# Psychics are phony, Mr. Police Officer, in case you didn't know. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 15, 2006, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779 "2006-04-15T13:23:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/1 "2006-04-15T13:23:37Z")
A year ago, the Centre County, Pennsylvania District Attorney, Ray Gricar, inexplicably disappeared. The day after he disappeared they found his car, and then later his laptop washed up on the shores of the Susquehanna River, too damaged to give them any clues as to his whereabouts. The case is still open, and the trail is cold. Nobody has any idea what happened. So today, in order to try to break something loose, the local newspaper printed an update on the situation. There’s not much to tell, except for [this](http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1145092822204570.xml&coll=1&thispage=2): > [@](#): > > Tapping the psychic realm: > > The investigation’s worst blow came when FBI analysts said they were unable to glean any information from a hard drive found next to Gricar’s computer along the Susquehanna River. > > Any possible answer to Gricar’s disappearance appears to have rusted away after the hard drive sank into the waters, Zaccagni said. > > Hollywood psychic Carla Baron, whom Zaccagni has consulted throughout the investigation, said she recently led him to an undisclosed park near Lewisburg where she thought Gricar’s body might be found. > > While taping an episode for her upcoming Court TV show “Haunting Evidence,” Baron said Zaccagni drove while she told him which roads to take and what turns to make. > > They ended up at a shipping and receiving-type of building with light-colored bay doors. The building matched one that she had described to Zaccagni months before she ever traveled to Union County, Baron said. > > “That was the scary part,” Baron said, declining to give the location. “What are the odds of that? It is just all very surreal.” > > Baron said she believes someone took Gricar to that building after the prosecutor stumbled upon wrongdoing, possibly drug activity linked to there. > > “I feel like he was interrogated for what he knew, and that’s why they took his laptop,” Baron said. > > She said she left Lewisburg with the idea that police would take search dogs to the sites and is surprised that has not happened. > > In his last known phone call, Gricar told Fornicola that he was on Route 192, a country road that leads to Lewisburg and to antique stores he used to visit. > > “I just don’t think Darrel Zaccagni and his team are getting enough resources to work with,” Baron said. “It’s clamped down as far as the investigation goes. There’s not an all-out search. It’s almost like wishing it into the cornfields.” > > The psychic’s show will begin airing in June. A date for the episode on Gricar’s case has not been announced. So much for “just the facts”. The fact is that psychics are phony. There has never, to my knowledge, been a psychic who has demonstrated that their “skills” are anything but parlor tricks, lucky guesses, and shots in the dark. Hell, if I made a million guesses in a year like Jeane Dixon I’d be close on one or two of them too, and everybody would be amazed at my “psychic insight”. She led the cops to a building. Wow, how amazing. And wow, she had never been there before. Oh, and she won’t reveal what it is. I can guess why. It’s because she got the description and address from the Internet. I’ve never been to France, but I can tell you what the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower look like. I can also tell you where they are. Does that make me a psychic? A police officer that consults a psychic is a moron. They are only right in the movies. This continued use of pseudo-scientific nonsense does nothing but continue to validate the loony brigade’s belief in the “supernatural”. And this particular loony is getting her own TV show. :rolleyes: Maybe she can ask Ms. Cleo how her TV show is going to do. No, wait, let me take a shot at it. Her TV show will be quite successful initially, then it will fade in the ratings and finally get cancelled. Remember when it happens that I called it first, using my incredible psychic abilities. Or, perhaps, it could be that that’s the way it always happens, and careful scientific analysis bears that out. Either way, Mr. Police Officer, stop dealing with con men and charlatans. It gets you nowhere and gives them all sorts of street cred that they don’t deserve. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/2 "2006-04-15T14:09:04Z")
There’s someone named ‘Fornicola’ in this whole story? Sounds like something you drink during sex. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/3 "2006-04-15T14:52:44Z")
Man, **Doors** , if this single incident pisses you off this much, you should probably not watch the Discovery Channel. They’ve got an entire show (_Psychic Detectives_) devoted to demonstrating the “eerie accuracy” of so-called phsychics who aid the police–no doubt heavily edited to bias the show towards positive results. I refuse to watch it on principle. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/4 "2006-04-15T15:41:37Z")
_Psychic Detectives_ is on Court TV. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/5 "2006-04-15T15:45:31Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > _Psychic Detectives_ is on Court TV. See? I told you I never watch it. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/6 "2006-04-15T16:32:34Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > See? I told you I never watch it. Me neither, but i have seen a couple of segments, and i’m constantly overcome with the urge to beat those “psychics” with a crystal ball. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/7 "2006-04-15T16:56:42Z")
My previous post was in no way intended to imply that I actually watch the show. I just know what channel to avoid while it’s on. By the way, did you know that [although they can be better than the average person at gambling, psychics are unable to accurately pick lottery numbers since there are no human thoughts attached?](http://www.courttv.com/onair/shows/psychic_detectives/ten.html) ---
