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Joe Nickell

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If I had a Nickell for every time someone made a bullshit claim...
This might be
Skepticism
Icon skepticism.svg
But we're not sure
Who's asking?
Joe Nickell is ‘terrible’ at sighting ghosts and has a ‘pitiful record’ of catching extra-terrestrials. It’s as if they’re not real, he says.
—Jordan Gass-Poore, Daily Mail[1]
Forgers and frauds tend to use similar tricks, whether counterfeiting Hitler, U.F.O.s, or Jesus Christ.
—Joe Nickell[2]

Joe Nickell (1 December 1944–4 March 2025), known for many years as “the world’s only full-time professional paranormal investigator,” was a senior research fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and investigative columnist for Skeptical Inquirer magazine.[3]

Nickell published his first article in Skeptical Inquirer magazine in 1983. He was elected a CSI fellow in 1988 and joined its Executive Council in 1993. He was named CSI senior research fellow and began writing his regular Investigative Files column for Skeptical Inquirer in 1995 .[3]

He investigated numerous paranormal, pseudoscience, snake-oil, and bullshit claims, from UFOs to Bigfoot to the Shroud of Turin.[4][5][6]

I don't believe we've met...[edit]

I dreamed of becoming a magician. I dreamed of becoming an investigator. I dreamed of becoming lots of things, and eventually I became most of them.
—Joe Nickell[2]
God help us if Nickell ever has an identity crisis. There’ll be twenty of him running around not speaking to each other.
—An old friend of Nickell[2]

Born and raised in the Appalachian town of West Liberty, Kentucky, his parents were postmaster J. Wendell Nickell, an amateur magician and science enthusiast, and Ella Nickell (née Turner), a devout member of the Disciples of Christ.[7] A few tricks, taught to him at a young age by his father, sparked Nickell's dreams of becoming a professional magician.[2] And for his eighth birthday his parents gave him a professional fingerprinting kit, resulting in a congratulatory letter from J. Edgar Hoover, the transformation of a room in their house into an amateur crime lab, and further dreams of becoming an professional detective.[2]

Nickell enrolled in 1962 at the University of Kentucky,[8] where he met and first dated his future second wife Diana Margaret Gawen,[7], underwent mandatory training with the Reserve Officers Training Corps,[9] and became an anti-Vietnam War activist.[10] Graduating with a B.A. in 1967, he went to the Deep South with Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), marched with Martin Luther King Jr., and was tear gassed at the conclusion of the 1967 March on the Pentagon, none of which earned him a second congratulatory letter from Hoover. When his deferments ran out, he fled, with his first wife Ruth Holmes Everett,[11][12] to Canada to dodge the draft.[13][14]

Getting the hell out of Dodge[edit]

Arriving in Toronto in 1968, he, quite literally, fell back on his old tricks, demonstrating, developing and selling magic kits as a pitchman[15][16] at the Canadian National Exhibition, the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, and Simpson's department store; he also performed on the school circuit as a professional stage magician,[17] mentalist[18] and escapologist[19] under the names Janus the Magician, Mister Twister the Magic Clown[20] and Mendell the Mentalist.[2]

It was during this time, following in the footsteps of his hero Harry Houdini, that Nickell began to view himself as a skeptic of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.[21] He attended his first séance in Toronto in 1969 for the CBC documentary Houdini in Canada, where, despite the medium's bold pronouncements, Houdini was a no-show.[1] This experience further solidified Nickell's identification as a skeptic and he continued to consider Houdini and other magicians who used their skills to expose trickery heroes throughout his life.[2] His first paranormal investigation was into the Mackenzie House haunting in 1972.

