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.
Shootout with Martians: In the Wake of the 1938 Broadcast Panic
Skeptical Briefs Volume 20.4, December 2010
Investigative Files
A visit to an art exhibit—based on Orson Welles’s famous 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast—at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center in Buffalo introduced me to a remarkable incident that reportedly occurred during the “panic” caused by Welles’s dramatized Martian invasion.
“Who Believes in Roswell?”
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
November 14, 2011
What has come to be known as "the Roswell Incident"—the alleged mid-1947 retrieval of a crashed flying saucer and its humanoid crew from the desert near Roswell, New Mexico—continues to be controversial. It is the Holy Grail of UFOlogy, and many believe the truth is being covered up by a government conspiracy. However, skeptics cite evidence that what really crashed on Max Brazel's ranch was a secret U.S. spy-balloon array from Project Mogul (an attempt to monitor Soviet nuclear tests). Only later were alien bodies added to the story, through repeated hoaxes, proliferating urban legends, and the confabulated memories of aging witnesses.
“Anonymous” (A Nickell-odeon Review)
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
November 9, 2011
Fresh from counting the take of his other box office bonanzas—Independence Day, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012—Roland Emmerich has gone from creating disaster movies to launching a movie disaster. Called Anonymous, this is a conspiracy fantasy based on the idiotic notion that Shakespeare was not the author of his literary masterpieces, which were instead penned by the Earl of Oxford.
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‘Messages’ from the 9/11 Dead
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Article
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The Séances of ‘Hellish Nell’: Solving the Unexplained
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 35.4, July/August 2011
Investigative Files
The Skepcook: Gourmet Anti-Vampire Soup
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
October 20, 2011
A guest who turns away from this delicious first-course offering, is probably a—well, you know what! Check the person's image in a mirror!
Theatrically Yours: “The Ghost of Fort Niagara”
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
October 11, 2011
"The Ghost of Fort Niagara" is an engaging little musical by the multitalented Neal Radice, founder and director of Buffalo's Alleyway Theatre, as well as author, composer, lyricist, and set and lighting designer—just to mention his personas that are directly involved in this Alleyway production!
The Case of the Miracle Oil
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 35.3, May/June 2011
Investigative Files
I was invited to a home in Northern California where myriad icons, statues, and other religious effigies were “miraculously streaming oil”.
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GHO$TLY ENDEAVOR: Ethical Issues Haunt Kentucky Press
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 35.3, May/June 2011
Special Report
Scientific Investigation vs. Ghost Hunters
Skeptical Briefs Volume 20.3, September 2010
Investigative Files
I have often crossed paths with The Atlantic Paranormal Society, headed by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, stars of the popular Ghost Hunters series.
Irish “Spontaneous Human Combustion”? Blarney!
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
September 27, 2011
In a classic instance of faulty logic—what is known as "an argument from ignorance"—an Irish coroner has proclaimed "spontaneous combustion" as the cause of death of a 76-year-old man, Michael Faherty, whose body was found extremely burned at his home in Ballybane, Galway. Although his remains were found lying "with his head closest to an open fireplace," fire officers nevertheless concluded that that blaze was not involved! They did not explain how they had ruled out the obvious source of the ignition (BBC News Online, September 23, 2011).
“The Debt” (A Nickell-odeon Review)
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
September 21, 2011
The Debt is a riveting thriller about Mossad secret agents David, Stefan, and Rachel, who are played—in scenes of 1966 and 1997—by two sets of actors.
Outlaw-Imposture Syndrome
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
September 7, 2011
The targets of impostors are not only the noted but the notorious also. Numerous persons have claimed that they were an erstwhile presumed-dead outlaw, like Jesse James or—the latest target—Butch Cassidy. So similar are the features of such cases that they define what I now call the Outlaw-Imposture Syndrome.
“Cowboys and Aliens” (A Nickell-odeon Review)
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
August 25, 2011
It's a cross between True Grit and War of the Worlds—with sequences of fine acting and great special effects worthy of either movie.
Why, then, is Cowboys and Aliens such a failure?
Midnight in Paris (A Nickell-odeon Review)
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
August 15, 2011
Ah, midnight in Paris!
Or anytime in Paris if you ask me—a place where I once had a magical time, until the Orient Express whisked me away, like a magic carpet, to Istanbul.
The Ghost Haunters
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
July 27, 2011
(What the spirited duo might say, if they weren't speaking through a ghost writer.)
“Psychics” in the Casey Anthony Murder Case
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
July 11, 2011
In the travesty of justice that was the Casey Anthony Murder trial in Orlando, two things may have escaped the reader's notice. The first is that the O.J. Simpson jury must have moved with O.J. to Florida and made themselves available to serve at the Anthony trial. The second concerns the involvement of "psychics." Did, in fact, a "psychic" divine the location of the remains of little Caylee Anthony, who was long sought after she went missing from her Orlando, Florida, home in the summer of 2008?
The First Grader (A Nickell-odeon Review)
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
July 8, 2011
An inspiring narrative of humanity—of strength, values, and triumph—The First Grader should attract humanists in droves, perhaps especially secular humanists (i.e., atheists with hearts), since its messages are entirely secular. The story is all the more relevant for being "Based on a true story."
Gay-Marriage Victory
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
July 5, 2011
I am proud that my state government has at last, on June 25, 2011, passed legislation to legalize same-sex marriage, and that Governor Andrew M. Cuomo—who personally lobbied for its passage, as I voted for him to do—promptly signed it into law.
Heaven’s Stenographer: The ‘Guided’ Hand of Vassula Ryden
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 35.2, March/April 2011
Investigative Files
She claims to receive communications not only from her guardian angel, “Daniel,” but also from Jesus and even Yahweh himself, who guide her hand ...
Padre Pio: Scandals of a Saint
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 35.2, March/April 2011
Book Review
A review of Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age by Sergio Luzzatto.
Failed “Psychic” Tip
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
June 21, 2011
Do "psychics" really solve crimes or help police find missing persons? Not according to an incident that drew not only Liberty County, Texas, sheriff's deputies, but also Texas Rangers, FBI agents, and cadaver-sniffing dogs, as well as a swarm of reporters and a TV helicopter.
“Finding Bigfoot” a Howler
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
June 13, 2011
Finding Bigfoot, a new series airing on Animal Planet on Sundays (10 p.m. eastern and pacific time), looks like another silly TV program aimed at the credulous. Its "special preview episode"—filmed in the "remote woods of northern Georgia," in the Chattahoochee National Forest—set forth the show's formula: make it look as much like Ghost Hunters as possible.
“Incendies” (A Nickell-odeon Review)
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
June 7, 2011
Based on a play, Scorched, by Lebanese emigrant to Montreal Wajdi Villeneuve, Incendies is at once an intriguing mystery, a compelling evocation of human values and choices (humanists take note) during a horrific war, and an utterly stunning drama about the quest for familial completeness—a drama that harks back to the ancient Sophocles tragedy, Oedipus Rex.The Beast of Gévaudan— In New Orleans?
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
June 3, 2011
Another Ghost in the Mirror: Marilyn at the Hollywood Roosevelt?
Free Thinking (centerforinquiry.net)
May 31, 2011
