Adventures in Paranormal Investigation

Paranormal investigator Joe Nickell is equally at home when recreating the mysterious Nasca lines at a remote site in Kentucky as he is in his research lab at the office of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He has traveled the world, seeking to understand its strange mysteries. Nickell does not engage in hype or sensationalism, yet he avoids the instinctive dismissiveness of many skeptics. Instead, he scientifically investigates the claims he encounters with the intention of finding the truth. Guided by the notion that the extent of the evidence must be commensurate with the extent of the claim, and by the principle of Occam's Razor — that the simplest tenable explanation is most likely correct — Nickell has spent his career uncovering the truth behind seemingly inexplicable phenomena. In Adventures in Paranormal Investigation, Nickell presents the case files of his examinations of claims ranging from alien abductions to zoological enigmas. He investigates snake charmers, alien autopsies, crystal skulls, a Russian girl with X-ray eyes, Jack the Ripper, and a haunted gas chamber at Dachau, among many others. He even reveals how intuition has changed his life, causing him to meet the daughter he never knew he had. Nickell brings his trademark skepticism to each investigation, carefully observing each claim and using scientific methods honed over many years to discover the real stories behind these fascinating tales.

Publishers Weekly

Nickell, a senior research fellow at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (Real-Life X-Files), relates short anecdotes about 40 years spent searching for the truth behind stories of psychic abilities, alien encounters, faith healing and other paranormal phenomena. As a former stage magician, private investigator and folklorist, Nickell has the right skills to separate truth from confabulation. Blurry photographs of ghosts said to haunt a historic Louisiana plantation or the gas chamber at Dachau are explained as photographic errors, if not outright fakery. Sightings of ghosts or religious figures in burnt tortillas most likely result from pareidolia, the ability to find shapes in random patterns like clouds. But Nickell's no-nonsense style fails to brings his stories to life. Confusion results from widely separated discussions of seemingly similar phenomena and from the inclusion of nonparanormal topics such as Jack the Ripper, the possible historical sources for Frankensteinand the fake cancer drug Laetrile. Finally, details are lacking on Nickell's "Ghostly Encounters Questionnaire," which he claims shows that those who experience paranormal events have "fantasy-prone" personalities. Nickell's work is fascinating, but one wishes he were better at describing it. 68 photos. (Nov.)