Nickell, Joe
Cassette Tape Content Outline
Cassette Tape No. 90/16
Knox Historical Museum Historical Lecture No. 3 Title: Historical Investigation
JOE NICKELL
Cassette tape dated October 8, 1990, on file at Knox Historical Museum, Barbourville, Ky.
Notes by Charles Reed Mitchell. No copy was sent to Kentucky Oral History Commission, which refuses lectures.
The tape preserves the audio portion of a lecture and slide show demonstration held at the KHM in the City Council Chambers in the Municipal Building, Barbourvi1le, Ky. given on October 8,1990 as the first event in the museum's Daniel Boone Festival week series of programs by guest lecturer Joe Nickell, who was sponsored by the Kentucky Humanities Council. The slides illustrate points made in the lecture but the talk is clear enough without them. Mr. Nickell plans to publish the substance of this lecture and other expansions in a book to be called HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION in the near future and so has restricted the duplication rights of this tape.
Two 60 minute cassette tapes, total playing time: 80 minutes.
RESTRICTED. Restricted Release allowing the KHM permission to use the tape as public record signed. Duplication and use beyond fair use are not permitted. Low sound, especially at the beginning. Taped by Susan Arthur.
TAPE 1 SIDE 1
START. KHM Program Chairman and Vice President Carlo Morris introduces Joe Nickell. JN is a former magician and former detective with an interest in history. He now teaches technical writing at University of Kentucky. Originally he is from Morgan County, Kentucky, and calls West Liberty, Ky, his home. JN has written many articles and several books, including INQUEST ON THE SHROUD OF TURIN; SECRETS OF THE SUPERNATURAL; and a children's book, THE MAGIC DETECTIVE. HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION, the topic of this evening's lecture, will be published in the spring of 1991 and another book is on the way.
THE LECTURE BEGINS. JN has applied his detective skills to historical questions and is sometimes called a debunker because he has exposed a number of frauds and forgeries but he also makes claim to having authenticated many items as well. The lecture treats several famous historical questions individually:
THE SHROUD OF TURIN. The first record of this shroud which supposedly bears the imprint of Christ comes from the 14th century in a letter from an investigator to Pope Clement stating that the shroud is a fraud and the artist who made it was caught and confessed. Pope Clement forbade presentation of the cloth as sacred but did not order it destroyed. The shroud was damaged slightly by a fire.
Interest in the shroud revives in 1898 when it is photographed for the first time, producing what the photographer called a perfect negative image centuries before concepts of photography were invented. JN shows why the shroud does not conform to a proper negative image. He notes that the figure of Christ conforms perfectly instead to the artistic conventions of portraying Christ in the 14th century and fails to take notice of burial postures of Hebrews of Christ's time. The hair flow is of a man standing, not lying on a bier, and the blood flow is as painted and not stained or smudged as in life. Chemical tests show that the "blood" has no blood particles but is probably paint.
JN went so far as to make an imprint of his own body in a shroud, which proved that the shroud's image cannot be produced on such material. He came closest to duplicating the method of the shroud and determined that the fraud was committed by using grave rubbing techniques on sculptures. No fewer than three carbon dating tests confirm that the shroud was made in the mid 14th century.
What bad historians do is to try to press the burden of proof on the doubter. Rationalizations do not directly add up or hold together consistently as in a reasoned argument. If the answers to objections to a theory do not themselves hold together consistently, you have room to doubt. Proper evidence interlocks.
THE NAZCA LINES OF PERU. Pictures have been formed of monkeys, condors, spiders, etc. , over an area of 30 miles on the Nazca Plain in Peru. Each drawing has been done with single lines, rarely crisscrossing each other. Erich von Daniken in CHARIOTS OF THE GODS suggested that the only way the drawing could be seen was from above and therefore flying saucers came in ancient times to help the Nazca Indians create these figures.
Existing pottery and artwork of the Nazcas show these artistic patterns to be indemic to the Nazca culture. JN reproduced one of the drawings of the giant condor by laying string and stakes with a set of knotted cord to measure by and placing cross sticks to set sight lines.
TAPE 1 SIDE 2
Looking at slides of the original and JN's figure caused one wag to say that it was the largest art reproduction ever made. JN also discusses and dismisses other theories.
THE CASE OF THE TWO WILL WESTS. Before finger prints were accepted as legal evidence, the pattern of Identifying criminals was often by body measurement and sight. The presence of two black men in Levenworth Prison who were physically practically identical and one named Will West and the other William West was one of the factors that caused finger prints to be accepted. For years this was presented as a marvel, but JN proves that the two were actually monozoigotic twins with the same relatives. Tracing their correspondence while in prison gave the final evidence to back up the physical evidence of their being twins.
