Jeane Dixon and the Psychic Hall of Shame

Do you remember Jeane Dixon? She was a world-renowned “psychic,” supposedly an advisor to several presidents, the author of eight books, and a syndicated columnist whose horoscope “predictions” appeared in hundreds of newspapers across the nation.

Dixon was born January 5, 1918 and died January 25, 1997. Religiously, she was a Roman Catholic, who claimed that God had blessed her with the “gift of prophecy.” Author Ruth Montgomery wrote a book regarding Ms. Dixon under that very title.

Ms. Dixon claimed that she first began peering into the future when she was about five years of age. Thousands around the country swore by her claims, and many would scarcely make a significant decision without consulting Dixon’s horoscopic advice.

As a prophetess, however, the lady was a dismal failure—as all her kind are. What do the following predictions have in common?:

1. Russia will be the first nation to land a man on the moon.
2. World War III will break out in October, 1958.
3. Walter Reuther will be a Democratic candidate for president in 1964.
4. There will be no significant congressional legislation in 1965.

Their commonality is this: they all proved to be false prophecies.

Russia has never put a man on the moon. World War III has not broken out yet. Walter Reuther was never a candidate for president. And in 1965, congress passed both the Medicare bill and the Civil Rights Act.

These were but a fraction of the “coming events” that Ms. Dixon previewed in that famous crystal ball she treasured. She paid some $8,000 for it—it obviously was fairly foggy!

On one occasion, Dixon declared that John F. Kennedy would be elected president in 1960. She apparently forgot about that “prophecy” though, because when 1960 rolled around, she declared that Nixon would be the victor in the presidential contest.

Moreover, Ms. Dixon once prophesied that Nixon had “excellent vibrations for the good of America” and would “serve [his] country well” (Time 1965, 59). How curious it was that her famous crystal ball never previewed the fact that Nixon would disgrace the highest office in the land and be the first president to resign!

But the “most significant and soul-stirring” vision that Ms. Dixon ever claimed to have entertained was this:

“A child, born somewhere in the Middle East shortly after 7 A.M. (EST) on February 5, 1962, will revolutionize the world. Before the end of 1999 he will bring together all mankind in one all-embracing faith. This will be the foundation of a new Christianity, with every sect and creed united through this man who will walk among the people to spread the wisdom of the Almighty Power” (Montgomery 1965, 171).

Well, here we are—years beyond the end of 1999—and this leader of a new, unified Christianity did not appear as predicted.

And so, with due sensitivity, one must concede that Jeane Dixon takes her place in the Psychic Hall of Fame—along with those tea-leaf readers and the students of chicken entrails in the remote environs of far-off Africa.