The results of the Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project, a twelve-year study by Australian Skeptics, have revealed that so-called psychics’ predictions are right only 11 percent of the time.

And when something momentous or infamous happens, they are unlikely to have foreseen it. In fact, most of what happened was not predicted, and most of what was predicted did not happen. (The Queen did not abdicate in 2003, 2004, 2012, or in 2020; anti-gravity did not become a reality; Prince Harry did not become king; and COVID-19 did not just “go away” by December 2020.)

Under the supervision of Australian Skeptics’ chief investigator Richard Saunders, the survey covered over 3,800 predictions made between 2000 and 2020 by more than 200 Australian psychics. It took twelve years of diligent work by skeptics, trawling through magazines, newspapers, TV and radio, websites, YouTube, and social media, to compile as comprehensive a list of predictions as possible.

It is easily the most detailed project of its kind ever attempted in Australia and most likely the world. And the results:

• 11 percent of predictions are “correct”
• 15 percent are expected (as in, stating “the bleeding obvious”)
• 19 percent are too vague
• 2 percent are unknown
• 53 percent are wrong

Tim Mendham, executive officer of Australian Skeptics, said:

If my car mechanic was right only 11 percent of the time, I’d get a different car mechanic. But if, overall, all mechanics were right only 11 percent of the time, I’d think there was something seriously wrong with the entire industry. The results indicate nothing better than educated guessing—or even uneducated guessing—and certainly no better than any non-psychic could do, and probably a lot worse.

The full report on the survey was published in the latest issue of Australian Skeptics’ magazine, The Skeptic, Vol. 41, no. 4, December 2021, and online on the Australian Skeptics’ website, https://www.skeptics.com.au/.