Sedona News — Whitley Strieber, the bestselling author of Communion and one of the world’s leading voices on contact with non-human intelligence, has spent four decades exploring a single question: what do “the visitors” know that humans don’t?
His answer is what he calls “The Fourth Mind” — a state of consciousness Strieber argues that extraterrestrial beings possess and that humans once had but lost. According to Strieber, this lost faculty explains why visitors can apparently levitate, communicate telepathically, and perform feats that defy our current understanding of physics.
“Aliens can levitate, use telepathy, and do many other things that we cannot,” Strieber says. “And yet there is evidence that we were once able to do them, too. We will discuss what happened and why, and how we can regain the powers we lost and they did not.”
Who Is Whitley Strieber?
In 1985, Strieber experienced what he describes as a close encounter of the third kind at his cabin in upstate New York — an event that became the subject of Communion, the global bestseller that transformed how millions of people think about the UFO phenomenon. The book sold millions of copies, was adapted into a feature film starring Christopher Walken, and remains one of the most influential works ever written about contact experiences.
What set Strieber apart from other contactees was his refusal to accept easy explanations. When he recognized that no known psychological, neurological, or cultural framework could account for what he had witnessed, he committed himself to decades of disciplined investigation — not just of his own case, but of the broader phenomenon of human contact with what he calls “the visitors.”
His encounters, often shared with multiple witnesses present, rank among the most documented paranormal events in modern history.
A Body of Work Spanning Forty Years
Strieber has authored more than forty works of both fiction and nonfiction. His novels The Wolfen and The Hunger were adapted into feature films, and his apocalyptic climate novel The Coming Global Superstorm became the basis for the Hollywood blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow. His sci-fi series Alien Hunter was adapted into the SyFy Channel television series Hunters.
Beyond his books, Strieber runs UnknownCountry.com, one of the largest websites in the world dedicated to paranormal phenomena, and hosts the long-running podcast Dreamland, which has produced weekly episodes for more than twenty years.
The Fourth Mind: Strieber’s Most Radical Theory
“The Fourth Mind” represents Strieber’s attempt to synthesize four decades of research
into a unified theory of human consciousness — and what we may have lost. He argues that ancient humans had access to a form of awareness that modern civilization, with its emphasis on rational materialism, has largely suppressed or forgotten.
The visitors, in Strieber’s framework, retain this faculty. By studying them — and by studying what humans can still glimpse in altered states, near-death experiences, and contact phenomena — we may be able to recover what we’ve lost.
It’s a theory that is unlikely to convince hard skeptics, but Strieber’s track record of taking seriously what mainstream science dismisses has made him a singular voice. His willingness to sit with mystery rather than rush toward explanation has earned him readers across the spiritual, scientific, and skeptical communities.
Why Sedona Drew Him In
Sedona has long attracted those interested in consciousness, contact, and the unexplained. The town’s vortexes, dark skies, and reputation as a spiritual hub make it a natural destination for thinkers like Strieber. In March 2025, he traveled to Sedona to deliver a presentation on The Fourth Mind at the Global Center for Christ Consciousness — a sold-out event that drew local seekers, longtime fans, and curious skeptics alike.
The Sedona presentation is one of many talks Strieber has given on his Fourth Mind theory as he develops the ideas for his next book.
Where to Learn More
Readers interested in Strieber’s work can explore:
- UnknownCountry.com — Strieber’s main website covering paranormal research, news, and his ongoing investigations
- Dreamland podcast — twenty years of weekly conversations with researchers, contactees, and thinkers on the edges of mainstream science
- Communion (1987) — the book that started it all, still in print after nearly four decades
- For more spiritual and consciousness coverage, see our Spiritual section.
This article was originally published in February 2025 to preview Whitley Strieber’s March 30, 2025 presentation at the Global Center for Christ Consciousness in Sedona. The event has since concluded, but Strieber continues to develop his Fourth Mind theory in his ongoing work.