On the evening of October 11, 1973, 42-year old Charles Hickson and 19-year-old Calvin Parker went fishing on the west bank of the Pascagoula River. As dusk fell, they heard a whirring/whizzing sound and saw flashes of blue light on the water. They looked up to see an oval-shaped object approximately 30-40 feet across and 8-10 feet high. Three creatures came gliding out of the craft and took them aboard. Completely paralyzed but still conscious, the two men were subjected to a medical exam by a giant robotic eye. They were then returned to shore, and the craft sped away into the night sky.
Hickson and Parker promptly reported the incident to Keesler AFB and the Jackson County Sheriff's Department. A secretly-made audio recording revealed that they were traumatized, worried about their families, and had no intentions of deceiving anyone. Hickson reportedly passed a polygraph examination. Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Professor of Astronomy at Northwestern University, studied the case and concluded: "There is no question in my mind that these men have had a very real, frightening experience."
Hickson and Parker described the creatures as 6 foot tall robotic humanoids with grey, elephant-like skin, bullet shaped heads, slit-shaped mouths, and crablike pincers. They had the ability to levitate, and hovered just above the ground.
In 2019, Pascagoula installed a plaque near the abduction site to commemorate the incident.
Charles Hickson (above) passed away in 2011 at the age of 81. He never once changed his story about his terrifying alien encounter. Calvin Parker (below) still lives in Pascagoula. He has since written a book about his experiences entitled Pascagoula-The Closest Encounter: My Story.
