How do Sylvia Browne’s 2008 “End of Days” predictions stand up in 2012?

[Questioninggeller]

Sylvia Browne’s “End of Days: Predictions and Prophecies About the End of the World” was released in hardcover in June 2008. As most people are aware, she turns books out at a quick rate with co-author Lindsay Harrison writing several a year.

Recently I was reading some of her books. They have a grandiose tone, large print, rarely contain narrative, and read quickly. In many cases, there are bullet points for some of her claims or as in the case of Browne’s “Messages from Spirit: An Open-At-Random Book of Guidance” there is one line per page so the reader blindly flips to a page and reads a sentence, such as “smiles are the only windows that show our souls are centered.” In the books I went through recently, there were few predictions. Rather, she’ll make claims about “Afterlives of the Rich and Famous” or make some non-specific claim about a past reading telling the reader such a prediction was validated.

Browne’s “End of Days” stands out, however, because it’s about the 2012 end of the world (A big topic around the time, see: 2012 movie that made $770 million). At several points, Browne actually made predictions in the book. As you can tell from introduction, posted here, there aren’t any original ideas.

However later Browne predicts about extraterrestrials:

One of the most dramatic headlines in 2012 will be the discovery of some mysterious debris in a California/Nevada desert.

More on UFOs and aliens:

In about 2018, extraterrestrials will be making our search for them much easier- they'll begin outing themselves, safely and sanely and very much in public to such organizations as the United Nations, Scotland Yard, NASA and even a Camp David Summit.
…
Many of the dramatic advancements in our space travel will be the direct result of what we've learned from them, from the manned Mars exploration in 2012 and the charted moon junkets in the late 2030s to the lunar base of the early 2040s that will become a wildly popular tourist destination.

Other ones include:

Sometime between 2008 and 2020 I see a sitting president dying in office of a heart attack. The vice president who assumes the presidency still stun the world by announcing his intention to declare war on North Korea in light of his accurate belief that they actually are in possession of weapons of mass destruction.
…
On a more positive note, before the end of 2010, to the chagrin of countless pharmaceutical companies, the common cold will be a thing of the past. I don't know the specifics, but the cure will involve heat (duh). There's a small self-contained cubicle that will become a common fixture in most clinics and doctor's offices. At the first hint of a cold, patients will step into this cubicle for five or six minutes, where a combination of its precisely elevated temperature, an antibiotic vapor and their own body heat will destroy the rhinitis germ that causes most colds, many allergies and a variety of asthma-related illnesses.

Yet, she didn’t name any politicians or predict any elections in the book. Elswhere she has given conflicting statements about the 2012 presidential election, see this thread.

Inspired by our ancestors' routine practice of accepting the help of gravity during childbirth, 2010 will also see the reemergence of birthing chambers for the benefit of both mothers and newborns.
…
Cells will also be painlessly harvested from inside the infant's cheek, to serve two purposes. The first, over the objections of the ACLU, will be to register the child's DNA in what will eventually be an international databank of every person on Earth.

…signals between the brain, muscular system and the neurological system, putting an end to paralysis and Parkinson's disease no later than 2012.

In about 2013 or 2014, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis (MS) and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) will be defeated through some highly specialized use of the human growth hormone.

The year 2014 will see the introduction of a safe, healthy pill or capsule that will replace gastric bypass and Lapland surgeries and anorexia and bulimia will be eliminated by a newly discovered medication that targets the pituitary gland.

In 2015 there will be virtually no invasive surgery.

No later than 2020, thanks to the development of a synthetic material that perfectly duplicates the human eardrum, we'll see a virtual end to deafness.

These claims are bunk for basic reasons, either due to what we know about current events in 2012 or from what we know about biology.

 

[Ateista]

Originally Posted by Browne’s “End of Days” page 204
Sometime between 2008 and 2020 I see a sitting president dying in office of a heart attack. The vice president who assumes the presidency still stun the world by announcing his intention to declare war on North Korea in light of his accurate belief that they actually are in possession of weapons of mass destruction.

North Korea does have nuclear weapons.

