February 14, 2016 — Whitley Strieber

[Han]

Thanks, Harry. I must have a look at this TinEye. I didn't mean that Linda used that photo in any of her books --as far as I know. There are of course many UFO photos on the Internet that are claimed to be alien craft but there's nothing at all convincing. Again one might suppose that if Linda and Whitley's aliens really did exist we'd at least have some photos of them --but sadly the best they can do is fake aliens like those in the Roswell Slides or Santilli's "Alien Autopsy".

Sigh! Why do we even bother with all this any more?

Yes Tineye is a really clever tool.

Sorry for the misunderstanding regarding the usage of the image, I thought the the provenance of the image was relevant because LMH has been "furnished" with questionable (to put it politely) "evidence" before.

It probably says a lot (about my opinion of LMH's judgement) that I believed that she would have used the CGI image as "evidence" in the first place.

Best wishes Harry

 

[George Wingfield]

Fake news is everywhere we look these days and especially on the internet. Although it wasn’t always called that, it has always been around and has always formed a substantial part of UFOs & Alien Contact literature --besides other tales of the paranormal. I hardly think that horror fiction writer Whitley Strieber (who is the subject of this Paracast thread) is a pioneer in the field.

A more descriptive term for literary fake news might be “Fiction Presented as Fact” (FPAF) which is exactly the category into which Whitley Strieber’s Communion fits. Obviously there’s plenty of FPAF published about all sorts of things other than stories of the UFO & Alien Contact variety. There are fake biographies, fake tales of daring exploits by secret agents or by, say, Navy SEALs, fake science, fake histories, and fake claims of just about everything. With all the best FPAF most of the actual characters involved are --or were-- real people, the locations described are real places, most of the events which form the background for the story are or were real events which can be checked. It’s usually just the actual nub of the FPAF story that’s fictional.

Such FPAF sells and is believed by many folk simply because of the author’s insistence that what he/she has written is the truth. Sometimes the word “True” actually appears on the cover of such a book and below are two good examples of FPAF.


Here’s a short selection of eight of the better known FPAF books or stories which come into the category of UFOs and Alien Contact fiction:-

(1) Communion - A True Story (Whitley Strieber, 1987)

(2) Flying Saucers Have Landed (Desmond Leslie & George Adamski, 1953)

(3) The Walton Experience (Travis Walton, 1978) + "Fire in the Sky"

(4) Light Years –An Investigation into the Extraterrestrial Experiences of Eduard Meier (Gary Kinder, 1987)

(5) The Gulf Breeze Landings (Ed Walters & Frances Walters, 1991)

(6) Witnessed - The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions (Budd Hopkins, 1996)

(7) Project Serpo (On the Serpo website & other internet postings: Richard Doty, Linda Moulton Howe, Bill Ryan and others, 2005 and later)

(8) Stories of Roswell Aliens from “Anthony Bragalia” – including the secret “Blue Room” at Wright-Patterson AFB and alien bodies being taken to the US Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah (certain websites).


There are of course hundreds more such FPAF tales of UFOs and Alien Contact. For years such stories have been the stock-in-trade resource of UFO conferences and long-running late-night talk radio shows such as Coast to Coast AM. Do the UFO celebrities who present such tales of alien contact actually believe what they are telling us? Who knows, and for that matter who cares?

One wonders too whether Whitley Strieber and/or Linda Moulton Howe actually read what is posted here about them --like this posting on The Paracast forum-- and whether they would ever respond and formally deny it?

 

[marduk]

I dunno, man.

When I read Communion the flavour of the experience was just right. No other book has ever come close to that visceral emotional feeling.

He was going to name the book "Body Terror." And that expression right there is exactly right. It's like your mind goes away and hides in a corner in absolute terror, leaving the body to function like an animal. Literal deer in the headlights.

I'm a guy who usually responds to fear with my mind or my fists. At that moment, I knew what it was like to be a terrified prey animal.

 

[George Wingfield]

I dunno, man.

When I read Communion the flavour of the experience was just right. No other book has ever come close to that visceral emotional feeling.

He was going to name the book "Body Terror." And that expression right there is exactly right. It's like your mind goes away and hides in a corner in absolute terror, leaving the body to function like an animal. Literal deer in the headlights.

