Book Review for Communion: A True Story by Whitley Strieber

I would have to give Whitley Strieber's book Communion: A True Story, 1^st edition (New York: Beech Tree Books, 1987) an absolute 4 stars.

I picked up the book Communion: A True Story (ISBN 0-688-07086-8), by Whitley Strieber (link to his website) for the simple fact that it is one of those often quoted or refered to books that is a must read when it comes to conspiracy research, particularly when dealing with UFOs or other worldly beings.

I must admit, the book is well written, which is a good thing considering the author, Whitley Strieber, is a professional writer. That said, it was this fact (which I did not know beforehand) which immediately set alarm bells off in my head. It set alarms off for the very simple reason that amazing stories make for amazing amounts of money (whether true or untrue). I am not saying that Mr. Strieber made the whole thing up to cash in on a specific target market, but it is something to consider, especially when one reads his book and learns a bit of his life, his tastes in lifestyle and living expenses, as well as a few of his ups and downs.

One need not get past the very first page of the very first chapter (pg 19) before they learn that the author, whose abduction experience is the focus of the book, has an apartment in New York (later learned to be in an upscale neighborhood), owns a cabin in upstate New York, and is a deeply involved and experienced writer of books designed to grab one's emotional attention. Do these facts mean anything? I do not think Mr. Strieber could fault us for thinking that they might.

As I read through the book and took in Whitley Strieber's story I began to feel that it was, at least in my mind, plausible to think that this man most likely believed he had experienced these things. For instance, the very first story which he related concerning his experience on the night of December 26, 1985 sounded a lot like night terrors and sleep paralysis (at least at first). However, as the book wore-on I began to think it a bit too much for me to believe, particularly when Mr. Strieber began stating he had so many false (or screen) memories and a whole plethora of abduction experiences.

I also found that Mr. Strieber took much more out of his own wife's testimony (which frankly stated absolutely nothing) than he should have. It seemed to me that he concluded his wife somehow collaborated his testimony, when in fact, I felt that his wife nearly negated the potential reality of his entire experience. His son's testimony was much more convincing, although it did lead one to think that perhaps "daddy" was trying a bit too hard to relate to and share his life with his son (perhaps even to the point of delusion) – a thought reinforced by the author's admission to circumstances surrounding his relationship with his own father.

What I did find interesting, besides the actual stories themselves, were the author's hypotheses concerning what may be the cause of his experiences and the experiences of others. I also found it interesting how he made several references to fairy-lore and the relationship it appears to have with the UFO and abduction phenomena. I would also be remiss to not mention the fact that the appendix of his book includes a statement concerning the mental health of the author as well as the results of a polygraph test. However, it is because of the intriguing thoughts of his (as well as his superb writing and story-telling skills) concerning what may be the cause of such phenomena that I must give the book Communion: A True Story an absolute and definitive 4 stars.

One final and crucial comment... although the author states he grew-up Catholic and claims that he has a love for Jesus and Mary, it is obvious to anyone who has any knowledge of the occult whatsoever that the author has serious occult ties. Specifically, the author claims: "I spent fifteen years involved with the Gurdjieff Foundation" (pg 274) – a cult which was begun by George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, an esoteric spiritual leader who claimed to have ties with the Sarmoung Brotherhood (he also roomed with Joseph Stalin at one time). The Sarmoung Brotherhood is said to be a very ancient occult order which was founded in Babylon between 3000 BCE and 2000 BCE, which may be directly related to the Yazidi (a Kurdish ethnoreligious group with Indo-Iranian roots) who, interestingly enough, venerate an angelic being known as Melek Taus (also called Shaytan), or the Peacock Angel.

Of course, this last bit of knowledge says absolutely nothing about the validity of Whitley Strieber's Communion: A True Story, but it does add an interesting angle for the researcher of conspiracy theories and alternative histories.

Rendlesham Forest UFO Symbols

The Rendlesham Forest UFO symbols are a set of six unique and intriguing symbols which resemble ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs or some form of alchemical symbolism. They derive their name from the United Kingdom's most famous UFO event, known as the Rendlesham Forest Incident.

The Rendlesham Forest UFO Incident occurred between the nights of December 25, 1980 and December 27, 1980 in the Rendlesham forest, which is located in the county of Suffolk, England. The incident involved sightings of unexplained lights, an encounter with an unidentified object, and physical evidence, as well as numerous eyewitness accounts both collected by and provided by military personnel.

The incident is quite controversial, especially the statements made by Staff-Sergeant Jim Penniston, of the United States Air Force (USAF) 81^st Security Police Squadron. Mr. Penniston claims to have touched an actual physical craft and to have observed and copied sketches of strange hieroglyphic-like symbols which were located on the craft.

When I first heard of this I was intrigued, so I set out to find a copy of the Rendlesham Forest UFO symbols so that I could take a look at them, and also to determine the circumstances surrounding the drawings. It turns out that at least two separate yet prominent versions (artistic renditions) of the drawings can be found on-line, and that the actual sketches are a bit more shaky, far less artistic, and do not necessarily “match” the reproductions put forth by artists; however, Mr. Penniston has reportedly voiced approval for at least one reproduction which is available on Wikipedia as well as Nick Pope's website. Here is the reproduction:

So, I decided to have a play with it and see what I could come up with. The following image is of that same reproduction but with comments by myself written in RED. Please note, that my speculations concerning the first five symbols are based solely on my own assumption that they may be some form of letters or words. Assuming they are words, then the speculated definitions may be close, but if they are letters, then the speculated definitions would only relate in some sort of distant etymological fashion. My conclusions were based merely upon “what I see as obvious from the shape” so far as my own perceived concept of universal-symbolism is concerned. I make no claims to knowing anything about such matters and offer my speculations only for the sake of your personal consideration. Again, these are my speculations based on my assumptions. If the report of these symbols can be trusted they may mean nothing, they may be mere symbols (like a Hazardous Material Warning or something – my first thought was “Caution! Hydrogen”), they may be numerals, or they may be intergalactic vandalism and equate to gibberish and poorly written alien slang. My comments are based solely on the idea that all we can really know is that we are looking at representations or pictures and we have to let the picture speak for itself.

