Strieber, Whitley (1945-)

Best-selling author of fantasy and horror stories, several of which, including Wolfen and The Hunger, have been adapted as successful movies. In 1987 he completed a nonfiction book, Communion, in which he relates his personal experiences in encounters with what he believes to be extraterrestrials. The encounters included an abduction and examination by strange creatures in a flying craft. The response led to two follow-up books on the same theme: Transformation: The Breakthrough (1988) and a novel, Majestic (1989). All three made the bestseller lists.

Strieber was born on June 13, 1945, in San Antonio, Texas. He was educated at the University of Texas (B.A., 1968) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (certificate, 1968). From 1970 through 1977 he wrote novels while working at an advertising company, becoming account supervisor and vice president.

The idea for his novel The Wolfen (1978), later made into a successful movie, is said to have arisen from the experience of encountering a pack of feral dogs while walking through Central Park in New York. His other publications include Black Magic (1982), The Night Church (1983), Wolf of Shadows (1986) (with James W. Kunetka), and The Consequences of the TwentiethCentury (1986). His novel The Hunger (1981), notable for the very different twist it gave to the vampire myth, was made into a movie in 1983. Strieber has also designed games based on various periods of history, including a game about the late Middle Ages entitled "1480: Age of Exploration" and one covering computer games. He has participated in archaeological projects in Central America and has been involved with a scientific group attempting to authenticate the Turin shroud.

Soon after the publication of Communion, Strieber received more than five hundred letters, many claiming similar experiences of contact by extraterrestrials or other creatures. His experience was further publicized in an article in the International UFO Reporter (January/February 1987), in which Strieber characterizes such reports as "visitor experiences."

Strieber eventually came to the conclusion that, in spite of the intrusive nature of the initial abduction experience, the extraterrestrials were a benevolent group. In 1989 he founded the Communion Foundation to assist in establishing a productive relationship with the space beings. Professional psychologists working for the foundation began to catalog similar reports in a database and follow-up studies involving mental and physical tests with selected volunteers were planned.

Strieber immediately ran into conflict with the ufological community, which draws a sharp distinction between the more negative abduction reports and the more positive claims of encounters with flying saucers, which are classified as contactee accounts. Strieber's account began to sound more and more like a contactee story of the type that had been written off as either fraudulent or religious hyperbole. In 1991 he closed the Communion Foundation and returned to fiction writing. He reportedly is still interested in the field, however, and has continued having encounters with extraterrestrials.

Sources:

Clark, Jerome. UFOs in the 1980s. Vol. 1 of The UFO Encyclopedia. Detroit: Apogee Books, 1990.

Conroy, Ed. Report on "Communion:" An Independent Investigation of and Commentary on Whitley Strieber's "Communion." New York: William Morrow, 1989.

Strieber, Whitley. Communion: A True Story. New York: William Morrow, 1987.

——. Majestic. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1989.

——. Transformation: The Breakthrough. New York: William Morrow, 1988.