April 1, 2002

Paranormal investigator denies shroud's viability
___AMHERST, N.Y.--The on-again, off-again evidence for the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin is off again.
___The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal reports new evidence that the relic could not be the genuine burial shroud of Jesus.
___The most recent study was conducted by Joe Nickell, senior research fellow with the committee and a columnist for Skeptical Inquirer.
___Throughout modern history, as many as 40 alleged burial shrouds of Jesus have been publicized, but the Turin shroud is the most famous.
___According to Nickell, records related to the Turin shroud cannot be found any earlier than the 14th century. The earliest document, he says, is a bishop's report to Pope Clement VII, dated in 1389. That report states the cloth was created as part of a faith-healing scheme, "the truth being attested by the artist who had painted it."
___Through the years, researchers have presented contradictory evidence regarding the shroud's authenticity.
___The cloth has undergone carbon dating and blood testing. Tests of what is purported to be blood on the cloth were tested in the 1970s and found more likely to be red ocher and vermilion tempera paint. Three laboratories using radio-carbon dating placed the age of the cloth somewhere between 1260 and 1390 A.D., not near the time of Jesus' death and resurrection.
___Advocates for the authenticity of the shroud have offered various theories of why the carbon dating might have been flawed.
___Among additional evidence Nickell offers to disprove the authenticity of the shroud is the fact that the Gospel of John reports that Jesus' body was wrapped in "othonia," strips of linen, rather than a whole linen sheet.
___John's Gospel also says Jesus' body was buried in a large quantity of aloes and myrrh, Nickell said, and no trace of either spice has been found on the shroud.
___Nickell, who holds a doctor of philosophy degree, is an expert on the Shroud of Turin. He is author of "Inquest on the Shroud of Turin" and numerous articles.

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