Sylvia Browne... Psychic?

Do Television psychics, like Montel Show regular Sylvia Browne, really have a direct line to the hereafter? Well, they would like you to think so. And many believe. But has anyone really examined the records of these supposed oracles, and if so what is their success rate?

Well, it turns out some people have been keeping track and what they have to say about psychics like Sylvia Browne isn't going to be popping up in the testimonials section of her site anytime soon.

If you examine missing persons cases in which Browne has given televised readings, cases that have since been solved, it becomes clear that Browne is guessing. And she's not a terribly talented guesser.

Take the case of of Opal Jo Jennings. The six-year-old was abducted in March 1999 from her grandparents' front yard near Ft. Worth, Texas. Opal's grandmother, Audrey Sanderford, went on the Montel Williams Show asking Sylvia Browne for help.

Browne told her: "She's... not... dead. But what bothers me - now I've never heard of this before, but for some reason, she was taken and put into some kind of a slavery thing and taken into Japan. The place is Kukouro. Or Kukoura. I don't know anything about it." She went on to explain the child had been sold on the Asian market but was, she assured, still alive.

Reality: In August 1999 Richard Lee Franks, a convicted pedophile was arrested and charged with her abduction. In December 2003 her remains, confirmed by DNA, were found in a remote area near Ft. Worth. She had died of blunt force trauma to the head. According to investigators within hours of her abduction.

Or how about Ryan Katcher? The nineteen-year-old disappeared November 5th, 2000 sometime during the night. He was supposed to return to his mother's home in Oakwood, Illinois, but never showed up. His Ford F-150 truck had disappeared along with him, and searches of the area revealed nothing.

Three years later in December of 2003 Linda Griffith agreed to go on Montel to see if Sylvia Browne could shed light on his whereabouts.

According to Brown: "Your son... aspirated. He was so... um... you know... in so much alcohol, he aspirated... Two boys got terribly frightened, and... dropped him in a shaft of some kind. I don't know, it looks a metal... a metal shaft of some kind. It would be about, I'd say, close to twenty-five, twenty-six, maybe twenty-seven miles from where you would be. The truck... is near the shaft... or was near the shaft, but the truck has been broken down." When quizzed as to whether the body was in water Browne declared categorically it was not.

Reality: In July 25, 2006 while testing a new sonar device, police found Katcher's truck in a pond in Kickapoo State Park. The pond had been searched at the time of Ryan's disappearance, but sonar they had used at the time did not penetrate deeply enough to find the truck, which was under forty feet of water.

A body inside the truck proved by both dental and DNA testing to be Ryan. Further tests showed he was under the influence of alcohol when he ran off the road into the pond and drowned.

Seven years after 23 year-old Holly Krewson went missing her mother Gwendolyn Krewson's desperation drove her to consult Sylvia Browne. Krewson had actually gotten a phone call at her office only a few months earlier in which a faint female voice told her she loved her and led her to believe Holly was alive.

After the phone call was played Brown said this: "Oh, yes, it--it's her daughter. She is--I don't want to call white slavery, but somebody really took her, you know, and this is the hardest thing to do, especially because I'm a mother. She is in--not Ohio. She is in Los Angeles, and when she was calling you, she was on drugs. But she's still alive... You know--and this is so funny, because I--I know LA very well because I have an apartment down there. But she's right in one of those--I hate to say it--it's right on Hollywood and Vine. If--if you were to get any PI to take her picture around--except she doesn't look quite like that now. I--if--if--if sh--if they go down there to find her, she'll run. You see how--you see how she was? She's ashamed. She doesn't want you. She lo--she just wanted you to know that she loved you. Now she also is--there's something about sending a card with no--like Christmas card or whatever, but there's no signature on it."

Reality: In March 2006 remains found way back in 1996, which had been buried in a pauper's grave in San Diego, were finally identified as belonging to Holly Krewson.

On July 27, 2000, in Forrest Hills, PA, 44-year-old Lynda McClelland was reported missing.

On March 13, 2002, McClelland's daughters Marci and Amanda appeared on Montel seeking answers from Sylvia Browne.

Browne's statement: "Okay. Um... See, she's not dead. [Marci puts her hand to her mouth, overcome with emotion] She's not dead. Um... The thing that bothers me the most though, and I don't want to be hateful or mean, but she wasn't becoming very right in her head. Do you know what I mean? [They nod] She was becoming very distressed, very distraught, very disjointed, very rattled... Do you know what I'm saying? [Marci nods] It's what we call... a person in a nervous breakdown. [Marci and Amanda nod]... Well, that's what I'm describing. Um, and she is around the Orlando area. Florida. So, you'll hear from her, but I do think somebody has taken her and put her in... a... place. 'Cause I think she went goofy. She went down to Orlando and went kinda crazy. Still alive. But I think she's... not incarcer... I don't mean in jail, I mean kept in a... place, you know, in Orlando. There can't be that many mental places in Orlando, Florida, that you couldn't check up on." Browne assures them they will find her soon.

Reality: Lynda McClelland's body was found in March 2003 in a shallow grave in Wilkins, PA, a few miles from her home.

David Repasky, son-in-law of the victim who had been in attendance at the Montel show during the psychic reading was convicted of the murder. Donald Wall, a friend of Repasky, tesified Repasky had strangled McClelland, and that Wall buried the body. She'd been dead since the night of her disappearance.

One case among all of the poor guesses stands out, however. That would be the case of eleven-year-old Shawn Hornbeck who disappeared October 6, 2002 while riding his bike in Richwood, Missouri. This time Browne's error would make national news, eventually being covered by Anderson Cooper.

Browne told the parents: "he was picked up in a--in a blue-colored sedan by a guy by the name of Michael, and the last name sounds like (censored). The vehicle is a blue sedan, and I think it's a Chevrolet. It's an older Chevrolet. It reminds me of what I had years ago, you know, sort of with the tail fins on 'em, which was what, around '58, '59? The--the guy was dark-skinned, although he wasn't black. He was more Hispanic looking, had real long, dark hair. And strange enough, Hispanic, but he had dreadlocks. He was really tall and really--almost like what you think a basketball player's build would be. He's still within a 20-mile radius of--let's say, here's where you are, 20-mile radius, but it's really southwest of where you are." When asked if he was still alive she shook her head indicating he was not.

Reality: On January 12, 2007 police in St. Louis, Missouri, found Shawn Hornbeck, now 15 years old, very much alive.
Michael J. Devlin, 41, was arrested and charged with first-degree kidnapping. He had been with the dumpy white Devlin since his disappearance. The one thing she got right was the name Michael, which is actually the most common boys' name in the US. Browne has refused to comment directly on the case since then.

If we are to believe facts and not the claims of the so-called psychic, Sylvia Browne doesn't appear to have a very good record. She knows one thing, though. After someone is gone for a long period of time there's a good chance they'll never be found. So, most of your guesses are never going to be tested. Not only that, but in the format of a one hour television show they definitely aren't going to be proven right or wrong. If your proven wrong it can be years down the line after nearly everyone has forgotten what you said. Except that now we have this pesky thing called the internet.