Joe Nickell, 1944 – 2025

Professional skeptic Joe Nickell, 80, died this week ( . . . or did he?). Nickell was a senior research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and an associate dean of the Center for Inquiry Institute; he also wrote for the Skeptical Inquirer. His obit lists his other jobs as “a stage magician, carnival pitchman, private detective, blackjack dealer, and riverboat manager,” but he is best-known for carefully researching and debunking such banana oil as alien (and Elvis) sightings, Jack the Ripper suspects, the Shroud of Turin (turns out it’s late medieval), Mary on a grilled-cheese sandwich, faked photos and forged documents, psychics, and ghosts. He wrote 30-some books, and appeared frequently on TV (though for such a sharp guy, he should have caught on that his Bob Fosse caliber comb-over was fooling no one). Nickell was not quite as prickly as his fellow skeptic James Randi, and said, “I don't like debunkers and I don't like dismissers, people who are just trying to say, ‘Oh, humbug . . . Those people were probably drunk or lying or hoaxing.’ I just think we shouldn't do that. If I'm studying vampires, I don't have to believe they exist to talk about the history of vampires, the cultural and literary history. There are many aspects, all worthy of some scholarly discussion.”