The Dreamland Of Alleged Experiences With Non-Human Entities

wikipedia  |  Whitley Strieber is currently a practicing Catholic. He is also associated with the Gurdjieff Foundation.[54] He left regular work in the Foundation shortly before the experiences reported in Communion but remains involved in the mystical teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky and makes frequent references to them in his non-fiction writings.[citation needed]

Strieber contends that he was abducted from his cabin in upstate New York on the evening of December 26, 1985, by non-human beings. He wrote about this experience and related experiences in Communion (1987), his first non-fiction book. Although the book is perceived generally as an account of alien abduction, Strieber draws no conclusions about the identity of the alleged abductors. He refers to the beings as "the visitors", a name chosen to be as neutral as possible to entertain the possibility that they are not extraterrestrials. Neurologist Steven Novella remarks that the details of Whitley's tale of waking up seemingly paralyzed fits the description of hypnagogia, a fairly common neurological phenomenon that has been mistaken by some for an intervention by demons or aliens.[13]

Both the hardcover and paperback edition of Communion reached the number one position on The New York Times Best Seller list (non-fiction), with more than 2 million copies collectively sold.

Although it was published as non-fiction, the book editor of the Los Angeles Times pronounced the follow-up title, Transformation (1988),[14] to be fiction and removed it from the non-fiction best-seller list (it nonetheless made the top 10 on the fiction side of the chart). "It's a reprehensible thing," Strieber responded. "My book is a true story ... Placing this book on the fiction list is an ugly example of exactly the kind of blind prejudice that has hurt human progress for many generations."[15] Criticism noting the similarity between the non-human beings in Strieber's autobiographical accounts and the non-human beings in his initial horror novels was typically acknowledged by the author as a fair observation, but not indicative of his autobiographical works being fictional: "The mysterious small beings that figure prominently in Catmagic seem to be an unconscious rendering of [the visitors], created before I was aware that they may be real."[16]

Since the 1987 publication of Communion, Strieber wrote four additional autobiographies detailing his experiences with the visitors: Transformation (1988), a direct follow-up; Breakthrough: The Next Step (1995),[17] a reflection on the original events and accounts of the sporadic contact he'd subsequently experienced; The Secret School (1996),[18] in which he examines strange memories from his childhood; and lastly, Solving the Communion Enigma: What Is to Come (2011).[19]

In Solving the Communion Enigma, Strieber reflects on how advances in scientific understanding since his 1987 publication may shed light on what he perceived, noting, "Among other things, since I wrote Communion, science has determined that parallel universes may be physically real and that time travel may in some way be possible". The book is a consolidation of UFO sightings and related phenomena, including crop circles, alien abductions, mutilations and deaths in an attempt to discern any kind of meaningful overall pattern. Strieber concludes that the human species is being shepherded to a higher level of understanding and existence within an endless "multiverse" of matter, energy, space and time. He also writes more candidly about the deleterious effects his initial experiences had upon him while staying at his upstate New York cabin in the 1980s, noting, "I was regularly drinking myself to sleep when we were there. I would listen to the radio until late hours, drinking vodka..."[20]

Other visitor-themed books of Strieber's include Majestic (1989),[21] a novel about the Roswell UFO incident; The Communion Letters (1997, reissued in 2003),[22] a collection of letters from readers reporting experiences similar to Strieber's; Confirmation (1998),[23] in which Strieber reviews a variety of evidence that is suggestive of alien contact, and considers what more would be required to provide 'confirmation'; The Grays (2006)[24] a novel in which his impressions of alien contact are presented through a fictional thriller/espionage narrative, and; Hybrids (2011)[25] a fictional narrative that imagines human/alien hybrids being born into the modern world.[citation needed]

Additional visitor-themed writings include a screenplay for the 1989 film Communion, directed by Philippe Mora and starring Christopher Walken as Strieber. The movie covers material from the books Communion and Transformation. Strieber has stated that he was dissatisfied with the film, which utilized scenes of improvised dialogue and includes themes not present in his books. Strieber also wrote a screenplay for his novel Majestic, which to date has not been filmed.[26]

Whitley Strieber has repeatedly expressed frustration that his experiences have been taken as "alien contact" when he does not actually know what they were. Strieber has reported anomalous childhood experiences and suggested that he may have suffered some sort of early interference by intelligence or military agencies.[27]

He was extensively tested for temporal lobe epilepsy and other brain abnormalities at his own request, but his brain was found to be functioning normally. The results of these tests were reported in his book Transformation.[citation needed]