From http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/489771p-412369c.html

As a good Unitarian Universalist, I don't believe in Hell, but if there is one she's going there.


Montel Williams' psychic pal Sylvia Browne told the family of missing Shawn Hornbeck he was dead shortly after the Missouri boy vanished - and later allegedly offered to help locate his body for $700 per half hour.

The popular TV clairvoyant appeared on the "Montel Williams Show" in February 2003, four months after Shawn disappeared, and told Pam and Craig Akers she believed their son was "no longer with us."

She also advised that his body could be found in a wooded area 20 miles from their Richwoods, Mo., home, near two large jagged boulders.

Shawn, now 15, was found alive and well last Friday, living just miles away with a man now charged with snatching the boy when he was 11.

Browne's "vision" of his death caused search teams to redirect their efforts and drew dozens of calls from the public who believed they lived near the woods matching Browne's descriptions.

The family also claims the psychic then tried to cash in, which Browne vigorously denies.

"She called Pam and Craig about one month after the show and pretty much offered her services to continue their discussion for a fee," said Wayne Evans, a spokesman for the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation.

"Pam was that desperate that if she had had $700 in her bank account she would have put it on the table. We are talking about a mother who would have sold her soul to have her boy back."

"Everybody was angry," he added. "Sylvia Browne's name was never brought up again until Shawn was found. He's home now, and that's all that matters."

Browne, a regular guest on the "Montel" show, apologized for her misfire, exposed first by StopSylviaBrowne.com, a blog dedicated to tracking the psychic's every blunder.

"I'm terribly sorry that this happened," she told the Daily News. "But I think my body of work stands by itself. I've broken case after case."

"I think it's just cruel to jump on this one case in which I was wrong," she added defensively. "I've said thousands of times I'm not God."

She also denied ever offering her services to Shawn's family for cash.

"There's never been a case that I've ever charged for a missing child," Browne said. "I would never do that. Never, never."

A spokeswoman for Williams said the talk show host was taping more shows and unavailable for comment. Browne was his only guest on yesterday's show.

Michael Devlin, the 300-pound pizza parlor manager charged with kidnapping Shawn four years ago and a second boy just last week, is to be arraigned today in Missouri courtroom.

He is also under investigation for the disappearance of another boy, Charles Arlin Henderson, 16 years ago.

I don't think that Ms. browne is the best representative of the way in which a genuine psychic attempts to help the people who come to him or her looking for help. Based on this article, she appears to be more concerned with publicity and money than in truly offering help. I know some people who have psychic abilities that seem to be geuine and they have been extremely helpful and on target with their advise and readings...for gratis.

Yes -too bad these 'pop culture' seers ruin the reputation of those who really are gifted, and not in it for the money. You seldom hear about these quiet people, but they exist and help the police in case after case, and never receive a dime for it. Most work in ordinary jobs and prefer to stay out of the limelight.

I've been leery of Browne for years, this article pretty much confirms every bad feeling I've ever had about her. I have no doubt in my mind that she tried to charge them $700 per half hour to help locate his body, she's in it for the money. She and her son have been running a racket for years now. Taking advantage of desperate, helpless people all the while.

People like her give people with actual abilities a bad name. Those people help the police and the desperate families of the missing for little or no money. Sylvia Browne often says that her abilities are a gift from a higher power, yes, that higher power is the almighty dollar.

I have to admit that I find/found Browne entertaining, but no more or less than I do David Letterman. I also believe in some angles of 'being psychic', but I think Sylvia has few of those, if any. I watch that show occasionally and am always amazed that she can spot any number of lurking ghosts in the audience weekly like clockwork, that they all seem to be 'tall with long faces' and that none of these spectres date back any further than somebody's grandparents - I assume one loses their "ghostness" if they were born in the 1800s? I won't knock her for making a buck doing this schtick of hers as I honestly think many folk make more money doing worse things. However, preying on vulnerable and scared and desperate people is ALL wrong. And, even suspecting she's up to such hijinks, makes her absolutely no longer entertaining on any level to this mere viewer. Actually, though, I have developed a problem with Montel Williams and his mileu in general. I emailed him for information regarding his 'issue of choice' (Multiple Sclerosis). I received a reply in less than a day and was pretty excited when I saw it in my box. Very restive communicae, once I opened it [ahem]. I was directed to the various Montel addresses to which I could send cash. That was it in terms of information shared - and I can assure you that my mail sent to them was a good bit more genuine than it was economic. I say "to heck" with the whole circus on that show .

Browne and John Edwards and all of those other talk show psychics are using a technique commonly known as "cold reading." If you notice, they always say something like "I'm seeing a woman with a J in her name" or something along those lines. Then, somebody says "My grandma Jane died when I was 4" and they build on that. There's more to it than that, but that's the basic of cold reading. They also have people who wander around and listen to what people in the audience are talking about before the show. These people then feed them information.

I'm not saying that every psychic to ever appear on a talk show is a hoax, I'm sure some aren't.

Oh and Gatsby, my dear, of course the ghostiness has an expiration date! It's shorter than that of the average Twinkie, apparently.