William J. Birnes

William J. "Bill" Birnes (born November 7, 1944) is an American author, ghostwriter, \expert on serial killers, chairman of the board at Sunrise Community Counseling Center, and ufologist. In 1974, Birnes earned a Ph.D. in medieval literature from New York University with a dissertation on Piers Plowman. Birnes earned a J.D. degree from Concord Law School, a private online law school.

He is married to novelist Nancy Hayfield. Together they ran a computer science business in the 1980s. He is also a lawyer. Birnes has repeatedly appeared as a guest on the late night radio talk-show Coast to Coast AM to discuss UFOs,

Birnes, a ghostwriter, has written or coauthored books on computer science, and science fiction novels. As a writer of popular nonfiction, he co-authored The Riverman with detective/academic Robert D. Keppel (1995), an account of serial killer Ted Bundy's involvement in the apprehension of Green River Killer Gary Ridgway. The book was adapted into a made-for-TV film (2004) on A&E, The Riverman. His coauthored book about Mickey Rooney with Richard A. Lertzman was described by Publishers Weekly as the "definitive biography".

Ufology Birnes ghostwrote which appeared on The New York Times Best Seller List for three weeks, peaking at number twelve on the list. According to Birnes, he spent two years working on the book with Corso. They had initially wanted to do a memoir based on his military experiences, but when Corso referenced UFOs during their conversations, Birnes found what he said "compelling enough for its own book".

Birnes's credibility was questioned when a UFO sighting over Morris County, New Jersey, on January 5, 2009, was later revealed to be the result of a hoax. A review of UFO Hunters by Neil Genzlinger said "Mr. Birnes and his colleagues add to the campy feel of the series by not being very good actors, trying in vain to make the discoveries that they no doubt researched ahead of time appear spontaneous on camera."

In addition to UFO Hunters, he has appeared on the History Channel's television documentary series Ancient Aliens (2009–2013).