an owl arrives while reading about owls and UFO contact

books from 1987 and '88

In mid-September of last year I received a very interesting letter from a man in Pennsylvania. He shared exactly the kind of experience that is at the heart of my owl and UFO research.

I don't remember the exact year it was but it was either 1990 or ‘91. I was in my mid 30’s. I had recently purchased Whitley Strieber’s books Communion, and Transformation for an amazing price of $2.00 each at a local Walmart. He wrote had always been interested in UFOs and sci-fi, and was totally terrified when he saw the movie based on Communion. He said, “I never understood the intensity of the fear… and wanted to read these books as a way to handle the terror I felt from the movie.”

There was some tension at home one night, his wife and daughters were bickering about school and clothes. He describes the events that followed.

I retreated to the basement and started looking through the Transformation book. I came to a part were he was talking about seeing owls before an ET encounter. This was the first I had heard about this.

My wife then frantically called me upstairs so I shut the book and went to see what was wrong.

She looked at me and said, “There's an owl on the porch.”

I kind of froze for a second because of what I had just read and slowly went to look out the front door window. I had two snow tires laying on the porch and sitting on top of them was a very large owl. I stared in disbelief as it turned its herd and looked right up at me, spread its wings and flew away. I could not believe what I just saw, its wingspan stretched across the entire porch which is six feet. I felt an increasing terror at the coincidence of just reading about a possible relationship between owls and aliens but I had to push the thought aside and help get the kids settled for bed.

I had a very difficult time getting to sleep that night and when I did I had terrible nightmares about little demon faced creatures crawling around the the bedroom window. They were mumbling something when my alarm went off and that was all I remember about the dream. 

I have never seen any owls so close since and have only told this to a few people. I have hesitated to talk about it because of the coincidence of reading what I did right before seeing the owl.

This is the first time I have written this down. Other than how it effected me it is just an interesting coincidence.

That he was called to see an owl at precisely the moment he was reading about owls and UFO contact is astounding. This should feel normal to me by now, but it doesn't. I am continually amazed at the power in these stories.

He told me in a follow up email that, “I actually never did read the Transformation book. I was too scared at the time... and how I was flipping through it that night when I saw the parts about owls.”

This account prompted me to go back and review Transformation. I bought a Kindle version (at a low price) and searched out the owl segments. I was shocked at how much owl stuff was in that book. What he Whitley wrote back in 1998 is, in many ways, what I have worked so hard to say in my own book. Yet what he has written is poetic, perceptive and right to the point. 

I wrote about this in a post from last Autumn—linked HERE. There are several passages from those two books included in that essay.

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Links for both The Communion Letters and Transformation. Both are required reading and both are available for the very low price of $3.99.

Audio excerpt from Transformation linked  HERE

The What Cast

I've done a lot of audio interviews in the last 16 months since the book was published. I did one recently and it went really well. Their site is HERE. The hosts pushed me deeper into the weirdness than I usually go, and this is alright by me! This is a recommended interview, 1:30 in lenght.

  The What Cast interview HERE  

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owl and hawk in Phoenix

  click on any image for a high-rez view  

1.“Something doesn't look right here! 

Wait, there are more than two wings here!!! That looks like a red tail!??”



This was the first image (above) in a series of photos posted by Jujuolui Kuita on her Facebook wall. She's an emergency animal tech, and was called out to a location in suburban Phoenix because of an "injured owl." When she arrived on the scene there was something up in a tree, but it was initially hard to make out what it might be.



2. An owl face in among the wings



Eventually she saw the face of a great horned owl peering out from a tangle of wings. She was unclear of what she was seeing—there was more than just an owl stuck up in that tree. Jujuolui went and got a ladder from the truck.



3. "Just set the ladder, 

suddenly, the red-tailed hawk came falling down!"



The motion of the ladder bumping the tree must have startled the owl enough to free itself from the dead hawk that had been stuck on top of it.



4. The dead hawk now on the ground.




5. Without the weight of the hawk on him, 

the owl was able to get free and fly away—seeking safety in this tree.




6. Jujuolui holding the dead hawk

She was terribly saddened that this big beautiful hawk had died. What made this even more upsetting was that there was another hawk perched high in a nearby tree. This second hawk seemed distressed, and was watching what was happening below. They realized this was probably the female mate to the dead male hawk on the ground.



7.  Female red-tailed way up at the top in a nearby tree, 

with her mate on the ground below her. 




8. Jujuoli labeled this photo: "Sorry for your loss."

Jujuolui contacted Wild at Heart, an Arizona-based raptor rescue center, and they suggested that she leave the body of the hawk under the tree so the female could realize he had died and begin the grieving process. She labeled the photo: "Sorry for your loss."


Jujuolui told me she cried at the base of that tree, "It was really sad. I felt the intense pain of the female hawk."

*     *     *

Something happened in that tree. There had been a battle between an owl and a hawk, but why they fought no one will ever know. Perhaps one bird had had gotten into the other’s territory. Maybe the owl was attempting to take over the nest of the hawk. 

Why were they stuck together? It seems that the weight of the dead hawk had pinned the owl into the branches. Could the fight have left the owl injured? Or, maybe it was left too exhausted to free itself from the hawk it had killed. Perhaps their talons ended up locked together. Whatever the cause, Jujuolui was allowed an interesting and rare glimpse into animal behavior. 

But what is even more fascinating is that Jujuolui is a lifelong experiencer of UFO contact, and a few of these events involved owls. There is a powerful symbolic aspect not only to what happened with the owl and hawk, but that someone with UFO experiences would be “called” to that tree. 

She was well aware of the significance and said so in the comment thread below her own photos. She wrote: “I felt there was some omen to this… I felt like just a spectator,” and, “I think there is much symbolism to this event!”

Jujuolui confronted two raptors, both imbued with ancient lore, one a symbol of the night and the other the day. One represents death, the other the power of life. The owl is an inward totem, representing the secrets of the unseen worlds. The hawk is a bold emblem of strength and courage. The owl was victorious, yet pinned down by the weight of the defeated. And it was a UFO experiencer, someone who has crossed the boundaries between the worlds that freed it from burden of it’s shadow spirit. She used a ladder to free the owl, and in dream symbolism the ladder could mean spiritual ascension or climbing to higher level of self discovery. 

Another thing that struck me was this happened in Phoenix, a city named after the mythic bird, the symbol of death in flames and rebirth from the ashes. When I pointed this out to her she said, “I know, how fascinating! I was told in a 'dream' that I was to move to this city. It was after everything I owned burned up!”

I contacted her and asked some questions, the first being the same I would ask anyone: “What was going on in your life during the lead up to this event?”

She replied that her life at the time had been extremely difficult, she had been feeling hopeless and depressed. I had initially edited these personal details out of the first draft, but she said, “I don't mind you sharing that. It is true and it might give hope to others who are in need of looking inward for strength and guidance.”

Her dog Katrina had died recently, and she was grieving over the loss of her best friend and companion. Jujuolui is extremely empathic, and the animal rescue work can be emotionally challenging. One of the patterns I have seen in this research is that people who have had these contact experiences will often be working with animals. That and a profound sense of empathy. 

The night before the owl and hawk event she had asked for help. Just before going to bed she sought guidance from her star-family (including her dog Katian) on three problems . She said, “My dream that [next] morning was my guides telling me they solved two out of the three problems/issues I have asked help on! I don't know which issues they were! Ha!”

I explained that it felt like something symbolic that might only be understood at the unconscious level of the archetype. She replied, “I knew it meant something and I felt honored to be a part of this event. It was very sad.”

She was clear that what happened was definitely a “pay attention” moment.

Jujuolui has been outspoken her experiences, and is the subject of full chapter in the recent book Meet the Hybrids by Barbara Lamb and Miguel Mendonça. She also published her own book in 2012 We Are Among You Already. 

One of her owl stories was featured on page 211 in my book The Messengers. Like the owl and the hawk account here, this one also features her photograph of a great horned owl. Jujuolui's excerpt is posted HERE.

photo by Jujuolui Kuita

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Owl on the roof

This is an excerpt from page 211 of my book The Messengers. It features an account from Jujuolui Kuita, who shared her owl and hawk experience in this posting HERE.

Like that other account, this one also has a great horned owl photographed by Jujuolui.

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I’ve talked with a woman named Jujuolui at several different UFO conferences over the years, and she is very open about her contact experiences. She also tells of having a lot of owl encounters and feels certain these are part of her interactions with the gray aliens and their craft. Some of these owls seem like screen memories, where they take on some of the visual characteristics of the grays.

Jujuolui told me how she awoke one night to the sounds of a hooting owl. Waking up in the middle of night is unusual for her, unless there is some contact event unfolding. Her thought was that this wasn’t an owl, but instead an alien being on her roof making this hooting noise.

She was compelled to get out of bed, go outside and take a picture of what she assumed was a gray alien. She told me, “If it were a normal owl, I would not have done this, I would have ignored it and kept sleeping!”

Jujuolui and she clearly felt she was being told to point and click her camera in the direction of the house. It was pitch black outside and she took a picture with the bright flash. When she looked at the image on the back of her digital camera, there was a big owl perched on the corner of the roof. She was told to take another picture, and she thought, “Surely if this was an owl it wouldn’t stay so close to me for another picture, especially after the first flash of the camera! I took a picture again, sure enough, there it was!” That owl on the roof was positioned directly above her bed.

