SkepticReport * 11 Techniques to Talk to the Dead, Part III

August, 2003
Continuing examination of techniques possibly used by "psychic mediums" in their performances, this time of some of Sylvia Browne's (SB) "readings" done on the "Larry King Live" show.

How it is done

There are several techniques used by SB in these excerpts. There may be more, but I'm trying to keep things simple.

Redirection - pushing the focus of the "reading" in a direction desired by SB
Disclaimer - a statement made by SB which absolves her of "misses"
Insistence - repeating a guess even if it is not "validated" by the caller
Pressure - placing pressure on the caller to "validate" any given guess
Shifting the Burden - making the caller responsible for making connections to the guess or making a "hit"
Subtle Questions - questions in the form of a statement, sometimes followed by "Okay?" or "All right?"
Direct Questions - no guessing, just plain direct questions asked of the caller
Baiting/Fishing - a statement made by SB intended to prompt a response from the caller
Misdirection - a statement made by SB to confuse the caller
Platitudes - banal statements about spirituality, forgiveness, holiness, etc.
Inflating the Chances - making a statement that is statistically very likely to be true, and/or adding to that statement with another guess with high chances of being correct.

The important thing to remember about such "readings" is that every question and statement from SB has a purpose, which I will point out below. SB's guesses follow logically from each piece of information known. These guesses are not made at random, and they do not require communication with dead people.

Full transcripts here

Reading 1

KING: New Windsor, New York, hello.
CALLER: Hello, how are you doing, Sylvia? My name is Cathy (ph) and I wanted to know about grandmother. She had passed back in '97.
BROWNE: Wasn't your grandmother really small with very oval face and wore her hair short or back?

Comments: Direct Question, with multiple choices, which Inflates the Chances. When the caller says "Yes", we don't know which detail they are "validating". In this case, there are four possible details for a "Yes": small, oval face, hair short, hair back.

CALLER: Yes. Yes.
BROWNE: Yes. And didn't she also have a tendency to chew on her lip when she got nervous?
CALLER: A little bit, yes.

Comments: Another Direct Question. Chewing the lip is an extremely common habit of nervous people.

BROWNE: Well, yes, she comes around you a lot. And here's a strange thing she does. She sends -- which a lot of them do. She sends birds around you.
CALLER: Oh, my God. I've seen a lot of birds flying in front of the car, you know, and cardinals especially.
BROWNE: Yes. Yes.

Comments: Given that birds are very common animals it is no surprise that this is a "hit".

KING: Pretty good, Sylvia. OK. Saw the birds. She's sending those birds for what purpose?
BROWNE: Just trying to show her hello.
KING: She's communicating?
BROWNE: Yes.

Reading 2

KING: OK. Hamburg, Germany, hello.
CALLER: Hi, Larry. Hi, Sylvia. My mother passed away 14 years ago when I was 9 and I was wondering if there's anything she would like to say to me and if she's happy with the path I've chosen in my life?
BROWNE: Yes, with all of the above. Now who is Ann (ph)? Ann or Anna. Because she's with Anna and she's also with a large dog.

Comments: Direct Question, Redirection, Inflating the Chances. Here we have two elements: "Anna" and "large dog". Ann or Anna is a very common name, and dogs are probably even more common - most families have had one at some time or another - and "large" is rather vague. SB responded with "Yes, etc." to the caller's question, but not with anything the departed mother would like to say to her child. Mediums commonly ignore questions in this way.

CALLER: Oh, really?
BROWNE: Yes.
CALLER: Yes, we used to have a large dog.
BROWNE: Yes, dark dog. Yes. She says that what she does -- and very characteristic of people that have passed -- is she drops coins around.

