Skepticism

Sylvia Browne Finally Proves Skeptics Wrong

No, she didn’t take Randi’s million dollar challenge as she promised to do ten years ago. She had a heart attack, thus definitively proving the existence of such an organ.

Don’t worry, though: she’s in the hospital recovering. Hell, she was probably there when it happened, patiently waiting for the attack to strike. (Oh wait, no, according to the statement she was on her way home. Weird! Maybe she planned ahead and was with a team of medical professionals.) And her organization has found the perfect opportunity to squeeze some more pennies out of the people who don’t realize that she’s a sociopath who regularly lies to the parents of missing children and the loved ones of the deceased. Their begging newsletter is after the jump.

(I didn’t bother to get a screenshot of the second page, which was all about filling in your credit card details.)

Edit: the comments on Twitter and Facebook are coming in fast but so far this is my favorite:

Edit 2: and this one:

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

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16 Comments

  1. Reminds me of Dionne Warwick’s (from Psychic Friends Network) comment when purported psychic Jeanne Dixon died. Something to the order of “We were all shocked. No one expected this to happen.”

    …snork!…

  2. The sad part (ok, another sad part) is that as soon as she kicks the bucket, some other conartist will move into the market niche to profit from the same population of suckers.

  3. Dang. Our local skeptic group was thinking of doing something to protest an April 1 casino performance. I noticed yesterday that it was cancelled [emphasis mine]:

    Halifax, NS – Due to unforeseen circumstances, Sylvia Browne scheduled for April 1, 2011 at Casino Nova Scotia’s Schooner Showroom has been cancelled

    I was going to do a screenshot and pass it around, but now that seems overly dickish.

    Also, you have a typo in the title. You call her Sylvie.

  4. @Trotter Jelly: Ah, yes, how WOULD the daily talk show genre survive without the merchants of woo?

    And yet, it is not as if these merchants need to lurk in dingy alleys, armed with hand guns, machetes, and letters of marque to find their prey. The chickens are eager to be plucked.

    The beatification of bullshit is a two-way street, with buyers and sellers in a ritualistic dance, with its own jargon, footwork, and fashion. Even the discourse with the dearly departed is part of the dance. The Silvies of the world merely dip their buckets in the stream.

    I reserve my condemnation for the psychic detectives who prey on the devastated parents of missing children. For them, the biblical hell is not vile enough. When humans develop the necessary technology, we need to build one especially for them.

  5. If Ms. Browne is in the hospital, who is writing this BS? How many hangers-on stand to benefit from her illness? It ironic that there is a profit to be made from her misfortune. What goes around….

  6. My psychic powers tell me it was a suicide attempt…yup, a suicide attempt.

  7. ….I’m still wondering why I didn’t know about her “Gnostic Christian” group before now.

    Also I’m wondering exactly how much she knows about Gnosticism, because as belief systems go, it’s not the one I’d say was a good fit for her.

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