Presley 'Rhonda' Gridley, Self-Described 'Psychic,' Ordered To Pay $7 Million For False Mass Grave Claim

We see financial pain in her future.

The Houston Chronicle reported this week that Presley "Rhonda" Gridley was ordered to pay $6.8 million to a Texas couple after she made false claims about a mass grave at the home of Joe Bankston and Gena Charlton.

Gridley called the Liberty County, Tex. Sheriff's Office in June 2011, "claiming that a mass grave containing dismembered bodies was at the plaintiffs' home," according to the Chronicle.

The sheriffs' office told the media about these accusations and, before long, the story had garnered international headlines and set off a wave of bad will toward the victims of the false intel, according to a previous report from the Dallas Observer.

The lawsuit claimed that Bankston and Charlton were on vacation when the story was first reported. They returned home to find "a house full of broken dishes, overturned furniture, and 'animal urine and feces'" according to the Observer. The suit also said the couple has lost friends because of the debacle.

Discovery's Benjamin Radford provides some context for psychics who make less than truthful accusations:

Psychic information often wastes police time and resources following up on false leads. Despite popular belief and claims to the contrary, there is not a single documented case of a missing person being found or recovered due to psychic information. Psychics have consistently failed to find missing persons, including high-profile disappearances like Natalee Holloway and Holly Bobo (the Tennessee woman abducted in April 2011 who remains missing despite efforts by dozens of psychics).