Comments: SB reinforces the "dog" hit by repeating and adding a detail - "dark" -- that the caller has no chance to verify, because SB once again Redirects the reading and Misdirects the caller by throwing in the nonsense about dropping coins around. Please note that SB is saying that this is what the dead person does now that she has "passed", not that the dead mother dropped coins around when alive. Living people drop coins accidentally, and it would be no surprise if the caller looked around the house and found some coins on the floor. Look around your own house - do you think the coins you'll find were dropped by the spirits of dead people?

CALLER: You mean in my world?
BROWNE: Yes, in your world. You'll find a lot of coins.
KING: She asks if she's happy with the life she's...
BROWNE: She's great over there. She's great.
KING: Is she happy with the life the daughter has chosen?
BROWNE: Oh, yes. She's very happy. But she said you also should check on your depression.

Comments: This is Baiting. SB's appalling medical diagnosis technique is her stock-in-trade.

Reading 3

KING: Columbus, hello.
CALLER: Yes, hi, Sylvia. I was just wondering if you could connect with my dad and tell me if he's OK.
BROWNE: He's fine. You've got two around you. Was your dad a large man?
CALLER: No.

Comments: Whoops. A Direct Question that misses completely. SB also throws in some Misdirection with the "You've got two around you," statement. If one fails, she can focus on the other, and can conveniently sidestep questions about the caller's dad.

BROWNE: Because there's a large man and then a thin, sharp-faced man.
CALLER: OK. That's not my dad.

Comments: Whoops. Another miss, even though SB uses two very broad descriptions of physical types. Pay attention to what happens next: this is a classic example of how cold reading works.

BROWNE: OK. Because there is two that come around you. One is more thicker build, broad face. The other one is more lanky build.
CALLER: OK, the broader face would probably be my dad.

Comments: Insistence on "two that come around you" - this is also Misdirection. Please note that the caller identifies "the broader face" as their dad, even though they had previously said that their dad was not a large man, nor a thin, sharp-faced man! Is the caller giving in to pressure?

BROWNE: But he keeps pointing to his chest. What was going on with his chest?
CALLER: Well we think he died of a heart attack.
BROWNE: Well, honey, that's in the chest, isn't it?
CALLER: Yes.

Comments: Inflating the Chances. SB almost always has dead men pointing at their chests, probably because heart disease is the number 1 cause of death in the United States. You can't make a safer guess.

BROWNE: He also said a year before this, he knew he was going to go.
CALLER: He did?
BROWNE: Yes. He just never wanted to tell anybody.

Comments: Misdirection. SB makes a lot of these unverifiable statements.

KING: When they ask, how are they, you always say OK. Is anybody not OK on the other side?
BROWNE: Yes, I've gotten hold of people that were in between. You know what I mean. They didn't know they were dead. That's where ghosts come from, Larry.
KING: There are ghosts too?
BROWNE: Those are people who haven't made it. But once they've made it, they're OK. They're fine.

Comments: Unverifiable statements that serve to support the Sylvia Browne mythos. I remember seeing similar philosophy in the film Casper.

Reading 4

KING: Kennett, Missouri, hello.
CALLER: Hello, Larry. Hello, Sylvia. I guess the subject of angels. I was raised as an only child, but actually I had a sister that passed on before me. And I guess my question is, I never really felt alone. Could it be because maybe she could be my guardian angel?
BROWNE: No, no, honey. People don't become angels. But what she does, she becomes like my father passed over, comes around as a protectorate. But when you were younger, I don't know if somebody -- you could validate this with someone -- you used to talk to her.
CALLER: Probably.
BROWNE: Yes.

Comments: Platitudes, and some unverifiable religious doctrine.

Reading 5

KING: OK. Macon, Georgia, hello. Macon, hello.
CALLER: Hello. I would like to know, does my mother ring my telephone? And I would like to know something about my mother. She died in 2001 and I'm having a hard time getting over it. Can you tell me something she may want me to know?
BROWNE: Yes. It's like I said before, one of the things they do very characteristically is ring the phone. But she also does something with curtains or blinds. She makes the blinds and curtains -- she also makes a lot of electrical stuff go off.
CALLER: I haven't noticed that.

