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Monster Files: A Look Inside Government Secrets and Classified Documents on Bizarre Creatures and Extraordinary Animals

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Does the Pentagon have the body of Bigfoot on ice?
What is the U.S. military hiding from us about lake monsters?
What is the link between the CIA and the abominable snowman?
Why is there a British government file on sea serpents?
What do the Russians know about animal ESP?

For decades there have been persistent rumors, tales, and legends that government agencies all around the world have been secretly collecting and studying data on bizarre beasts, amazing animals, and strange creatures.

Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, sea serpents, psychic pets, the chupacabras, and the abominable snowman have all attracted official, classified interest.

Now, for the first time, the full, fearsome facts are finally revealed in Nick Redfern's Monster Files .

You'll discover all the amazing cryptozoological truths, conspiracies, and cover-ups behind the secret studies by the Pentagon, the Kremlin, and the British military, among many others.

Despite what your parents might have told you when you were a child, monsters, creepy creatures, and terrifying beasts really do exist. And our governments know all about them.

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 2013

17 people are currently reading
187 people want to read

About the author

Nick Redfern

135 books224 followers
Nick Redfern is a British best-selling author, Ufologist and Cryptozoologist who has been an active advocate of official disclosure, and has worked to uncover thousands of pages of previously-classified Royal Air Force, Air Ministry and Ministry of Defence files on UFOs dating from the Second World War from the Public Record Office.

He has has appeared on a variety of television programmes in the UK and works on the lecture circuit, both in the UK and overseas, and has appeared in internationally syndicated shows discussing the UFO phenomenon. He is also a regular on the History Channel programs Monster Quest and UFO Hunters as well as National Geographic Channels's Paranormal and the SyFY channel's Proof Positive.

Redfern now lives in Texas and is currently working as a full-time author and journalist specializing in a wide range of unsolved mysteries, including Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, UFO sightings, government conspiracies, alien abductions and paranormal phenomena, and also works as a feature writer and contributing editor for Phenomena magazine and writes regularly for other magazines and websites.

In 2007 Universal Studios bought the rights to Redfern's book: "Three Men Seeking Monsters: Six Weeks in Pursuit of Werewolves, Lake Monster, Giant Cats, Ghostly Devil Dogs and Ape-Men" in the hopes of making a movie from it.

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5 stars
23 (22%)
4 stars
36 (34%)
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2 stars
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Profile Image for Hunter Shea.
Author 66 books1,009 followers
May 18, 2014
This is an excellent, unbiased look into the creatures and myths that have confounded people for generations. A huge monster fan all my life, this book was loaded with government programs, conspiracies and facts I'd never come across before. Nick Redfern knows his stuff!
Profile Image for Praveen Kumar.
Author 3 books10 followers
November 22, 2014
Nothing new and nothing sensational. Most of the information are in public domain. The author has only added some brief historical information and titbits.
Profile Image for Carol Cassada.
Author 39 books106 followers
December 31, 2022
I’m a familiar with Nick Redfern because of his appearances on Ancient Aliens and other paranormal shows. Being someone who’s interested in paranormal and supernatural stuff I was interested in reading his book.

Monster Files focuses on the government’s coverups of monster sightings. Of course most of the incidents involve aliens, but there’s also coverups with Bigfoot and sea monsters.

Some of the stories seem far-fetched, but are entertaining nonetheless. Whether you believe the reports or not, it still makes for an interesting read.
814 reviews9 followers
June 19, 2020
This reads like a middle schooler writing their 1st essay. NR goes back and forth between subjects such as Bigfoot to mermaids to ABCs and back to Bigfoot. It's dizzying. Each chapter is like an essay on whatever topic he wants to discuss at the moment and sometimes he forgets what his point of the chapter/essay is, adding to the confusion. Now I did like the new ideas on some of the topics he brings up and that is why I gave this 3 stars instead of 2. And overall I will probably read another one of NR books. * BTW Anubis is an Egyptian God of the underworld not Greek.
Profile Image for Patricia.
222 reviews3 followers
July 20, 2017
Excellent book for anyone interested in Cryptozoology. Mr. Redfern knows the subject very well.
Profile Image for Amber.
193 reviews
December 8, 2022
This book was alright. I think there was a lot of fluff that could have been taken out. The author would go on random tangents that didn't need to be there. Just give me the facts.
6,209 reviews41 followers
January 19, 2016
2013, 286 pages.

