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‘Psychic’ leads Texas police on search for mass grave

A false tip-off for a mass grave turns out to be a hoax

RTE News

Hardin, Texas — Police in Texas are investigating what turned out to be a false tip-off which led to a large scale search by the authorities for a non-existent mass grave.

Initial reports carried by US media suggested that up to 30 bodies, including those of children, were located in a rural area around 50km northeast of the city of Houston.

However, nothing was found and it later transpired that the alarm had been raised by a woman purporting to be a psychic medium.

Police say she is now the subject of a criminal investigation for making a false report.

A spokesman said the local sheriff’s office took the tip-off seriously because the woman had claimed the bodies of children were involved.

She provided a very good description of both the outside and interior of the one-story brown brick home and blood was found on the porch, which prompted police to get a search warrant and call in reinforcements.

Soon, local media were reporting that as many as 25 to 30 bodies, including children, were found on the rural property.

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