The Virgin Mary made the cover of Time Magazine earlier this year after a statue of her in Sacramento appeared to be crying blood.

InsideBayArea.com reports: “In southeast Sacramento County, an outdoor statue of Mary has become the center of attention at the humble Vietnamese Catholic Martyrs Church. Since late November, believers have come to view the statue, which has a red streak running from the corner of its left eye. A priest wiped the streak away Nov. 9, but when it reappeared Nov. 20, many viewed it as tears of blood being shed.”

“I believe it is a miracle”, said Florence Champaco, a 56-year-old who has visited nearly every day since she first heard about the statue on television. “I just come to pray”, she said last week, standing as close as possible to the fence, which is about ten feet from the statue.

The online periodical comments: “No one has actually seen tears flowing. The Diocese of Sacramento has no current plans to investigate. Others consider it a common stain or possible hoax. And still the people come. They bring candles and flowers, bundled-up babies and hearts filled with prayers and petitions.”

According to author Joe Nickell, who wrote Looking for a Miracle, the red streak is a hoax, but not without possible value. “Such events often can draw believers and nonbelievers to the church. People are anxious to see something tangible”, he said. “Rather than go to church and maybe hear a sermon, you could just go be near a miracle.”

A UK Paranormal Research Group were on the case of unusual paranormal activities at the Stockbridge bypass on Sunday.

Look Local Online reports, “The bypass is renowned for alleged sightings of ghostly dancing children and monks. Sheffield’s newest Gohost-hunting group met at Pearoyd bridge at midnight to record paranormal activity.”

Medium Kirsty Stevens took photographs which, she claims, show a variety of “orbs and ectoplasm”. “When I started doing this sort of thing I stopped being scared,” she said. “You’re looking for them, not the other way around.”

Co-founders of the group are Colin Thorpe and Jonathan Slater, who have different thoughts on the paranormal.

Jonathan describes himself as a sceptic “who wants to be proved wrong,” while Colin firmly believes “We can’t be the only entities on earth. There’s got to be something else.”

We look forward to the publication of the photographs.

A paranormal TV show in the UK which received complaints of deceiving the public was given the all-clear by a television watchdog.

The regulatory body, Ofcom, took the view that, “The show contains a high degree of showmanship that puts it beyond what we believe to be a generally accepted understanding of what comprises a legitimate investigation. On balance we consider that overall Most Haunted/Most Haunted Live should be taken to be a programme produced for entertainment purposes.”

The Scotsman newspaper reported: “Makers of the cult supernatural show Most Haunted were in high spirits last night after being cleared of allegations that they duped viewers. Several people complained that the Living TV show, featuring psychic Derek Acorah, had deceived viewers when it claimed to have uncovered paranormal activity.”

The show visits allegedly haunted places to try to commune with the spirits of the dead. “Sudden nocturnal bangings, camera work similar to horror film The Blair Witch Project and heavy use of green night filters are trademarks of the format.”

Most Haunted, now in its sixth series, has routinely attracted audiences of one million per show - an impressive feat for a digital TV channel. Its stunts have included attempts to get inside the mind of Jack the Ripper and stalking the footsteps of ghosts said to linger at Tower Bridge in London. The Most Haunted format has been sold to the United States and further spin-offs involving the undead are in the pipeline. Coming up next year is Derek Acorah’s Top Ten Possessions, in which the Virgin Radio DJ Christian O’Connell examines the psychic’s best “possessed moments”.

The question remains though, if official bodies, such as Ofcom, don’t take the paranormal seriously, where does that leave serious psychic research, especially on television?

About.com is giving you the chance to share your prophetic sense with the world. Here’s the gen :

DO YOU HAVE a sixth sense? Prophetic dreams? Psychic visions of the future? Or are you just really good at guessing what’s going to happen in the near future?
In any case, here’s your annual chance to show your stuff. Every year around this time, we invite members of the Paranormal Forum to post their predictions for the coming year. There are several categories:

Best World Event
Worst World Event
Best National Event
Worst National Event
Greatest Scientific Discovery/Invention/etc.
Awards Predictions (Oscars/Grammies/Nobel Prize)
Surprise Prediction
Other Predictions

You can respond to as many or as few of the categories as you want. If you prefer, you can also just e-mail your predictions to: paranormal (AT) about (DOT) com.