way. By listening to trance tapes that, it became obvious, were over the years faked (please see Robert Lancaster's site if you are curious); by hearing her repeatedly mis-represent herself to the public - for example, by stating that she only charges so much for readings because she supported us (the ministers) and her church (she did not and never has, we supported ourselves and paid her a commission); by the countless dissatisfied people who constantly reported to us that their readings had been inaccurate; even by my own several readings which were completely inaccurate. I hung in for many years, ignoring the evidence. If you like her books, fine, but please do not make the mistake of confusing Sylvia Browne with a genuine psychic/medium who is sincere and really wants to help. IMO Sylvia is not psychic and she is not doing this to help anyone; she is in it for the money. And though she has tried pretending otherwise to the public for a very long time, as this reporter has pointed out, she is a very wealthy woman. Mr. Cheatham has done all of us a service. Mr. Lancaster and James Randi, regardless of what you may think about their religious/metaphysical views, are doing the world a service, and because Sylvia has the powerful support of Montel and others, they need all the help they can get.

If Mr. Randi's use of the word "monster" seems unreasonably harsh to anyone of a spiritual inclination, then please consider what word you would use to describe someone who knowingly would read for a vulnerable, grieving family like this one and provide faulty information, simply because it was unlikely she would be caught - and this is exactly what the evidence has led all of us to believe she has done. And it seems likely she will continue to do it as long as it is profitable and she can get away with it. Mr. Cheatham could not have provided evidence of Sylvia's hits, anyway, because, as I know from experience, it is highly unlikely that there are any. I resigned from the church because I discovered pretty much what Robert Lancaster discovered; I resigned on good terms and I do not have an axe to grind, but I feel spiritually obligated to try to help prevent other people from being deceived when I have the chance to do so.

Just for the record, though Sylvia would have everyone believe so, it is not only "dark entities" who come forward to speak up. According to Sylvia Browne, I am not only a white entity but a "mission life entity," and according to Sylvia herself, mission life/white entities never turn dark (though I realize now that there is no spirit guide named Francine and the trance material was all made up, anyway).

At any rate, please just save your sympathy (which I believe to be kind and well meaning, just misplaced) for someone who is sincere.

Cheri Davis
Former minister for the Society of Novus Spiritus

To clarify one thing: When I stated that Sylvia receives a commission, I was referring to the fact that ministers are expected to send Novus Spiritus 15-20% of whatever they earn, even if they just teach classes or perform hypnotherapy (something a percentage of the ministers are trained to do). Also, all church services are fully funded by the ministers with a certain percentage of tithes sent back to her organization, though I personally did not have a church.

If you think any of this might be a helpful addition to your site, please feel free to use any or all of it.

A friend of mine reminded me of the following quote recently:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

That reminded me of you, one of the rare people on this planet who are not just standing by doing nothing. Thanks again for all the great work you are doing, and the impeccable research.

Cheri Davis

Former minister of Sylvia Browne's church, the Society of Novus Spiritus

Conclusion

As of this writing, the comment which Davis sent to Cheatham's blog has yet to be approved/posted, so I was more than pleased to take this opportunity to make it available here.

I would like to thank reporter Craig Cheatham for putting together his report, and to thank Cheri Davis not only for the above email (and the kind words about me and this site), but for all of the help and support she has given me over the past year.

Update - May 18 2008

From the promo: Craig Akers being interviewed.

From the promo: Craig Akers being interviewed.

On May 15 2008, KMOV-TV aired a follow-up report in which they spoke with Shawn Hornbeck's father, Craig Akers.

Mr. Akers said the following about Browne:

It's obvious she doesn't know what she's talking about. It's all... it's all fake stuff. It's a fraud. I think she should be ashamed of herself for putting parents through the agony that she puts them through. She's... she's just a horrible person.

Browne has repeatedly stated that she never charges for missing persons cases, yet Akers goes on to say:

We did inquire about talking with Sylvia some more after the show, and we were told that she'd be happy to, at her normal, $750 rate, which of course we didn't pursue.

It remains unclear who told the Akers this.

I am frequently asked in emails whether Browne ever apologized to the Akers for being incorrect about Shawn. Akers finally answers that question in the report:

There was no contact after the show before we left, there was no contact whatsoever. So no, she's... we've never heard from her again. Never an "I'm sorry", an apology, or even "I guess I got that one wrong." Nothing at all.

In the previous report, Browne had replied "No, no." when the reporter asked if she had anything to say to Shawn's parents. I thought that perhaps she had said something to them in private, but apparently not.

That Browne would tell these people that their missing son was dead, and not even apologize for that when she was proven wrong, speaks volumes about her.

I believe that it supports James Randi's description of her as "absolutely uncaring, unfeeling."

The promo for the follow-up report can be viewed here.

The report in its entirety can be viewed here.

Craig Cheatham's blog entry about the report can be viewed here.

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