Joe Nickell

Joe Nickell (born December 1, 1944) is an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal. 
He helped find out that the diary of Jack the Ripper was a hoax. In 2002 he was one of a number of experts asked by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to see if the manuscript of Hannah Crafts' "The Bondwoman's Narrative" (1853–1860), possibly the first novel by an African-American woman, was real. 
Nickell is senior research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and writes regularly for their journal, the "Skeptical Inquirer". 
He is also an associate dean of the Center for Inquiry Institute. He is the author or editor of over 30 books.