A 90 minute show about my life is airing on the Travel Channel. It is also available for streaming on Discovery+. Over the years, there have been a number of attempts to do documentaries like this, but this is the only really extensive one that has ever actually been released. To watch it on Discovery+, click here.
I have been involved from the beginning and the producers have made every effort to include me in the editorial process. In other words, working on this has been a good experience for me. It has also been concerning in some ways, moving in others. It has caused me to reflect on my life and what it has meant, both to me and those close to me, and to so many others.
The documentary begins with the awful terror that I felt at first. When I first consulted with Dr. Donald Klein, I was in a state of traumatic shock. Raw fear was just below the surface, and it came blasting out during the session. Prior to going to him, most of the details of what had happened to me had come back to mind. At the time, I thought that I’d been assaulted and drugged, as did he. Budd Hopkins was convinced that an alien abduction had occurred, but Dr. Klein and I were looking at it as a more conventional criminal act: somebody had assaulted me, either while wearing masks or somehow causing me to see them in a distorted way. He hoped to do what he had done so many times before in his practice, which was to obtain useful information that would lead to a successful criminal investigation.
In my opinion, what happened to me was and is a crime, but we did not obtain information that might lead to an arrest. Instead, I came away convinced that something quite strange had happened to me. To this day, I would not say that I’m sure that I was abducted by aliens. I suspect that both the skeptics and the believers have gotten this bizarre experience wrong.
It is not all due to hypnosis generating false memories. If you look through the letters in the Communion Letters archive in the Archives of the Impossible at Rice University, you will have to work hard to find any that even mention hypnosis. The reason is simple: whatever the experience is, it’s not generally an artifact of hypnosis. Similarly, you will not find anything like a photograph or lock of alien hair or bit of advanced technology that suggests that the memories derived from an encounter with aliens.
But SOMETHING happened, and not only to me, but to thousands and thousands of other people.
I think that the producers did a fine job of portraying both my terror and the gradual journey into the place where I live now, which is in an extraordinary–if often difficult and challenging–relationship with a presence that either does not wish to explain itself, or perhaps cannot.
The return to the cabin at the end of the shoot was a profound experience for me. Meeting the young couple who own it now was a real joy. It put closure on a very raw wound in my life. After all, it was basically being derided for admitting that I’d been raped that got all the bullying started on the television and elsewhere, and it was the fact that I had become a laughingstock that led to the plunge in my book sales and the loss of the cabin.
Experiencing a trauma that devastating and being made an international laughingstock for it is not an experience I would wish on Satan himself, frankly. But I had it and have it. I live it.
I am hoping that the documentary will reveal a few things: first, the experience is real, but also unknown; second, it is wrong to destroy people’s lives and reputations because they report it; third, it can be lived with successfully; fourth, serious study of the witnesses can help us gain some genuine insight into what it is.
Do watch the film. My heart and my blood are in it. To go to the Travel Channel page about it, click here.
Subscribers, to watch the subscriber version of the video, first log in then click on Dreamland Subscriber-Only Video Podcast link.
Very well done. Quite revealing!
Good JOB, Whitley 🙂
I watched it. I thought it was well made, probably the best documentary recording of Whitley and his experiences outside of his books and UC. Other thoughts:
1) I have been engrossed in this whole thing since Communion came out. I have been an avid follower of Whitley and Anne ever since, buying all his books, subscribing to the site, donating funds, etc. Though I’m not an experiencer myself, my life has been profoundly shaped by all this, intellectually and spiritually. After watching this documentary, a lot of emotions have been stirred up inside me. In a way, it was hard even for me to revisit the cabin, so I can’t even imagine what kinds of emotions Whitley had gone through. Personally, it was hard for me to see Anne again and hear her voice, knowing how much she meant to everyone and what a loss it was for those who have been touched by her presence.
2) I am glad that the documentary went well beyond the done-to-death trope of the sterile, impersonal aliens abducting their victims and forcing them to undergo an examination aboard their craft, using the infamous anal probe. This childish nonsense needs to be buried once and for all. It serves no need anymore for the public. What we need is a deeper narrative that furthers the conversation of who they are and what we may be. I think this show does an honorable job of that, touching on many aspects that the general public may not have been aware of. Though I wish they would have further expanded the notion that the phenomenon has something to do with the dead, per Anne’s very words.
3) I think the most powerful element to the show was the most simple to capture: Whitley sitting down at the table and telling his story, occasionally flipping through a photo album and looking at the artist’s rendering of the Visitor. I have said many times on this site that Whitley’s words are far more powerful than any flashy graphics, special effects, or editing. If the travel channel was smart, they would have included an extra piece of him talking, linked on their own website. His articulation of what happened and what it all may mean will be the most enduring piece to all this. That type of honesty can’t be sensationalized.
