HARDIN, Tex. — The police in East Texas were led on a fruitless search on Tuesday evening when a woman, claiming to be a psychic, called in a sensational tip, saying she knew of a mass grave where dozens of dismembered bodies were buried.

Equipped with a search warrant and cadaver-sniffing dogs, deputies from the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office converged on a home on a narrow country road near Hardin — about an hour outside Houston — in search of a macabre crime scene. The news of a mass grave in rural Texas set off a news media frenzy: throngs of reporters camped outside the home, two news helicopters circled above, and cable news stations flashed alerts that up to 30 bodies had been found.

But in the end, there was no grave, there were no bodies and there was no sign that any crime had been committed — except, perhaps, the misleading call that created the spectacle in the first place.

A spokesman for the sheriff’s office approached the crowd of reporters near the house Tuesday evening and said investigators had found no evidence of any homicides there. The spokesman, Capt. Rex Evans, said that earlier on Tuesday, the sheriff’s office received information that indicated there were the remains of children on the property.