I'm a guy who usually responds to fear with my mind or my fists. At that moment, I knew what it was like to be a terrified prey animal.

Well, I didn't mean that Whitley wasn't a highly gifted --and indeed emotional-- writer of horror fiction. He is certainly that and well before he got into the alien abduction business many thought of him as the equal of Stephen King. I think I've pointed out before that the abduction and, if you like, torture scenario to which Whitley is subjected in Communion closely parallels the ordeal he described in an earlier horror fiction novel of his which did not involve aliens.

Of course Whitley is not the only UFO/alien researcher to write sci-fi novels about extraterrestrials. He has written other such books which were admittedly fiction rather than FPAF. So too have Jacques Vallee, Nick Pope, and Kevin Randle to name but a few. They didn't produce any of the FPAF genre of alien contact sci-fi like Whitley.

I have no wish to declare that all tales of ET visitation or alien contact must necessarily be untrue. I believe we should examine each case on its merits and see if we can reach any conclusion as to whether the case is true or false. In very many cases no such conclusion is possible since there's insufficient evidence presented and/or the primary witness is a somewhat dubious character. One should ask whether the evidence for ET contact in a case being presented would be accepted in a court of law.

Many such claims are transparently false. Over the years I've heard dozens of stories of alien contact being told by UFO contactees and by abductees. Many of these experiences were entirely subjective and evidently just took place in the witnesses' heads. Very few, if any, involved any physical UFO or any physical alien being.

 

[Burnt State]

Well, I didn't mean that Whitley wasn't a highly gifted --and indeed emotional-- writer of horror fiction. He is certainly that and well before he got into the alien abduction business many thought of him as the equal of Stephen King. I think I've pointed out before that the abduction and, if you like, torture scenario to which Whitley is subjected in Communion closely parallels the ordeal he described in an earlier horror fiction novel of his which did not involve aliens.

Of course Whitley is not the only UFO/alien researcher to write sci-fi novels about extraterrestrials. He has written other such books which were admittedly fiction rather than FPAF. So too have Jacques Vallee, Nick Pope, and Kevin Randle to name but a few. They didn't produce any of the FPAF genre of alien contact sci-fi like Whitley.

I have no wish to declare that all tales of ET visitation or alien contact must necessarily be untrue. I believe we should examine each case on its merits and see if we can reach any conclusion as to whether the case is true or false. In very many cases no such conclusion is possible since there's insufficient evidence presented and/or the primary witness is a somewhat dubious character. One should ask whether the evidence for ET contact in a case being presented would be accepted in a court of law.

Many such claims are transparently false. Over the years I've heard dozens of stories of alien contact being told by UFO contactees and by abductees. Many of these experiences were entirely subjective and evidently just took place in the witnesses' heads. Very few, if any, involved any physical UFO or any physical alien being.

For once I find myself in almost total agreement with you. I don't believe courts of law could properly intersect with reports of alien abduction. What context should be used: kidnapping, sexual assault, mental illness?

To my knowledge the first and one of the few cases of (attempted) alien abduction that the law played a significant role in properly investigating, involved a dissolving "spaceship" and some rampaging sea mines that apparently tried to drag poor Robert Taylor out of the Detchmont Woods. It's one of the only cases that proved there was in fact an attempt to violently haul this man up by the trousers.

The best thing to intersect with abduction claims is professional medical services, unless there is actual evidence of a crime. The problem is that in these cases there is never much in the way of evidence, witness testimony is not believed by any front line service personnel, and so they are processed through the self-invented protocols of Ufology. And for that we have increasingly incredible claims being made, making the entire abduction cohort look more like surreal circus and religious sideshow than anything approaching credibility. I feel bad for the experiencers who are subjected to mostly lame ass treatment.

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

If those who experience such thing as Abductions from so called ET (unknown) they should seek medical advice and not some so called UFO researcher with no medical background. Second best research for yourself and keep away from Cults figures. Thirdly, I don't blame any of the so called abduction experiencers of those who end up in the control of those UFO researchers (how many charge for their services?) as those folks are seeking help and are vulnerable to influences. Not surprised more likely "sleep paralysis " and what ever causes that event (still out there) for nighttime encounters and influenced by what they read, watch or listen too. On the other hand those who experience abduction in daytime while wake is another matter or at night while driving. Now that would be some scary shit.