 

[Questioninggeller]

North Korea does have nuclear weapons.

Yes. North Korea tested a nuclear weapon in 2006 it was huge international news (and tested a missile in 1993). For Browne to write in 2008 that an American president will have an "accurate belief that they actually are in possession of weapons of mass destruction" doesn't make sense when its been public knowledge for years before Browne published her book.

 

[Ateista]

Yes. North Korea tested a nuclear weapon in 2006 it was huge international news and tested a missile in 1993. For Browne to write in 2008 that an American president will have an "accurate belief that they actually are in possession of weapons of mass destruction" doesn't make sense when its been public knowledge for years before Browne published her book.

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Not very good unfortunately........

This may be from that same book..........

"I predict we can truly say "goodbye" to the common cold in 2009 or 2010. The solution to the common cold involves heat. Keep in mind that the body's first response when we develop a cold is to come down with a fever. Many doctors today no longer rush to push patients to take temperature reducing medications when they come down with a fever, unless the fever is dangerous. They feel the immune system is the patient's best medicine and should be given a chance to fight back. So as the immune system fights a cold with heat, the cure for the common cold certainly may lie in this first signal to heal.



I predict that a small cubicle will become available in doctor's offices sometime in 2009 and it will be heated to a very precise temperature. There may be a special vapor placed into the cubicle. Patients will stand in the cubicle for approximately five minutes and the rhinitis germ will be destroyed.



Another wonderful bit of good news on the health front with this discovery - since this cubicle can easily take on the rhinitis germ, many people that have breathing problems with allergies and asthma complications will find some breakthroughs as well. We will see this cubicle discovery used for healing for those with breathing disorders. The cubicle will become available in 2009 or 2010."

http://www.spiritnow.com/article/psychics/sylvia_brownes_predictions_for_2008__2009__67

 

[ExMinister]

Struck me this morning that it's odd that someone in her position would write a book like this that is full of specific predictions that could/would eventually not come true.

Reminds me of what I have heard some of the people close to her say over the past decade - that she is manipulative, dishonest, and greedy, but also sincere to a certain extent and deluded. (I wasn't close enough to see this for myself. From my vantage point she seemed sincere).

If she were completely deliberately fake, as opposed to somewhat deluded, wouldn't she have been clever enough NOT to have written a book like this, knowing she wasn't psychic and it would eventually incriminate her?

 

[baron]

If she were completely deliberately fake, as opposed to somewhat deluded, wouldn't she have been clever enough NOT to have written a book like this, knowing she wasn't psychic and it would eventually incriminate her?

Two other options exist

1) She is fake and spectacularly stupid

2) She is fake and whilst not stupid herself, knows that those who buy her books are

 

[Sherman Bay]

These claims are bunk for basic reasons, either due to what we know about current events in 2012 or from what we know about biology.

Hey -- 2012's not over yet.

Two other options exist

1) She is fake and spectacularly stupid

2) She is fake and whilst not stupid herself, knows that those who buy her books are

Considering how much money she makes, I'd say she's fake like a fox.

 

[Ladewig]

If she were completely deliberately fake, as opposed to somewhat deluded, wouldn't she have been clever enough NOT to have written a book like this, knowing she wasn't psychic and it would eventually incriminate her?

I cannot think of a single psychic who has ever lost money or lost customers by writing a book with clear, identifiable predictions that would be proven false in a year or two.

 

[ExMinister]

I cannot think of a single psychic who has ever lost money or lost customers by writing a book with clear, identifiable predictions that would be proven false in a year or two.

Most of her contemporaries don't, though. Van Praagh, Edward, Dubois, Rosen, etc. They write spiritualistic philosophy books, books full of nonverifiable stories that reinforce to the public how psychic they are. They seem clever enough to stay away from actual predictions.

 

[ExMinister]

Two other options exist

1) She is fake and spectacularly stupid

2) She is fake and whilst not stupid herself, knows that those who buy her books are

Yeah I agree these options exist.

Personally, when I realized she was faking the trance classes, I wrote her off as an insincere fraud.

