Joe Nickell is Senior Research Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and an investigative columnist for Skeptical Inquirer magazine. Joe was a professional stage magician and private investigator for a world-famous detective agency. He taught technical writing for several years at the University of Kentucky before taking the full-time position with CSICOP at its offices at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, New York.
Utilizing his varied background, Nickell has become widely known as an investigator of myths and mysteries, frauds, forgeries, and hoaxes. He has been called "the modern Sherlock Holmes," "the original ghost buster," and "the real-life Scully" (from "The X-Files"). He has investigated scores of haunted-house cases, including the Amityville Horror and the Mackenzie House in Toronto, Canada.