THE CASE OF THE DEATH PORTRAIT OF LINCOLN. No known close shot of Lincoln in his coffin or deathbed are known. Mrs. Lincoln prevented such photos from being made. Yet a man claimed to have a close shot but from an angle looking up Lincoln's nose. JN thought the figure did look like Abe but could find no comparable angled photograph. JN knew that no death mask was made but did order a plaster figure from a life mask present at Fort Harrod. A photo at the low angle looking up the nose of the life mask plaster figure proved the photo was not one of Lincoln.
THE CASE OF THE LINCOLN LETTER. JN has many tools for sorting document authentication, such as antique pens, writing impliments, ink bottles and a knowledge of paper and writing surfaces. Knowing that sand was used for drying ink on paper before blotting paper was invented in 1850 is a help. You can tell under a microscope whether a line was written with a quil pen, a steel pen, etc. Knowledge of pensmanship is essential, as when JN disproved a calling card was not signed by Mrs. Lincoln.
A famous letter supposedly by Lincoln to a Mrs. Bicksby (sp) consoles her for the deaths of her five sons in the Civil War. JN shows that all existing copies are facsimiles and no original exists. The letter was real and was printed by newspapers at the time. The remaining question was did Secretary Hay or Abraham Lincoln pen the text? JN proves that the style of the letter is beyond the skill of Hay and was indeed by Lincoln.
Sometimes a forgery can be a help. JN purchased a suspicious letter supposedly by Ulysses S. Grant. It was not in Grant's hand but by a notary. However, the only known copy of the letter was printed from the copy of another notary who abridged his original. So newly discovered writings of Grant have been made public even tho the paper is not in the author's hand.
THE CASE OF JOHN DEMJANJUK, or IVAN THE TERRIBLE. The Nasi criminal known at Dublenka as Ivan the Terrible was identified as a man working in Detroit. Demjanjuk asked JN to prove his innocence, based on the supposed falseness of a Soviet ID card. But JN found that the card was genuine.
TAPE 2 SIDE 1
Demjanjuk story concluded.
DANIEL BOONE: FRAUDS AND TRUE DOCUMENTS. Thirteen suspicious Boone survey documents turned up in one place and all proved to be genuine. Sometimes that happens. JN learned that one way of checking surveying documents was to look for pin pricks in the corners. These are there to mount the document for copying. Paper was the right kind, ink and quill pen correct and the handwriting is Boone's. Boone's spelling was ''creative" but consistent and systematic.
He wrote "Oke" for "Oak" and "Rad" for ''Red" and ''Clark" for ''Clerk" consistently and these spellings doubtlessly mirror his pronunciation. The spellings helped authenticate the documents.
A shack called ''the Daniel Boone Hut" on the Daniel Boone trail is located inside a rock shelter and was claimed by Kentucky park managers as being the real McCoy. A board signed by "D. Boon" excited the managers, despite their knowing that the Caitron boys used this structure as a playhouse in the 1930s. The wood could not be from Boone's time and no instance on record has Boone misspelling his own name. He always wrote ''Boone." Filson's phoney Boone Biography spelled it ''Boon" and spurred on a host of forgeries.
Everyone claims to have Daniel's rifle. In Louisville someone had a rifle carved "D. Boon Kilt a panther." The so-called Boone Rifle in the Kentucky State Museum was a fraud purchased from ''Professor" Gilbert Rowland. It was notched for the number of Indians killed and carved ''Boone's best Fren." Pictures of Indians ^ were carved on it. Everyone knew it was phoney but no one wanted
to say that the king is naked. JN showed that the rifle was made about the time Boone died.
You find "D. Boon kilt a Bar" on trees all over Kentucky but none are his. He was no Kilroy or John Wayne. JET takes pride in the fact that at the time of the present lecture, the Kentucky Museum in Frankfort is presenting an exhibit of Daniel Boone Fakes, based on the writings of their one-time enemy, Joe Nickell.
END OF LECTURE.
SIDE TWO IS BLANK.
INDEX CARDS
Interview Index Card
Nickel1, Joe,
University of Kentucky Lecturer and author KHM Cassette Tape No. 90/16 KHM Historical Lecture No. 3.
Title: "Historical Investigation"
Daniel Boone Festival Lecture at Knox Historical Museum on October 8, 1990. Two 60-minute Cassettes, total playing time: 80
minutes. RESTRICTED: may not be duplicated and copyright rules
apply. Restricted Release signed. Content Outline on file.
CONTENTS: Publications and background introduction by Carlos
Morris. Joe Nickell's lecture is a preview of his upcoming book HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION to be published in 1991. Slides used to illustrate the lecture. Topics: The Shroud of Turin. Peru's
Nazca Lines. The Two Will Wests. Lincoln Portraits and Letters. John Demjanjuk, alias Ivan the Terrible. Frauds and documents associated with Daniel Boone.
Cross Referencing Cards
Historical Methods Boone, Daniel Lincoln, Abraham West, Will & William Spelling as evidence