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Psychic Sued for Police Hoax About Massacre


Konrad Hartmann

Paranormal Maven
Psychic Sued for Police Hoax About Massacre : Discovery News

The author claims:
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).

Do you know of any evidence to the contrary?
 
Other than the statements of some (ex-)police officials on "psychic detectives" style TV programmes (and on the Skeptiko podcast for example), no. And there was this recommendation by the FBI profiling expert Robert Ressler of the psychic intuitive Noreen Renier. If I remember correctly, he hadn't had any personal experience with her but many collegues had inofficially told him of good results, so he recommended her to other FBI investigators. I think she even does lectures with police and FBI staff.

Why any police investigation should be "wasting time" following false leads because of someone posing as a psychic, as claimed in the link above, is beyond me, because I'd think that in every case there are busybodies and nutcases who have nothing better to do than call up the police and give their "highly important and maybe even psychic" advice. No police detective is going to follow such a lead if there isn't a really good reason for that. Obviously, these kinds of leads will if at all only be considered if there is absolutely nothing else to go on and if the investigator in charge is not totally against it.

Maybe "psychic abilities" are similar to other talents in that although quite some people have them, not every one can be good and only one in a thousand can be outstanding at them. And even those can fail frequently (as with any other mental abilities these talents might depend on the overall psychological state of the person, if they are tired or feel a little sick or whatever or they might even decline with age). Plus, there are bound to be a lot of enthusiasts who totally overestimate their potential and count every bad dream induced by too much meat at dinnertime as a clairvoyant revelation. A psychic calling herself "Angel" as described in the above text might probably fall into that category. And (only) then, I'm afraid, there is the outright liars and money-makers, like a certain Mrs. Browne.

The claim that "there is not a single documented case of a missing person being found or recovered due to psychic information" is very likely correct, but might simply be the case because no police detective in their right mind would officially admit to having used this kind of information, let alone write it down in their offical report.
 
Maybe "psychic abilities" are similar to other talents in that although quite some people have them, not every one can be good and only one in a thousand can be outstanding at them. And even those can fail frequently (as with any other mental abilities these talents might depend on the overall psychological state of the person, if they are tired or feel a little sick or whatever or they might even decline with age). Plus, there are bound to be a lot of enthusiasts who totally overestimate their potential and count every bad dream induced by too much meat at dinnertime as a clairvoyant revelation. A psychic calling herself "Angel" as described in the above text might probably fall into that category. And (only) then, I'm afraid, there is the outright liars and money-makers, like a certain Mrs. Browne.

Yeah, and I guess it raises the question in my mind as to when intuition could be called psychic, and vice versa. Many people may have an exceptional feel for when someone is lying, for example, but it may be dependent on setting or other factors difficult to replicate in a lab.

Also, for any success (real or imagined) there is a tendency for the individual's ego to inflate. I've heard numerous people brag about how extremely sensitive they were to various stimuli. We all want to feel special, but some of us want to feel really, really special.

The claim that "there is not a single documented case of a missing person being found or recovered due to psychic information" is very likely correct, but might simply be the case because no police detective in their right mind would officially admit to having used this kind of information, let alone write it down in their official report.

And including such information would probably compromise the case in court. What defense attorney would fail to jump on that information and use it to ridicule the prosecution? It would be hard to use "psychic investigation" to determine probable cause and to get search warrants. But an investigator does have to make choices in following leads, and I wonder how often the use of seers has at least pointed people in the right direction.
 
And including such information would probably compromise the case in court. What defense attorney would fail to jump on that information and use it to ridicule the prosecution? It would be hard to use "psychic investigation" to determine probable cause and to get search warrants. But an investigator does have to make choices in following leads, and I wonder how often the use of seers has at least pointed people in the right direction.

I would love to know that as well, Konrad. Unfortunately I don't think there is any way to know because, as was stated, I don't think law enforcement would be quick to admit to the successful use of a psychic. I think they probably have to apply their investigative skills and a healthy dose of common sense when considering this approach. And with some situations, like say a cold case with no leads, why not follow up? Who knows, you might get lucky.

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.

This part I agree with, and not because I think no evidence exists but because I feel confident that if a case was solved via psychic, it would most likely not be documented.

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).

I think that this is a bit of a blanket statement. Pointing out a handful of cases doesn't nullify the success of those that maybe didn't hit mainstream media and doesn't take into account the documentation issue mentioned previously.

Personally I wouldn't make this type of statement myself, but then again some people have their minds made up that something is or isn't possible. And quantity doesn't mean quality. I bet law enforcement easily gets dozens of alleged "psychics" providing tips for high profile cases, but (as you said) that doesn't mean they are all reliable, skilled enough to provide such information or even truly capable of what they claim.
 
Theres an App for that :D

London - Criminals beware - a team of international scientists have developed a "psychic computer" which reportedly can read people's minds and reproduce images of what they are seeing or even remembering by scanning their brain activity.

According to the scientists, one day the computer could be used to study people's dreams or thoughts or behaviours or even be used to help solve crimes by scanning the brain of witnesses.

In America, security agencies are researching the use of brain scanners for interrogating prisoners while US defence contractor Lockheed Martin is reported to have studied the possibility of scanning brains at a distance without knowledge of the subjects in sensitive locations such as airports.

Psychic computer that can read people's minds developed -
 
I once saw a news story that was entirely credible about a woman who had gone missing and was found by somehow who divined where she was ( through some kind of prayer ) and led rescuers to where she had gone off the road in her car. I think this might be the story here:

The Seattle Times: Local News: Redmond teenager survives 8 days stuck in car wreck

I guess the question is whether or not prayer and visions count as psychic phenomena. I'd say so, even if those in the religion don't want to admit it.
 
I once saw a news story that was entirely credible about a woman who had gone missing and was found by somehow who divined where she was ( through some kind of prayer ) and led rescuers to where she had gone off the road in her car. I think this might be the story here:

The Seattle Times: Local News: Redmond teenager survives 8 days stuck in car wreck

I guess the question is whether or not prayer and visions count as psychic phenomena. I'd say so, even if those in the religion don't want to admit it.

Your post reminded me of an episode of Unsolved Mysteries that told the story of Christine Skubish and her son. A woman (Deborah Hoyt I think) felt a sudden need to leave the house she was visiting with her husband in the middle of the night. If I recall correctly she had no ties to Christine, who was missing at the time. On the trip back, she had a vision of a naked woman (presumably Christine) laying on the ground while driving by a certain curve in a mountain road.

She and her husband didn't want to stop because they thought it could be some kind of a trap, so they continued on and told police. An officer went to check out the area and found Christine (who was already deceased) and her young son, who barely survived the ordeal and wouldn't have if he hadn't been found when he was. They think Christine fell asleep at the wheel and her car went off the road and down a hillside where it couldn't be seen.

Of course this was a TV show so I don't know if anything was skewed or emphasized more than it should have been, but it was interesting and involved someone with some kind of psychic ability who helped find a missing person. It was also featured on Paranormal Witness (according to the wiki).

If true, it could also help explain why this type of successful use of psychic ability isn't widespread. I mean you pretty much have to be in the right place at the right time, and even then some people might not react to what they are seeing or feeling. Then there's the whole interpretation part of it.
 
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