Discovery, Catholic Church Team for Exorcism Series

What's this? The Vatican hops into the 21st century with it's own version of "The X-Files"? It appears that the Discovery Channel and the Vatican are teaming up to produce a series called "The Exorcist Files," which will recreate stories of hauntings and demonic possession, based on cases investigated by the Catholic Church. If the series is successful, the producers, named GoGo Luckey, believe it or not, hope to take the show on the road, joining Catholic investigators on live demon-purging ride-alongs. Elsewhere, Jason Offutt appears on the Examiner with Specters haunt hospital’s abandoned halls.

Mystery of Mass Animal Death Epidemic Deepens

Still the leading story of anomalous happenings around the world as we get set to head into the second week of 2011, the mysterious deaths of large numbers of birds, fish and mammals continues to make headlines. The latest mass die-off has occurred among turtle doves in Italy, where 8,000 of the birds are estimated to have fallen from the sky with a "strange blue stain on their beaks." Multiple reports of die-offs are covered in this report, with images, and the "rapid movement of the Magnetic North Pole" is mentioned in conjunction with the bird deaths. There's more on the Italian incident in More Than 1,000 Turtle Doves Fall from the Sky in Italy in Latest Mass Bird Death Case.

WikiLeaks Cable Confirms Extensive Soviet UFO Investigations

Release of a diplomatic cable prepared at the U.S. Embassy in Minsk quotes a Belarus intelligence official concerning UFO investigations conducted by the former Soviet Union. It's the first document concerning UFOs to be released in Julian Assange's WikiLeaks efforts to unveil national secrets. With the pressure on news agencies to print or broadcast the revelations from WikiLeaks, Steve Hammons says, Journalists Have Responsibilities on Disclosure, Leaks. Meanwhile, the anomalous objects continue to whizz through the skies in the U.S., and the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) continues to make witness reports available, such as the January 11, 2011, description of a Slow Moving Triangle UFO Over Derry, New Hampshire and a July 23, 2010, filing in which a New Jersey Witness Recounts 'Cloaking' Jet Encounter.