# Sylvia Browne on Montel. Egads. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 7, 2007, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvia-browne-on-montel-egads/425549 "2007-11-07T15:28:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2007, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvia-browne-on-montel-egads/425549/41 "2007-11-08T23:42:43Z")
Well, I caught a few minutes of Ms. Browne’s appearance on the Montel show, and I for one am convinced of her supernatural powers. Her performance was quite extraordinary, even shocking. That monstrously low, gravelly voice; those swollen, distorted features-- all classic symptoms of a medium in the throes of demonic possession. You just can’t fake that kind of thing. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvia-browne-on-montel-egads/425549/42 "2007-11-09T00:02:06Z")
[QUOTE=e-logic] Interesting article on Ms Browne a couple of weeks back… > **[Jon Ronson on America's most controversial psychic Sylvia Browne](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/oct/27/usa.jonronson)** > > Sylvia Browne is famous for telling distraught parents where their missing children are – but as in the case of Amanda Berry, she gets it wrong. A lot. So why does she still have such a massive following? Jon Ronson took a cruise with America's most... [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > This morning, Colette, Sylvia’s co-psychic, seemed to be cold reading badly. She said to a man in the audience, “Why do I see a hospital around you?” > > “I’m a doctor,” he replied. > > “That’s why I see a hospital!” Colette exclaimed to the crowd. > > “I’m a chiropractor,” he added. “I work out of an office. I stay away from hospitals.” > > “I meant medical … uh … lab,” Colette said. “You know the expression, to ‘lab’ something? To research something? That’s what I meant. Are you researching anything at the moment?” > > “Yes,” he said. > > \ > > Sylvia looks impatient. > > “I - uh - think I’ve got a poltergeist in my house because things keep moving in my dishwasher,” Evelyn says, quickly. “Can you tell me the poltergeist’s name?” > > “The poltergeist is an older relative called Doug,” Sylvia says. > > “Thank you, Sylvia,” Evelyn says. > > She sits back down. I look sympathetically at her. She shrugs. > > “I don’t have any dead older relative called Doug,” she whispers. Color me impressed. Where can I get a ticket to listen to her babble? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvia-browne-on-montel-egads/425549/43 "2007-11-09T22:13:19Z")
Something that has always struck me about Sylvia Browne is how unpleasant she is. Other scammers TRY to act concerned with the people they are ripping off, though they usually come across as oily and unctuous, but Browne makes little effort to hide how much she despises people. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvia-browne-on-montel-egads/425549/44 "2007-11-10T02:59:44Z")
If you read that Guardian article it’s probably part naturally how she is, and part schtick. That linked Guardian column has some good examples of her telling people appalling things, like bluntly telling some distraught parents that their child had been kidnapped into white slavery in Japan. A lot of her audience will watch because they are feeding off the drama of seeing the parents disintegrate. There will also be some who find her occasional grumpiness and bluntness more “real” than someone who always says nice things. I, for one, mistrust anyone who is 100% sweetness and light. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvia-browne-on-montel-egads/425549/45 "2007-11-10T05:45:03Z")
But anyone who thinks she is putting a “positive” spin on it when she pulls “kidnapped by Japanese white, preteen, slavers” out of her ass when the kid was “merely” raped and murdered is creepy, and it does not not reduce Sylvia Browne = Massive Bitch a whit. She is a horrid person who is completely uninterested in, and unpleasant to, the people who come to her for “answers.” And she is not “occasionally” grumpy. She has been that way every time I’ve seen her over the last 40 years. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvia-browne-on-montel-egads/425549/46 "2007-11-10T11:28:48Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] But anyone who thinks she is putting a “positive” spin on it when she pulls “kidnapped by Japanese white, preteen, slavers” out of her ass when the kid was “merely” raped and murdered is creepy, and it does not not reduce Sylvia Browne = Massive Bitch a whit. [/QUOTE] Sure, I agree. That’s precisely what I’m saying. I’m also saying that her bitchiness adds to the drama, which some people are going to feed off, while her 'orribleness is going to add to “realism” for some people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sylvia-browne-on-montel-egads/425549.md?page=2)