Court TV Psychic Hunts for Tara Grinstead

(Continued)

But Baron, who has remained involved with the Grinstead family and with the search since the filming was completed, was not the only psychically gifted person to weigh in on Grinstead's disappearance, which has remained a maddeningly intractable mystery for nearly nine months. In the aftermath of Grinstead's disappearance, several lesser known seers have also offered their impressions to family members and police. And while family members have said that they remain skeptical about the psychics' contributions to the case, they have also been impressed, they said, by the precision and accuracy of some of their observations, particularly observations about Grinstead's personality and habits.

Carla Baron

That the psychic tips have thus far produced few actionable leads in the case, has done little to shake the faith of believers, or to assuage the skepticism of those who doubt them. In fact, on Court TV's own message board on the case, debate about the veracity of psychics in criminal cases continues to rage.

Tara Grinstead

Debate over psychic detectives spans four decades

It is a debate that has been going on in the United States for more than 40 years, since psychics first emerged as players in criminal investigations; a history that is marked by a few notable successes and host of less successful outcomes. But regardless of their track record, there is evidence that psychics are gaining a measure of respectability.

In fact, according to an article published by the Skeptical Inquirer, a magazine dedicated to debunking paranormal claims, by 1996, more than a third of all urban police departments in the United States and nearly 20 percent of the rural departments had reported using psychics at least once on unsolved cases.

And while skeptics downplay the contributions some of these psychics have made, there have been cases where psychics have provided information that in hindsight appears chillingly accurate.

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