Case file · Non-fiction & research literature
Strieber, 'Communion: A True Story'
Horror novelist Whitley Strieber's nonfiction account of terrifying encounters with non-human beings at his upstate New York cabin.
1987 CE · 40.71, -74.01 · status: account
The account
For: Strieber describes his experiences with emotional honesty and doubt, undergoing hypnosis with Budd Hopkins and psychological tests, and the book drew thousands of letters from people reporting similar experiences. Its cover image of a large-eyed being became the defining picture of the 'grey' alien.
The sceptical view
Against: Strieber was an established fiction writer, and his accounts changed over time; psychologists propose sleep paralysis, hypnosis-shaped memory and temporal lobe experiences.
Connections in the atlas
- Communion: A True Story (summary)
- Communion
- The grey alien face