Here is a rundown of the top cringeworthy stories in pseudoscience, superstition and the paranormal from the past week courtesy of Doubtful News.

Let's start with the psychic fails for this week.

This woman won an uncritical psychic challenge but didn't foresee she wouldn't get the prize money.

Many reasons have been proffered for the recent upsurge in witchcraft accusation in Africa. They include: envy, jealousy, poverty, hatred, rivalry, vengance, misunderstanding or lack of information, lack of rule of law and human rights protection. In Congo DRC and Angola, scholars attribute the rise in child witchcraft accusation to political instability, armed conflicts and civil disobedience, health crises particularly the HIV/AIDS pandemic, environmental disaster, food shortages and unemployment. This west Africa nation is rather widely known for its witch camps, where mainly old women who are accused of occult crimes and subsequently banished from their communities, seek refuge to avoid being killed by their family and community memebers.

In the village of Sang, off Tamale-Yendi Road, in the northern region of Ghana there is a care center for vulnerable children. This orphanage, built in a typical northern Ghanaian style of a ring of small rooms linked by short fences has around 32 children. These children were rescued, picked up or brought to the care center by family and community members. The center, which is managed by catholic nuns, can as well be called Ghana’s ‘child witch camp’. It was established few years ago and now serves as a ‘safety zone’ or ‘refuge space’ for these vulnerable kids. According to the managers of the orphanage, at least half of the children were abandoned due to witchcraft accusation. In Northern Ghana, belief in witchcraft  and magic is very strong. Witchcraft accusation and persecution is widespread. Witches and wizards are blamed for all kinds of misfortunes such as sickness, barrenness, accidents and loss/destruction of properties according to a report called: The State and Condition of Alleged Witches in the Northern Region of Ghana, published by ActionAid Ghana.

Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last week at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo-woo in medicine.  

The antivaccine movement and “autism biomed” versus “outgrowing” autism (David Gorski) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/the-antivaccine-movement-and-autism-biomed-versus-outgrowing-autism/ Autism is a condition of developmental delay, not of developmental stasis. Some children continue to develop to the point that they no longer meet the criteria for the diagnosis and may be considered “cured.” The cures ascribed to so-called “autism biomed” interventions may have nothing to do with the treatments; they may be falsely taking credit for improvements that would have occurred anyway in the natural course of things.  

Support Cancer Research and Own a Piece of the SkepDoc’s Handiwork (Harriet Hall) http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/support-cancer-research-and-own-a-piece-of-the-skepdocs-handiwork/The SkepDoc donated an afghan she had knit to the auction run by Skeptics for the Protection of Cancer Patients to raise funds for legitimate cancer research and challenge the infamous Stanislaw Burzynski to match the funds. Auction is now over, but it brought in $510. Donations can still be made at http://www.crowdrise.com/fightchildhoodcancer/  

Lo! Yet one more product has appeared on the US market to befuddle unwary buyers. We now have a small bottle with magical drops that are said – in glowing testimonials – to eliminate those small “skin tags” that so often appear in obscure parts of the aging human body, minor benign “flaps” or “bumps” that are technically tumors, but in most cases only annoy the owners. I remember my paternal grandmother as being host to a wide variety of these malfunctions, tiny examples of “intelligent design” that have so far escaped the notice of anti-evolutionists…

This “medicine” is called TagAway, which a gushing review from “SBWIRE” – look it up – says is “jam-packed with organic active ingredients that are derived from pure plant essences.” Wow! And “research analyst” Cindy Walters is quoted as saying:

Instead of risking your health and appearance with skin tag removal formulas that feature harsh, lab-created chemicals, why not enjoy smoother skin by accessing the power of holistic TagAway?