I remember being babysat by my Grandmother one afternoon and she was watching “The Montel Williams Show.” Sylvia Browne was on and she was a self proclaimed psychic taking questions from the audience. A woman living in Massachusetts asked Ms. Browne while the lights would flicker on and clothes would move around in her closet. Sylvia replied with, “Well a woman was burned at the stake there and she was a witch.” Even at a young age, I was still a cynical little bastard and scoffed at the bullshit explaination.
It wasn’t until years later that I was working at a retail store as a manager. It was a slow night and I was browsing our book wall, the spot where publishers pay to have their books set out in hopes that people grocery shopping will pick them up as something extra. To my shock, and dismay, I saw that Sylvia had her own book out! I had completely forgotten about her up until that moment. I flipped through the pages of the book, and of course I kept rolling my eyes as I turned each page. The book had all sorts of weird things in it like the story that “Michael Jackson and President Kennedy are playing chess up in Heaven.” Yeah, I swear…
It seems that Sylvia’s career as a ‘psychic’ was marred with lots of prejudice and skeptisism. She had a history of making false predictions and hadn’t been of any successful use to any police investigation. Yet she still managed to gain a cult following. She would frequently appear on “The Montel Williams Show,” and “Larry King Live,” and eventually ended up as a radio personality as well. She was a guest on numerous other talk shows and documentaries, and even had a small acting career – having appeared in multiple episodes of “The Young and The Restless,” and a horror film, Horrorween, in 2011.
In March of 2011, Sylvia suffered a heart attack while in Hawaii. Whether she recovered from her injuries or if it just a part of another illness we will never know. Unfortunately, it was revealed today that Sylvia Browne had passed away yesterday November 20th. She was 77-years-old. A note on her Facebook page reads, “Sylvia graduated today. She was surrounded by family and friends. What a legacy!”
Rest In Peace Sylvia!
