Monday, December 10, 2012

Psychic Sued for Police Hoax Massacre

Here is an article on psychics that may be of interest as contributed by readership from Discovery.

As previously posted, psychics are deceptive and fraudulent.  They do not "see" anyone, nor "speak" to anyone.  They are self-serving charlatans who prey on the weak minded and the vulnerable.  Due to Hollywood, they continue to be given press, and magically, since the dawn of Facebook, they have multiplied exponentially.  The word "psychic" should be in quotes, as given the definition, there is no such thing. 

"Psychics" refuse to "put their money where their mouth is"; that is, prove even a single time, that they can know anything outside the senses of mankind.  The vague, "you're going through a divorce" has a 50/50 chance of being correct.  Or, "you're struggling" with something...who isn't?  

Statement Analysis deals with principle and repeated application. 

Police departments continue to waste valuable resources having to chase down "psychic" 'tips' that lead nowhere. 

In the quotes of "psychics" you find deception, not error.  If Statement Analysis were to be done on these 'tips', there would be no lawsuit.  

The language of psychics show deception.  Remember, it is not only that the language does not come from experiential memory, the language shows intent to deceive.  

Those who claim to have 'psychic' ability are deceivers. 

Note the claims of the article from Discovery:   


PSYCHIC SUED FOR POLICE HOAX ABOUT MASSACRE

Analysis by Benjamin Radford 

Globe-zoom
The owners of a Texas ranch raided by police in 2011 based on false information from a psychic are now suing, along with police and several news organizations.
The case began June 6, when a psychic using the name 'Angel' called police and described a horrific scene of mass murder: dozens of dismembered bodies near a ranch house about an hour outside of Houston, Texas. There were rotting limbs, headless corpses and, chillingly, children in a mass grave.
Deputies from the Liberty County Sheriff's office went to investigate but didn't see anything amiss. After a second call the following day, dozens of officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the FBI and the Texas Rangers were on the scene—not to mention cadaver dogs, news helicopters and gawkers.
It all turned out to be a false alarm. There were no dead bodies; the psychic was wrong (or lying).
Though the incident became a national embarrassment, the police refused to apologize, saying that procedures were followed and that the severity of the claims warranted an investigation. Whether a tip comes from an ordinary citizen, an anonymous informant or a self-proclaimed psychic, information about mass murders cannot be ignored.
The ranch owners, Joe Bankson and Gena Charlton, were not amused and filed a lawsuit earlier this year. However, according to Anna Merlan of The Dallas Observer
Angel, who'd called in the tip by phone, vanished into the ether, leaving the couple to sue the media outlets for defamation and the sheriff's office for unreasonable search and seizure. ... Now, court records show that the plaintiffs seem to have located and sued the woman they think is an Angel in disguise. Her name is Presley Gridley, she goes by "Rhonda," and she lives in Stanton, Texas, about 800 miles away from their farmhouse.
According to Merlan, a Liberty County blogger named Allen Youngblood did some detective work and discovered a call Gridley made to a nearby county Sheriff's Department in which she told police to investigate a rural Texas farmhouse in search of two missing children who were the subject of an Amber Alert.
Gridley told the call-taker that the children were actually "in bad shape" in a farmhouse in Hull, Texas, a small town near Hardin, being hidden in a cellar or a container of some kind, along with another little boy. But first, she explains her credentials. "You'll think I'm crazy, but have you ever heard of Sylvia Browne?" she says. "She's actually a psychic. And I'm a reverend and a psychic. ... The spirits talk to me. There were 32 of them that told me they were kids and they're actually there, and they think these kids are there. ... These 32 souls are kids, and they said that's where they were actually killed. They were sacrificed there. ... y'all would also find their bones there. They said their bones are like in the walls. Also if you'll look with some kind of light or whatever, there's stuff written all over the walls in blood."
The psychic -- whether going by Angel, Rhonda, or Gridley -- was wrong. There were no bodies, children's bones in the walls, or walls scrawled with the blood of child sacrifices. The two missing children were found unharmed and in good health by the side of a road, not hidden in a farmhouse cellar with a young boy. Their older sister was charged with the kidnapping.
Psychic information often wastes police time and resources following up on false leads. Despite popular belief and claims to the contrary, there is not a single documented case of a missing person being found or recovered due to psychic information. Psychics have consistently failed to find missing persons, including high-profile disappearances like Natalee Holloway and Holly Bobo (the Tennessee woman abducted in April 2011 who remains missing despite efforts by dozens of psychics).

18 comments:

R.L Haley said...

So thats how you feel about Psychics,dont get me wrong when sylvia brown said this couples child was dead HE WAS NOT,I dont like those kind

John Mc Gowan said...

SKEPTICS ISSUE $1 MILLION PSYCHIC CHALLENGE.

