'Transformation 2026,' Whitley Strieber on drone wave and NHI interest in souls | Reality Check

Ross Coulthart explores untold stories using a fact-based approach to address various topics, from unidentified aerial phenomena to other mysteries that often go unreported. In this week’s episode, Ross sits down with Whitley Strieber, author of "Communion," "Breakthrough" and the newly released "Transformation 2026," to walk through what four decades of encounters have taught him about nonhuman intelligence and the human soul. Strieber describes his earliest experience, the entities he believes are "hungry" for the accumulated experiences a soul carries and the moment he realized his son was caught up in the same phenomenon.

Ross presses him on the questions that have followed him since "Communion" landed in 1987, including why he abandoned fiction, whether the beings are manipulating him and how he reconciles the early trauma with his current, more open stance. Their conversation turns to General Art Exon and what Strieber learned from him about Roswell, the 80-year coverup and the families connected to Wright-Patterson, who carried pieces of the story forward. The episode closes on the current drone wave, which Strieber suspects may be part of the phenomenon's effort to push human consciousness toward something it cannot yet name.

Listen to Whitley Strieber’s Podcast: “Dreamland”: https://open.spotify.com/show/4WBySjuxLiQ9xetvTmLRkM

#WhitleyStrieber #Transformation2026 #nonhumanintelligence

CREDITS

Host: Ross Coulthart

Executive Producer: Andy Gipson

Editorial Producer: Meagan Medick

Segment Producer: Christine Jenkinson

Associate Producer: Will Tomasi

Research Producer: Rob Jones

Editor: Anthony Diasio

On "Reality Check," NewsNation Special Correspondent Ross Coulthart takes a fact-based approach to tackle everything from unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) to mysteries often missing from the headlines.

More Reality Check: https://www.newsnationnow.com/podcasts-newsnation/reality-check-with-ross-coulthart/

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CHAPTERS

:00 Intro

2:10 Meet Whitley

3:30 Whitley discusses his first experience

8:30 Spiritual connection to the phenomena

13:06 NHI interest in the soul

24:15 Whitley’s out-of-body experience

30:20 Shifting perspectives over time

36:35 Whitley's perspective on his experiences

38:00 Whitley’s conversations with General Art Exon about Roswell

42:18 Why is the U.S. gov’t engaged in a coverup?

48:09 Why does Whitley keep writing?

53:59 Will Trump be a disclosure president?

55:38 Whitley’s son’s experiences

1:02:26 Mysterious disappearances

1:06:53 Final thoughts