34 Facts About Whitley Strieber

Louis Whitley Strieber is an American writer best known for his horror novels The Wolfen and The Hunger and for Communion, a non-fiction account of his alleged experiences with non-human entities.

Whitley Strieber has maintained a dual career of author of fiction and advocate of metaphysical concepts through his best-selling non-fiction books, his Unknown Country website, and his podcast, Dreamland.

Whitley Strieber attended Central Catholic High School in San Antonio, Texas.

Whitley Strieber was educated at the University of Texas at Austin and the London School of Film Technique, graduating from each in 1968.

Whitley Strieber then worked for several advertising firms in New York City, rising to the level of vice president before leaving in 1977 to pursue a writing career.

Whitley Strieber began his career as a novelist with the horror novels The Wolfen and The Hunger, both of which were made into feature films, followed by the less successful horror novels Black Magic and The Night Church.

Whitley Strieber independently authored Wolf of Shadows, a young adult novel set in the aftermath of a nuclear war.

Later, less successful thrillers by Whitley Strieber include Billy, The Wild, Unholy Fire and The Forbidden Zone.

Whitley Strieber wrote about this experience and related experiences in Communion, his first non-fiction book.

Whitley Strieber refers to the beings as "the visitors", a name chosen to be as neutral as possible to entertain the possibility that they are not extraterrestrials.

Since the 1987 publication of Communion, Whitley Strieber wrote four additional autobiographies detailing his experiences with the visitors: Transformation, a direct follow-up; Breakthrough: The Next Step, a reflection on the original events and accounts of the sporadic contact he'd subsequently experienced; The Secret School, in which he examines strange memories from his childhood; and lastly, Solving the Communion Enigma: What Is to Come.

In Solving the Communion Enigma, Whitley Strieber reflects on how advances in scientific understanding since his 1987 publication may shed light on what he perceived, noting, "Among other things, since I wrote Communion, science has determined that parallel universes may be physically real and that time travel may in some way be possible".

Whitley Strieber concludes that the human species is being shepherded to a higher level of understanding and existence within an endless "multiverse" of matter, energy, space and time.

Whitley Strieber has stated that he was dissatisfied with the film, which utilized scenes of improvised dialogue and includes themes not present in his books.

Whitley Strieber wrote a screenplay for his novel Majestic, which to date has not been filmed.

Whitley Strieber has repeatedly expressed frustration that his experiences have been taken as "alien contact" when he does not actually know what they were.

Whitley Strieber was extensively tested for temporal lobe epilepsy and other brain abnormalities at his own request, but his brain was found to be functioning normally.

In Communion, Whitley Strieber wrote of having told friends over the years that he had witnessed the University of Texas tower shooting in Austin, Texas, on August 1,1966, when he had in fact not been on campus that day:.

In two interviews prior to Communion Whitley Strieber described in graphic detail what he purportedly witnessed.

Whitley Strieber shot two girls in the stomach right behind me, thirty feet away from me.

Whitley Strieber announced that in his latest book, Transformation, he had changed his mind and decided he had witnessed the shooting.

Further, according to Ed Conroy in his Report on Communion, Whitley Strieber's mother stated during an interview that Whitley Strieber had been in Austin the day of the shooting, but not on campus.

In 2001, Whitley Strieber self-published a book titled The Key, in which he claimed that while on a book tour for his book Confirmation, he was visited in the early morning of June 6,1998, at his Toronto hotel room by an unknown man who presented him with a "new image of God".

Whitley Strieber is currently the host of the spiritual and science-themed podcast Dreamland, available on a weekly basis from his website, Unknown Country.

Whitley Strieber has continued writing novels, including The Last Vampire, and Lilith's Dream, both being sequels to his 1981 vampire novel The Hunger.

Whitley Strieber co-authored the graphic novel The Nye Incidents, along with co-authors Craig Spector and Guss Floor.

In 2012, Whitley Strieber began an alien-themed thriller series called "Alien Hunter", the first volume of which was published in August 2013.

Mrs Whitley Strieber experienced a cerebral hemorrhage in 2004 and in 2013 underwent treatment for a brain tumor.

In 2025, Whitley Strieber published A Fourth Mind, which explores the anatomy, genetics, and abilities of benevolent entities Whitley Strieber refers to as "the visitors," proposing they possess capabilities such as telepathy, telekinesis, and levitation.

In November 1989, Whitley Strieber made an extended appearance on the British television discussion programme After Dark alongside, among others, astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

Whitley Strieber has made appearances in support of his newer novels.

Whitley Strieber has been featured many times on the overnight radio show Coast to Coast AM, both as guest and guest-host.

In 2022, Whitley Strieber appeared in the upcoming documentary, Alien Abduction: Answers.

Whitley Strieber was married to Anne Whitley Strieber until her death in 2015.