It's hard to say who the worst psychic of all time might be. After all, from cold readers to fraudulent mediums to tabloid prognosticators there have been a lot of bad ones. But a self-proclaimed Texas psychic who recently phoned in a completely bogus tip to police in Liberty County has to be in the running. The woman called with the claim that dismembered bodies could be found on a particular property, but when deputies investigated they found no evidence of any crime - even after returning for a second search on the "psychic's" urgings.Liberty County Sheriff's Capt. Rex Evans said there was no evidence of foul play at the home.
Liberty County Judge Craig McNair told reporters at the scene about 8:15 p.m. that tips had come in Monday night and Tuesday morning from a supposed psychic of dismembered bodies on the property.
McNair said an initial visit on Monday by Liberty County sheriff's deputies found nothing amiss, but the psychic called back and said the deputies looked in the wrong place. McNair said deputies returned later Tuesday and detected a foul odor.
Evans said investigators had "found some circumstances that have raised some questions" and a search warrant was requested. Texas Rangers arrived before 9 p.m. CT Tuesday with a warrant.
After the search, Evans said that some information provided by the anonymous female tipster about the property was very specific and accurate. He said authorities would attempt to find the tipster and question her.
How a psychic can be good enough to come up with very specific details about a home but then fail to notice the absence of something as obvious as dismembered bodies is completely beyond me. My guess is that the tipster isn't psychic at all, but rather someone who knows the family and is holding some sort of grudge against them.
UPDATE: Law enforcement officials have decided not to press charges against this "psychic" because they have apparently determined that she acted without malicious intent. Here's what she had to say to KHOU 11 News:
"I was calling to have a welfare check on three live children," said the 48-year-old woman, who only wanted to be identified by her nickname, Angel. "Everything pretty much got blown out of proportion."
Angel said she never said anything about dead bodies.
"I didn’t file a false report. If they make it to be false that’s up to them, you know. All I can do is pray that everyone involved, you know, I did what I was told to do. I followed what Jesus and the angels told me to do. It’s up to them from there," she said.
The Texas woman said she’s worked with law enforcement in the past and said she was just doing what she thought was right.
"They up front asked me how I got the information, and I am a reverend. I am a prophet and I get my information from Jesus and the angels, and I told them that I had 32 angels with me and they were giving me the information and then it went from there," she said.
So apparently she doesn't have it in for the family but rather is delusional. I say that not because she had visions about the place, but because they were so wrong. And I trust that as a reverend "Angel" knows exactly what the Bible has to say about false prophets.
Given the circumstances, your guess is probably right. There is, however, always the possibility that the tipster suffers from the Spiritually Transmitted Disease of believing herself to have infallible visions. I've seen more than one occasion where the reaction to a vision isn't "could this mean something other than what is visually apparent?" but rather the absolute conviction that one knows the whole of the truth because of what was seen.
ReplyDelete...or, you know, psychics could just be an easy scapegoat for the butt of some idiot's prank.
The fact that the "psychic" knew a lot of information about the property that was accurate suggests to me that she probably is personally familiar with the family, or at least has been in the home more than once or twice. But you're right that she may have had an "infallible vision" that suggested these people she knows are murderers. That sounds more like paranoid schizophrenia to me than anything else.
ReplyDeleteIt could also be a prank, but since whoever called in most likely knows the family personally its an awfully nasty one.
@Pallas: As per the update I added to the post it's now sounding like you may be right. The woman had a vision and contacted police, and apparently doesn't know the family after all. I guess those crummy ranch houses they build down in Texas all look alike or something.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like she's now trying to claim she never said anything about murder victims on the property and her statements were misinterpreted, but frankly that just doesn't sound believable to me. It's quite unusual that law enforcement would mobilize an operation like this on the word of a psychic, let alone a tip vague enough to allow for a misunderstanding of this magnitude.
Besides, you'd think she would have clarified her meaning when she called a second time and insisted that police return to the property after their initial search.