On August 11, 2015, Anne Strieber passed away after a long illness. She and Whitley were married for 45 years and were not only spouses, but creative partners as well. In 1998, she founded Unknown Country as Whitley’s World, then changed the name in 2001 and expanded it to include what she called, “the credible edge of science and reality.” She was the managing editor until January 2015.
In addition, Anne edited all of Whitley’s books, published The Communion Letters, a compilation of hundreds of letters Whitley received after Communion was published, and wrote three novels. She was also active on Dreamland, the popular podcast she and Whitley started in 2004. It was through the podcasts that we got to know Anne.
Rob and I had been following Whitley Strieber’s career since the late 1980s, when we both read Communion, but didn’t have the pleasure of “meeting” him or Anne until my novel, Esperanza, was published by TOR/Forge, Whitley’s publisher for many of his books. My editor, Beth Meacham, also edited Anne’s three novels and she was kind enough to send my novel to Whitley and ask him to give Esperanza a blurb. I was thrilled that he did and I emailed him, thanking him, and from then on, the Striebers and the MacGregors enjoyed an erratic email exchange. They felt like family.
When our first two books on synchronicity were published- 7 Secrets of Synchronicity and Synchronicity and the Other Side– the Striebers invited us to be guests on Dreamland several times. If I recall correctly – this was in 2011- the shows were divided into two 30-minute segments. The first segment for the show in March 2011 was for the general listening audience and the second segment was for subscribers to Dreamland.
In one of the shows, Anne interviewed Trish about synchronicity and she was a lively, knowledgeable and insightful interviewer. Not surprisingly, she had experienced synchros herself numerous times and shared some of them during the interview. I think that Whitley interviewed Rob for the subscriber section of the show. At any rate, after the show had aired in late March 2011, Anne forwarded some emails she’d received from listeners who had experienced synchros during the show and suggested that I write them if we wanted to use the material on our blog. One of the most intriguing was from Matt.
After Aliens in the Backyard was published and then The Synchronicity Highway, we were on Dreamland multiple times, sometimes interviewed by Whitley, other times by Anne, and sometimes by both of them. I was always blown away by the depth and breadth of Anne’s knowledge not only about the visitors, but about their connection with dead. She understood the MO of these visitations, perhaps even better than Whitley. If you put the name Strieber into the blog’s search box, you’ll see the various posts we’ve done over the years about them and their work. The range of topics is breathtaking.
One of the best spirit communication stories we’ve heard came from Anne. It was about how a pair of green tweezers was the object that the spirit of their friend, author Margo Adler, used to communicate with them.
Wednesday afternoon, shortly after hearing about Anne’s death, we experienced something very unusual, which we attribute as a salute from Anee from the other side!
We had received an email from “Sandy,” the retired veterinarian with whom we did one of the Dreamland shows, telling us that Anne had passed on. I immediately wrote Whitley about how sorry we were to hear the news and lit a candle for Anne to illuminate her journey into the afterlife. But I told Whitey I suspected that Anne was the one lighting up the afterlife.
We exchanged several emails and while I was writing the one below, an incredibly strange thing happened. First, that email:
Thank you for letting us know that she died peacefully. If we can do anything to help out, in any way, please let us know.
I had just typed the word know and suddenly, in our family room, which is directly off of our offices, there was a tremendous explosion and a brilliant flash of light. The explosion sounded like a transformer does when it blows, except it was inside the house, within a few feet of our respective doorways. Rob and I shot to our feet. We thought the air conditioning or the TV had blown out –even though it wasn’t on. Our dog, Noah, stretched out on the living room couch, was startled out of a sound sleep. Besides the flash and the explosive sound, there was no black out or brown out. Not even a flicker on our computer monitor. Rob turned on the TV to make sure it hadn’t blown. It was fine, and didn’t even need to reboot. We checked the entire house but didn’t find anything broken or blown out, not even a light bulb.
We think it was Anne, making her presence known.
I finished my email to Whitley and sent it off: As I am writing this, there was suddenly a huge bang inside the house, in the family room next to our offices. No apparent cause. A transformer explosion type of noise. Anne is already stirring things up!
Whitley replied quickly:
She sure as hell is. She is here, you better believe it!
I will be asking you to do a brief remembrance on Dreamland. We will get the memorial program running soon. She had a list of people she wanted on that program, and you guys are on it.
We’ve had a few poltergeist experiences in the past, but never anything like this, never something this immediate and mind-blowing and synchronous. It seems that Anne Strieber, whose presence in physical reality was so powerful and transformative, is now a force to be reckoned with on the other side as well!
We’re eager and honored to be a part of her remembrance of Dreamland.
