Here is a rundown of the alt med, superstitions and strange news of the week courtesy of Doubtful News

Last week we had the news of the death of Indian activist Narender Dabholkar. An emergency anti-superstition law was passed but it faces opposition.

 A suspect was arrested who was part of a spiritualist organization noted for violence.

There were several bits of important news this week in alternative medicine. 

An alligator gets acupuncture. Yes, it's a croc.

Alt med practitioners are lobbying to have their services included in the new US health care bill.

Watch for this to ramp up.  http://doubtfulnews.com/2013/08/alt-med-groups-lobbying-their-way-into-health-care-coverage/

An inquest into a woman's death from cancer reveals how an iridologist attempted to treat her instead of convincing her to seek professional medical care.

Kenneth Copeland ministries is under scrutiny as their anti-vaccine stance and ignorance about immunizations led to congregants being infected with measles. Now, it is revealed they even discourage seeing doctors but to use prayer.

A child dies after parents withheld medical treatment due to religious beliefs. In Oregon. Yes, again.

Parents are refusing vitamin shots for newborns because they don't like the idea of a shot. I'd venture a guess that the act of being born is a bit more long and uncomfortable but necessary.

Consumer Reports journal issues a report on glucosamine and chondroitin. It's not positive.

A major fraud trial began this week in Florida regarding the Marks psychic family who allegedly bilked people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and valuables. Or, were they providing them a service for a fee? The court will decide. Doubtful News will keep updating the story of the proceedings.

The federal government is still using polygraphs which have repeatedly been shown to be unreliable. Now, they are apparently criminalizing the act of exposing flaws in the lie detector test. Maybe fix the root of the problem instead?  

Sky noises are back, just in time for silly season. This incident has various possible explanations but some are not satisfied with that.

And, it's the silly season in Scotland as Morag makes an appearance (though, I wouldn't call it that) and Nessie follows soon after (not to be outdone and, trust me, you will be impressed by their unimpressiveness).

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