Paranormal Debunked

Keep in mind this is of one mans opinion. I do not agree with this article, but some of you may, but again remember this guy was a magician. Matt

Former UK prof now debunking paranormal


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By Chaka Ferguson
The Associated Press


On Halloween, when legend says disembodied spirits return in search of living bodies to possess, Joe Nickell goes on the prowl, too - for ghosts, ghouls and other things that creep in the night.

The former private eye, who used to solve arsons and theft rings for a security firm, is now a senior research fellow at the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, or CSICOP, in New York.

His job: unravel the unexplained, debunk the deceptive, unmask the hoax.

Nickell, 58, joined CSICOP in 1995 after a career that also included stints as a professional magician and professor of English at the University of Kentucky.

CSICOP, based in Amherst, N.Y., encourages the critical investigation of paranormal and "fringe-science" claims from a scientific viewpoint.

Nickell says he has investigated some 40 cases of paranormal phenomena, such as ghost sightings and alien abductions - without finding a smoking ghost, so to speak. Although still fascinated by reports of the supernatural, he says he's found no credible evidence to support its existence.

"The question is whether we can find evidence that makes up for the unlikelihood of ghosts based on everything we know about science and nature," he said.

In his 2001 book Real-Life X-Files, Nickell writes that many of the claims he investigates are hoaxes, and others are simply hallucinations or anomalies that can be explained naturally.

All of this makes him a killjoy of sorts for the 38 percent of Americans who believe in ghosts, according to a 2001 Gallup Poll.

If the paranormal is a hoax then should we give up on those that contact us with claims that have them affraid to live in there own homes personally we are here for that purpose to help prove or disprove the activuty and hopefully through investigating make the home a more peaceful place to live

I have no problem with debunking a claim as long as it was given the same care and dedication that went into investigating the claim. Sometimes another team or person might find a natural cause that the investagating team overlooked. If paranormal investigation is a niche pursuit, then debunking is even more narrow and specialized pursuit.

I think its great this guy hasn't found anything. The short time I have done this I have seen some things and heard somethings that I can't come up with a clear explanation for. I am a skeptic on everything from color to life in general and every aspect there of and in between, if he can explain everything that he has seen then that means what I have seen and heard means that maybe the Bible's timeline hasn't started yet and we all have time. But if the things I have seen are happening and the Bible's writeings are to be believed then we maybe running out of time. I hope he's right!!