Biography

Nicholas Redfern (born 1964) is a British best-selling author, journalist, cryptozoologist and ufologist.

Redfern is an active advocate of official government disclosure of UFO information, and has worked to uncover thousands of pages of previously classified Royal Air Force, Air Ministry and Ministry of Defence files on unidentified flying objects (UFOs) dating from the Second World War from the Public Record Office and currently works as a feature writer and contributing editor for Phenomena magazine.

His 2005 book, Body Snatchers in the Desert: The Horrible Truth at the Heart of the Roswell Story, purports to show that the Roswell crash may have been military aircraft tests using Japanese POWs, suffering from progeria or radiation effects. Redfern attended Pelsall Comprehensive School in Pelsall from 1976 to 1981. He also worked at Dixons paint suppliers with another Ufologist Martin Lenton.

Redfern joined a rock music and fashion magazine Zero in 1981, where he trained in journalism, writing, magazine production and photography, later going on to write freelance articles on UFOs during the mid-1980s.

From 1984 until 2001 he worked as a freelance feature writer for the Daily Express, People, Western Daily Press and Express & Star newspapers, as well as a full-time feature writer for Planet on Sunday. Between 1996 and 2001 he worked as a freelance journalist for the British newsstand magazines The Weekender, Animals, Animals, Animals, Pet Reptile, Military Illustrated, Eye-Spy, The Unopened Files and The X-Factor.

Between 1996 and 2000 Redfern signed a three-book publishing deal with Simon & Schuster of London for the publication of A Covert Agenda: The British Government’s UFO Top Secrets Exposed (1997), The FBI Files: The FBI’s UFO Top Secrets Exposed (1998) and Cosmic Crashes: The Incredible Story of the UFOs That Fell to Earth (1999). These books were published in the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Poland, Australia, New Zealand and Portugal.

In 2003 Paraview-Pocket Books New York published Redfern's book Strange Secrets: Real Government Files on the Unknown in May of that year. And, in March 2004 Paraview-Pocket Books, New York, published his book Three Men Seeking Monsters: Six Weeks in Pursuit of Werewolves, Lake Monsters, Giant Cats, Ghostly Devil Dogs, and Ape-Men. This book tells the story of his relationship with Jonathan Downes and Richard Freeman of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, and has been optioned by Universal Studios though as of 2021 it has not been released. Redfern has run the U.S. branch of the Centre for Fortean Zoology since 2002.

Redfern works on the lecture circuit, both in the UK and overseas, and has appeared in internationally syndicated shows discussing the UFO phenomenon. Redfern is a regular on the History Channel programs Monster Quest and UFO Hunters, National Geographic Channels's Paranormal and the Syfy channel's Proof Positive, as well as appearing in an episode in the third season of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, titled "Ghost Busters". He has also appeared on a variety of television programmes in the United Kingdom, including The Big Breakfast, Channel 5 News, and GMTV.

He has been identified as a member of an informal group of friends sometimes called the "Paranormal Rat Pack" and "The Cabal"; other members are filmmaker Paul Kimball, and author Greg Bishop; Mac Tonnies was also a member.