Comments: Apparently this caller is making use of something SB said earlier about spirits ringing telephones. If it can be proven that spirits do this, it would be extremely remarkable, and would overturn science as we know it, because doing such a thing violates the laws of nature. But, it seems anything's possible in the land of the dead, except possibly coherent communication. But I digress. SB's guess about the curtains and blinds and "electrical stuff" is a complete miss.

KING: That sounds playful.
BROWNE: They do. They'll do that. She said also...
KING: Dead people have a sense of humor?
BROWNE: Sure they do.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWNE: She also said something about you lighting a candle for her. I don't know what that means, but she said she likes that.
KING: Well, thank you. We'll be right back with more of Sylvia Browne. More of your phone calls. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Reading 6

KING: Crestwood, Illinois. Hello.
CALLER: Yes.
KING: Go ahead.
CALLER: Good evening, Sylvia. I was concerned about my younger son. I've not talked to him in a while. And he's been on my mind for a while.
KING: How old is he?
CALLER: 18.
BROWNE: He -- you'll hear from him between now and Christmas. But you know, he's always been like this. He's always been terribly sensitive. But more than that, he's always been stubborn. So anything that bothers him, he pulls in and pulls away.

Comments: All this is easily guessed based on the caller's concern about their son. Note that the caller does not validate any of it.

CALLER: What about his health issues? He has a health problem.
BROWNE: Yes, he's got a neurological problem.
CALLER: He does?

Comments: Redirection. In SB's case, we should probably call this "Scare Tactics". Another SB diagnosis, and a dangerous one at that. It seems pretty cruel to inflict this statement on the caller, who, once again, cannot validate the statement.

BROWNE: Yes. And he also has a problem with brain, you know -- seratome liquid.

Comments: Baiting. Probably serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with clinical depression. It's not exactly a liquid, though…SB's limited medical knowledge doesn't prevent her from making poorly-informed and irresponsible diagnoses.

KING: But he will be in touch with her?
BROWNE: Yes, he will be in touch with her.
KING: Now, you've got to help me. What did you feel when she asked that question about her son? What went through you and where are you getting that from?
BROWNE: I knew that he was suffering with depression and...

Comments: This cannot be verified. The caller doesn't even know this and it's the caller's son - but a guess at depression logically follows from the knowledge that the caller's son has not been in contact for an extended period. Also, depression is extremely common.

KING: But from where did you know this?
BROWNE: It's from God. I just know it. Larry, I don't know how to tell you.
KING: Because I felt nothing. I didn't know where the kid was or nothing.
BROWNE: Oh, I know.

Reading 7

KING: Doners Grove, Illinois. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Sylvia. Hi, Larry.
KING: Hi.
BROWNE: I would like to know a little bit about my deceased husband and my father, if possible.
BROWNE: Was your husband -- have gorgeous round eyes, very straight nose, high cheekbones and high swept forehead?
CALLER: Yes.

Comments: Impressive. But which detail? There are five to choose from. Gorgeous? Round eyes? Very straight nose? High cheekbones? High swept forehead? Again, this multiple-choice guess is a common technique for Inflating the Chances.

BROWNE: Did he also have a scar right by his eyebrow?
CALLER: Not that I am I'm aware of.

Comments: Direct Question. Clear miss.

BROWNE: Yes, right on the corner of the eyebrow. Anyway...
CALLER: Could be, yes.

Comments: Insistence. Still a miss.

BROWNE: He says he's come and sat on your bed. He said he's also come in three dreams.
CALLER: Yes.

Comments: Which is it? Apparently it's the dreams. It is not unusual for a person to dream of a departed loved one.

BROWNE: And in those three dreams, he was trying to tell you that he was all right. He said once he met you in a meadow. Once he was sitting like on a bench or something. And then once he was in the room.
CALLER: OK.

