Joe Herman Nickell (1 December 1944 – 4 March 2025) was an American skeptic and investigator, widely described during his lifetime as "the world's only full-time professional paranormal investigator."[1] He served as Senior Research Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI, formerly CSICOP) from 1995 until his death, and wrote its long-running "Investigative Files" column for Skeptical Inquirer magazine over the same period.[2]
Sources differ on his exact birthplace: the Skeptical Inquirer's own obituary gives West Liberty, Kentucky, while other biographical sources give Lexington, Kentucky.[1][2]
Early life and varied careers
Before his career in skeptical investigation, Nickell worked in a striking range of occupations, including as a stage magician, carnival pitchman, private detective, blackjack dealer, riverboat manager, and university instructor.[1] He went on to earn a BA, MA, and PhD in English from the University of Kentucky, specialising in literary investigation and folklore — an academic background that shaped his later analytical approach to historical and paranormal mysteries alike.[3]
Career
Nickell began conducting independent skeptical investigations in 1969, and contributed his first article to Skeptical Inquirer in 1983.[3] He was elected a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry in 1988, joined its Executive Council in 1993, and in 1995 was hand-selected by CSI's Barry Karr and Paul Kurtz to become the organisation's first on-staff, full-time investigator — as distinct from an outside fellow or occasional consultant.[4]
Over three decades in the role, Nickell investigated an unusually broad range of claims in person, from alleged ghosts aboard the RMS Queen Mary and crop circles in farmers' fields to the shores of Loch Ness and the claims of Qigong practitioners in China.[1] Within the Vault, his work is most directly relevant to his investigations of the Loch Ness Monster, the Mothman sightings, and broader poltergeist and RSPK cases, alongside his long-running forensic analysis of the Shroud of Turin, detailed in his 1983 book Inquest on the Shroud of Turin.[5]
He was also a recognised expert in forensic document examination, authoring Pen, Ink, and Evidence and Detecting Forgery: Forensic Investigation of Documents, drawing on training separate from his paranormal investigation work.[6] New Yorker writer Burkhard Bilger described him as "the country's most accomplished investigator of the paranormal."[6]
Awards
Nickell received the Isaac Asimov Award from the American Humanist Association in 2004, recognising his contributions to science-based scepticism.[3] In 2005, he was a co-recipient of CSI's Robert P. Balles Annual Prize in Critical Thinking, shared with Andrew Skolnick and Ray Hyman, for a Skeptical Inquirer article series titled "Testing 'The Girl with X-Ray Eyes'", investigating a young woman's claims of diagnosing illness by seeing inside the body.[3]
Death
Nickell died on 4 March 2025 in Buffalo, New York, at the age of 80, following a period of semi-retirement during which he continued to visit CSI's offices regularly.[4][2]
See also
- Loch Ness Monster
- Mothman
- Poltergeist
- Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis
- Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
- Ray Hyman
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Remembering Joe Nickell, Iconic Skeptic and Investigator."Center for Inquiry.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Joe Nickell."Wikipedia.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Joe Nickell."Grokipedia.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Remembering Joe Nickell (1944–2025)."Skeptical Inquirer.
- ↑ "Joe Nickell."Skeptical Inquirer.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Joe Nickell (1944–) Biography."JRank.