I find your comment that we should bypass the usual depiction of aliens doing what they want to the human body, as something other than what they are, surprising.
What else would you call it? Thousands of humans have similar horror stories. Thousands of humans are traumatized by their abductors, who stick needles in their eyes and take off the tops of their brains, and throw them back into their beds, only for those to live in terror again.
If a human did this to another, wouldn’t we call it ‘evil?” Why the pass to these aliens? What they are doing is abominable, no other word for it.
The episode is also available on Amazon Prime.
Please, will you post the link. I am on prime and do not see it listed.
The way to get to it on prime is to subscribe to discovery plus on prime.
I am not subscribed to Discovery plus. I simply purchased the episode.
https://amzn.to/3ClNODe
Not in australia – very frustrating as it can’t access it. Only available in the USA!!!!!
Discovery+ doesn’t seem to have an Australian website at all, definitely inconvenient. If you have access to a VPN set it for a US location, that should allow you to access the site.
I just watched the video.
I should probably make an important note here about frequency “144.1”. I am not sure if you are aware of this but the FCC (DA 00-1436) has designated frequencies 144.0 – 144.1 to be used only for morse code. So in fact, this may have actually been morse code being heard on your radio. Nonetheless, what I find extremely unnerving is “How is it that the rempods were capable of picking up a similar signal in that location?” Or was it simply a coincidence? Something to think about I guess.
I don’t have a whole lot to say concerning your personal experiences. Mine were much different and had far difference results (I am 50 now). But I will say, I have all of your books. …or well I did until the DEC 10 tornado that destroyed my home and took everything. I since repurchased “The Secret School” as this one tends to lean more toward my own early experiences.
Perhaps the tornado made sure the previous ones I owned ended up in good hands. lol I can laugh about it now. We all survived. But I (as my entire family knows) saw it coming …for years. The saddest part is what’s coming in 2033. But nobody wants to hear about that. They never listen. It’s why I stopped talking ….and why I sincerely admire your courage (and your strength) far more than you can imagine.
It’s not Morse code. It seems like some sort of code but so far nobody who has tried to break it has succeeded. The strangest thing about it though it’s not that. It’s the fact that the signal doesn’t propagate outside of my apartment. You can step out onto the deck with the radio in your hand in the signal stops. In most places there is no signal. But in this apartment it is continuous.
I agree. I know morse code (I was a tactical telecommunications ComCenter Operator in the Army). I simply mentioned it to entertain the question….
WHY would the FCC (only recently [2000]) go so far as to designate these two bands as Morse Code stations? (esp when there is no appraent excessive demand for additional morse code stations) I said that they may have been morse code you were listening to because i had not really paid much attention to it during the video due to paying more attention to the film itself. Morse code isn’t like a 2nd language to me or anything.
I mean, I can illustrate a few ideas but I am not going to go so far as to be “Mr Know It All” on your website. I just thought others might be interested in mulling this one over.
It sounds like code on the radios in my apartment, but so far nobody I’ve sent it to recognizes it. It’s not Morse. The much stranger thing, though, is that the signal doesn’t propagate. If you just step out onto the deck or out the front door, it stops. Theoretically, this should be impossible. Another odd thing is that the signals on the two radios, even when placed side by side, are sometimes different. One must conclude that this is not a normal radio signal. I just hope that it isn’t harming me. It is not present in other places, but some people have found that they can call it up by either broadcasting on the same frequency or asking mentally for it to appear.
Ok, now that just got even more interesting; to the point where I would love to look into this some more myself.
Are there possibly any recordings that we would be able to access? (other than the brief audio presented in the video)
What about 2033?
It’s way off topic and I don’t wanna be “That annoying guy” here on Whitley’s comment section that goes on in length about something that most people will scoff at. Just stay close to your family by the end of that year around Oct.
I was familiar with the experience through the book & (later) movie. I watched the Travel Channel doc last night & was riveted. I think it was really well done & reignited my interest in the topic and Whitley specifically. Whitley, if you’re reading this I think you’re awesome & extremely brave. Thank you so much for sharing such an intimate story with me & the world. Sincerely, one of your newest, loyal subscribers,
Chris
Regarding the lady who lost her daughter to cancer, if I remember correctly, the daughter came back, accompanied by the visitors, to tell her she was all right. Much similar to Lorie Barnes’ encounter with her dead brother.
