The world’s leading paranormal investigator, Joe Nickell is a regular

contributor to Skeptical Inquirer science magazine. He is the author or

editor of more than twenty books, including Looking for a Miracle, Inquest on the Shroud of Turin, and most recently The Relics of the Christ.In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, Joe Nickell expounds on his

unique kind of paranormal investigating, which is neither "mystery

mongering," nor "debunking." He emphasizes how his humanist values

carry over into his skeptical work, and how his notion of "doing good"

is applied to skepticism as a movement. He criticizes many in the

skeptical movement who seem not to care to honor claimants with

on-the-ground investigations, instead dismissing from the "armchair"

that a supernatural claim is impossible. He also challenges those with

the "ghost hunter" mentality, who lack effective training in

investigation and instead just promote belief in unsupportable

paranormal claims, even while engaging in important field

investigations. Nickell ends discussing the future of the skeptical

movement and the odds he thinks it has to adopt the kind of "humanistic

skepticism" he promotes.