I spent a 3 day conference with Whitley and Anne some years back in N.Y. state. As about 50 of us sat in this large round room he entertained us with stories of the Visitors, Annne was included to verify or remind her husband of incidents that occurred with them. The same night as we sat in darkness, he tried to bring them forth unsuccessfully. But it was later on in their cabin on the grounds that they had one of the mind-blowing encounters he later wrote about. I feel greatly privileged to have spent that time at OMEGA with them. Thanks for your wondrful remembrances of Anne.
M DJ
Lucky you! I bet that conference was great!
I know this may sound insane to many folks….but I find myself wondering if Anne was born into this life during the Perseids meteor shower which occurs each year, peaking between August 8 and August 14. This meteor is associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle and seems to originate just to the left of The Pleiades Constellation….The Seven Sisters. It soothes and comforts the heart, somehow, to imagine that Anne’s Soul dropped in on this planet from her “Star” as the comet’s brilliant heavenly Light Show cloud-trail was zooming by, and that her Soul departed, hitching its ride back Home to her same Star a few days ago, as the comet’s cloud-trail zoomed by yet again. I can ‘visualize’ that in my mind’s eye, and it is radiant! Makes me want to shout with joy: YOU GO, GIRL!!!!
I think you just answered Adele’s question!
A lovely post that says so much.
This is a wonderful tribute to Anne. I am sure there will be many more and she will be pleased. Thanks for including Connie Canon’s comment as I agree that a spirit-soul may not need a rest can be going about their new life with little adjustment time, and a bang.
I have already read Anne and Whitley’s story, Miraculous Journey, and now it may be time for a re-read.
A beautiful book!
Our friend, author and past life researcher Carol Bowman, first met Whitley in London years ago when both of them were publicizing their respective books. She was also on Dreamland as a guest. She sent this link to the beautiful song – Calling All Angels – as a tribute to Anne. She wanted to send Whitley something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRUErh47sao
My deepest condolences on the passing of Anne! She was such a refreshing soul and will
Be dearly missed. RIP Anne 🙂
Here’s a comment from Connie Canon, who also appeared with us on a Dreamland show. She mentioned that while she was writing this e-mail to us, she experienced two loud cracks above her head, which she thought related to a friend who she remains close to…even though he is no longer in this world.
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There can be little doubt that the incident was Anne letting you know she was with you! Those powerful electric-magnetic “cracks”occur in mid-air whenever a Spirit with tremendous energy comes to visit me. To me, they sound like a .45 gunshot….extremely loud.
Anne was in my mind all day yesterday. It’s really strange….I’ve had this particular feeling only twice now….first was with my dear friend Sherry, and now with Anne. I honestly cannot define or describe the feeling. It seems to be some type of awareness that the person is far from being dead, yet there’s another sense of “something” attached that I can’t wrap my mind around or bring into focus.
Illness that exhausts the Soul to such a degree that the Spirit-Soul requires a period of “rest” to re-charge energy before being able to communicate from wherever it has gone is apparently quite common. I learned this while working with Hospice. But I don’t think persons who understand the spiritual aspects of crossing over go through that resting and recovery time, and I had the conviction that Sherry was immediately going about her adjustment to her renewed life, and that Anne is doing the same. It’s an odd, inexplicable
feeling. I’m not at all certain how it all functions, though, because Sherry wasn’t ill prior to leaving, so she was in direct touch with us with no lapse of time. And it seems that in spite of the unbearable toll on Anne, she doesn’t require the recovery time. I think her Soul went through that before she ever left her physical body.
My heart aches for Whitley, yet we know he is glad she no longer suffers, and that she is by no means “dead”….just gone on another part of her journey ahead of him and he will join her when it’s time. Still, the loss of her physical presence is devastating for him and all her loved ones. It makes no difference when we know it is inevitable and close. When the threshold is finally crossed and we are left alone, the pain is overwhelming. I actually FEEL his grief. All of us who walked with the Striebers for many years experience them as “family”, and hurt with him, with Andrew, with their entire family. c
I did not know the Strieber’s, but am saddened by the news of Anne’s passing. I was given the book, Communion in the early 90’s and it was the book that opened me up to abduction, aliens and UFO’s. I know have six of his books, Budd Hopkins books and many many more on the subject. Thank you Whitley for sharing your life! I feel blessed! Sherri
This is a fascinating story and look forward to reading a bout what happens next. For sure there is next chapter.
Another subject: tonight is the annual huge show of the Palaides bursting across the sky. I only saw this display once. It is my birthday. What does it mean in one’s chart if you are born when such a thing happens every year on your birthday? I have never seen that mentioned in astrology books.
Wow, Adele. First, happy birthday!! Second – I have no idea what it means, but I’ll make some inquiries and see what I can find out!