This is a book that deals with possible conspiracies relating to certain cryptid type of creatures. It covers certain government-level conspiracies over the existence of these animals and what use they could be to the government. The conspiracies range, of course, from those that make some sense to some that make very little sense at all

The topics include:
The Presidents Bigfoot. (Concerns Teddy Roosevelt.)
Serpents of high Seas. (Typical huge sea creatures.)
An army of Manimals. (Stalin's Ape Men.)
A Wartime Wolfman. (A hairy disease.)
Weird and Wacky Winged Wonders of War. (Bats with Bombs.)
How the Pentagon Made a Monster. (A fire-breathing scarecrow.)
Welcome to the Jungle. Army. (Psychological warfare.)
A Yeti-hunting 007. (Spying while hunting a Yeti.)
Secret Agents and a Supersized Snake.
Autopsying a Monster.
The Strange Saga of Acoustic Kitty. (Let's train cats as spies.)
The Minnesota Iceman, the FBI and the Vietnam War. (I saw the iceman on display long ago.)
From Lake Monsters to Secret Experiments.
Sasquatch, UFOs and the U.S. Air Force (Dimensional doorways?)
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Are We Ready for Bigfoot.
A Mountain of Secrets. (More about Bigfoot.)
The Nessie Files.
A Nightmare From the Skies.
Specrtes and Phantimals.
The ABCs of a Royal Conspiracy.(Princess Diana.)
The Biggest Blooper of Them All.
In Search of the Government's Mermaids.
The Cat is Out of the Bag. (ABCs, Alien Big Cats.)
Werewolves and the Military.
Something Dwells Down Under.

As you can see the book covers a wide variety of stories and possible conspiracies. It's an interesting read and at probably quite a few of the topics are actually real. The problem with these, as with all both books dealing with conspiracies and cryptids is that the authors of the books are presenting things that are very extraordinary and asking people to believe certain things happened and certain creatures exist.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof and that is where the various books fall down. Specific government papers would help along with very clear photos of the creatures yet these are very hard to get, of course, but would raise the believability factor.
Profile Image for Justin.
58 reviews
October 14, 2013
Nick Redfern, is a prolific author, and a perennial favorite ufologist/cryptozoologist. If you are looking for a clear eyed, scientific analysis of the unexplained, you should probably move on. If you want fascinating, rip-roaring campfire tales of monsters, combined with labyrinthine, conspiratorial cover ups - You have come to the right place.

This particular piece of prose benefits from a sporting and fun loving suspension-of-disbelief, not the foaming-at-the-mouth of a fanatic, but rather the combination of childlike wonder and campy, X-files style fun. The book is more-or-less partitioned chronologically and geographically. The emphasis is the intersection of cryptids and governments, with a focus on English speaking nations and the U.S.S.R. The book is not entirely limited to cryptozoology with a slapdash measure of aliens and the trans-dimensional paranormal thrown in the for good measure.

A good book. Perhaps not the most believable, or scientific, or even consistent - but like any good monster yarn - definitely a lot of fun. It may not all be true, it may not be strictly scientific, but it is interesting.

