Sylvia Browne

Sylvia Browne (born Sylvia Celeste Shoemaker on October 19, 1936 in Kansas City, Missouri) is a self-proclaimed psychic medium, and authoress of numerous books on spirituality.

Browne began performing psychic readings in 1973 and has attracted a relatively large following. She has performed thousands of one-on-one readings and assignments with a wide variety of groups and individuals. It has been claimed that these include the FBI and former U.S. presidents; however, little evidence exists to support these claims. Browne is a frequent guest on the interview show Larry King Live as well as the Montel Williams Show and Coast to Coast AM, and she has appeared on many other television and radio programs. Browne considers herself to be a gnostic Christian, that is, a seeker of knowledge under the Christian faith. Her stated beliefs include the notion of spirit guides, discarnate spirits who have previously lived mortal lives and now watch over currently living mortals. Communication from these guides might manifest, for example, as the "little voice in the head" telling a person to go another way home from work to avoid danger or waking up a person in the middle of the night with news that someone has died. Browne professes the ability to speak with her spirit guides, and has given details of fifty-four of her own former lives as divined by them.

Browne has made many predictions of varying accuracy concerning the future, including claiming that Bill Bradley would win the 2000 US presidential election with the Reform Party coming in second, the "hiding in caves" of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, the death of bin Laden (later reported by the CIA as false), a verdict of "not guilty" in the Robert Blake case (later established true), and the appearance of alien life on Earth by the year 2010. Her predictions have not touched upon some of the major events of the last few years such as the September 11, 2001 attacks or the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq (though Mrs. Browne has stated she was not given the 9/11 information "beforehand", other than having rather disturbing dreams involving a lot of fire). Most of her past predictions no longer appear on her website, but can be found on Internet archives such as the Wayback Machine. Browne's predictions for the year 2000, however, are still viewable directly on her site

Some skeptics assert that during her crowd readings Browne cold reads to fish for information, rather than displaying psychic abilities. Some also assert that during her televised performances she may be chatting with the audience during commercial breaks and using the information gleaned then when the cameras roll again, as has been claimed by Randi for other television mediums. On September 3 2001 Browne stated on Larry King Live that she would accept the James Randi Educational Foundation's $1,000,000 challenge to demonstrate supernatural abilities in a controlled scientific test. Browne has since claimed that Randi cannot prove he has the money, (held by Goldman, Sachs & Company [1]), but Randi says Browne has simply failed to make arrangement to take the test.

Browne has written a number of books that include both serious and humorous stories detailing her adventures. She has a masters degree in English Literature. She is the head of the Sylvia Browne Corporation, and the founder of a church in Campbell, California known as the Society of Novus Spiritus. She acquired the surname Brown during the third of her four marriages, and enhanced it with a final e for her stage name.

Sylvia Browne claims to know what it is like in Heaven. In her book Life On The Other Side, she says the temperature is a constant 72 degrees Fahrenheit, that there are no insects (unless you want there to be), that pets go to Heaven, and that you can build your house wherever you want it to be unless it obscures the view of a river or some trees, in which case you need permission. She asserts that the other side exists approx. 3 feet above ground level and at a higher vibrational level and so is difficult for humans to perceive. However, she claims to have been born, like other psychics, able to percive a wider range of vibrational frequencies. She currently resides in California.

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References

^ Carroll, Robert Todd (2005). "Psychic Detective". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 6 August 2005.
^ Nickell, Joe (2004). "Psychic Sylvia Browne once failed to foresee her own criminal conviction". Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved 6 August 2005.