Joe Nickell - Skeptical Inquiry vs. Debunking

Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow for CSICOP, is considered the world's leading paranormal investigator. A former professional stage magician and private investigator, he taught at the University of Kentucky before joining CSICOP, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Using 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" (after the character in "The X-Files" ). He has investigated scores of haunted-house cases, including the Amityville Horror and the Mackenzie House in Toronto, Canada. A veteran of hundreds of TV and radio appearances, he is the author of over 20 books, including Inquest of the Shroud of Turin, Secrets of the Supernatural, Looking for a Miracle, Entities, Psychic Sleuths, Real Life X Files, The UFO Invasion and the new title Secrets of the Sideshows. In this interview by DJ Grothe, Joe Nickell cautions the skeptic against debunking, and argues for open-minded investigation of paranormal claims. Also, in the first of a two part interview entitled The Real War on Christmas, Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry Magazine, urges listeners to wage an actual war on Christmas, in defense of America's religious diversity and the rights of nonbelievers. In Ben Radford's regular commentary, Media Mythmakers, he discusses recent irrational scares over violent video games.