Comments: More multiple-choice Inflating the Chances, but not clearly verified by the caller.

BROWNE: All right?
CALLER: OK.
BROWNE: But it looks like he went really quick.
KING: And what about her father?
BROWNE: Both of them. Both of them went quick. She didn't get a chance to...
KING: Get a chance to what, say goodbye?
BROWNE: Anything with them.

Reading 8

KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the Netherlands, hello.
CALLER: Hello, Larry. How are you?
KING: Fine. What's your question?
CALLER: My question is on behalf of my wife, which is how is her currently deceased mother doing.
KING: Is she living?
CALLER: She is deceased.
BROWNE: I didn't get it.
KING: His wife, who died.
BROWNE: Wasn't this a disintegrating illness?
CALLER: Yes, cancer.

Comments: Inflating the Chances. Cancer is a leading cause of death. SB, however, did not say "cancer", she guesses at "disintegrating illness", which could be any of a variety of illnesses. A safe approach, given the confusion about who exactly the dead person is in this reading.

BROWNE: Yes, well, it's disintegrating. The whole body begins to...
KING: He said yes.
BROWNE: She's doing great. You know what she's done is she's come around you and put her hand on your face one night. And for some strange reason, you'll feel kind of like a breeze on your face at times. She's also always around you for some reason when you're in a vehicle.
CALLER: That is possible.
BROWNE: You know how you're always looking in the rearview mirror because you feel like there is a presence? That's because she's there.
KING: Is anybody on the other side unhappy?
BROWNE: No one.
KING: So whenever you pass on, nothing but good.
BROWNE: You're happy. There, nobody is griping, nobody is mad. Nobody is ticked off.
KING: Could be boring, too.
BROWNE: No, because you're lecturing, you're researching.
KING: You're doing things?
BROWNE: You're doing things, you're not just floating around on a cloud.

Comments: More religious doctrine.

Reading 9

KING: Ravenna, Ohio. Hello.
CALLER: Yes, Sylvia, hi. It's wonderful to talk to you. I have a question: I was diagnosed with a neurological disorder that causes my neck to go into spasms. And so I take expensive...
BROWNE: Actually, it's coming from c-3. You know that, don't you?
CALLER: Pardon me?
BROWNE: It's coming from c-3, from the cervical c-3.
CALLER: The vertebrae in the neck?
BROWNE: Yes.

Comments: Redirection. Misdirection. Leave it to SB, with her limited medical knowledge, to question a diagnosis of neurological disorder and suggest that it's really a physical problem with the third cervical vertebra.

CALLER: It is?
BROWNE: Yes.
CALLER: What can I do to -- I've been to chiropractors ...
BROWNE: Honey, I can't diagnose because I'm not a doctor. But don't be going to just chiropractors. You've got to go to neurologists.

Comments: Insistence. SB is right, she is not a doctor. She has just made a diagnosis, then says she can't diagnose, and then proceeds to elaborate on her diagnosis. She is also right about chiropractors.

CALLER: Oh, no, I have been.
BROWNE: Yes, but what I'm saying is, have them look at c-3, because it's the same as sciatica. When the c-3 nerve is pinched, yes, it will go into spasms. You see what I mean?
CALLER: See, it was going hundreds and hundreds a day and I take injections to keep it under control, you know.
BROWNE: Yes. But I want you to get another neurologist's opinion, OK? And have them please look at the nerve leading from c-3, because now it's beginning to also go down the shoulders and into the arms.

Comments: There is more than one nerve leading from the third cervical vertebra, and SB is quite correct in recommending that the caller see a doctor. She should not, however, be making guesses about medical cases. It is completely unethical for her to do so.

Reading 10

KING: To Hampton, New York, hello. Hampton, hello.
CALLER: Hello.