One final only slightly related note. The Rendlesham Forest Incident occurred during the Yule season which has a long and mysterious history all its own. If one is actually willing to exercise their brain and do a little research instead of just dismissing mythology, they may wonder and discover how a flying craft and little elf-like creatures came to be associated with that time of year – just some food for thought.

The COMETA Report (in English): A Review

The COMETA Report is an independent study on UFOs written by the French association COMETA, which first appeared in a July 1999 special issue of the magazine VSD. The report is supposed to detail the results of a detailed study by the Institute of Higher Studies for National Defence. It was originally published in french, but an english translation is available online or for download here.

The membership of COMETA (the Committee for in-depth studies) sports "credible" individuals (ie. prominent members of the world system) such as career military men, scientists, law enforcers, and attorneys. Although the report was issued by a French association, which one would suppose would deal primarily with French affairs, it is heavily interested in and accusative of United States military, political, and scientific affairs.

In summary, the 90 page report presents a handful of unsolved cases involving unidentified flying objects, speculates on and accuses the United States of UFO disinformation, the intentional cover-up of alien technology, and heavily favors the extraterrestrial hypothesis while all but laughing at any alternative theories or dismissals.

To the report's credit, it highlights the obvious physically detectable effects of some of the UFO phenomena, such as electromagnetic anomalies, particularly regarding microwaves. However, it goes out of its way to dismiss hypotheses that more closely fit the overwhelming majority of the phenomena, and even suggests that simply because there is no known way (according to the COMETA authors) to scientifically test these hypotheses, which it calls "ascientific," such hypotheses "aren't much good to us."

Among the hypotheses immediately dismissed as "not much good to us" are any notions of a private or secretive group controlling things, any suggestions of spirits, any mention of the devil, holographic images, media hype, or basically anything other than manmade or extraterrestrial craft. In other words, spirits and devils aren't real because COMETA says that even if they are it doesn't matter (this position relies on the assumption that we somehow know that a spirit cannot be detected), secretive groups aren't provable because COMETA says so, and holographic images and media hype are just simply implausible because COMETA says so.

In particular, of hypotheses classed as 'ascientific' by COMETA, the report dismissively states: "We are being manipulated without realizing it" (by a very secret, very powerful, and very knowledgeable group of people; by strange, unknown or even extraterrestrial beings; by spirits; by the devil; by our psychological fantasies; etc.). Obviously, we cannot say a priori whether these hypotheses are true or false [since] they cannot be proven; their main drawback is that they aren't much good to us.

Parapsychological phenomenoa and collective hallucinations should be classified in this category. The same is true of the idea that is sometimes expressed that the futuristic craft sighted are actually products of the future activity of humanity. Our descendents of the distant [future], who have found the way to go back in time, come to observe us... (pg 40)

The COMETA report then goes on to say about its prefered hypothesis concerning the visitation of earth by extraterrestrials for the purposes of study that: Both hypotheses [referring to two variations of the same hypothesis] have to their credit the fact that they place the UFO problem outside the realm of the paranormal and promote thought about the future of our planet. (pg 42)

Notably, after the report dismisses secretive groups, media hype, and anything spiritual in nature, it goes on to praise the activities of UFO researchers and promoters of the extraterrestrial hypothesis who were financially backed by the Rockefellers. On page 51, it praises the Rockefellers, stating:

In recent years, the three main ufological associations have been brought together by a leading U.S. personality, Marie Galbraith, to conduct a joint study. She is the wife of Evan Griffith Galbraith, who was U.S. Ambassador to France from 1981 to 1985. Thus she is well-acquainted with our country and our language, since she lived on Avenue Gabriel. Supported both morally and financially by Laurence Rockefeller, brother of the famous David Rockefeller, she traveled the world to meet the principal scientists interested in UFOs and to collect the best cases.

The report then goes on to say:

On the whole, Marie Galbraith's book is descriptive...Such was also the spirit of the international scientific colloquium organized in September 1997 by Laurence Rockefeller at Pocantico, near West Point, on the property of the Rockefeller Bros. Fund. Moderated by astrophysicist Peter Sturrock, this colloquium focused on physical evidence concerning UFOs.

After dismissing secretive groups and singing its praises to the Rockefellers, the report then goes on, on page 79, to imply that any connections between the UFO phenomenon and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Bilderberg Group, or the Trilateral Commission are completely erroneous disinformation. To highlight this point, the report drags up two of the most notable nutcases and disinformation agents there ever were: John Lear and William Cooper, and connects their delusional ideas to the aforementioned groups and any suggestions of their relationship to the UFO phenomenon.

Finally, the decidely anti-religious COMETA report labels all religion as "manipulative" (pg 58), and wastes no time asserting that the accounts of the Nephilim mentioned in the Holy Bible and the Book of Enoch were really E.T.s (pg 65).

In closing, I would highly suggest that everyone obtain this report and read it for themselves (don't just take my word for anything). You may disagree with my interpretation and find that your interpretation is more to your liking. I tried to remain objective in my review of the report, but to be perfectly honest it is really hard to do so when I can clearly see the endorsement of globalization, support for the activities of the Rockefellers, and an overall push for the New Age interpretation, all the while dropping an ocassional dismissal or cleverly disguised insult toward those with alternative theories or beliefs.