A non-profit organization called The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) has announced that it is publicly offering $1 million to celebrity "psychic mediums" including James Van Praagh, Allison DuBois, Sylvia Browne, Carla Baron, John Edward, and others if they can prove their abilities in controlled experiments.

"James Van Praagh and Allison DuBois have turned the huckster art of 'cold reading' into a multi-million-dollar industry, preying on families' deepest fears and regrets," said James Randi, founder of the JREF and a renowned magician and skeptic.

The JREF's Million Dollar Challenge Director, a mentalist performer named Banachek, said, "We're issuing a challenge: If one of you can demonstrate your 'psychic' abilities on randomly chosen strangers -- not celebrities -- under mutually-agreed conditions, without relying on known cold-reading techniques such as fishing around with vague questions, and without just using Google -- we will donate our million dollars to you or to the charity of your choice."

The skeptics explained how psychics can give the appearance of getting accurate information about a person they've never met.

"Cold reading" is a set of techniques in which personal information is elicited from a person, often through vague or leading questions, and then repeated back to the person in order to persuade them that the performer has supernatural access to that information.

NEWS: Psychic Tip on Long Island Serial Killer?

Another mentalism technique, called "hot reading," involves obtaining information on a person in advance, for example by researching the Internet (or, in some cases, even hiring an investigator).

James Randi has exposed such "psychic" techniques for years, including his 1986 investigation into TV faith healer Peter Popoff, who knew details of his audience members' lives, including their illnesses and home addresses.

Randi showed that Popoff was actually getting his apparently psychic (or God-given) information from his wife (who had researched certain people in the audience) via a short-wave radio and hidden earpiece.

Psychics have reason to be cautious about putting their abilities to the test. The track record of psychics is abysmal, for example when it comes to helping police find missing persons. Despite claims to the contrary, there is not a single documented case of a missing person being found or recovered due to psychic information.

The fact that psychics have failed to find high-profile missing persons cannot be denied, and is there for all to see: Countless missing people, including Natalee Holloway, Laci Peterson, Madeleine McCann, Chandra Levy, Sandra Cantu, Caylee Anthony, Elizabeth Smart, Jaycee Dugard, and so on, either remain missing to this day or were found accidentally by strangers or in the course of normal police searches.

In each case hundreds of psychics gave information about the person's location while they were missing -- and every single psychic turned out to be wrong.

Tennessee nursing student Holly Bobo, for example, has been missing for over four months despite information from hundreds of psychics across the country; one of them even predicted that she would be found alive within a few days of her disappearance. Sadly, the psychics were wrong again

http://news.discovery.com/human/1-million-psychic-challenge-110822.html

Trigger said...

Great post, Peter!

It's good to hear that unwilling victims are fighting back at people who perpetrate acts of deceit to gain attention.

Many knowledgeable people like yourself have exposed frauds who label themselves "physics" with special powers and abilities far beyond those of us who prefer to look at the evidence and facts.

I saw a man who detailed the techniques that self-styled "physics" use and then acted out those techniques on the audience.

Many in the audience claimed that they believed that the man exposing the frauds was really a "physic" because he was so adept at imitating the techniques used to deceive them.

Even when confronted with the truth of the fraud, some of those in the audience still believed the fabrications and deceptions.

Lemon said...

I predict Vita will post research, amazing commentary, and links. I predict Hobs will post amazing commentary, pithy responses to trolls, welcome newcomers, and share how to post under a name for newbies.
I'm psychic!

PS I have other predictions, but no desire to inflame the furious hordes. :)

Anonymous said...

Peter, these articles are invaluable. I just hope the media craze to publicize psychics in police investigations stops before perps are let off because defense lawyers accuse police of not investigating every nutty psychic fol-der-rol.

Anonymous said...

Please help find Ayla

Even when CONFRONTED WITH THE TRUTH ( suggests one truth that is universally accepted ) of the fraud, some of those in the audience still believed ( was a survey taken?) the fabrications and deceptions.( Both are indicitive of guilty knowledge)
December 10, 2012 1:36 PM
The truth hurts the recepient; denial can ensue.

Amaleen6 said...

Lemon, I predicted you'd say that. LOL

Lemon said...

hehehe :)

Tania Cadogan said...

Lemons. Where can i send you all my money and possessions since,you have proven your psychic powers beyond all doubt without the aid of a safety net or crystal ball.

You will have to have fisticuffs with John over who gets what since he was spot on as well.

~runs to piggy bank armed with a large hammer and superglue~

Lemon said...

Someone needs a nap and their blankie.

Tania Cadogan said...

Will they be a rampaging furious horde or a polite furious horde?

I need to know which so i can either stock up on flaming torches and sharp farm implements or on hot choc and marshmallows.

Thanks in advance :)

Lemon said...

Hobnob,
Considering the weather, I would err on the side of hot chocolate and marshmallows. Much more toasty!

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