Joe Nickell
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 👤 Person
Contents 6
| Type | Person |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Nickell |
| On the Timeline | 1 event, 1973 |
Joe Nickell (1 December 1944 – 4 March 2025) was an American skeptic and investigator of paranormal claims, including UFOs, ghosts and religious relics. For three decades he wrote the "Investigative Files" column in Skeptical Inquirer and was a senior research fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.[1][2]
Early life and career
Nickell was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and grew up in West Liberty, Kentucky. He earned a BA, MA and, in 1987, a PhD in English from the University of Kentucky, specialising in literary investigation and folklore. Before and alongside his academic work he was a stage magician, carnival pitchman, private detective, blackjack dealer and riverboat manager.[1]
Investigations
Nickell became senior research fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and associate dean of the Center for Inquiry Institute. He wrote or edited more than 30 books, on topics from forensic document analysis to religious artefacts and the paranormal, and helped expose the so-called diary of Jack the Ripper as a hoax. He wrote the "Investigative Files" column from 1995 until his death.[1][3]
UFOs
With Kendrick Frazier and Barry Karr, Nickell edited The UFO Invasion (1997), an anthology of skeptical writing on UFO history, alien abductions, the Roswell incident and crop circles, which included six of his own articles. He suggested that abduction accounts could stem from waking dreams, fantasy-prone personalities or memories shaped by hypnosis.[1]
Honours and death
Nickell received the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's Distinguished Skeptic award in 2000 and the American Humanist Association's Isaac Asimov Award in 2004, and the asteroid 31451 Joenickell was named after him in 2011. He died in Buffalo, New York, in March 2025, aged 80.[1][2][3]
On the UAP Timeline
- Pascagoula abduction (11 October 1973) — Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker say they were taken aboard a craft near Pascagoula, Mississippi.
References
- Joe Nickell — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Joe Nickell, Paranormal Investigator, Dies at 80", The New York Times (18 Apr 2025) · nytimes.com · archived copy
- "Remembering Joe Nickell, Iconic Skeptic and Investigator", Center for Inquiry (6 Mar 2025) · centerforinquiry.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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