 

[matthew1977]

i would love to hear real examples from someone in the forums who has gone to either a medical Dr or UFO abduction researcher and tell us about their own experiences of how the process went and if it helped. i am currently looking for help in the South Dakota region but am considering traveling for some sort of counsel.

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[marduk]

If those who experience such thing as Abductions from so called ET (unknown) they should seek medical advice and not some so called UFO researcher with no medical background. Second best research for yourself and keep away from Cults figures. Thirdly, I don't blame any of the so called abduction experiencers of those who end up in the control of those UFO researchers (how many charge for their services?) as those folks are seeking help and are vulnerable to influences. Not surprised more likely "sleep paralysis " and what ever causes that event (still out there) for nighttime encounters and influenced by what they read, watch or listen too. On the other hand those who experience abduction in daytime while wake is another matter or at night while driving. Now that would be some scary shit.

I thought I was going insane, or was trying to convince myself it wasn't real. And at any rate, nobody was going to believe me when I wasn't sure I believed me.

Only it once happened with my ex wife and she was more freaked out than I was.

She refused to ever talk about it again, and blamed me for the experience.

 

[marduk]

i would love to hear real examples from someone in the forums who has gone to either a medical Dr or UFO abduction researcher and tell us about their own experiences of how the process went and if it helped. i am currently looking for help in the South Dakota region but am considering traveling for some sort of counsel.

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My doctor didn't believe I had a knee injury until I forcibly got an MRI and proved it.

If you're not going to die, they're not interested.

At best, they'd give you anti anxiety mess.

 

[matthew1977]

My doctor didn't believe I had a knee injury until I forcibly got an MRI and proved it.

If you're not going to die, they're not interested.

At best, they'd give you anti anxiety mess.

Thanks for the post, i assume your knee injury is alien related?? (if so, I'd love to hear more) I'm already on anxiety meds.....

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[ChrisJohnsen]

I will share my 2-cent opinion but it's not based on any firsthand experiences with high strange events or abductions. As with any traumatic episode, there can be ripple effects and a long-term impact on one's mental health. Someone dealing with the potentially emotionally devastating aftermath of a high-strange encounter and/or abduction should seek out the help and support of an open-minded mental health professional to assist them in dealing with their encounter/abduction PTSD and related issues, mental and physical. You just need to put in the time and effort to find a mental health professional, strong emphasis on professional, who will take your experience(s) seriously and at face value, and not immediately pre-judge and chalk it up to delusions or some other mental illness, at least until the experiences are fully explored and understood. Easier said than done, I acknowledge, but working with a pseudo-psychology "UFO researcher" of the likes of a David Jacobs, or Budd Hopkins, is risking making a confusing, stressful or downright bad situation even worse.

You could reach out to MUFON's Kathleen Marden or Denise Stoner, who lead that organization's abduction research division, to possibly get a referral to a certified mental health professional in your area. Not a "certified hypnotherapist" (like Stoner) but an actual trained, licensed and experienced therapist, psychologist or psychiatrist that have the educational training to guide and assist you in analyzing, understanding and coping with your thoughts and feelings resulting from your unique traumatic experience(s).

When I was looking for a therapist in the early 90s I met with several before I ultimately got a referral to one from a close friend that I ended up loving and seeing for many years. It's like you are interviewing them for a job. Chemistry is critical in a patient-therapist relationship, as you are expected to feel comfortable enough with this stranger to open up and share your most intimate, embarrassing, and vulnerable thoughts and feelings. Trust is critical. Not easy for many of us to do, or easy to find in a therapist. The search process is obviously made exponentially harder when you are dealing with an atypical, high-strange experience that many doctors might not take seriously when shared.

I sincerely wish you the best in finding the help that you need.

 

[George Wingfield]

For once I find myself in almost total agreement with you. I don't believe courts of law could properly intersect with reports of alien abduction. What context should be used: kidnapping, sexual assault, mental illness?