Recruited as a private investigator,[22] thanks in large part to his background and skills as a magician,[2] Nickell performed his last professional magic show in 1973 and spent the next two years honing invaluable skills for Pinkerton conducting background investigations, fixed and moving surveillances,[23][24] and bodyguarding duties[25]. In this capacity, he spent lengthy times as an undercover operative[26] working as a forklift driver, lens polisher, shipping/mail clerk, steelworker,[27] and tavern waiter/bouncer.[28][29] "The irony," Nickell points out being that as a draft dodger he was, "a federal fugitive the whole time."[2]

Following this Nickell spent some time in the Klondike Gold Rush town of Dawson City in the Yukon Territory,[2] working variously as a blackjack dealer,[30] croupier,[31] and part-time can-can show emcee[32] at Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall; a riverboat manager[33] and trainee riverboat captain[34] for Dick Stevenson's Yukon River Tours; and a gold prospector.[35]

US President Jimmy Carter's signing of Proclamation 4483, granting unconditional pardons to draft dodgers, on his first full day in office in 1977, cleared the way for Nickell to return home.

No shit, Sherlock[edit]

Nickell first headed to Hollywood, where he appeared as an extra in a couple of productions,[36] completed the course in firearms at the United States School of Law Enforcement in Los Angeles,[37] worked as an armed guard for a security firm,[38] and attended Paul Stader's Hollywood Stunt School.[39]

Re-enrolling at the University of Kentucky in 1979, he completed his master's in 1982, and his PhD in 1987, with a dissertation titled, Literary Investigation: Texts, Sources, and "Factual" Substructs of Literature and Interpretation.[40] His literary detective work for this disertation, among other achievements, discovered the 18th-century "missing" edition of John Barth's The Sot-Weed Factor, provided a solution to Ambrose Bierce's disappearance, and identified the real-life model for Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Veiled Lady" in The Blithedale Romance. It was published as the book Ambrose Bierce is Missing and Other Historical Mysteries (reissued as Unsolved History).[41]

Nickell's work attracted the attention of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, publisher of Skeptical Inquirer magazine.[42] His first article, detailing the recreation of the giant Nazca condor drawing in Peru, was published in the Spring 1983 issue. Elected a Fellow in 1988, joined the Executive Council in 1993, and was named Senior Research Fellow in 1995. Relocating to CSICOP’s international headquarters in Buffalo, his Investigative Files column for Skeptical Inquirer and CSICOP newsletter Skeptical Briefs were launched that year. Nickell received CSICOP’s Distinguished Skeptic Award in 2000 and the American Humanist Association's Isaac Asimov Science Award in 2004.

Investigations[edit]

Mackenzie House haunting[edit]

Nickell's first paranormal investigation was into a reported haunting at Mackenzie House in Toronto in 1972.[43] The caretaker described hearing footsteps, mysterious piano music, and an apparition seen by his wife, while a photograph of a piano showed an unexplained white blur. Through interviews and analysis, Nickell discovered that the sounds came from an adjacent building where a late-night cleaning crew and a pianist were active. A professional photographer identified the blur as a reflection of a camera flash on sheet music. The apparition was attributed to a common phenomenon known as a waking dream or hypnagogic trance. Nickell ultimately concluded that the house was not haunted.

Portrayal and pregnancy in popular media[edit]

The Reaping[edit]

The skeptical investigator character played by Hilary Swank in the 2007 horror film The Reaping is loosely based on Nickell, at least in the first half of the movie. In the second half, supernatural forces have their way with Swank and she ends up pregnant and bearing the spawn of Satan.[44]

Bibliography[edit]

