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UFO Contact at Pascagoula
UFO CONTACT AT PASCAGOULA
On the night of October 11, 1973, two very frightened Mississisppians, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, presented themselves at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and related a tale almost too incredible to tell. As a matter of fact, their first impulse had been to tell no one for fear they would be thought crazy. But it also occurred to them that what they had just suffered might by the prelude to a full-scale invasion of their country! Many of us read about it bon the front page of our morning newspaper. Some heard about it on the TV news that first day after the incident: “Pascagoula, Mississippi, two men claim that while fishing in a local river last night they were abducted and taken aboard a UFO by three alien creatures!” Within 36 hours of the incident Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the world’s foremost UFO expert, was in Pascagoula to interview the men. Before he left the next day he told the press that the men were, “Absolutely honest. They have had a fantastic experience.” Fantastic indeed! Could it be true? Could these men actually have come in contact with non-human creatures from somewhere ‘out there’? Who were these men? Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker? Why should we believe them? Have they been checked for mental stability? What do their friends and relatives think about all of this? Have either of these men ever been involved in other bizarre incidents? Questions, questions and more questions. Now, at last, the answers are available. Several years ago, William Mendez, a mid-western college professor, began to investigate this most celebrated UFO abduction case. Mendez has spent years getting to know the men, Charles Hickson and Calvin parker. He has made many trips to Mississippi and spent much time interviewing friends, co-workers and the families of the two men. Time-the passage of time-has a way of revealing fraud and deception. What have the intervening years taught us about what happened that October night in Pascagoula?
First published in 1983 by Wendelle Stevens. Republished in 2017 by FLYING DISK PRESS.
On the night of October 11, 1973, two very frightened Mississisppians, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, presented themselves at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and related a tale almost too incredible to tell. As a matter of fact, their first impulse had been to tell no one for fear they would be thought crazy. But it also occurred to them that what they had just suffered might by the prelude to a full-scale invasion of their country! Many of us read about it bon the front page of our morning newspaper. Some heard about it on the TV news that first day after the incident: “Pascagoula, Mississippi, two men claim that while fishing in a local river last night they were abducted and taken aboard a UFO by three alien creatures!” Within 36 hours of the incident Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the world’s foremost UFO expert, was in Pascagoula to interview the men. Before he left the next day he told the press that the men were, “Absolutely honest. They have had a fantastic experience.” Fantastic indeed! Could it be true? Could these men actually have come in contact with non-human creatures from somewhere ‘out there’? Who were these men? Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker? Why should we believe them? Have they been checked for mental stability? What do their friends and relatives think about all of this? Have either of these men ever been involved in other bizarre incidents? Questions, questions and more questions. Now, at last, the answers are available. Several years ago, William Mendez, a mid-western college professor, began to investigate this most celebrated UFO abduction case. Mendez has spent years getting to know the men, Charles Hickson and Calvin parker. He has made many trips to Mississippi and spent much time interviewing friends, co-workers and the families of the two men. Time-the passage of time-has a way of revealing fraud and deception. What have the intervening years taught us about what happened that October night in Pascagoula?
First published in 1983 by Wendelle Stevens. Republished in 2017 by FLYING DISK PRESS.
- GenresNonfiction
274 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
30 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 5, 2018
A classic read on a classic ufo case. It's a very sound and smartly written book. It doesn't fall into pitfalls that many ufo related books do. It presents its story in a serious manner, along with some observation and speculation. I am fascinated by this case and I like this book. Definitely on my list of favorites.
July 9, 2024
One night in Mississippi in the 1970s, two men were fishing. They see a craft land nearby, and beings exit the craft come and float to them rapidly. Their skin looks like a coil of rope, pyramid shaped protuberances are where ears and a nose would be, and they have lobster claws. One man passes out and the other remembers being examined onboard. Minutes later, they are back on the shore. They soon go to the local sheriff’s office, who is skeptical of their story, but he secretly has a tape recorder in the room. When the two men are left alone, the tape shows the men still traumatized by the abduction and in disbelief of what happened. Famous investigator J. Allen Hynek arrives days later, concluding the encounter occurred. One of the men has later telepathic communication with the beings, and shortly after has a UFO sighting with his entire family that also included telepathic communication.