To my knowledge the first and one of the few cases of (attempted) alien abduction that the law played a significant role in properly investigating, involved a dissolving "spaceship" and some rampaging sea mines that apparently tried to drag poor Robert Taylor out of the Detchmont Woods. It's one of the only cases that proved there was in fact an attempt to violently haul this man up by the trousers.

The best thing to intersect with abduction claims is professional medical services, unless there is actual evidence of a crime. The problem is that in these cases there is never much in the way of evidence, witness testimony is not believed by any front line service personnel, and so they are processed through the self-invented protocols of Ufology. And for that we have increasingly incredible claims being made, making the entire abduction cohort look more like surreal circus and religious sideshow than anything approaching credibility. I feel bad for the experiencers who are subjected to mostly lame ass treatment.

Thank you, Burnt State. I feel sure that regular law courts as we know them would throw out most cases of alleged kidnapping or sexual assault brought by "alien abductees" against the aliens or else against persons unknown (or indeed cases against US government or military personnel who are sometimes accused of being in cahoots with the aliens!). I vaguely remember that Linda Cortile (Napolitano) was urged by several people to take her complaints of abduction to the New York police but she and Budd Hopkins found various reasons for not doing so. Her abductors supposedly were not only ET aliens but included two shadowy characters called Richard and Dan who supposedly were government undercover agents. Even Budd Hopkins must have come to realize at some stage that that Linda was a fantasy prone drama queen.

The extraordinary 1979 case of Robert Taylor in Dechmont Law Woods in Scotland who claimed he was dragged by aliens, looking like sea mines, towards a landed UFO was at first treated by the police as if he had been victim of a criminal assault. However I don't think the case was ever tested in court and certainly no assailant was ever found. There were suggestions that his ordeal was the result of hallucinations (perhaps induced by excessive intake of Scotch whisky?) or by mental health issues. We may never know.

 

[marduk]

Thanks for the post, i assume your knee injury is alien related?? (if so, I'd love to hear more) I'm already on anxiety meds.....

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No, it's not. What I'm saying is that I think a doctor either wouldn't give a shit, or would simply assume I'm nuts and try to make sure I'm not a danger to myself.

 

[marduk]

I will share my 2-cent opinion but it's not based on any firsthand experiences with high strange events or abductions. As with any traumatic episode, there can be ripple effects and a long-term impact on one's mental health. Someone dealing with the potentially emotionally devastating aftermath of a high-strange encounter and/or abduction should seek out the help and support of an open-minded mental health professional to assist them in dealing with their encounter/abduction PTSD and related issues, mental and physical. You just need to put in the time and effort to find a mental health professional, strong emphasis on professional, who will take your experience(s) seriously and at face value, and not immediately pre-judge and chalk it up to delusions or some other mental illness, at least until the experiences are fully explored and understood. Easier said than done, I acknowledge, but working with a pseudo-psychology "UFO researcher" of the likes of a David Jacobs, or Budd Hopkins, is risking making a confusing, stressful or downright bad situation even worse.

You could reach out to MUFON's Kathleen Marden or Denise Stoner, who lead that organization's abduction research division, to possibly get a referral to a certified mental health professional in your area. Not a "certified hypnotherapist" (like Stoner) but an actual trained, licensed and experienced therapist, psychologist or psychiatrist that have the educational training to guide and assist you in analyzing, understanding and coping with your thoughts and feelings resulting from your unique traumatic experience(s).

When I was looking for a therapist in the early 90s I met with several before I ultimately got a referral to one from a close friend that I ended up loving and seeing for many years. It's like you are interviewing them for a job. Chemistry is critical in a patient-therapist relationship, as you are expected to feel comfortable enough with this stranger to open up and share your most intimate, embarrassing, and vulnerable thoughts and feelings. Trust is critical. Not easy for many of us to do, or easy to find in a therapist. The search process is obviously made exponentially harder when you are dealing with an atypical, high-strange experience that many doctors might not take seriously when shared.

I sincerely wish you the best in finding the help that you need.

I don't think it would help. New age mumbo jumbo, or a bunch of people feeling victimized, or people trying to make sense of it all and missing it.

