In the fall of 1976—fifty years ago—philosopher and secular humanist Paul Kurtz organized the meeting in Buffalo, New York, that led to the development of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). That same year, CSICOP published a journal called The Zetetic. The journal opened with this definition:
ZETETIC 1. adj. proceeding by inquiry. 2. n. skeptic, seeker; specif: one of a group of Pyrrhonist philosophers. —Webster’s Third New International Dictionary
The journal’s editor, Marcello Truzzi, was joined by an impressive editorial board including Kurtz, James Randi, Ray Hyman, Martin Gardner, and Dennis Rawlins. In Truzzi’s opening editorial, he wrote, “As a name for the journal it reflects our belief that the proper attitude of science toward unusual claims should be one of balance between openness to new facts and skepticism with critical attention toward facts which are anomalous.”
The journal’s second editor—and longest serving by over four decades—Kendrick Frazier ushered in a name change to The Skeptical Inquirer while maintaining the tone of open-minded skepticism. So began fifty years of organized skepticism in which investigating was valued over debunking. We’ll be celebrating skeptical inquiry in various ways through all of 2026, with this issue being the introduction.
In our first cover story, James E. Alcock, a member of CSI’s Executive Council, provides an insider’s look into the events surrounding CSICOP’s founding. Adding further context, Massimo Polidoro also insightfully uses his column to highlight some of the key people and events that led to the organization’s formation.
Eugenie Scott, also on CSI’s Executive Council, shares a story demonstrating how CSICOP influenced the formation of local groups, such as the Bay Area Skeptics. Inspired by an earlier investigation into “faith healer” Peter Popoff, the local group investigated another supposed faith healer.
Mentalist Banachek shares his own origin story and how he joined forces with James “The Amazing” Randi and Michael Edwards to pull off Project Alpha, the greatest skeptic-led hoax of the twentieth century. Next, Richard Saunders, host of The Skeptic Zone podcast, poses a question: “What would the world look like without the modern skeptical movement?”
Finally, I’ll preview the next CSICon, an in-person celebration of the magnificent fifty-year history of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), now part of the Center for Inquiry (CFI). We hope you’ll join us from June 11–14, 2026, in Buffalo, New York, the place where our story began!