Can’t seem to watch in Australia!!
I loved it, Whitley. Seeing Anne in HD video telling your story together was one of the highlights for me.
I do want to let you know what an inspiration you have been to me. I read Communion within the first couple of months of it being published and have followed you since. I’ve been a member of this website for as long as I can remember. You have really helped guide and shape my spiritual path. You have helped ensure that I keep asking the questions. You have provided access to resources that I normally would have never found on my own. So, thank you Whitley for living a beautiful life and sharing it in such a profound way with so many of us. I know these experiences have brought many burdens to you but please be assured of the many folks you’ve helped along the way. Probably far many more than you know.
That’s a wonderful comment.
The email came the day after the show aired on Travel. I wonder if they’ll air it again.
It’s available to stream on Discovery+. You can sign up for a seven day free trial. It’s a streaming app you can get it through Roku or any streaming service that you use.
Hi Whitley. I watched the show and I have mixed feelings about it. I thought they focused too much on the fear aspect to scare viewers, which is what these production companies want the most because it gets more viewers. I do understand that what you went through in the early days terrified you beyond imagination, but I felt the show should have delved deeper into your ongoing and changing relationship with the Visitors and the mysteries that surround them. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good show for what it was, but it left out so many important aspects of your experiences due to time constraints that I would have preferred it be more of a limited multi-episode series. But that’s just me. Perhaps I’m being overly nitpicky being a film maker myself. Still, I hope its a big hit for you and helps you get your message out further.
I don’t see anything positive at all. If a human being were to abduct another, place him on a cold table, strapped down tight, and then do monstrous experiments on him/her, we would be calling that evil. And rightly so, it would be evil. That these beings don’t even bother to help mask the pain and terror just makes me believe they are nothing but evil, treating us the way we treat our cows for slaughter. yet, we love our pets, and we make sure they are anesthetized before they are worked on, right? Yet, we see time and again, aliens ignoring the pain and suffering of humans.
I cannot call them anything BUT evil.
Anniem, have you read Whitley’s books where he worked to overcome his fear and establish a relationship with the Visitors? It was terrifying in the beginning, but he worked hard to overcome his terror, and once he did the entire experience changed for him into a complex learning experience. He doesn’t claim the visitors are good or evil, they just are. They also are very much involved with us on a spiritual level. And to respond to your one comment, the Visitors do help mask the pain and terror by erasing a person’s memory of the event. The Visitor phenomenon is far more complex and fascinating than simple “alien abductions” against our will. We have a long relationship with these beings that go back to the beginning of time. If you haven’t, please read Whitley’s books on the subject in order and you will see his progression with these beings and how they are involved in both our physical and spiritual evolution.
Thank you for putting yourself so out there! I very much enjoyed the documentary. Seeing Ann and hearing her voice was a lovely surprise.
Not to mention seeing you in the cabin was very touching.
Please keep up the good work. Sharing your experience has helped me greatly. I am sure you are helping many more too.
Thank you.
Whitley, I watched your Documentary and was blown away by it. You are such a strong, moral man who underwent an ordeal and not only survived, but now are giving others the strength to face whatever is in their lives now, or will be in the years to come.
I applaud your honesty and your courage. I know you don’t like to call them ‘aliens’, but what else can they be? Surely they are not supernatural, like ‘angels and demons,’ so what else can they be?
Their tech is like magic to us; they certainly are not here as benevolent beings, they are taking, stealing, not giving. I fear for the human race, especially my children and grandchildren.
At this point, I am starting to question my religious underpinnings, like you, I was raised Catholic. While no longer a practicing one, I still revere the teachings of Christ, but now I ask… is there really a God? If so, he is silent in all the face of suffering and pain and if aliens are here to conquer humanity, is there a God to turn to? Is that but a dream?
I think of the silence of God as the most precious gift that we have. It is the foundation of free will. Life is here now and we have to live it, whatever comes.
As for what the visitors are, it’s not something that concerns me very much. I am interested in what I can get out of my relationship with them more than finding out what they are. If they want to remain elusive for whatever reason, that’s their business.
As for their being dangerous, they could be. Or some could be and others not. I just go down the road step by step, hoping I don’t fall down.
Perfectly said, Whitley, thank you. It’s okay to live with questions (and live IN the question)– that is the path of wisdom.
Thank you, I loved your answer about God. Despite my occasional gaps, I still must pray, it seems to me to be absolutely necessary for me to keep my mind and heart and soul in some equilibrium given the chaos of the world.
