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.

Radford characterizes himself as one of the world's few science-based paranormal investigators, and has done first-hand research into psychics, ghosts,[3] exorcisms, miracles, Bigfoot, stigmata, lake monsters, UFO sightings, reincarnation, crop circles, and other topics.

[6] 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,[7] and the claim that humans only use 10% of their brains.

[8] 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 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".

[10] 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.

[citation needed] Radford is a co-founder and former co-host of MonsterTalk, a podcast, which critically examines the science and folklore behind cryptozoological (and legendary) creatures such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and werewolves.

in 2011 and 2024[19] He presented at several conferences of the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research (San Antonio in 2015, Brussels 2018, Sheffield 2023 and Logan 2024)[20] Radford's writings also focus on topics related to women and minorities, particularly in South America and Africa.

Radford spends time on the "unfounded hype and hysteria" of stories of clowns in journalism including John Wayne Gacy and the Aurora Colorado shooter James Holmes.

In April 2017 Radford and Pascual Romero launched the Squaring the Strange podcast with evidence-based analysis and commentary on a variety of topics ranging from the paranormal to the political.

[40] It has featured Radford's detailed analysis of the Blue Whale Challenge scare and his passionate criticism of the History Channel's Amelia Earhart documentary and its discredited photographic evidence.

Examples include John Edward[42][43], Sylvia Browne[44][45], Theresa Caputo[46], Noreen Renier[47][48], Brian Ladd[49], Allison DuBois[50], Pamela Ragland[51], Nancy Weber[52][53] and Jane Duperow[49] He has also researched both historic and contemporaneous missing persons cases to determine whether the victims were recovered through psychic means.

Examples include Laci Peterson, Nicola Bulley, Elizabeth Smart, Holly Bobo, Natalee Holloway, Osama bin Laden, Harley Dilly, Harsha Maddula, Lisa Stebic, Madeleine McCann, Ada Wasson and Mary Ellen Walters.

[58] From his investigations, Radford concluded that in virtually every case the missing person was found either by police and searchers, or random passersby, without assistance from specific information provided by psychics.

In many cases, after a person or body is recovered through ordinary means, psychics will reframe some of their earlier vague clues and predictions to make them appear accurate and relevant.

He was able to determine the brick vault walls didn't show any of the damage would be expected from the movement of lead-lined coffins; there were also sourcing issues with the main testimony.

He noted that "Russian Yeti: The Killer Lives begins with the premise that the injuries sustained by the skiers were so grave and extraordinary that could only have been inflicted by an inhumanly strong creature."

The investigation included eyewitness interviews, forensic and folkloric research, and "a field expedition to the jungles of Nicaragua" in search of the legendary monster.

[71] In a column for Discovery News, Radford was one of the first journalists to critically analyze the video and correctly identify the UFO or “mystery missile” as an airplane contrail.

Surveillance cameras caught the glowing, fuzzy light in a workout area, wandering over the weight benches and fitness machines.

Radford conducted several days of on-site field investigations at the courthouse, and after several experiments duplicated the "ghost" effect by placing insects on the video camera that recorded the original event.

[78][79] In 2001, Radford investigated the mysterious 1997 incident in which thousands of Japanese children seemingly suffered seizures while watching "Dennō Senshi Porygon", an episode of the Pokémon anime.

The characteristic features of the episode are consistent with the diagnosis of epidemic hysteria, triggered by sudden anxiety after dramatic mass media reports describing a relatively small number of genuine photosensitive-epilepsy seizures.

After investigating claims of a monster in Lake Champlain that has been nicknamed "Champ", Radford, along with Joe Nickell concluded that the object in the famous photo was almost certainly a floating log or tree-trunk.