It was a big week in news about psychics, pseudoscience and questionable claims. Here is a rundown courtesy of Doubtful News. 

The huge news this week was the settlement of a libel lawsuit by "psychic" Sally Morgan against the U.K.'s Daily Mail. It just goes to show, Skeptics have to have their unsinkable rubber ducks in line.

Another story that went all over the place is the woman who thinks she's a plant. Well, that didn't go so well. But, the good news is, she gave up.  

Let's check out a slew of very interesting crytpozoology stories this week -- 

A leopard, YES A REAL ONE, was killed in Indiana. Whoa. No word yet on where it came from.  

Here is a pretty sad story of a guy who thinks he found a fossilized Bigfoot skull 

A local Texas station picked up a story about a mangy coyote who crossed the road. I mean, A CHUPACABRA!!!

The U.K. shut down their UFO program because it just wasn't giving anything of value. People see things in the sky, yes. But they do not appear to be a threat.    

Meanwhile, an official in the U.K. believes some truly alien things about himself 

A tremendously strange plot that involved a radioactive death ray was foiled this week. It wouldn't have worked anyway but it's scary when people try. This was a good example of how our current observation and regulation system works. 

We get new conspiracy theories EVERY WEEK here in the U.S. 

A new documentary attempts to rejuvenate the idea that Flight 800 was hit by a missile 

It rained bumblebees in Oregon this week. No, it was not the End Times or something mysterious. It looks to be human error.

If you don't like snakes, don't click this link. It may give you nightmares. If you like snakes, it's REALLY neat.   

Across the pond, a Bangladesh factory is supposedly haunted - or may be haunted with pretty pathetic rights for workers.   

Selling human parts for magic is a way to make a good living in Sub-Saharan Africa 

Pope John Paul will be given sainthood based on dubious "miracles". 

A controversial technique for recovering memories results in woman thinking she is a murderer. Did I say "controversial"? I mean completely implausible.   

Finally, alt med is a dirty business. A new book by Dr. Paul Offitt is a welcome expose on the dubious practices.   

Join us every day at Doubtful News to see what's new in news today.   

Also, extra links of interest are posted every night at midnight. 

The BEST way to follow us is on Twitter. All stories and some extras are posted there. Go to @Doubtfulnews on Twitter.

You can also find us on Facebook 

Come see my talk at TAM titled "The Honest Broker of Doubtful News". See you there!

 

Sharon Hill runs Doubtful News, a unique feed of news stories about the paranormal, pseudoscience, the weird and the unexplained with questioning commentary.