Here is a rundown of the top stories in oddities and paranormal news from the past week courtesy of Doubtful News.  

It's now December and the countdown to the "Apocalypse" has begun. Russia seems to be taking it particularly hard if news reports are to be taken seriously. 

Meanwhile, NASA is conducting some outreach efforts to try and stem any concerns people might have about the rumors of the end coming from space. 

Big news last week in the U.S. was the large lottery jackpot. You have a better chance of becoming president but two winning tickets were sold. Not this guy's.  

In another online joke, a former Bigfoot prankster set up a fake NASA site for supposed finds from Mars. He got his beads busted.  

LOADS of mythical monster news this week. First, a Serbian town was reportedly somewhat nervous about an angry vampire.  

Not to be outdone by the American's continuing saga of Bigfoot DNA, North Korea reported on finding a unicorn lair. Alas, it was a bit of loss in translation. 

There was also a deliberate mistranslation of a story from a Christian magazine that Alternet covered as "Sex with demons makes you gay". 

That wasn't quite the point of the article. But demons as real and dangerous was the point. The Catholic Church thinks so too. They have been inundated with requests for exorcisms. So much so, they set up a call in center to direct people to help. 

The paranormal is still very popular on TV, or at least Hollywood thinks so as three "new" shows (read that as same old tired haunted place template) are green lighted for the SyFy channel. 

A few bits of positive news this week: Dr. Oz was roundly criticized for the false balance he gave to a show featured the completely discredited treatment - reparative therapy.  

A psychic business was denied a permit in a California town.  

A judge rules against one parent who is anti-vaxxination in favor of the guardians who took the child for vaccinations anyway. 

Pro-basketball team owner Mark Cuban throws Power Balance products to the curb

And, this story was a real eyeopener: Commissioners in Florida are certain they were duped into paying too much heed to anti-fluoride activists which lost them the election. 

But tragedy struck also. A magician is attacked on a television show and set on fire after being accused in the media of practicing voodoo. 

The body of a young man is recovered, a victim of an obsessive search for the Lost Dutchman gold in Arizona.  

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