The Pascagoula (Mississippi) Abduction (Hickson & Parker; 1973)

[Comfortably Numb]

One has seemingly become an alien apostle.

'The Sun' (Biloxi, Mississippi)
12 October, 1981

'There are people from other worlds'

Hickson says Parker will not be one of the "chosen 12"-all of whom have supposedly had contact with unidentified flying objects but that he could have been. "... The beings that were controlling those robots tried to contact Calvin through his mind" but it didn't work out, Hickson says. "So Calvin's not one of the 12. He knows that now. They don't bother him anymore."

Hickson won't say when he was contacted, but says the revelations also have helped him cope with the ordeal. "Since this has been revealed to me," he says, "it's eased my mind. I can go ahead with my everyday work, be with my family and not worry about those things. I know what's going to happen now, so that burden is off of my mind."
(End)

www.forteanmedia.com/1981_10_12_The_Sun(1).pdf


From a separate article, in the same issue:

Parker Plans Book Detailing Encounter

($hould, off course, be Hickson, not Parker!)

"Those people are going to come down here and they're going to have people prepared for them on this earth to help them let the world know that they are up there.

"I'm going to be one of them. There are going to be 12 people and I'm going to be one of them."
(End)

www.forteanmedia.com/1981_10_12_The_Sun(2).pdf

 

[BS3]

It seems very much as if Hickson went down the standard 1950s-style contactee path for a while.

 

[BS3]

Going back to the 1977 article, it seems to confirm a few things hinted at earlier :

We were sitting on the pier fishing when we heard a hissing sound behind us. We turned around and there was the ship about 10 feet behind us. It must have come straight down. It didn't land, it just hovered a few feet above the ground.

So, it was not only behind them but it seems they didn't see it arrive at all : it "must have come straight down".

I seem to recall the end of the experience also has the UFO simply vanishing, rather than blasting off, climbing, whatever. So really this was barely a 'flying' object at all.

 

[Comfortably Numb]

Brand new and of some major significance - an interview with Cavin Parker, just undertaken.

His side of the story brings up obvious questions, although compromised by the infernal 'hypnosis'.

Nonetheless, he mentions two points I was personally wondering about - were they possibly given some type of injection at the outset and were either of them working on a project involving radioactive material.

I have only heard the interview once, so far and it definitely needs to listened to again - possibly several times - to be fully taken in.

https://uapstudiespodcast.buzzsprout.com/1215695/10326870

 

[EnolaGaia]

One thing that's always bugged me about the incident ...

According to some of the accounts I've read over the years, in the immediate aftermath of the experience the ostensibly badly shaken Hickson and Parker left the scene and went directly to a local newspaper office, only to find it closed. It was only after finding the newspaper office closed that they went to the police (sheriff's department; whatever it was).

 

[BS3]

On the radioactivity issue.

I'm not sure what the original source is, but retellings of the case state that:

Hickson was concerned that himself and Parker might have gotten radiation poisoning from the object. They were taken by Colingo and Detective Tom Huntley to the hospital, where they were informed that the hospital did not have the equipment to test for radiation exposure.

(Source)

To me this seems like more evidence that Hickson, at least, was familiar with either some of the typical narrative features of ufological literature - where UFOs are sometimes described as emitting radiation - or with at least one case which featured purported 'radiation effects'.

Secondly it also hints at a dynamic suggested elsewhere in the case, namely that Hickson was the authority figure/ dominant personality of the two and to a large degree, though probably without meaning to, imposed his interpretation of events on Parker.

 

[Mythopoeika]

To me this seems like more evidence that Hickson, at least, was familiar with either some of the typical narrative features of ufological literature - where UFOs are sometimes described as emitting radiation - or with at least one case which featured purported 'radiation effects'.

The radiation issue comes up quite a lot in UFO cases. Which makes me wonder... how are any of the UFO occupants still alive? They'd be regularly exposed to enough radiation to kill them. Which may yet be another argument in favour of the 'AI' and 'robots' theory, perhaps.

 

[BS3]

A lot of the 'radiation' trope in ufology seems to be expressed by people developing a sunburn-like rash after witnessing a UFO (personally I think, if anything, this might indicate they have been exposed to ultraviolet light rather than radioactivity)

 

[Mythopoeika]

A lot of the 'radiation' trope in ufology seems to be expressed by people developing a sunburn-like rash after witnessing a UFO (personally I think, if anything, this might indicate they have been exposed to ultraviolet light rather than radioactivity)

Or X-rays. Some abductees do seem to have had radiation sickness too.

