Product Description: What constitutes historical truth is often subject to change. Through ingenious detection, the accepted wisdom of one generation may become the discredited legend of another―or vice versa. In this wide- ranging study of historical investigation, former detective Joe Nickell allows the reader to look over his shoulder as he demonstrates the use of varied techniques in solving some of the world's most perplexing mysteries...read more

(view table of contents)

Product Description: Guardian angels, demonic spirits, extraterrestrial visitors--are these entities figments of the imagination, or is there evidence for their existence? Famed psychic detective Joe Nickell answers these questions in his lively book...read more

Product Description: Book by Nickell, Joe

Product Description: This authoritative book about the controversial "shroud" of Turin, claimed to be the burial cloth of Jesus, presents overwhelming evidence that the cloth is actually the creation of a clever medieval artist.From the earliest known document that mentions the shroud - a letter from a 14th-century Catholic bishop reporting that the artist had confessed - Joe Nickell traces the historical, iconographic, pathological, forensic, and physical and chemical investigations of the purported relic...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Examines the evidence for supposedly miraculous objects and events, including pictures, icons, relics, miracle cures, and special powers

Tries to explain logically some events that seem to have only a supernatural explanation.

Offers practical information for checking out many types of paranormal claim, including UFO sightings, ghost hauntings, and psychic feats

A probing of mysteries involving secret codes, buried treasure, macabre relics, mysterious deaths, ghostly visitations, and other unexplained phenomena (view table of contents)

Takes a scientific approach to paranormal mysteries, taking readers on a series of case studies including the supposed hauntings known as the 'Amityville horror' in New York, employing forensic and investigative techniques to their analysis. (view table of contents)

The centuries-old art of handwriting is practiced daily by millions, yet few have any idea of its history or the tools used in handwriting. In Pen, Ink, and Evidence, Joe Nickell traces the development of writing and writing materials from the ancient cuneiform tablet to today's ball-point-scribbled memo. Nickell not only describes how ink, paper, pens, and pencils have been manufactured and used over the centuries, but also explores the history of such ancillary activities as learning calligraphy, cutting quill pens, deciphering old scripts, detecting forgeries, identifying watermarks, dating ink bottles, and reading faded manuscripts. He also traces the development of autograph collecting, describes how to identify inks, and offers sidelights on postage stamps, early typewriters, mourning stationery, fountain-pen fillers, and the evolution of the desk. Richly illustrated from the author's own collection, the book includes photos of historic inkwells, traveling writing kits, pens of glass and gold, ink eraser knives, quill cutters, paperweights, letter openers, pen racks, and sealing-wax melters, as well as documents ranging from valentines and genealogical records to secret messages. Pen, Ink, and Evidence is an essential text for calligraphers, archivists, literary scholars, historians, genealogists, collectors, document analysts, teachers of handwriting, and all others with an interest in writing and its accoutrements.

Examines the use of psychic powers in crime solving, and discusses the activities of specific psychics and the methods they use to obtain information about particular cases

Takes a scientific approach to paranormal mysteries, taking readers on a series of case studies from spontaneous human combustion and hauntings to aliens and stigmata, employing forensic and investigative techniques to their analysis. (view table of contents)

Will the rare autographed baseball your great-uncle gave you put your children through college? Is your grandmother's chest of drawers really a seventeenth-century antique, or merely a reproduction? A leader in forgery detection and forensic investigation, Joe Nickell reveals his secrets to detecting artifacts items in Real or Fake: Studies in Authentication.Detailing how the pros determine whether an Abraham Lincoln signature is forged or if a photograph of Emily Dickinson is genuine, Nickell provides the essential tools necessary to identify counterfeits. In this general introduction to the principles of authentication, Nickell provides readers with step-by-step explanations of the science used to detect falsified documents, photographs, and other objects. Illustrating methods used on hit shows such as Antiques Roadshow and History Detectives, Nickell recommends that aspiring investigators employ a comprehensive approach to identifying imitations. One should consider the object's provenance (the origin or derivation of an artifact), content (clues in the scene or item depicted), and material composition (what artifacts are made of), as well as the results of scientific analyses, including radiographic, spectroscopic, microscopic, and microchemical tests.Including fascinating cases drawn from Nickell's illustrious career, Real or Fake combines historical and scientific investigations to reveal reproductions and genuine objects. Nickell explains the warning signs of forgery, such as patching and unnatural pen lifts; chronicles the evolution of writing instruments, inks, and papers; shows readers how to date photographs, papers, and other materials; and traces the development of photographic processes since the mid-nineteenth century. Lavishly illustrated with examples of replicas and authentic objects inspected by Nickell, Real or Fake includes case studies of alleged artifacts including Jack the Ripper's diary, a draft of the Gettysburg Address, notes by Charles Dickens, Jefferson Davis's musket, and debris from the Titanic.