Angel Heredia

English 102

Professor Batty

November 15, 2017

Contact from Beyond

In the novel The Communion by Whitley Strieber, he describes a series of strange

events he experienced in his life that he describes are focused on a supposed abduction by an

unknown species. Some may argue that everything he has wrote about is a lie, I believe that

everything he has spoken about could very well be the truth.The nature of his experience

exemplifies the unknown truth we face towards what is real and what is not. The monstrous thing

about the novel is that the writer could not tell whether most of his experiences were real, or just

his mind playing tricks on him. Sometimes when we are afraid of a certain situation, we become

in denial of what is real and what is not. Take for example, when the narrator of the story

believes that the individuals who have abducted him are from a different dimension or even time

travelers, but then he believes to himself that he might even be making it up in his head, simply

because he is afraid to believe what might be real. The horrific thing about certain things that

happen to us is that fear can control our beliefs. Fear can develop into a habit and can begin to

become the unknown that haunts us day to day.

The monster in this novel would be identified as the extraterrestrials who Strieber

thought were taking over his mind and his mind itself, since the beings may have turned him

against himself. Because of this, ome may even argue that the real monster is actually in his

mind, figuratively speaking. Strieber has had constant contact with these supposed beings that
he even began to call them visitors. These visitors caused many stressful situations in the

Striebers life, therefore this causes the visitors to seem as the monstrous individuals in the

setting of Striebers unpredictable conditions. The monstrous visitors caused Strieber to trouble

his own life and beliefs, making it difficult for Strieber to live a normal life without constant

fear. Strieber believed that he was losing his mind at one point. There is something named UFO

Abduction Syndrome and this determines the supposed abductees mental condition and

examines it from an outsider point of view. Individuals with this condition believe that they have

been abducted but they test these certain people to try to determine whether they have a mental

condition affecting the mind. But since Strieber knew there was nothing wrong with him

mentally after visiting a psychiatrist. It is still unknown whether his experiences with alien

beings are real or not.

Another thing the fear distributes among Striebers life is the fear of living in his own

home and destroying the environment he once thought to be safe. Many people have compared

Striebers condition to sleep paralysis and this could be the case for all we know. Fear can be

linked to sleep paralysis. Fear is a horrible thing to live with because it controls you and you

have no power over it. The fear takes over your mind in the moment it is attacking. It can make

you believe that certain things are not real. Strieber, at times expresses his concern over his own

life, whether he'll be able to function right in society after these strange encounters. The fear of

being rational is something that he cannot comprehend due to his traumatic experience. A theory

that can be proposed to try and describe Striebers experience is sleep paralysis which I

mentioned before. Many individuals claim to see shadowy figures while in this state. What if

instead of those shadowy figures, they see an animal or a being not from this planet as many

abductees have claimed to have seen. Many of Striebers experiences were frightening, but of
course not all of it was bad, there were times in which he believed contact with these beings were

beneficial towards him because it gave him a sense of clarity, whether it was real or simply in his

head.

One of the many reasons why the visitors were the monstrous beings in this novel,

is because it makes us question whether such events can actually happen to us. Whether if such

occurences are real, and most importantly what damage it can do to us and those we love.

Sometimes we might think fear is just a feeling, but it is much more than that. Fear is what fuels

the mind, it leads us to be a fully functional being, but too much of it can drive anyone mad.

Take for example, the authors fear was that he didnt know whether the experiences he was

going through were actually going on, or it was all in his head, and that really changed his life,

because he couldnt function or sleep. It is argued that abductees may be more prone to false

memories than the general population(Holden 2002). What Holden says here is that those who

claim to have been abducted by extraterrestrial beings are often more likely to create false

memories or memories of things that never even happened. Certain things can happen in our

lives and completely change us unconsciously.