 

[BS3]

Perhaps the important text here is Frank Edwards' 1966 book Flying Saucers - Serious Business, with its rather dramatic flyleaf warning:

Near approaches of Unidentified Flying Objects can be harmful to human beings. Do not stand under a UFO that is hovering at low altitude. Do not touch or attempt to touch a UFO that has landed. In either case, the safe thing to do is get away from there quickly and let the military take over. There is a possibility of radiation danger, and there are known cases in which persons have been burned by rays emanating from UFOs. Details on these cases are included in this book.

I wonder if Hickson had come across this book at some point.

 

[Comfortably Numb]

One thing that's always bugged me about the incident ...

According to some of the accounts I've read over the years, in the immediate aftermath of the experience the ostensibly badly shaken Hickson and Parker left the scene and went directly to a local newspaper office, only to find it closed. It was only after finding the newspaper office closed that they went to the police (sheriff's department; whatever it was).

Yes, they did - confirmed in the taped interview (about 10 mins into same).

I would personally have no qualms with this. Hickson states they didn't think anyone would believe them and didn't want to inform the local law enforcementt, just tell someone of the news about what they had experienced.

Notable that, in both accounts, they next telephoned Keesler air force base and were only then advised to contact their local police.

The new Calvin Parker interview, albeit missing out thier initial visit to the newspaper office, is increasingly fascinating re this formative stage

Needs more time to ...

 

[BS3]

I should probably mention that Nick Redfern has written a few times that he believes Hickson and Parker may have actually have been subjected to an experiment using 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate ("BZ"). I'm not sure what actual evidence, if any, he has for this.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I should probably mention that Nick Redfern has written a few times that he believes Hickson and Parker may have actually have been subjected to an experiment using 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate ("BZ"). I'm not sure what actual evidence, if any, he has for this.

That would seem to implicate the involvement of military personnel.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I should probably mention that Nick Redfern has written a few times that he believes Hickson and Parker may have actually have been subjected to an experiment using 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate ("BZ"). I'm not sure what actual evidence, if any, he has for this.

It is his latest theory for the Rendlesham case, too:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rendlesham-Forest-UFO-Conspiracy-Government/dp/1945962283

I have always rated Redfern, especially his early work in the UK. he has a knack for digging out official documents, conducts research on the ground and personally seeks out witnesses. However, he also churns out book after book nowadays and I feel quality has suffered somewhat at the hands of quantity and sadly I'm not sure he actually believes a lot of what he has written. For example, his recent book on Mars: no Nick, those aren't giant trees on Mars, because there are no tress on Mars but then you knew that didn't you...?

 

[BS3]

That would seem to implicate the involvement of military personnel.

That would.

He seems to be linking it with MKULTRA and the presence of a research site not far from Pascagoula, but as I mentioned earlier in the thread I think the idea of military involvement through some sort of surveillance or counter-espionage operation, connected with a ship being completed at Ingalls adjacent to the abduction site, has some merit.

Maybe there was a tip-off, and someone thought Hickson and Parker were spying rather than fishing - they were simply there at the wrong place and time. I find this a bit more credible than the idea that US intelligence services would randomly snatch their own citizens for experimentation. The risk of discovery of the latter seems quite high, whereas if you dosed an enemy operative with an 'incapacitating agent', he's hardly going to go to the press and complain afterwards.

I think that Hickson specifically mentioned they were initially 'injected' with something to subdue them. We've also established that the 'ship' was initially seen on the ground and had blue revolving or pulsating lights at the front, much like any emergency vehicle. I'm not saying this is absolute proof they ran into some very earthly, probably military, security people (the hallucination / misperception theories are equally strong) but there are some signs of it.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

That would.

He seems to be linking it with MKULTRA and the presence of a research site not far from Pascagoula, but as I mentioned earlier in the thread I think the idea of military involvement through some sort of surveillance or counter-espionage operation, connected with a ship being completed at Ingalls adjacent to the abduction site, has some merit.

Maybe there was a tip-off, and someone thought Hickson and Parker were spying rather than fishing - they were simply there at the wrong place and time. I find this a bit more credible than the idea that US intelligence services would randomly snatch their own citizens for experimentation. The risk of discovery of the latter seems quite high, whereas if you dosed an enemy operative with an 'incapacitating agent', he's hardly going to go to the press and complain afterwards.