(CROSSTALK)

CALLER: That's OK. Sylvia, I would like to thank you for everything you do with everyone with your gift. I've read all of your books and I've enjoyed every one of them.
BROWNE: God bless you.
CALLER: And I would like to know, I've been dealing with a medical condition now going on three years. And I was wondering if there was anything that you could tell me because no one can seem to help me figure out how I got it and what to do with it. And I really could help -- any help you could help me with I'd appreciate.
BROWNE: Have you been tested for a type of fibromyalgia?

Comments: Fibromyalgia is very common. I've been diagnosed with it, myself. It's not so much an illness as it is a set of symptoms, quite probably from any of a variety of causes. It's not a disease in and of itself.

CALLER: Yes.
BROWNE: Yes. Because...
CALLER: Rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia.
BROWNE: Yes, that's what I'm saying fibromyalgia because you have got some problem with the soft tissue.
CALLER: Yes.
BROWNE: The one thing that I do know from doctors is that a high protein diet helps fibromyalgia, all right?

Comments: Eh, not necessarily. Good nutrition is always a good idea, though. See your doctor, not your local psychic medium.

CALLER: Thank you.
KING: Thank you.
BROWNE: Now how did I know she had fibromyalgia?
KING: How did you know that?

Comments: Simple. She guessed, probably basing her guess on the probable age of the caller. I could have done the same.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWNE: Stevensville, Maryland, hello.
CALLER: Yes. Hi, Sylvia. My question is about my health. Hello.
BROWNE: Yes, we're here.
CALLER: OK, I'm sorry. I have been having chronic pain now for almost six months every day. And I'm just wondering when and if I will get better.
BROWNE: Yes. But, see, you're just like the woman that called before. You also have fibromyalgia.
KING: So...
BROWNE: And that -- the same thing applies. And this is just running rampant anymore, Larry, is this fibromyalgia. It's just crazy. And the one thing that seems to put it into remission is a high protein diet.

Comments: It's not an illness that needs to be "put into remission", and it's not "running rampant". More Scare Tactics. My own doctor says the most likely cause is lack of exercise. If it's being diagnosed more often it's probably because the "baby boomers" are getting older.

Reading 11

KING: We're back. Westbrook, Connecticut, hello.
CALLER: Hello. I just wonder if there's anything she could tell -- my husband will have been dead a year this May 31. And can she tell me anything about him or...
BROWNE: Yes. See, you know, Larry asked me a very interesting question about anybody, you know, getting caught in between. He's not in between. And this is not a copout, but he's in orientation, which means you won't hear from him for a while. Orientation means that it was a very, very hard crossing for him. He's not caught in between, but he's like my father. I didn't get a hold of my father right away either, and I'm a medium and a psychic. Means that they had to cocoon him. So apparently he had a hard passing and he didn't want to go.
KING: They, there are people who run this place?
BROWNE: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. God for one.
KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). What?
BROWNE: God, for one.
KING: God. He's the heavy.
BROWNE: Oh, yes.

Comments: Misdirection. More religious doctrine. Easy way to dodge a reading. SB must have been getting tired.

Postlude

These examples show that, at least on TV "call-in" shows, giving a performance as a psychic medium is not complicated. A logical method can be seen in the seemingly random questions asked and statements made by the would-be medium. As long as the caller or "sitter" is willing to volunteer information in response to such prompts, the would-be medium's performance is made much easier.

As I said at the beginning, the list of tricks is brief. There are other techniques which you may discover on your own. The next time you watch someone who claims to receive communication from the dead, see if you can find the pattern in their patter.

If you wish to try these methods yourself, have the courtesy to inform your "victim" that you really don't possess psychic powers. Keep your act simple. Ask direct questions, guess at common ailments, throw in a few platitudes, redirect if your guesses go wrong, make the sitter do the thinking, insist that your guess is correct, and never let the sitter have the last word.

Above all else, never forget that you're pretending, lest you be caught in your own game. Read more about Sylvia Browne at StopSylviaBrowne.com