The Pascagoula Abduction: Did aliens kidnap two fishermen?
In 1973, two shipyard workers were allegedly abducted by aliens near the Pascagoula River. How much truth is there to the tale of the Pascagoula abduction?
Image: stock.adobe.com
Are we alone in the universe? Many tantalising reports have suggested not. One example is the tale of the Roswell incident, which sparked conspiracy theories that the US government had secretly recovered remains of an alien spacecraft.
However, many other UFO stories have captured the public imagination since the supposed crashing of this spacecraft in 1947. For a start, there’s the alleged Pascagoula Abduction of 1973, when two men are said to have been kidnapped and examined by aliens.
Though the history of UFO sightings can be traced back centuries, face-to-face encounters with extraterrestrial beings have been reported much more rarely. So, did the Pascagoula Abduction actually happen? Sky HISTORY investigates…
How did the ‘Pascagoula Abduction’ unfold?
Of course, when two men say they have met aliens, your first instinct could be to search for holes in the story. Unsurprisingly, more than one person did exactly that after shipyard workers Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker made the claim.
Nonetheless, with Hickson and Parker having long corroborated each other’s version of events, many elements of the Pascagoula Abduction story have remained remarkably consistent. These include that it all started with the two men meeting up to fish together on the west bank of the Pascagoula River in Mississippi.
How does the rest of the often repeated story go? It is said that, while fishing, Parker, then aged 18,n saw blue lights and thought they were from the police. (He had spotted 'Posted' signs suggesting he and Hickson, then aged 42, would get into trouble with the law for fishing at this particular spot.)
On closer inspection, the blue lights turned out to be emitted by a mysterious oval-shaped object 30-40 feet wide and 8-10 feet high. Three bulky, robotic figures emerged from the object and seized the fishermen before magically ’floating’ them onto what looked increasingly like a spacecraft.
No alien eyes, but one (apparent) robotic one?
Who were these strangers? Aliens? They have been described as grey and wrinkly with crab-like claws, not to mention spiky protrusions where noses and ears would be. However, on multiple occasions when reiterating the Pascagoula Abduction story, Hickson appeared convinced that these visitors were robots rather than living creatures.
Hickson and Parker were 'conscious but paralysed' for much of the encounter. For this reason, they were helpless to resist as they were each examined — in Hickson’s case, by what he said looked like a robotic eye.
What was it? A camera, perhaps? Whatever it was, it reportedly floated close to his face before moving further down his body.
The traumatic aftermath of the Pascagoula Abduction
The grey robotic figures eventually returned Hickson and Parker to the riverbank, leaving the two men in shock as the UFO vanished.
Hickson and Parker subsequently reported the incident to the local Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies there initially (and unsurprisingly) found the story hard to believe.
Their skepticism was shaken after they left Hickson and Parker alone in a room with a tape recorder secretly running. The two men were recorded not admitting to fabrication but instead sticking with the story and expressing shock about what had supposedly happened to them.
Though Hickson and Parker did pass lie-detector tests, the Pascagoula Abduction tale was met with ridicule by many locals.
How the Pascagoula Abduction left a lasting legacy
For decades after 11th October 1973, Hickson jumped on opportunities aplenty to elaborate on what he claimed happened to him that fateful day. He gave many interviews and became something of a TV celebrity, even appearing as a guest on the American game show To Tell the Truth.
It was a very different situation for Parker, who shunned the spotlight and kept changing jobs to escape the inevitable attention from curiosity seekers. 'This is something I really didn’t want to happen', Parker said about the Pascagoula Abduction 40 years later (and two years after Hickson’s death).
It was not until the late 2010s that Parker started opening up more about his life-changing experience, even writing a book about it. In 2019, he attended the unveiling of a commemorative plaque erected close to the abduction site.
The historical marker quotes UFO expert Dr J Allen Hynek, who interviewed Hickson and Parker, concluding that 'these men have had a very real, frightening experience'.
Is extraterrestrial life really out there?
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