The story itself was very interesting with the unusual appearance of the beings and the level of detail involved. However, most of the book are hypnotic regression transcripts, providing details already discussed in the book. Hypnosis transcripts make for tedious reading, especially when they involve the story already told. I understand the reason for their inclusion, as one of the main objectives of the book was to prove the veracity of the witnesses, but was still a slog to get through.
The story itself was very interesting with the unusual appearance of the beings and the level of detail involved. However, most of the book are hypnotic regression transcripts, providing details already discussed in the book. Hypnosis transcripts make for tedious reading, especially when they involve the story already told. I understand the reason for their inclusion, as one of the main objectives of the book was to prove the veracity of the witnesses, but was still a slog to get through.
July 1, 2018
Finally i got the real story on Pascagoula abduction. Good detailed account with pics of what the ETs looked like. Fast read. They had an amazing experience during a night time fishing trip. Charlie and Calvin were salt of the earth type people. I have no doubt their was exactly as indicated.
Charlie and Calvin were salt of the earth type people who had this amazing experience foisted upon them out of the blue. They survived to tell their fascinating story. Further proof that ET is visiting earth.
Charlie and Calvin were salt of the earth type people who had this amazing experience foisted upon them out of the blue. They survived to tell their fascinating story. Further proof that ET is visiting earth.
December 3, 2019
On 11 October 1973, while fishing off a pier on the banks of the Pascagoula River in Mississippi, Charles Hickson, 42, and his co-worker Calvin Parker, 19, claimed to have encountered a large, oval-shaped object, out of which floated several strange, neckless, 5 foot tall, “robot”-like beings with wrinkled gray, elephantine skin and three points protruding from their heads. Physically paralyzed, Hickson and Parker were apparently taken inside the object, examined, and then released. The object then quickly shot up into the sky before disappearing. The entire experience lasted all of 15 minutes, while its aftermath was to last years.
Hickson and Parker’s encounter, along with the 1961 Betty and Barney Hill abduction in rural New Hampshire, ranks among the most well-known of UFO abductions. At the time, it generated copious worldwide press coverage, with investigations by numerous researchers, including James Harder of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, and J. Allen Hynek. Hynek, following an extensive interview with Hickson and Parker, and convinced by their testimony, declared that the two had had “a very real, frightening experience”; he later provided a lengthy account of the event in his seminal The UFO Experience (1974).
The effects of the Pascagoula contact were far-reaching – it inaugurated a massive wave of UFO sightings throughout the United States that lasted well into the following year – with Hickson undergoing several subsequent “repeater” experiences, including additional sightings and telekinetic communications with otherworldly beings. Unlike Parker, who was repeatedly hospitalized as the result of several severe mental breakdowns, Hickson, perhaps benefiting from his experience as Korean War veteran, faced the encounter head-on; he gave countless interviews, and made several high profile media appearances, including spots on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show and the Dick Cavett Show, and participated in the writing of UFO Contact at Pascagoula (1983), the rather straightforward book under consideration here.
Originally published in a small press edition and long out-of-print, UFO Contact at Pascagoula includes Hickson’s version of these unexplainable events, as well as transcripts of interviews from immediately after the experience, and from several subsequent hypnotic sessions. Collectively, the documentation presents an evocative, compelling portrait of an altogether uncanny experience that continues to defy reductionist, rational thought, while simultaneously illustrating first-hand how such encounters profoundly alter the experiencer.
