Benjamin Radford (born October 2, 1970) is an American writer, investigator, and skeptic. He has authored, coauthored or contributed to over twenty books and written over a thousand articles and columns on a wide variety of topics including urban legends, unexplained mysteries, the paranormal, critical thinking, mass hysteria, and media literacy. His book, Mysterious New Mexico: Miracles, Magic, and Monsters in the Land of Enchantment, was published in the summer of 2014 and is a scientific investigation of famous legends and folklore in the state of New Mexico. In 2016 Radford published Bad Clowns, a 2017 IPPY bronze award winner, and he is regarded as an expert on the bad clowns phenomenon.
Radford has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, The History Channel, the National Geographic Channel, the Learning Channel, CBC, BBC, ABC News, The New York Times, and many other outlets.
Radford characterizes himself as one of the world's few science-based paranormal investigators, and has done first-hand research into psychics, ghosts, exorcisms, miracles, Bigfoot, stigmata, lake monsters, UFO sightings, reincarnation, crop circles, and other topics. "I'm open-minded. I never said I don't believe ghosts exist. But I can say I've looked at the research that's been done, and I've done personal investigations. In each particular case there either is or isn't good, compelling evidence, and so far I haven't seen it."
He regularly speaks at universities and conferences across the country about his research, and about science and skepticism. Radford's books and investigations have been incorporated into several college and university courses on critical thinking, including at Western Washington University and the University of New Mexico.
Radford is also a contributor to the website Snopes.com, where he has researched and written articles debunking fakelore and a variety of popular myths including The Amityville Horror, and the claim that humans only use 10% of their brains.
Early life
Radford became interested in "the mysterious and the unexplained" as a child from reading books about, "monsters and dragons, the Bermuda Triangle, psychics in Russia that could move automobiles with their mind", etc. He also became interested through television shows such as That's Incredible and Ripley's Believe It or Not. He grew disenchanted with the lack of scientific rigor in the books and television shows because there seemed to be little or no investigation or proper references.
Radford's first encounter with formal skepticism came as a result of a fruitless search for beer in a "dry" county in Utah. Winning a regional essay contest while at the University of New Mexico, he was flown to present his paper at a college town in Utah. He and his colleagues came across a tiny used bookstore where he acquired an old issue of Skeptical Inquirer featuring an article on the prophesies of Nostradamus penned by none other than James Randi. He relates that this was the first article he'd read criticizing Nostradamus and offered "skeptical, logical, and reasonable explanations for the prophecies apparent accuracy".
Radford holds a bachelor's degree in psychology (graduating magna cum laude) with a minor in professional writing from the University of New Mexico where he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society in 1993. He also has a master's degree in education from the University at Buffalo where his focus was on Science and the Public, and his masters thesis was titled Misinformation in Eating Disorder Communications: Implications for Science Communication Policy. Radford stated that he chose this topic because it "involved several of my longstanding interests such as myths and misinformation ... eating disorders (a subject I first became involved with when helping an ex-girlfriend struggle with bulimia); and the news media".
He graduated from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in 2022, earning a master's degree in Public Health. He was inducted into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health, and was the recipient of a 2022 Social Justice Award from the Dartmouth Institute.
Career
Journalism
Radford served as managing editor of the science magazine Skeptical Inquirer from 1997 until early 2011, when he was promoted to deputy editor. He is also a regular columnist at the magazine. Until it suspended publication in 2009, he was editor-in-chief of the Spanish-language magazine Pensar, published in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Radford is also a regular columnist for Discovery News, LiveScience.com, and the Skeptical Briefs newsletter.
