A Quiet Night of Fishing Interrupted
On the evening of October 11, 1973, forty-five-year-old Charles Hickson and his seventeen-year-old relative Calvin Parker were fishing off a pier on the west bank of the Pascagoula River in Jackson County, Mississippi. The quiet night abruptly changed when the two men heard a strange whirring and whizzing sound descending from the sky.
Approaching them was an oval-shaped object featuring bright, flashing blue lights. The metallic craft measured roughly 30 to 40 feet (9.1 to 12.2 meters) across and 8 to 10 feet (2.4 to 3.0 meters) high. The men watched in horror as the mysterious object hovered just above the ground nearby, preparing to open.
The Strange Creatures with Pincers
According to the direct accounts of both men, three bizarre creatures emerged from the hovering craft. The entities possessed pale, wrinkled skin and distinct, crab-like pincers instead of human hands. As the terrifying creatures approached, the young Parker fainted from pure terror and remained completely unconscious.
Hickson reported that the entities forcibly grabbed them and floated both of them aboard the unidentified flying object. Inside the brightly lit craft, Hickson stated that the beings subjected them to a thorough physical examination using a large mechanical eye before floating both men safely back down to the wooden wharf.
The Secret Police Tape Recording
After the encounter, the terrified pair initially sought out the local Mississippi Press newspaper office to share their story. Finding no reporters available late at night, they proceeded directly to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. Captain Glenn Ryder initially suspected the men were playing an elaborate prank or were heavily intoxicated.
After verifying the men were entirely sober, the police officers placed Hickson and Parker in a private interrogation room. The police secretly activated a hidden tape recorder, hoping the men would drop their act and confess to a hoax while left alone. Instead, the secret recording captured two genuinely terrified individuals frantically discussing the harrowing ordeal. Their private conversation perfectly corroborated their original statements to the police.
The Nationwide UFO Investigation
By the following morning, the local press published the story. National wire services quickly broadcast the Pascagoula UFO incident across the entire United States, triggering an absolute media frenzy. Military personnel at the nearby Keesler Air Force Base medically examined Hickson and Parker, successfully clearing both men of any dangerous radiation exposure.
Prominent UFO researchers, including the famous astronomer J. Allen Hynek, traveled to Mississippi to interview the men separately under clinical hypnosis. The investigators publicly stated the accounts were based on actual events exactly as the men perceived them. Following the intense investigations, Hickson and Parker became prominent figures in the media, frequently appearing on television to recount their strange experience.