Dr. Joe Nickell, perhaps the most famous skeptical investigator of paranormal phenomena, passed away this week at the age of 80. For more than four decades, Nickell investigated UFO sightings, holy relics, cryptids, ghosts, and other anomalous occurrences. He was the author of dozens of books on the subject, including Inquest on the Shroud of Turin: Latest Scientific Findings, Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal, and Lake Monster Mysteries, co-authored by Benjamin Radford.
Like many skeptical investigators before him — going back to Houdini himself — Nickell began his career as a magician. Growing up in West Liberty, Kentucky, he developed an early interest in performing magic tricks, fingerprinting, and chemistry. In the 1960s, he became an ardent war resister, marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., protesting on the steps of the Pentagon, and eventually fleeing to Toronto to avoid the draft.
While in Toronto, Nickell performed as a magician, spending summers working at the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls. He later worked at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s, a casino in Dawson City, and embarked on a career as a private investigator, often exposing employees who were stealing from their employers.
In 1977, after President Jimmy Carter granted pardons to all draft dodgers, Nickell was free to return to the United States. Upon his return, he earned an M.A. and later a Ph.D. in English, specializing in literary investigation and folklore. He began investigating paranormal claims soon afterward, publishing his first article in Skeptical Inquirer magazine in 1983.
Nickell went on to become a full-time investigator for the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and a regular columnist for Skeptical Inquirer. Throughout his career, he examined the Shroud of Turin, countless ghost sightings, UFO encounters, and cryptid reports.
Nickell frequently returned to Canada to investigate well-known local mysteries. He famously explained the phantom footsteps allegedly heard in Toronto’s Mackenzie House, demonstrating that cleaning staff in an adjacent building created the illusion of footsteps inside the historic home.
On an episode of MonsterQuest, he theorized that sightings of serpentine lake monsters, such as Newfoundland’s Cressie, were likely the result of multiple otters swimming in a line. He also experimented with Cressie eyewitnesses, revealing that humans tend to overestimate the length of objects floating on a lake’s surface.
Additionally, Nickell investigated Oak Island in Nova Scotia’s Mahone Bay. Drawing on geological evidence from the island and the nearby mainland, he concluded that the fabled “Money Pit” was likely a natural sinkhole. He also noted thematic similarities between the island’s treasure legends and recurring motifs in Masonic literature, suggesting that one may have influenced the other.
In an era where misinformation and conspiracy theories spread like wildfire — sometimes even espoused by elected officials — Nickell’s rational, methodical approach to investigating extraordinary claims will be sorely missed.
His level-headed and thorough writing enriched the skeptical community and helped the broader public develop a greater understanding of such topics. He set the standard for challenging misleading or deceptive claims, leaving behind a legacy of critical inquiry and intellectual rigor.