I just wonder if they are taking humans to build a master race of hybrids, what happens to humanity then…will they just off us all, or make us a slave race ? Just questions with no answers, but I wonder. And yet, there is both the tug of good vs evil in this universe, so maybe I am being too overly pessimistic, but the abduction scenario certainly seems heartless to me.
Thank you Whitley, you have taught us all so very much, perhaps you do not know that and we don’t say it often enough.
The way they said you got the implant in your ear is not what you have said . They did not mention the people you helplessly saw do this to you. Did you notice that?
There was one other tidbit of misinformation if remember it I will post it.
There was a time issue. We wanted as much footage of the removal attempt as possible. It’s TV. Pictures are a lot more powerful and convincing than words. So we chose the pictures basically.
I didn’t notice any thing wrong with the material about the implant going in. I’d have to listen to it again.
I streamed it a day or so after it came out.
I was intrigued, but could have done with substantially fewer interstitial comments by those folks not involved in the events, and a whole lot more of you simply speaking of, and reflecting on, your experiences. But, hey: at least we got THAT much.
It’s so important that you shared your experiences, Whitley. It helps a lot of us realize we’re not nuts.
I had “episodes” when I was about 3, but of course, hadn’t the vocabulary to explain it to anyone—and also the feeling that I was not supposed to.
When trying to fall asleep at night, first, I would be shown a rapidly moving point of light that seemed to draw something I now recognize as circuitry. Then someone (can’t recall who) would come for me nightly, and take me flying up, up, up, through ceilings and rooftops, above the trees, then the clouds, into the night sky. Then I remember nothing else about it until I was “escorted” back down–WHOOSH–into my little sleeping body, in my bed. It was scary but beautiful.
For months, I didn’t want to go to bed because it frightened me—then it STOPPED.
Well, maybe I’m nuts, after all.
🙂
Anyway, I might watch it again.
I agree with your comment about the comments of the two “experts”. I believe this is why the producer of the Ariel phenomena would not sign with Netflix, they wanted talking heads to interpret what was going on instead of just letting the kids talk.
Other than that, it was an excellent documentary. Whitley thanks so much for letting them use the hypnosis tapes. Thank you for putting yourself out there for humanity most people would recoil if asked to be that vulnerable in the public eye. Greatly appreciated!
I remember being a Nightflyer, too. It happens to many of us. Maybe we flew nowhere but someplace in our own minds, but if so, nobody understands that place and it is part of the human mystery. I think, though, those memories are actually part of a greater mystery. Where did we go and why? I remember those nights so very fondly.
Whitley Strieber, I am watching your documentary right now and I’m only halfway through it and have been moved to tears multiple times already. I only paused it because I had the intense urge to come here and write to you.
I’ve had experiences seeing beings in my home as a child, and I’m also a close encounter experiencer. In trying to understand my own life, I came across your book Communion. When I got my hands on a copy, I couldn’t stop reading. Your book awakened something inside of me and at first, I was overcome with terror. But as time went on, that terror became transformative for me. Now I have a sense of wonder and excitement, wanting to learn everything that I can about my relationship to this phenomenon and what it actually means for my life.
I’ve subscribed to your wonderful website and I’m a frequent Dreamland listener now. Every day at work I’m listening to your show. I fell in love with it instantly when I came across it. There’s just something about you that I enjoy so much. You’re a great guy and you often make my girlfriend and I laugh with your wonderful sense of humor and overall sense of joy about you. You’ve been through so much and yet, here you are, giving back to the whole world. There are people who realize just how important this is, what you’re doing. I’m one of them.
Thank you for being you, Whitley.
How very good of you to post this comment. It’s true that I’ve had a rough time, but I have also learned so many incredible things and had so many extraordinary experiences. I’m glad my work has helped you.
Whitley, I just watched it here in the UK (on Discovery+ via Amazon Prime), and saw you discuss your experiences at the Awakening event a couple of weeks back. Retracing your steps was clearly a very moving journey for you but thank you for doing so. Incidentally, in 1988 I worked at a summer camp in the Catskills and saw strange things going on in the skies round those parts, so I was nodding along with all the Hudson Valley witnesses.
…I’m just reading through these comments after listening to the latest Dreamland episode.
Whitley, everyone, do you think almost all of us have childhood experiences? Do you think we are linked to that other realm from birth and are weened from it by living this reality? …past life experiences that fade?
Then for some (or most?), later in this life, we are reconnected as we (re)learn to let go.
…:::tippin’ my hat:::…
I can’t wait for “Them”!
Whitley I have followed Dreamland for years.
I am only 12 minutes into the documentary on Discovery plus and I have to take a break. WOW.
Powerful!
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us.