A horror novelist reported a night encounter at his cabin, then recovered further memories through hypnosis, arranged via Budd Hopkins with psychiatrist Donald Klein. The result was Communion (1987, #1 bestseller), whose Ted Seth Jacobs cover defined the grey alien's face. Documented: his medical and neurological testing (EEG/MRI 1986–87, no temporal-lobe epilepsy found) and a polygraph. The encounters themselves are single-witness, and Strieber openly frames them as ambiguous: 'the visitors.'
His descriptions (night, paralysis, presence) fit it closely. He rejects it, citing some awake episodes
sleep paralysis fit
Earlier horror-novel career as a source of the imagery
A critics' point. Not provable either way
novelist
Why it matters
It is the bridge case from nuts-and-bolts ETs to the 'consciousness / other reality' framing that Levin, Watson and Nolan are now circling (Kripal's work).