The only thing that helped was doing what Whitley said to do - just live in the question. Don't try to put it into a category. It just happened, that's all.

And that's why I think Communion was based in something real. It's too close to home.

 

[ChrisJohnsen]

I don't think it would help. New age mumbo jumbo, or a bunch of people feeling victimized, or people trying to make sense of it all and missing it.

The only thing that helped was doing what Whitley said to do - just live in the question. Don't try to put it into a category. It just happened, that's all.

And that's why I think Communion was based in something real. It's too close to home.

To each their own. Matthew inquired about finding someone to talk with to help him understand his experience. What works for you might not be right for him.


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[George Wingfield]

If those who experience such thing as Abductions from so called ET (unknown) they should seek medical advice and not some so called UFO researcher with no medical background. Second best research for yourself and keep away from Cults figures. Thirdly, I don't blame any of the so called abduction experiencers of those who end up in the control of those UFO researchers (how many charge for their services?) as those folks are seeking help and are vulnerable to influences. Not surprised more likely "sleep paralysis " and what ever causes that event (still out there) for nighttime encounters and influenced by what they read, watch or listen too. On the other hand those who experience abduction in daytime while wake is another matter or at night while driving. Now that would be some scary shit.

Blowfish, I'm not sure whether alien abduction experiencers will always benefit from seeking medical advice from psychologists or other professional medical consultants. That will depend very much on the professional and whether he/she has the insight into the psychological condition which the unfortunate experiencer finds himself/herself in. Leaving aside the reality or otherwise of the abduction experience it is often evident that the experiencer certainly believes it to have been real and has suffered real terror and maybe trauma.

Such fear will produce in some of us a paranoia that can completely dominate one's life to the exclusion of all else. We all have some degree of paranoia in that we sometimes believe that unknown and uncontrollable forces may be acting against us. Psychologists will tell you that sufferers will sometimes come to believe that these unseen forces manifest as some kind of non-physical archetype such as a devil or a bogeyman or --in this day and age-- an ET alien who may come to abduct one and abuse one's physical body in various ways. Women abductees sometimes claim they have been impregnated by aliens and male abductees --as Whitley describes-- that they have been anally probed.

These paranoid fears of mysterious evil archetypes are not exactly new. For centuries men and women have feared night time visitation by vampires, by demons, by incubi or succubi, and by a whole host of scary entities. The fact that non-experiencers mostly refuse to believe that such entities have any real physical existence doesn't make them any less scary for the experiencers. Nor does the fact that abductees get together at UFO conferences and with UFO abduction researchers at, say, MUFON meetings, etc., to reinforce each other's beliefs.

At this point one might embark on a long debate about what we understand by "reality" and whether your reality and my reality are in fact the same. But I guess I'll leave that one to another time!

 

[marduk]

To each their own. Matthew inquired about finding someone to talk with to help him understand his experience. What works for you might not be right for him.


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What I mostly fear in that is being in an echo chamber.

 

[matthew1977]

