Communion (book)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🎬 Book or film
Contents 5
_Whitley_Strieber.jpg)
| Type | Book, film or media |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Communion: A True Story |
Communion: A True Story (1987) is a book by the American horror novelist Whitley Strieber about what he described as encounters with non-human beings. It was a best-seller, and its cover painting of a large-eyed grey face became one of the most familiar images of the subject.[1][2]
Content
Strieber wrote that on the night of 26 December 1985 he was taken from his cabin in upstate New York by unknown beings. He called them "the visitors", a neutral name meant to leave open the possibility that they were not extraterrestrials.[2] The book describes a sense of lost time and frightening flashbacks. The abduction researcher Budd Hopkins later hypnotised Strieber and suggested that his memories pointed to an alien encounter.[1][3] Strieber compared a female being he said he met to the Sumerian goddess Ishtar.[1] It was his first non-fiction book.[2]
Cover
The cover was painted by the artist Ted Seth Jacobs in his New York apartment, with Strieber sitting beside him and correcting the image detail by detail, much as a witness works with a police sketch artist.[1] The image is considered one of the most widely recognised popular depictions of the "greys".[1]
Reception
Communion was a non-fiction bestseller for six months in 1987.[1] Strieber appeared on many television programmes, including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.[2] Critics questioned the book's reliability. Skeptic Philip J. Klass argued that Strieber was too quick to dismiss a psychiatrist's suggestion that temporal lobe epilepsy might explain his experiences. Strieber said later testing found no abnormality.[2] Neurologist Steven Novella pointed out that his account of waking up apparently paralysed matched features of hypnagogia, a common state between waking and sleep.[2] The book also discusses Strieber's habit of telling friends that he had witnessed the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting, which he had not, and some critics used this against him.[2][3] Strieber himself has said he does not know what the visitors were and objected to his experiences being treated simply as alien contact.[2]
Sequels and film
Strieber followed the book with Transformation (1988). The Los Angeles Times book editor moved it from the non-fiction to the fiction best-seller list, which Strieber called prejudice.[2] Further books included Breakthrough (1995), The Secret School (1996), The Communion Letters (1997), a collection of readers' accounts, and Solving the Communion Enigma (2011).[2]
The 1989 film Communion, directed by Philippe Mora and written by Strieber, starred Christopher Walken as Strieber. Strieber had it made independently because he feared a major studio would turn it into an effects-heavy horror film. He later said the film showed the beings too clearly.[4] Critics praised Walken's performance, and the film held special screenings for people who believed they had been abducted.[4] The book's cover has been parodied in The X-Files.[1]
References
- Communion (Strieber book) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Whitley Strieber — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Whitley Strieber's 'Communion: A True Story', 1987", We Are the Mutants (24 Aug 2017) · wearethemutants.com · archived copy
- Communion (1989 film) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 31 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
No discussion yet.