Whitley Strieber
Louis Whitley Strieber was an established American novelist with seven books in print (The Wolfen, 1978; The Hunger, 1981; Warday with James Kunetka, 1984) when on the evening of 26 December 1985 he experienced what he came to describe as an encounter at his cabin in Accord, a hamlet in Ulster County in New York's Hudson Valley. Hypnotic regression sessions and neurological assessments with Dr Donald Klein, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus at Columbia University and a leading figure in psychopharmacology, found no evidence of pathology. Strieber's account became Communion: A True Story (William Morrow, 1987), a number-one New York Times bestseller that sold over two million copies. He has continued the documentary record across nine subsequent nonfiction books from 1988 to 2026, through the Dreamland podcast he took over from Art Bell in 1999, and through the Unknown Country website.
A Life
Louis Whitley Strieber was born on 13 June 1945 in San Antonio, Texas. He attended Central Catholic High School in San Antonio (class of 1963), completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Texas at Austin in 1968, and studied at the London School of Film Technique the same year. He established himself as a novelist in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Wolfen (William Morrow, 1978), a horror novel about predatory wolves in New York City, was adapted as a 1981 film. The Hunger (William Morrow, 1981), a novel about vampires, was adapted as a 1983 film by MGM/United Artists. He co-authored Warday (Holt, 1984) with James Kunetka, which won the Olive Branch Award in 1986. By the time of the December 1985 encounter he had published seven novels.
Strieber married Anne Mattocks in 1970. She became his collaborator and co-editor on several subsequent books. Anne Strieber died on 11 August 2015. Strieber has continued to write and publish through 2026, producing both fiction and nonfiction. Since 1999 he has hosted the weekly Dreamland podcast and maintained the Unknown Country website (unknowncountry.com), a platform for discussion of anomalous experiences.
On UAP
On the evening of 26 December 1985, Strieber reported an encounter at his cabin in Accord, a hamlet in Ulster County in New York's Hudson Valley. He subsequently underwent hypnotic regression sessions and neurological assessments with Dr Donald Klein, a psychiatrist at Columbia University. Klein, who was connected to Strieber through UFO researcher Budd Hopkins, conducted electroencephalography and MRI scans and found no evidence of temporal lobe epilepsy or psychosis. Strieber described his experiences under hypnosis and in his own writing.
Communion: A True Story (William Morrow, 1987) documented the encounter and its aftermath. The book reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list and sold over two million copies. The book's cover, a painted portrait of a large-eyed face, became one of the most recognised images in the UFO literature.
I thought I was going crazy in an extremely embarrassing way. I became rather suicidal. I suffered with this, and it was a great relief to find that others had had the same experience.Whitley Strieber, interview with People magazine, May 1987, on the period between the December 1985 encounter and the publication of Communion.
Strieber published a series of nonfiction books continuing the account: Transformation: The Breakthrough (Avon, 1988), Breakthrough: The Next Step (HarperCollins, 1995), The Secret School: Preparation for Contact (HarperCollins, 1996), Confirmation: The Hard Evidence of Aliens Among Us (St. Martin's Press, 1998), The Key: A True Encounter (2001), Solving the Communion Enigma (2012), A New World (2019), and Transformation 2026 (2026). He co-authored The Communion Letters (1997) with Anne Strieber, compiling correspondence from readers who reported similar experiences. In 2023 he returned to the cabin for the first time in thirty years for the HBO documentary Shock Docs: The Visitors.
He has described his engagement with the subject as ongoing. "I have a great deal of experience with NHI," he wrote on Unknown Country in February 2026. "Possibly, for my entire life, but certainly since 1985 when I found myself their captive for a period of time, which was the subject of my book Communion."
Career Record
- 1945, Born 13 June, San Antonio, Texas.
- 1963, Graduated Central Catholic High School, San Antonio.
- 1968, Bachelor of Arts, University of Texas at Austin. London School of Film Technique.
- 1970, Married Anne Mattocks.
- 1978, Published The Wolfen (William Morrow). Adapted as a 1981 film.
- 1981, Published The Hunger (William Morrow). Adapted as a 1983 film (MGM/UA).
- 1984, Published Warday with James Kunetka (Holt). Olive Branch Award, 1986.
- 26 December 1985, Encounter at cabin in Accord, Ulster County, New York.
- 1986, Hypnosis and neurological assessment with Dr Donald Klein, Columbia University.
- 1987, Published Communion: A True Story (William Morrow). New York Times number one bestseller.
- 1988, Published Transformation (Avon).
- 1995, Published Breakthrough (HarperCollins).
- 1997, Published The Communion Letters with Anne Strieber.
- 1999, Took over the Dreamland podcast from Art Bell. Launched Unknown Country.
- 2001, Published The Key.
- 11 August 2015, Anne Strieber died.
- 2019, Published A New World.
- 2023, Shock Docs: The Visitors (HBO). Returned to the cabin for the first time in thirty years.
- 2026, Published Transformation 2026. Active on Dreamland and Unknown Country.
Document Trail
Whitley Strieber, Communion: A True Story (New York: William Morrow, 1987). The primary published account.
Whitley Strieber, Transformation: The Breakthrough (New York: Avon Books, 1988); Breakthrough: The Next Step (New York: HarperCollins, 1995); and Whitley Strieber and Anne Strieber, The Communion Letters (New York: HarperPrism, 1997).
The Dreamland podcast and Unknown Country website (unknowncountry.com) have been active since 1999 and constitute an ongoing documentary record. Shock Docs: The Visitors (HBO, 2023) is the documentary record of Strieber's return to the cabin.
In the Archive
- The Whitley Strieber Communion Experience, case exhibition.
- Art Bell, Coast to Coast AM founder and Dreamland predecessor.
- United States country profile.