i guess i am at the point where i want to understand my obsession with the ufo phenomena. i have had an interest since the 3rd grade. ( I had written to an Astronomy College asking if they believe in aliens) when i was younger i had serious weird deja vu situations were i had dreamt of a place or situation then when it came true it was like i was tripping out. was very freaky to me. it was like i was watching the events on a TV set but fuzzy white fog around the edges. My parents took me to a specialist when i was around 14 ish and they did some types of epilepsy testing with laser pulses in my eyes and a cap with electrodes all over, very traumatizing for a kid.. anyways everything checked out normal. One of the more freaky Deja Vu episodes involved seeing a grey on tv when i was 12. it instantly triggered a flash back sensation and freaked me out. when the Deja Vu incidents happen i also got a severe headache immediately. I am 40 now and those episodes are few and far between. they lessoned in frequency when i was on my 20s. I am RH negative (O-), my core body temp is never the norm, i run 96.7 to 97.3, but at the same time i sweat heavily from my head even when it is cold out. i am very sensitive to heat. i startle easy and have minor paranormal events at home. (google "RH negative traits") i have seen 6 separate ufos. (Triangle 200 ft away, several orbs at different times most from a great distant. and a tube of light 1/4 mile away. When i was in my twenties i had a hard triangle peice in my right nostril. i pulled it out with a tweezers and it bled like crazy. a month or so later it was back and again I pulled it out with lots of bleeding. At the time i thought it was a "skin tag" so I didnt really observe it closely and tossed them. it might be simply a skin tag who knows. i have invested several thousands into the ufo hobby by attending lectures and conferences etc. i own well over 275 books on the subject and tons of old magazines etc. i think about this "hobby" daily and try to absorb as much info as i can. i do in home service work and it is like i can sense when others are RH negative as it comes up alot for us only being 15% of the population... also dogs go nuts when im around, my customers often say their dog never barks at people and it is just restless when im around. More oddly is cats love me. Customers say their cat hates people and it will be rubbing against me. when i told my parents that i was going to a UFO Conference my step dad said that 7 years earlier they had an intese white light beaming into their master bedroom window from above. he said it scared him so much he didn't move to look at it. he said he was expecting something like a military personnel to bust in through the window. he added that he didn't hear any helicopter noise. they lived on a farm where no lights from adjacent roads would have illuminated thier bedroom window in such away. After he told me that happened i went to my own diary of weirdness and same year maybe 2 months difference my wife had told me she noticed a bright light from above in our bedroom window. my notes suggested it was probably nothing. when i heard one of the Allegash speakers described that he pulled sheets over his head when aliens were in the room it really resonated with me as if i had done that in my 20s. it could be a tainted notion but it rings a bell none the less. my oldest son and i have had nosebleeds the same evening which is unusual. My wife has seen a blue orb when she was young and the tube of light that was moving away from our home. Her parents have seen orbs on several occasions. Even though her family and her have seen weird things they dont believe in ET. In fact my wife hates the subject and pretty much blows up (angry) if i mention anything related. She had a miscarriage that seemed weird (blighted obvum). i have weird ringing in my left ear which i didnt notice until the ufo conference Yvonne Smith had asked the room if they were having a ringing noise in their left ear, over half of us raised their hands. I have that ringing occurring as i type this oddly enough. The same night i had read "Blue Planet Project" (free pdf online) i had weird internal eye issue that i had to take steroids to fix. that book mentions aliens taking your right eye out and implanting something to the back of it. If I were to have subconsciously did something to my own eye in my sleep one would think it would be damaged externally (scratch) not internally. i have no memory of seeing anything in my room or having seen an alien but i feel like i have suffered PTSD. I drink more than what a person should. i take anxiety meds. i have trouble sleeping. i wake up at 3:15am almost every night since i was a teen. I need to get to the bottom of this to move on. i hope i just have absorbed too much from pop culture but in the back of my mind i think there is hidden memories to explore futher.

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[ChrisJohnsen]

@matthew1977 That is some intense and disturbing stuff. I'm sorry that you've been dealing with such inexplicable mental and physical trauma for almost your entire life. It's tough to even know how you would begin to unpack all of that to a "normal" doctor or therapist. Though our friend @marduk would apparently disagree, I still think you need to find a referral from a credible source that could connect you with trained medical professionals that can help you begin to make sense of all that you've been through and are still going through. Simply sucking it up and dealing with it is not the best long term solution, although you've clearly been doing that for many decades. I'd contact Kathleen Marden or Denise Stoner and see if they'll be able to refer you to someone qualified that can help you better cope with and ultimately understand what is going on. It may be difficult, it may be next to an impossible task, but it sounds like you need some answers. The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. Good luck!

 

[marduk]

It's not that I disagree, it's that I think for me it's like getting a fender bender and then asking your car how it feels about it.

This stuff is so outside the realm of everyday experience that we sometimes have to harken back to mystical or religious metaphors as descriptors. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this stuff helped drive humanity to religion in the first place.

And it is frankly sometimes traumatic - not just in the moment but existentially forever - because our drive for meaning never gets fulfilled.

If you've seen the movie Bokeh, you may know what I mean. People who try to put meaning on this stuff sometimes drive themselves nuts with it.

It's also why I get so frustrated with people who say they have evidence but won't cough it up.

Doing so essentially leaves people alone and afraid in the dark.