People much closer to her than I was have told me that she did fake trance classes and that she is manipulative and dishonest. BUT, they say, she is also sincere in believing herself to be psychic. The fact that she would actually write this kind of book would just seem to give that opinion a little more credibility.

Then again, it's also possible that she is so narcissistic that at the time she wrote the book, during her years on Montel when her career was skyrocketing, she was trying to set herself up as an expert on everything and figured by the time the predictions started failing she'd be filthgy rich or dead.

 

[timhau]

I cannot think of a single psychic who has ever lost money or lost customers by writing a book with clear, identifiable predictions that would be proven false in a year or two.

That is IMO one of the oddest thing about the psychic industry -- nobody seems to care a whit about your accuracy or track record.

 

[ExMinister]

That is IMO one of the oddest thing about the psychic industry -- nobody seems to care a whit about your accuracy or track record.

Well I always did. What's the point of having a reading with someone proven to be inaccurate?

Anyway, I hope you're wrong.

Back when I was a Sylvia fan there was no Stop Sylvia site and it wasn't easy to find out about any of their track records. Now with the web it's easier, though we still could use more stop sites, and I would like to think it is having an impact on people's willingness to trust these fakes.

 

[Ladewig]

Most of her contemporaries don't, though. Van Praagh, Edward, Dubois, Rosen, etc. They write spiritualistic philosophy books, books full of nonverifiable stories that reinforce to the public how psychic they are. They seem clever enough to stay away from actual predictions.

Why do you describe their approach as being clever? Sylvia picked a path and made money with it. That does not make her less clever than her competitors. Only skeptics pay attention to the track records of psychics.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Struck me this morning that it's odd that someone in her position would write a book like this that is full of specific predictions that could/would eventually not come true..

It is actually the best way to approach it.
Most of her clientele don't have the brain capacity to remember what happened two or three years back.

 

[ExMinister]

Why do you describe their approach as being clever? Sylvia picked a path and made money with it. That does not make her less clever than her competitors. Only skeptics pay attention to the track records of psychics.

Because if you want to stay in business, you avoid making specific predictions that could work against you in the future. They did, she didn't, so to me they are cleverer than she is. Unless, like I said, she was going for fame and glory and figured she wouldn't care about whether they failed by the time they were supposed to happen, in which case I agree it's not a matter of being less clever, as you said.

I disagree that only skeptics pay attention to the track records of psychics. I paid attention. And if that were true, Robert wouldn't receive the emails from people who believed until they read his site.

 

[ExMinister]

It is actually the best way to approach it.
Most of her clientele don't have the brain capacity to remember what happened two or three years back.

As a former client (not to mention minister) I find that a little bit insulting. Sometimes I can't remember why I walked into the next room or where I left my car keys, but still.

But I tend to think either she herself was deluded enough to think she was going to get them right, or she was riding the wave of fame she had on Montel and just completely unconcerned about the future.

 

[timhau]

I disagree that only skeptics pay attention to the track records of psychics.

That's true, I'm sure. However, Sylvia and other fraudsters don't have to win over everybody. All they need is a herd they can milk, and that herd doesn't pay attention to track records; some members might leave because they start to, but as long as they're replaced by new wallets, its business as usual. And since one hit trumps 100 misses, making a book with clear and fairly unambiguous predictions might actually be worth it because of the chance that you can say "As I predicted in my 2008 book..."

 

[ExMinister]

That's true, I'm sure. However, Sylvia and other fraudsters don't have to win over everybody. All they need is a herd they can milk, and that herd doesn't pay attention to track records; some members might leave because they start to, but as long as they're replaced by new wallets, its business as usual. And since one hit trumps 100 misses, making a book with clear and fairly unambiguous predictions might actually be worth it because of the chance that you can say "As I predicted in my 2008 book..."

Yes, that's probably true. And along with that she can always use that old standby of crooked psychics, "My predictions are all right but my timing might be off."

 

[Questioninggeller]

Hey -- 2012's not over yet.

If you think, for example, that there is a possibility in the last three months of 2012 that a manned mission to Mars will be planned and happen, then I have a bridge to sell you.