Meet one of our Knight Authors: Hep Aldridge ’80

Hep Aldridge is a certified scuba diver, cave diver, amateur archaeologist, and retired college administrator whose main area of interest in Pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas has expanded to the mysteries of ancient civilizations worldwide.

He has led or been part of archaeological expeditions to Mexico and Honduras, making discoveries that have been reported in National Geographic magazine. Hep’s related interest in space and “things unknown” was fueled by his time living in New Mexico as a teenager when he began to question the many strange and unexplained things he saw in the the night sky in the mid 60’s.

Some years later, chance meetings in Florida with well-known treasure hunters, Art McKee and Kip Wagner developed his interest in salvage operations for lost undersea treasure. The combination of these interests led to the genesis of the Risky Business Chronicles, a series of books which now span six distinct sagas with a recurring memorable cast of characters. Hep is an Air Force veteran and resides on Florida’s Space Coast. He holds a bachelor’s degree from UCF, master’s degree from Norwich University and a doctorate from the University of Florida.