Chapters are:
1. The President’s Bigfoot.
2. Serpents of the High Seas.
3. An Army of Manimals.
4. A Wartime Wolfman.
5. Weird and Wacky Winged Wonders of War.
6. How the Pentagon Made a Monster.
7. Welcome to the Jungle.
8. Animal ESP and the U.S. Army.
9. A Yeti-Hunting 007.
10. Secret Agents and a Super-size Snake.
11. Autopsying a Monster.
12. A Strange Saga of Acoustic Kitty.
13. The Minnesota Iceman, the FBI, and the Vietnam War.
14. From Lake Monsters to Secret Experiments.
15. Sasquatch, UFOs, and the U.S. Airforce.
16. Back in the U.S.S.R.
17. Are We Ready for Bigfoot?
18. A Mountain of Secrets
19. The Nessie Files.
20. A Nightmare form the Skies.
21. Specters and Phantimals.
22. The ABCs of a Royal Conspiracy.
23. The Biggest Blooper of Them All.
24. In Search of the Government’s Mermaids.
25. The Cat is Out of the Bag.
26. Werewolves and the Military.
27. Something Dwells Downunder.
Profile Image for K.L. Bernard.
Author 1 book22 followers
July 22, 2013
Do you believe in monsters? Could you even begin to imagine that Big Foot, UFOs and werewolves could actually exist in our world and that our government has kept it a secret? Monster Files will give you an inside view of some of the most bizarre wonders of the world.

It has been documented that President Theodore Roosevelt was intrigued by the Big Foot lore. He would listen to the stories told by a hunter named Bauman. Being a hunter himself, he was informed by Bauman that he and his friend had encountered a beast and as a result his friend died. During the war in 1942 Jonathan Downes was on patrol with his Home Guard battling the Nazis. In their pursuit of a wartime criminal they stumbled across a wolf like man running through the Powderham woods. The wolf-man was shot, captured and whisked away. That encounter and government file had been marked “Top Secret” and put away.

In 1956, a CIA agent by the name of Tom Slick, was ready for an adventure to find a Yeti, or abominable snowman. Upon his arrival in Nepal he was warned not to harm any Yeti. As a result of this excursion it had been proven that the Yeti existed, documents proved it, but if you want to know more, you'll have to get past the “Men In Black” and their well kept secret.

Redfern gets readers engrossed with his fact finding documents, photography and actual accounts of curious adventures, such as a marines sighting of a winged batwoman. Giant snakes, psychic dogs and cats, and more animal lore, he painstakingly debunks and proves that these creature exist and the governments around the world have covered all of it up. If you are a fan of legends then Redfern's guide will intrigue you and open your mind to the possibilities.
Profile Image for Barry Huddleston.
147 reviews3 followers
May 17, 2013
* I received a review copy from New Page Books

I have never been disappointed with a Nick Redfern book and this one is his best thus far. First, the cover art is fantastic, it has this wonderful Indiana Jones vibe. Each chapter begins with a grunge page with a handwritten-like font that gives the book a field guide feel. While there is a nice selection of interior art and pictures in the book, I would like to have seen some of them in color.

As you might expect from a Redfern book, there is a nice sized Bibliography which should make for a nice jumping off point for your own research. The book begins with Roosevelt’s Bigfoot story and travels through cryptid stories until taunting us with a Megalania prisca. I have to say that I am pretty skeptical when it comes to some of the stories, but Redfern certainly knows how to lay out an interesting case.

Perfect for the paranormal geeks out there, I just happen to know a redhead who, if you were to whip this book out of the pocket of your cargo shorts, would swoon — swoon at the sight of this book. I enjoyed every minute of it and would give Monster Files: A Look Inside Government Secrets and Classified Documents on Bizarre Creatures and Extraordinary Animals 5 sea serpents out of 5.
Profile Image for Gwnhwyfer.
244 reviews20 followers
January 8, 2014
Fun, quick read with bite-sized chapters written in the style of Ripley's. The cover art and lettering is strongly reminiscent of the old pulp fiction, and just as fun as the inside.

While I am a somewhat ardent viewer of paranormal television (and reader of para non-fiction), I'm not necessarily a believer... but I like to keep an open mind. Just in case*. ;)

*Besides, it's a great place for writing ideas!
275 reviews6 followers
July 23, 2013
I want to start by saying that I love idea of unexplained phenomenon, it has always interested me. Igave this book one star because I couldn't give it zero. The ntire thing was hearsay and second or third hand anecdotes. Completely uninteresting which is hard to do when talking about the unexplained.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews

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