Sensationalism, sadness and pseudoscience all mix together in the highlights from this week’s stories about questionable claims in the news.
Kaitlyn Grispi defends abuse with haunting excuse A woman who was abused by her martial arts competitor husband goes on Dr Phil’s TV show to say that her house is haunted. This stressful situation and her obsession with the ghost, she says, could be why Josh Grispi hit her. Or, he could be possessed.
More sensationalist TV…
Discovery Channel programming is equivalent to what comes out the tail end of this poor snake Discovery Channel is promoting this obscene display of taunting nature - a man attempts to be eaten alive by a huge snake. In the remote likelihood that this would take place, it would constitute animal abuse and raises many other questions. But we suspect it’s typical nonsense Discovery hype.
Fakey “guardian angel” photo provides comfort A boy tries to pass off a ghost app manipulated photograph as a guardian angel watching over his Grandad. It took Doubtful News readers a few minutes to bust this ghost. Note that the media does not seem to care two bits about the actual explanation.
Additional evidence that ghosts may be all in the mind Scientists have previously identified brain regions that may produce a sense of a shadow self. This new study using a robot also can trick some people into thinking there is another sentient being there where their isn’t.
Guilty: Mother who killed autistic son cites facilitated communication as evidence Facilitated communication in any form is baseless and has been debunked as fake, wishful thinking. This woman killed her autistic son when she thought that he was being abused and that she was in a no win situation. She obtained these messages via a Blackberry texting phone.
Witchcraft death in Paraguay A rare case of persecution from suspected sorcery has emerged from South America. Several indigenous men burned a fellow village woman to death under accusations of witchcraft.
Catholic exorcists want to be the new superheroes The league of Catholic exorcists met last week, gearing themselves up for future battles against Satan that they say is exerting his power in recent times. The Pope endorses exorcism. The modern world shakes their head and wonders if this is really the way to make an old institution useful in a modern society.
Finally, this story was so ridiculous, it’s hard to believe it was published at all.
U.K. paper posts the year’s worst story on dowsing The claim was that a group of men walked around with their dowsing rods and claimed to find a mass grave. The media took their word for it. No testing, no confirmation. People still swallow the idea that dowsing has merit with NO evidence whatsoever. In an update, a skeptical reader points this out to them.
Visit DoubtfulNews.com for more stories everyday. Then respond when friends and family pass on these false stories and misinformation. Do your part. Spread the word. Share.
Kaitlyn Grispi defends abuse with haunting excuse A woman who was abused by her martial arts competitor husband goes on Dr Phil’s TV show to say that her house is haunted. This stressful situation and her obsession with the ghost, she says, could be why Josh Grispi hit her. Or, he could be possessed.
More sensationalist TV…
Discovery Channel programming is equivalent to what comes out the tail end of this poor snake Discovery Channel is promoting this obscene display of taunting nature - a man attempts to be eaten alive by a huge snake. In the remote likelihood that this would take place, it would constitute animal abuse and raises many other questions. But we suspect it’s typical nonsense Discovery hype.
Fakey “guardian angel” photo provides comfort A boy tries to pass off a ghost app manipulated photograph as a guardian angel watching over his Grandad. It took Doubtful News readers a few minutes to bust this ghost. Note that the media does not seem to care two bits about the actual explanation.
Additional evidence that ghosts may be all in the mind Scientists have previously identified brain regions that may produce a sense of a shadow self. This new study using a robot also can trick some people into thinking there is another sentient being there where their isn’t.
Guilty: Mother who killed autistic son cites facilitated communication as evidence Facilitated communication in any form is baseless and has been debunked as fake, wishful thinking. This woman killed her autistic son when she thought that he was being abused and that she was in a no win situation. She obtained these messages via a Blackberry texting phone.
Witchcraft death in Paraguay A rare case of persecution from suspected sorcery has emerged from South America. Several indigenous men burned a fellow village woman to death under accusations of witchcraft.
Catholic exorcists want to be the new superheroes The league of Catholic exorcists met last week, gearing themselves up for future battles against Satan that they say is exerting his power in recent times. The Pope endorses exorcism. The modern world shakes their head and wonders if this is really the way to make an old institution useful in a modern society.
Finally, this story was so ridiculous, it’s hard to believe it was published at all.
U.K. paper posts the year’s worst story on dowsing The claim was that a group of men walked around with their dowsing rods and claimed to find a mass grave. The media took their word for it. No testing, no confirmation. People still swallow the idea that dowsing has merit with NO evidence whatsoever. In an update, a skeptical reader points this out to them.
Visit DoubtfulNews.com for more stories everyday. Then respond when friends and family pass on these false stories and misinformation. Do your part. Spread the word. Share.