Numerous skeptics have provided possible explanations for Hickson and Parker’s encounter, suggesting that it may have resulted from a hypnagogic dream state or a collective hallucination - a folie à deux, or "madness of two," a shared psychosis - or the result of Hickson's trauma of war, and, indeed, the principal author of UFO Contact at Pascagoula, reporter William Mendez, dutifully considers all these possibilities, before discarding them in favor of extraterrestrial visitation. Ultimately, however, Mendez’s take, unsurprisingly given the author’s profession, is more journalistic than interpretive. Yet there is more than enough raw material here for the theoretically-minded student of UFO history to study and digest.
Flying Disk Press is to be commended for bringing this important historical document back into print. Regrettably, this new edition is a woefully inept publication, marred by slapdash formatting that introduces an appalling number of typos – the title, for example, is misspelled on the spine – that prove frustratingly taxing and distracting. Hopefully, the publisher will consider hiring a proofreader (or short of that, simply use a spell-checker) and book designer, to give this classic of UFO literature the professional presentation it deserves. -- Eric Hoffman, Fortean Times
Hickson and Parker’s encounter, along with the 1961 Betty and Barney Hill abduction in rural New Hampshire, ranks among the most well-known of UFO abductions. At the time, it generated copious worldwide press coverage, with investigations by numerous researchers, including James Harder of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, and J. Allen Hynek. Hynek, following an extensive interview with Hickson and Parker, and convinced by their testimony, declared that the two had had “a very real, frightening experience”; he later provided a lengthy account of the event in his seminal The UFO Experience (1974).
The effects of the Pascagoula contact were far-reaching – it inaugurated a massive wave of UFO sightings throughout the United States that lasted well into the following year – with Hickson undergoing several subsequent “repeater” experiences, including additional sightings and telekinetic communications with otherworldly beings. Unlike Parker, who was repeatedly hospitalized as the result of several severe mental breakdowns, Hickson, perhaps benefiting from his experience as Korean War veteran, faced the encounter head-on; he gave countless interviews, and made several high profile media appearances, including spots on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show and the Dick Cavett Show, and participated in the writing of UFO Contact at Pascagoula (1983), the rather straightforward book under consideration here.
Originally published in a small press edition and long out-of-print, UFO Contact at Pascagoula includes Hickson’s version of these unexplainable events, as well as transcripts of interviews from immediately after the experience, and from several subsequent hypnotic sessions. Collectively, the documentation presents an evocative, compelling portrait of an altogether uncanny experience that continues to defy reductionist, rational thought, while simultaneously illustrating first-hand how such encounters profoundly alter the experiencer.
Numerous skeptics have provided possible explanations for Hickson and Parker’s encounter, suggesting that it may have resulted from a hypnagogic dream state or a collective hallucination - a folie à deux, or "madness of two," a shared psychosis - or the result of Hickson's trauma of war, and, indeed, the principal author of UFO Contact at Pascagoula, reporter William Mendez, dutifully considers all these possibilities, before discarding them in favor of extraterrestrial visitation. Ultimately, however, Mendez’s take, unsurprisingly given the author’s profession, is more journalistic than interpretive. Yet there is more than enough raw material here for the theoretically-minded student of UFO history to study and digest.
Flying Disk Press is to be commended for bringing this important historical document back into print. Regrettably, this new edition is a woefully inept publication, marred by slapdash formatting that introduces an appalling number of typos – the title, for example, is misspelled on the spine – that prove frustratingly taxing and distracting. Hopefully, the publisher will consider hiring a proofreader (or short of that, simply use a spell-checker) and book designer, to give this classic of UFO literature the professional presentation it deserves. -- Eric Hoffman, Fortean Times
September 24, 2019
Nice work on this book. Words directly from the Person himself.
January 20, 2025
Typos, typos, and more typos. Needs serious editing.
February 13, 2025
Fascinating but ATROCIOUS editing. My 4th grader could do better.
February 26, 2020
I’m already a UFO fan from youth. The book thank goodness, has credibility with stuff that is hard to just make up. The actual narratives of an encounter is fine. The author or publisher allowed hundreds of type-o’s and misspellings.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews