Communion

APPENDIX I

A Statement from Donald F. Klein, MD

I have examined Whitley Strieber and found that he is not suffering from a psychosis. He is not hallucinating in a manner characteristic of psychosis. I also see no evidence of an anxiety state, mood disorder, or personality disorder. He is an excellent hypnotic subject, who appeared to make an honest attempt while under hypnosis to describe what he remembered.

He has approached the dilemma of what is happening to him in a careful and forthright way and has pursued his investigation with diligence. After an initial period of stress, he became much more calm about his situation and soon learned to deal with it in a psychologically healthy way. He appears to me to have adapted very well to life at a high level of uncertainty.

— DONALD F. KLEIN, MD

Director of Research

New York State Psychiatric Institute

APPENDIX II

Polygraph Results

On October 31. 1986, I was polygraphed by Ned Laurendi, president of the Society of Professional investigators and vice-president of the Empire State Polygraph Society. He has been a polygraph operator for twenty-five years. He was paid in the normal course of business before the polygraph was undertaken, and was not familiar with me before the test.

I was aware of the controversial nature of polygraphic results, and so determined to add a test of Mr. Laurendi's effectiveness to the process. Without telling him, I lied in my answers to control questions thirteen and sixteen. In both cases, he detected the lie correctly. His ability to do this — along with his leading position in his field — has convinced me that, despite the controversies surrounding lie detection in general, he is very skilled indeed.

The letter referred to in the test results was written to Mr. Laurendi on October 17, 1986, and outlined the part of my experiences that I remembered before hypnosis.

The reason I carried out the polygraph was to reassure readers that I honestly think that I perceived the things reported in this book. It is not fiction, and does not contain a word of fiction. My successful completion of this test in no way proves that my recollection of my experiences is correct, but it does confirm that I have described what I saw to the best of my ability.

Test Results

1. Are you known as Whitley Strieber?

Yes. (Evaluated true.)

2. Do you intend to answer truthfully?

Yes. (Evaluated true.)

3. Did you intentionally plan to be given a lie detector test on this Halloween day?

(Note: Mr. Laurendi suspected that he might be the victim of a practical joke, an understandable response in view of the coincidence of date and the nature of my experience.)

No. (Evaluated true.)

4. Do you belong to any cults?

No. (Evaluated true.)

5. Do you think that those things happened to you on October 4, 1985, that were outlined in your letter dated October 17, 1986?

Yes. (Evaluated true.)

6. Did you ever fraudulently conceal any information prior to 1984?

No. (Evaluated true.)

7. Do you think those things happened to you on December 26, 1985, as outlined in your letter dated October 17, 1986?

Yes. (Evaluated true.)

8. Besides when you were eight years old, did you ever hallucinate again prior to 1984?

(Note: I had a hallucination during a fever when I was eight.) No. (Evaluated true.)

9. Do you live in New York?

Yes. (Evaluated true.)

10. Do you think those things happened to you on March 15, 1986, as outlined in your letter dated October 17, 1986?

Yes. (Evaluated true.)

11. Did you ever lie for personal gain prior to 1984?

No. (Evaluated true.)

12. Do you think those things happened to you in late March 1986 as outlined in your letter dated October 17, 1986? (This referred to the intrusion of the needle into my nose and my visit to the doctor to have the injury examined.) Yes. (Evaluated true.)

13. Did you ever lie to anyone in a business venture prior to 1984?

No. (Evaluated as possibly untrue. A correct response. I've been in business for twenty years and I'm not sure I haven't lied occasionally.) 14. Have you lied to those people who interviewed you with respect to the tour items we discussed?

No. (Evaluated true.)

15. Are you a free-lance writer?

Yes. (Evaluated true.)

16. Did you ever lie to someone that trusted you prior to 1984?

No. (Evaluated false. Again, he was right. I lied to my parents, for example, when they asked me if I knew what could have burned the house down when I was a boy.) 17. Have you ever intentionally ingested any hallucinogenic drug?

No. (Evaluated true.)

18. Did you ever take any prescription medication without a doctor's permission?

No. (Evaluated true.)

Note: Some control questions are dated "prior to 1984" to more clearly separate my responses to them from surrounding key questions. They are not meant to imply that my responses would have been any different after 1984.