The photo is obviously of a real owl, but I cannot dismiss her feelings of being compelled to go out into the night with her camera. Was this feeling somehow projected into her from an outside source? If so, what would be the purpose? She left her house thinking she was going to take a picture of an alien being, but instead got a picture of an owl. She told me the house was the site of a tremendous amount of experiences, mostly with the gray beings. She says they are like a second family to her.

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Great gray owl lands on a woman's head in New Hampshire

great gray owl landing

click on either image for a HI-Rez view...

On Saturday March 11, 2017 Marsha Richelli of Portsmouth, NH was standing in the back of the field. The photographer wrote:

She was simply observing and enjoying a wonderful visitor from the north. She then saw it flying towards her. Instead of freaking out like many would have done, Marsha calmly stood still as the Owl set down upon her head. It looked around for a few minutes, then flew off. It did not harm her at all. She said it was very light. I inspected her hood for any talon marks and there were none left by this gentle Owl. I just love this bird!

Photography and reporting by David Lipsy (left). His site is Eagle Eye Photography.

Owl and Marsha images shot with Canon EOS 7D Mark II, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM + 2x III, ISO 640, 1/640 Sec, f/5.6, (EFL) 640mm. Hand Held, Cropped for Composition.

audio excerpt from Aliens in the Backyard

This is a really interesting story!

This is from Trish and Rob MacGregor's audio book. It's an eight minute long audio excerpt from their book. It is also posted along with the interview I did with them last week (the interview lined HERE).

The 2013 book Aliens in the Backyard can be found HERE.
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a flood of mean-spirited reviews aimed at UFO authors

a one-star review on Amazon from someone who has probably NOT read the book

Someone with the name PROLETARIAN is being Mr. Harshy-Pants on Amazon. This person has reviewed 104 products on amazon in less than a year. The cynical UFO critiques started March of 2016, and the most recent was March 1st of last year.

He gave 95 one-star reviews (the lowest you can give) with text like, “Bogus, complete rubbish, bunk, lies.” My book is shown above.

He gave outspoken skeptic Robert Shafer a five star review for his book titled: UFO Sightings: The Evidence. This person's review page linked HERE.

He did seven reviews in 3 days (between February 21 thru 23, 2017), and six reviews all in one day (Nov 9 2016). I feel strongly that this guy has NOT read the books he is reviewing, and is simply flooding the amazon reviews with his prejudice against the subject of UFOs. I'm all for people sharing their beliefs, but his reviews just seem obsessive and mean.

Authors depend on these reviews for their income. So these actions can have a real impact these authors in a very competitive market.

I have plenty my own issues with some books in the UFO field, but Jeeesh! He slams people I respect greatly, like Richard Dolan, Leslie Kean, Brett Oldham, Dr. Karla Turner, and Ardy Sixkiller Clarke.

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NOTE: I moved this from its initial posting date of April 3rd 2017. This seems like I am whining, and I don't wanna interrupt the flow of some wonderful stories that have been added recently. Mike C!

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Text added April 27 2017

The fellow going by PROLETARIAN obviously saw my post and added to his review (his initial Feb 15 review shown in full in the image at the top of this post). His amended text below. He brags about not reading the book.

Nonsense for gullible hicks. False. Fake. Bunk. Every chapter, to answer the query below, every paragraph and every line is FALSE. The evidence gathered is not "evidence". It's a tissue of falsehoods, insanity and a plain old desire for recognition, White Trash Style!
Owls are indeed revered by many cultures, but to THEN make the connection with ALIEN BEINGS FROM OUTER SPACE is absurd. No proof. No evidence. No logic.

There are no aliens. Owls are just birds. "Eyewitness" testimony is sheer drivel. Deluded rustics making things up in trailer parks.

You are responsible for your own lives. Aliens will not save you.

These alien books are bunk and I am proud to have never read them. Those who do are Trump morons who desperately believe they will become rich some day. Bah!
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John Mack talks about altered states of consciousness - audio and video

Important lecture from 2002

The same talk has been saved as an MP3 audio file
for easier listening

I've been making the effort to transfer youtube videos to audio

This is the audio of a talk given by Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Mack at the International Conference on Altered States of Consciousness in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was recorded October 25, 2002.

The synopsis of the lecture reads: "UFO encounters, near death experiences, shamanic journeys, and spontaneous religious epiphanies all have the power to bring about a significant transformation of consciousness. By this is meant that the experiencers’ worldview, as internalized in the course of their upbringing and inculcation in this culture, is shattered. This, in turn, results in the potential opening of heart and spirit to a wider appreciation of reality and a (re)connection to realms of the sacred and divine. In this lecture I will discuss how this process occurs in specific cases, and its implications for social and cultural change."