Striebers many encounters often had to do with a wand like object that the visitors would

tap on his head with and this can very well be a device of some sort that can cause amnesia

towards another living being or it can simply be in his mind. The visitors obviously took interest

into Strieber and many other individuals and each person who claimed to be abducted witnessed

very similar characteristics in their abduction. Many of them claim to have seen a type of animal

before forgetting everything they were doing afterwards. ... he remembered little From Terror

to Communion in Whitley Striebers Communion 903 of the events of December 26 when he

awoke the next morning, except for the uncanny memory of a barn owl staring at him in the
window during the night. But he knew that there was no barn owl (Kripal 2014). This definitely

caused Strieber to question reality even more. Was what he saw truly an owl who is never seen

in his area, or was it something far more terrifying and sinister.

What makes Striebers situation terrifying is that he is dealing with this on a day to day

basis. He does not know what to believe anymore and this leads him to question himself often.

Even after meeting with a psychiatrist and becoming hypnotized, he still has a small sense of

doubt in the back of his mind. This is why he mentioned theories to try and make sense of his

experience. Although the fear is fueled by the uncanny visitors he has met face to face with, it is

also fueled by his mental state. I believe that when ones mental state is tampered with, it is the

most terrifying of all. To not understand the brain inside your skull, to feel invaded and

unconsciously frightened at all times, to be filled with self doubt and vivid memories is far more

intense than anything we claim to be a monster.

There are many theories that can try to explain the experiences Whitley Strieber has

faced. None can be proven to be true, but none can either be proven to be false. And since there

is no right and wrong to the situation Whitley Strieber faced, he lead himself to believe that

something out of this world is taking over his mind in the night time. We do not yet even

completely understand the human brain. The human brain can very much be the cause of every

supposed alien abductee. Perhaps it is a coincidence in which many of these victims claim to

have seen similar objects or animals. Or perhaps their mind links these items to amnesia in a way

we do not yet understand. Either way, there is no denying the fact that what Strieber encountered

or imagined was a strange phenomenon that has yet to be discovered. The nightmare fuel that we

call fear in its deepest form is the unknown. We fear everything we do not understand, therefore

we create these ideas in our head to try and make some sense to the madness our brain creates
trying to wrap itself around nothing. Because we dont fully understand ourselves as human

beings, we may even fear our own minds for creating things we do not yet understand. There are

many disorders that we dont truly understand even within our human race. Whitley Strieber can

be creating a scenario in his head in order to try and make some sense out of his terrifying

experiences. This is often the case for many people who have experienced some sort of extreme

trauma in their life. Comparing Whitley Strieber to soldiers who have returned from war

experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), we can examine that Striebers encounter

may have been so traumatic to him that it causes him to relive the very moment every single

night. Obviously, if someones state of mind is being tampered with, they are not completely

aware of it. This can describe why Strieber is unsure of many of his memories. Strieber can even

very well be creating these memories in his head since he is unaware of nearly everything he

explains. I believe that Whitley Strieber may have experienced some sort of sleep paralysis one

night and it stayed with him forever. I believe that the fear inside of Striebers mind created these

visitors from another world and he is completely unaware that he is even doing this to himself.

As mentioned previously, fear is a necessity for humans to function normally. Since Strieber has

far too much fear in his system, ive come to the conclusion that he is letting the fear become a

part of who he is, and his fear is what causes these uncanny monstrous beings to become the

monsters, but since its himself who is creating these beings, he, himself is the monster.
Works Cited

ipal, Jeffrey J. "Better Horrors: From Terror to Communion in Whitley Strieber's 'Communion'

(1987)." Social Research, no. 4, 2014, p. 897. EBSCOhost,

library.lavc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao&AN=

edsgcl.404717691&site=eds-liveKr

Holden, Katharine J. and Christopher C. French. "Alien Abduction Experiences: Some Clues

from Neuropsychology and Neuropsychiatry." Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, vol. 7, no. 3, Aug.

2002, pp. 163-178. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/13546800244000058.

DAVIS, TED, et al. "The UFO Abduction Syndrome." Journal of Scientific Exploration, vol. 27,

no. 1, Spring2013, pp. 25-42. EBSCOhost,

library.lavc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=86

247702&site=eds-live.

Blackmore, Susan. "Abduction by Aliens or Sleep Paralysis?." Skeptical Inquirer, vol. 22, no. 3,

May/Jun98, p. 23. EBSCOhost,

library.lavc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=56

2762&site=eds-live.