**Author:** ![LucyInDisguise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucyindisguise/32/18064_2.png) [@LucyInDisguise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LucyInDisguise)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/8 "2006-04-15T16:58:07Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Me neither, but i have seen a couple of segments, and i’m constantly overcome with the urge to beat those “psychics” with a crystal ball. … or beat those “psychics” balls with a crystal. 😛 I just got into this with my wife again last night after another wasted half hour watching a particularly loony psychic show … took her to [JREF](http://www.randi.org/) to let her spend some time fighting her own ignorance (she’s a fan of Sylvia Browne, and I’m getting a little tired of paying for the books). Useful time spent, I believe – a serious WTF moment for her … Lucy ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/9 "2006-04-15T17:07:23Z")
Oh god, don’t even mention Sylvia Brown-my mother and my sister are both fans, and nothing I say can convince them she’s a total phony. ---
**Author:** ![LucyInDisguise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucyindisguise/32/18064_2.png) [@LucyInDisguise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LucyInDisguise)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/10 "2006-04-15T17:52:59Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Oh god, don’t even mention Sylvia Brown-my mother and my sister are both fans, and nothing I say can convince them she’s a total phony. Send 'em to JREF (link in my post above) … my wife spent 2 1/2 hours exploring the site last night. It got her asking herself some rather introspective questions – and she’s about as die hard a fan as they come! BTW: it would appear that The Amazing Randi seems to have a real beef with Ms. Browne – has a whole section of the website devoted to her. Lucy ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/11 "2006-04-15T18:28:33Z")
The Aussies had [one of their federal police officers stood down](http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=546682006) earlier this month because he consulted a psychic on matters to do with a death threat to the Aussie Prime Minister. Their main concern, though, is the breach of confidentiality, not the efficacy or not of the use of a psychic. As the Aussie Labor Party spokesperson said, however, > [@](#): > > “I think, perhaps, this fellow has watched a few too many of the US detective shows,” he said. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/12 "2006-04-15T18:47:46Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Oh god, don’t even mention Sylvia Brown-my mother and my sister are both fans, and nothing I say can convince them she’s a total phony. I finally convinced a friend that Brown was a fraud when she said during a telvision appearance ‘You never have pain or suffering that you didn’t chose. Before you were born, you chose this life because you wanted to learn something. All souls are motivated by the desire to learn’ I pointed out to my friend that if this were true Harriet Tubman and Mohandas Gandhi would constantly chose the life that allowed them to help the greatest number of people, while Paris Hilton would pick heir to vast fortune over and over. Brown added some details, which allowed me to totally demolish her. While my friend still believes in psychics, she no longer believes in Brown. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/13 "2006-04-15T19:45:59Z")
In Wisconsin psychics fall under the statute of Vagrancy, a class C misdemeanor. So you could imagine my disgust some years back when I heard about a police department in the northern part of the state that was using a psychic to look for a woman that had been missing for some time.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/14 "2006-04-15T19:47:44Z")
Oh, yeah. Almost forgot: The psychic was no help. They never found that missing woman. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/15 "2006-04-15T21:00:41Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Oh, yeah. Almost forgot: The psychic was no help. They never found that missing woman. :rolleyes: How predictable. 😃 CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/16 "2006-04-15T22:13:27Z")
Isn’t it a little sad that in a thread like, the Google ads pop up promoting ‘psychic’ con artists? Here we are, a site devoted to fighting ignorance, but because of the Google ads deal we get ads offering expensive ‘psychic’ counselling for cold, hard cash. How desperate are the Google people for money anyway? ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/17 "2006-04-15T22:14:54Z")
Sorry. Meant to say ‘…in a thread like this…’ ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/18 "2006-04-15T23:45:14Z")
But, but, Lois Duncan novels always has psychics helping the police, and it always works! Surely she wouldn’t lie to me, I’m sure it’s standard procedure for the police to consult psychics on these cases. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/19 "2006-04-16T00:33:27Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > But, but, Lois Duncan novels always has psychics helping the police, and it always works! Surely she wouldn’t lie to me, I’m sure it’s standard procedure for the police to consult psychics on these cases. It’s all bollocks. That’s why it’s called “fiction”. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779/20 "2006-04-16T00:47:28Z")
> [@LucyInDisguise](#): > > BTW: it would appear that The Amazing Randi seems to have a real beef with Ms. Browne – has a whole section of the website devoted to her. And for very good reason, besides that fact that she is a crook and a fraud yet no one is prosecuting her. Sylvia Browne (note the “e”) agreed, in front of, oh, a million witnesses or so, to perform her stunts to win the $1mil challenge. That was years ago, and she has yet to apply to be tested. Perhaps she has very little use for a million the hard way when she charges $400 per reading the easy way and has an endless line of eager victims waiting to give her money and adoration. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/psychics-are-phony-mr-police-officer-in-case-you-didnt-know/352779.md?page=2)