At the 6:45 time count Dr. Mack says:

"It's really strange, in our discussion [with experiencers present] every time we start by talking about light and vibration, and we end up talking about God." So it's as if these experiences all lead to some kind of spiritual opening as the awakening occurs.

I wrote something similar on page 121 of The Messengers:

"If you start out talking about little lights in the sky, you’ll very quickly start talking about God. You’ll end up wrestling with the really big questions. Who are we? Why are we here? What does it all mean?"

I say essentially the same thing. The question is, did I watch this presentation at some point and just kind of absorb what he said? Did he cover this theme in one of his final two books on the abduction subject? I really don't know. All I can say is that he's right.

Also—At the 57:00 minute mark he takes a question from a person in the room. From her voice, I am quite certain that this is Rosemary Ellen Guiley! This is a great interview with her HERE.

More excellent audio and video links to Dr. Mack's work linked HERE

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Communion was published 30 years ago last month

Author Whitley Strieber

I was living in New York City in 1987 when I first saw the hardback edition COMMUNION in bookstores. I later saw it at a co-workers apartment, and asked if he thought it was true. He pointed out that the cover featured the words “A True Story." I could tell by his voice that he was unsure what to make of it.

I flipped through it a little and wondered what it was all about. I recall being both curious and skeptical, thinking it might be a publicity stunt by a well established horror author.

I had an odd impression about the illustration on the cover. My initial reaction to that face was, “that’s not quite right.” As an illustrator, I felt like I needed to revise it, like a police sketch artist erasing and redrawing some details to better match the descriptions of a witness. This was in contrast to the consistent reports of people saying that the cover was an instantaneous trigger, as if that face was eerily familiar. Many abductees know precisely when and where they were when they first saw that image, the moment is seared into their psyche. Whitley has even wondered if the cover image was somehow meant to be a trigger of sorts, as if its placement on that cover was intentionally orchestrated by the visitors themselves.

I didn't actually read the book until the summer of 1992.

Grace Church, on the NE corner of Broadway and 10th Street

I had read Warday some years earlier, at the time I was living in the NYU dormitory across from Grace Church, one of the loveliest buildings in the city. This was the view out my dorm room window for the school year of 1981 to ’82. That church was featured in Warday, and that one detail made for a curious connection on how I would relate to Strieber's work. Years later I asked Whitley about that church, and he said he and Anne would go there for Sunday services.

I used to sleep out under the stars at a beautiful site near the Gunks, a rock climbing area near New Paltz New York. This would have been during the summers of late 80's through the early 90's. I later found out that Whitley's cabin was no more than two miles from the hidden spot where I would lie on the ground.I wrote a blog post about this, HERE.

At the time of the events documented in Communion, Whitley and Anne lived in the city on Laguardia near Houston. At that same time, my apartment was just across Houston on Sullivan between Spring and Broome. This was quite close, probably around a quarter of a mile away.

I got the book out of the Jackson Hole Library back when it was still a little log cabin, and read it in just a few days. It was a hot summer and I sat outside in the shade to read, leaning against the little trailer home I was renting. I was deeply impressed. This would have been 1992, six years after its publication. I later sent him a handwritten letter, one of nearly a quarter of a million that he received with descriptions of personal experiences.

I read Communion less than six months before waking to see five gray aliens out my bedroom window. This book and its ideas were intertwined with a sort of death and rebirth of how I saw reality. This new chapter of my life wasn’t anything I chose, it was thrust upon me. In many ways this has been a lonely journey on a dark path, yet if I had any road map at all, it was Communion.

In my years years of digging in to my own experiences, I've been reaching out and going to conferences. I've met Whitley and Anne a few times, and have spoken with them at length. This includes a few interviews, him on my show, and me on his. He has also been extremely supportive of my book.

Nick Redfern posted an excellent essay on the 30th anniversary of this important book, linked HERE.

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white owl and two books

white owl on a lonely road

Earlier in the winter my partner Andrea received a blurry picture through facebook. It was sent to her from a woman named Rachel, one of only two people in a nearby town that actually have the book The Messengers. She said the owl was in the middle of the road and she couldn’t drive around it, and while parked took the picture. The photo shows a white owl standing in the center of a dark road. It lines up with a driveway and a mailbox where the other person with that same book lives.

The owl was looking at something in the road, and she had enough time for one photo from her phone. Then another car passed from behind and the owl flew off.

Text added later the same day:

I bumped into Rachel this afternoon. I told her about this post and she described the a few more things about that night. She ended up getting very close to the owl, closer than the photo shows, and said she felt a deep connection. Also, she was picking up her son from that house, but the owl was in the one spot that blocked her from turning into the driveway 

Rachel also was surprised that the owl was so small. She told me that she only remembers seeing one other owl, and she described it as being three and a half feet to four tall.  

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