Those who claim psychic powers: true believers, or clever charlatans out for the money?

When the three missing young Cleveland women were recently found alive in their kidnapper, Ariel Castro’s home, one had to wonder whether self proclaimed psychic Sylvia Browne felt any shame. In 2004, one year after Amanda Berry went missing, Sylvia Browne went on supporter, Montel Williams’ show with Amanda’s mother, and told the mother that Amanda was dead.

Ms. Browne may be a poor choice of models for psychics. She and her estranged husband were convicted in 1992 of investment fraud and grand theft. There’s also her rather shameless dance with famed skeptic James Randi. After first accepting his $1,000,000 challenge on Larry King Live on September 3, 2001; Browne spent years dodging the challenge and making excuses before finally disavowing any interest in the challenge 6 years later, again very publicly on Television.

Both Montel Williams and Larry King have been active supporters of Sylvia Browne. There’s no mystery to me in that. Woo-woo crap, fake or real woo-woo crap, sells and Williams and King are both clever enough to know that. Nobody faults them for being in it for the money. They make no bones about being entertainers out to please the crowd for profit.

But self-styled psychics will vehemently deny they are after easy cash. Do you believe them? Do you think they really believe in their heart of hearts that they are connected with some cosmic consciousness, able to read hidden messages in a crystal ball, communicate with the spirits of the dead, etc., etc.? Or is your best guess they know what Dean said in The Mentalist is true, “You see there’s fake woo-woo crap. And there’s real woo-woo crap.” So fake crap or real crap, here’s the woo-woo scorecard to date with psychics vs. the Randi challenge.