I think that Hickson specifically mentioned they were initially 'injected' with something to subdue them. We've also established that the 'ship' was initially seen on the ground and had blue revolving or pulsating lights at the front, much like any emergency vehicle. I'm not saying this is absolute proof they ran into some very earthly, probably military, security people (the hallucination / misperception theories are equally strong) but there are some signs of it.

It is a good theory. I am always inclined to believe that the more credible of the UFO CE3 (craft and occupants) witnesses experienced a 'something'. This to my mind is certainly the case for the better known Welsh, Yorkshire and Scottish cases of the 70s to 90s here in the UK. The problem we have had is that these individuals were inevitably seized upon by self-styled 'investigators' who were set out to prove UFOs are nuts-and-bolts craft visiting our planet and wouldn't countenance any other possible explanation.

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

I believe Charles Hickson would be amazed if he was alive today, to see how he and Calvin Parker are being perceived. Just two Southern gentlemen who had an amazing experience - ...

NOTE: Subsequent comments about the 1976 Allagash incident have been spun off into this thread:

The Allagash Abduction Incident (Maine; 1976)
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/the-allagash-abduction-incident-maine-1976.69299/

 

[BS3]

To be clear, I think that Hickson and Parker experienced something and are sincere in their descriptions of what they believe happened.

 

[BS3]

It is a good theory. I am always inclined to believe that the more credible of the UFO CE3 (craft and occupants) witnesses experienced a 'something'. This to my mind is certainly the case for the better known Welsh, Yorkshire and Scottish cases of the 70s to 90s here in the UK. The problem we have had is that these individuals were inevitably seized upon by self-styled 'investigators' who were set out to prove UFOs are nuts-and-bolts craft visiting our planet and wouldn't countenance any other possible explanation.

I agree, I think they all experienced something - with a wide variety of internal and external stimuli. Whether these were nuts and bolts visitors is another matter. This is why reading people like Keel is interesting, they're happy to include even the sort of High Strangeness details that make no sense from a nuts and bolts perspective and are often omitted by pro ETH authors (such as the Lorenzens, who I think picked up Pascagoula quite early on).

 

[Comfortably Numb]

I believe Charles Hickson would be amazed if he was alive today, to see how he and Calvin Parker are being perceived.

Seems their story is doing just fine...

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10161736845223266&id=756268265

 

[Comfortably Numb]

To be clear, I think that Hickson and Parker experienced something and are sincere in their descriptions of what they believe happened.

This was a fascinating case, especially as the early evidence is thoroughly documented.

Then, the infernal 'hypnotic regression' takes place, almost immediately, courtesy of Hynek & co.

Any evidential recollections thereafter, are indistinguishable between fact and fantasy.

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

If one has actually undergone hypnotism, it is a very odd thing.
It can help us retrieve memories from our subconscious, it happened to me so I am sure it must be a valuable tool.

 

[BS3]

I'm not sure why Mantle fixes on the 'cat scan' element as uniquely credible. The eye like device that examines them seems more obviously relatable to contemporary science fiction imagery and suggests (subconscious) cultural borrowing, not 'reality'.

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

Seems their story is doing just fine...

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10161736845223266&id=756268265

I'm going to buy that!

 

[BS3]

The big case of the '73 wave was Coyne, which took place a couple of weeks after Pascagoula.

This is another one of those cases I used to think was extremely solid, but these days seems a bit...meh.

 

[MrRING]

I just watched a repeat of the old gameshow To Tell The Truth, where Charles Hickson appeared with two other men, and the celebrity panelists ask questions of all three to determine who was the real Charles Hickson. I couldn't find that video online, but I did find this early report:

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

I just watched a repeat of the old gameshow To Tell The Truth, where Charles Hickson appeared with two other men, and the celebrity panelists ask questions of all three to determine who was the real Charles Hickson. I couldn't find that video online, but I did find this early report:

Wow, I haven't seen that one before.
Charles Hickson was very impressive, didn't change his story ever, and Calvin Parker the same.
I believe the two of them, I think this UFO probably chose them because they were alone in an isolated area, and could easily and quickly be examined.

 

[Jokers Wild]

the PASCAGOULA sighting/abduction is a strange one indeed

also one of the more obscure forgotten u.f.o incidents