  • Inquest on the Shroud of Turin (1983, 1998)
  • Secrets of the Supernatural (with John F. Fischer, 1988, 1991)
  • The Magic Detectives (1989)
  • Pen, Ink, and Evidence (1990, 2000, 2003)
  • Wonder-Workers! (1991)
  • Ambrose Bierce Is Missing (1992)
  • Missing Pieces (with Robert A. Baker, 1992)
  • Mysterious Realms (1992)
  • Looking for a Miracle (1993, 1998)
  • Psychic Sleuths (1994)
  • Camera Clues (1994)
  • Entities (1995)
  • Detecting Forgery (1996)
  • The Outer Edge (1996)
  • The UFO Invasion (1997)
  • Crime Science (1999)
  • Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal (2001)
  • The Kentucky Mint Julep (2003)
  • The Mystery Chronicles (2004)
  • Secrets of the Sideshows (2005)
  • Lake Monster Mysteries (with Benjamin Radford, 2006)
  • Relics of the Christ (2007)
  • Adventures in Paranormal Investigation (2007)
  • Real or Fake (2009)
  • Tracking the Man-Beasts (2011)
  • CSI Paranormal (2012)
  • The Science of Ghosts (2012)
  • The Science of Miracles (2013)
  • American Hauntings (with Robert E. Bartholomew, 2015)

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 Jordan Gass-Poore, 'The Loch Ness monster? It's an otter. Bigfoot? Just a bear': Meet the 72-year-old magician-turned-paranormal investigator who travels the world probing ghost stories and eerie sightings (well, the truth IS out there), Daily Mail, 4 August 2017
  2. Jump up to: 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Burkhard Bilger, Waiting for Ghosts, The New Yorker, 15 December 2002
  3. Jump up to: 3.0 3.1 Remembering Joe Nickell, Iconic Skeptic and Investigator, Center for Inquiry, 5 March 2025
  4. JoeNickell.com
  5. One of the Most Interesting Skeptics in the World Skepchick
  6. Hunting Monsters, Chasing Ghosts Artvoice
  7. Jump up to: 7.0 7.1 Joe Nickell, Family Man joenickell.com
  8. Joe Nickell, Student joenickell.com
  9. Joe Nickell, ROTC Cadet joenickell.com
  10. Joe Nickell, Anti-War Activist joenickell.com
  11. Joe Nickell, Bridegroom joenickell.com
  12. Joe Nickell, Divorcé joenickell.com
  13. Joe Nickell, War Resister joenickell.com
  14. Joe Nickell, Immigrant joenickell.com
  15. Joe Nickell, Magic Pitchman joenickell.com
  16. Joe Nickell, Magic Kit Creator joenickell.com
  17. Joe Nickell, Stage Magician joenickell.com
  18. Joe Nickell, Mentalist joenickell.com
  19. Joe Nickell, Escape Artist joenickell.com
  20. Joe Nickell, Magic Clown joenickell.com
  21. Joe Nickell, Skeptic joenickell.com
  22. Joe Nickell, Private Investigator joenickell.com
  23. Joe Nickell, Surveillant joenickell.com
  24. Joe Nickell, Secret Agent joenickell.com
  25. Joe Nickell, Bodyguard joenickell.com
  26. Joe Nickell, Undercover Operative joenickell.com
  27. Joe Nickell, Steelworker joenickell.com
  28. Joe Nickell, Tavern Waiter joenickell.com
  29. Joe Nickell, Bouncer joenickell.com
  30. Joe Nickell, Blackjack Dealer joenickell.com
  31. Joe Nickell, Crown and Anchor Croupier joenickell.com
  32. Joe Nickell, Master of Ceremonies joenickell.com
  33. Joe Nickell, Riverboat Manager joenickell.com
  34. Joe Nickell, Riverboat Captain Traineee joenickell.com
  35. Joe Nickell, Gold Prospector joenickell.com
  36. Joe Nickell, Movie Extra joenickell.com
  37. Joe Nickell, Marksman joenickell.com
  38. Joe Nickell, Armed Guard joenickell.com
  39. Joe Nickell, Stuntman Trainee joenickell.com
  40. Joe Nickell, Doctor of Philosophy joenickell.com
  41. Joe Nickell, Literary Detective joenickell.com
  42. Joe Nickell, Paranormal Investigator joenickell.com
  43. Ed Grabianowski How Ghost Busters Work, HowStuffWorks
  44. "The Reaping", CSICOP