StopSylvia email: "Thank you"

[RSLancastr]

Received the following email at Stopsylvia, with the subject "Thank you":

Dear Robert,

I hope this letter finds you well.

In 1999, I fell into the Sylvia Brown hype and flew a thousand miles to see her at a concert hall. As the show progressed, I was appalled at her vagueness and abrasiveness. I was thankful I was not one of those poor people whose numbers were called to have the privilege of being patronized and or belittled by this woman. Further to this, not one thing she told anyone had any apparent value as no one validated her ramblings and heaven forbid anyone questioned or corrected her reading. Then after or during every reading, to ask “do you know what I’m saying?”, I remember thinking “no…no I really don’t”.

Needless to say I wasn’t impressed by the experience and didn’t really think of her again until yesterday when I came across an article about Amanda Berry's abductor which made reference to a reading that her mother had with Sylvia Brown on the Montel Williams show. Seeing this I immediately did a search on Brown’s name and found her website. I wanted to see if she made a statement to apologize or to somehow explain how she could have so callously told this poor girl’s mother that her daughter was not alive. Of course there was nothing.

Going back to the search page your website caught my eye. I have to confess I’ve never gone through a website page by page and article by article as I have done with yours. I was infuriated by the stories I read. One thought that I can’t get out of my mind is how someone can seek notoriety and substantial monetary gain by exploiting other people’s pain, all the while knowing that she has no psychic ability is revolting. That being said, this is not why I am writing to you. I wanted to thank you for the work you’ve done to bring the facts to people who would perhaps fall prey to this scheme. I realize that not all will agree with your (or my) views, but at least people who visit your website will have a factual argument to base their decision on.

Again, thank you for integrity.

Best regards,

[Name]

My reply:

[NAME]:

Thanks so much for the kind words.

Sad to say, but it does not surprise me in the least that Browne has not apologized to Amanda Berry's family. To my knowledge, she has never apologized to the family of Shawn Hornbeck either.

She does not appear to have a humane bone in her body.

Thank you for taking the time to read through the site, and for letting me know.

Best regards,

Robert S. Lancaster

Founder & Webmaster,
www.StopSylvia.com

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

You must feel very pleased and proud to get letters like that.

All psychics are a beyond obvious scam (even as a kid I couldn't believe in any of this!) but Browne isn't even good at cold- reading, to boot. She's terrible, even at being a fraud. If you attempted to cold-read someone as an experiment, you might be a lot better than she typically is. Seeing her in person, when she isn't helped by editing, is a cringe-worthy experience, as your correspondent found out the hard way.

I saw her in person once and what struck me is that she isn't even good at paying attention to what is being said to her and repeating it back. How do you fail to do that? She failed at readings where cold-reading wasn't even required. An audience member would ask her a yes or no question and all she had to do was invent a reasonable and pleasing answer ("Yes, your son is on the Other Side" or "Yes, your brother forgives you")- and she botched that. She and Montel often didn't even understand the questions being asked of her (out of deafness, stupidity, disinterest or all three) and would ask the victim to repeat it three or four times. It made for some pretty sad and embarrassing scenes.

 

[RSLancastr]

You must feel very pleased and proud to get letters like that.

Of course.

In fact, it was the hope of getting letters just like this one that, in part, led me to create the site in the first place. So it is immensely gratifying when one comes in.

They show me that the site is doing exactly what I'd intended it to do.

I saw her in person once and what struck me is that she isn't even good at paying attention to what is being said to her and repeating it back. How do you fail to do that? She failed at readings where cold-reading wasn't even required. An audience member would ask her a yes or no question and all she had to do was invent a reasonable and pleasing answer ("Yes, your son is on the Other Side" or "Yes, your brother forgives you")- and she botched that. She and Montel often didn't even understand the questions being asked of her (out of deafness, stupidity, disinterest or all three) and would ask the victim to repeat it three or four times. It made for some pretty sad and embarrassing scenes.

It almost sounds as though you were at the exact same show as the one that the correspondent saw!

 

[Femke]

Good for you, Robert!

It is very kind of her/him to take the time to let you know. I am sure there are many more who go through your website page by page without realizing you'd like to know that.

 

[RSLancastr]

Thanks, Venka!

 

[KatieG]

People are doing more searches to find this kind of information. I can't believe anyone would think she's psychic after the 3 women in Cleveland were found alive. I truly think your web site saves people from spending money on Sylvia Browne.

 

[RSLancastr]

Thanks, Katie - that was the hope when I created it.

But I couldn't believe that anyone would still think she's really psychic after Shawn Hornbeck, Opal Jo Jennings, the Sago Mining Disaster, and several other of her major gaffes.