Whitley Strieber's Visitors
A bestselling novelist woke in his cabin to small figures in the room, and wrote a book that put their faces on bookshop covers.
What was reported
Whitley Strieber was already a successful writer of horror novels when, he said, he woke on the night of 26 December 1985 in his family's cabin in upstate New York to find small beings in his bedroom, who took him outside into the woods.
Shaken, he underwent hypnosis to recover the memory and wrote Communion (1987), presented as a true account. Its cover showed a painting of a grey face with large, black, almond-shaped eyes. The book became a number one bestseller and fixed that image in popular culture.
Explanations offered
Strieber has always said the experiences were real, though he doesn't claim to know what the visitors were. Sceptics suggest sleep paralysis, which can bring vivid sensations of figures in the room, and point out that memories recovered under hypnosis are unreliable. Some critics also noted his background in fiction.
- When
- 26 December 1985
- Where
- A cabin in upstate New York, USA
- Witnesses
- Whitley Strieber
- Status
- Disputed
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