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WildCat
10th January 2005, 11:04 PM
There was a news teaser during the airing of Medium on the local NBC station tonight. It claimed that a psychic actually provided accurate information about missing candy heiress Helen Brach (she's been missing for 28 years). From the story: (http://www.nbc5.com/news/4069600/detail.html)
In 1991, investigators from the Cook County state's attorney's office traveled to Nutley, N.J., to see the famed psychic Dorothy Allison. One investigator's notes from the interview contain a chilling similarity to the story that sources say is being told by a federal informant, Unit 5' s Renee Ferguson reported.

...Denenberg said the psychic told investigators in 1991 that Helen Brach's body was taken to Inland Steel and incinerated. That detail was only revealed publicly last week.
Well, not really. The notes actually said:
"Ms. Allison felt that Mrs. Brach met death by fire/cremation and enroute, one would pass a Windsor Street. She also mentioned a Charles Reed -- either a person, place or thing -- possibly an incinerator."
Some observations:
1. She was killed before being incinerated. So the statement that she met death by fire is a miss.
2. I have no idea whether one would pass a "Windsor Street" on the way. But it's a very common street name. I grew up living on Windsor Drive. Lots of them around.
3. No "Charles Reed" uncovered by the investigation to date. That's a miss.

"It's very odd; it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up a little bit," she said. "It could be coincidence, but the fact that she said incinerator, and now everyone is saying incinerator?"
No, it's not odd. There were pages and pages of notes from the psychic interview. And one partial hit. Yes, it's a coincidence.

Allison died several years ago, so anything else she may have known about the case will remain untold.
Oooh, what a great loss! :p

I wonder if this story would have run at all if they weren't promoting Medium?

And no, I wasn't watching Medium. I just had it on channel 5 when I turned the TV on, and the teaser ran just then.

JLam
11th January 2005, 05:52 PM
This is typical of TV news. Since TV news production pays my bills, I have a pretty good insight into what goes on behind the scenes in a major market TV station (I work in Los Angeles...perhaps the woo-woo capital of the world, and this crap goes on all the time.)

Here's what I think happened. Someone in news management hears about a crime investigation that has a tenuous connection to a psychic and assigns a reporter to make a story out of it.

Why??

Because their station is airing a show about a police psychic. There is NO other reason.

The logic is that if someone is watching a show about police psychics, they will probably be interested in a story about an actual police psychic (nevermind the fact that the story is B.S....it's all about getting people into the tent, so to speak.) In TV news, it's very important to keep as much of your lead-in audience tuned into your show. What better way to grab viewers than to promote a story that's related to the very program they're watching right now?

It's disheartening, but it's not surprising that things like this happen. It's simple economics, and station managers aren't really in the buisness of being skeptical. Skepticism doesn't pay the bills.

The unfortunate thing that happens--and I see this ALL THE TIME--is that people extrapolate their own conclusions after half-paying attention to the report. Instead of being able to tell someone else exactly what was reported, the average viewer, if asked, would say something along the lines of "Oh, Channel 5 said that a psychic solved the Helen Brach murder."

And a new bunch of believers are born.