Joe Nickell
Joe Nickell, Ph.D., is Senior Research Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and "Investigative Files" Columnist for Skeptical Inquirer. A former stage magician, private investigator, and teacher, he is author of numerous books, including Inquest on the Shroud of Turin (1998), Pen, Ink and Evidence (2003), Unsolved History (2005) and Adventures in Paranormal Investigation (2007). He has appeared in many television documentaries and has been profiled in The New Yorker and on NBC's Today Show. His personal website is at joenickell.com.
Charles Fort: Purveyor of the Unprobed
Skeptical Briefs Volume 18.3, September 2008
Book Review
Review of Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural.
Photoghosts: Images of the Spirit Realm?
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 32.4, July / August 2008
Book Review
Review of Ghosts Caught on Film: Photographs of the Paranormal By Melvyn Willin.
A Skeleton’s Tale: The Origins of Modern Spiritualism
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 32.4, July / August 2008
Investigative Files
At the home of a blacksmith named John Fox, strange rapping noises began to occur in the bedroom of Fox's young daughters...
Catching Ghosts
Skeptical Briefs Volume 18.2, June 2008
Investigative Files
Despite the popular antics of inept "ghost hunters," ghosts continue to remain elusive.
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Sir Edmund Hillary, Explorer, Skeptic (1919-2008)
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 32.3, May / June 2008
News & Comment
The conqueror of Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary, who died January 11, 2008, was a man of many famous exploits.
Eucharistic ‘Miracles’
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 32.3, May / June 2008
Investigative Files
Did an incident that reportedly occurred in Turin, Italy, in 1453 offer unimpeachable evidence of the supernatural?
Entombed Alive!
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 32.2, March / April 2008
Investigative Files
It is a horrifying concept: being buried—or walled-up—alive. Fears of such possibilities were once rife.
Werewolves—or Weren’t?
Skeptical Briefs Volume 18.1, March 2008
Investigative Files
Among those creatures that inhabit the night, or at least the nightmares of the credulous, are vampires, zombies, and werewolves
Exciting UFOs Become Bland IFOs
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 32.1, January / February 2008
Investigative Files
Most "flying saucers" are eventually identified as planes, balloons, meteors, or other objects, or even as illusions or hoaxes.
A Case of Automatic Writing From Robert G. Ingersoll’s Spirit?
Skeptical Briefs Volume 17.4, December 2007
Investigative Files
Did famed orator Robert Green Ingersoll communicate posthumously through a spiritualist medium to recant his atheism?
The Netherlands: Visions and Revisions
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.6, November / December 2007
Investigative Files
Like people everywhere, the Dutch can also be superstitious--hence the conference theme, “the paranormal.”
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The Loch Ness Critter
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.5, September / October 2007
Special Report
Gordon Holmes caught on camera a "jet black thing, about forty-five feet long, moving fast in the water."
‘John of God’: Healings by Entities?
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.5, September / October 2007
Investigative Files
A Brazilian faith healer claims spirits take control of his body to enable him to perform surgeries without anesthesia.
The Bermuda Triangle and the ‘Hutchinson Effect’
Skeptical Briefs Volume 17.3, September 2007
Investigative Files
Calling it "the world's greatest mystery," Gian J. Quasar revisits the enigma of the Bermuda Triangle.
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Peru’s Ancient Mysteries
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.4, July / August 2007
Investigative Files
Peru, like all the Americas, was relatively recently settled. A succession of native cultures flourished in various regions...
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Little Audrey: The Life and Death of a ‘Victim Soul’
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.4, July / August 2007
Special Report
A milestone in supernatural claims has been reached: Audrey Santo—the brain-damaged girl in Worcester, Massachusetts...
Lake Monster Lookalikes
Skeptical Briefs Volume 17.2, June 2007
Investigative Files
As a cryptozoologist--albeit a skeptical one--I have long been on the track of fabled creatures...
‘Psychics’ Fail to Foresee Their Own Fortunes
May 18, 2007
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia's fortune tellers failed to foresee the closure of their shops
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A Pathologist Among the Spirits
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.3, May / June 2007
Book Review
Beyond Knowing: Mysteries and Messages of Death and Life from a Forensic Pathologist. by Janis Amatuzio, MD
Deciphering Da Vinci’s Real Codes
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.3, May / June 2007
Investigative Files
Leonardo da Vinci was something of a cryptographer, and much attention has been given his various "codes".
The Making of The Reaping: Behind the Scenes of a Supernatural Thriller
April 5, 2007
If you were a filming a supernatural thriller, would you have Hilary Swank play a Joe Nickell type, or Joe Nickell play himself?
Mysterious Entities of the Pacific Northwest, Part II
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.2, March / April 2007
Investigative Files
Some assume that UFOs are a modern invention, but since ancient times men have reported seeing strange things in the sky.
Mysterious Entities of the Pacific Northwest, Part I
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.1, January / February 2007
Investigative Files
Mankind's imagination has always been excited by the possibilities of unknown regions.
Headless Ghosts I Have Known
Skeptical Briefs Volume 16.4, December 2006
Investigative Files
In the popular imagination, ghosts are a form of “energy” that survives death.
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Spirited Defense: William James and the Ghost Hunters
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 30.6, November / December 2006
Book Review
Review of Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death. By Deborah Blum.
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Shame on Shamus Sham
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 30.6, November / December 2006
Special Report
The false confession of American John Mark Karr—that he had murdered child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey in 1996...
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Death of a Demonologist
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 30.6, November / December 2006
News & Comment
Ghost hunter and self-styled "demonologist" Ed Warren, 79, died August 23, 2006, at his Monroe, Connecticut home.
Siege of ‘Little Green Men’: The 1955 Kelly, Kentucky, Incident
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 30.6, November / December 2006
Investigative Files
What were the humanoid-like creatures that terrified a family at their farmhouse?
Ghost Hunters
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 30.5, September / October 2006
Investigative Files
Belief that spirits of the dead exist and can appear to the living is both ancient and widespread.
Snake Oil: A Guide for Connoisseurs
Skeptical Briefs Volume 16.3, September 2006
Investigative Files
In an earlier article, "Peddling Snake Oil" (Nickell 1998), I addressed the question of snake oil’s existence.
