The Great UFO Wave:
October, 1973

Men say they were taken aboard spaceship

The Cincinnati Post
October 13, 1973 pg. 1

Pascagoula, Miss. (UPI): Two shipyard workers say they were taken aboard a glowing blue spacecraft by buzzing creatures with silvery, wrinkled skin. Sheriff Fred Diamond is sure "something did happen to them."

"These are reliable me," Diamond said. "They had no reason to say this if it had not been true. I know something did happen to them."

"I was scared and I'm still scared and shook up over it," said one of the men, Charles Hickson, 42.

Whatever happened took place around 7 p.m. Thursday night while Hickson and Calvin Parker, 19, were fishing off an old pier on the west bank of the Pascagoula River near here. They said they saw a strange object approaching in the sky, emitting a bluish haze, and then were taken inside the craft by three creatures.

Both men were questioned at length by the Jackson County sheriff's office but were reluctant to talk to newsmen. However, they consented to a brief, filmed interview with a Biloxi television station (WLOX-TV).

"All of a sudden we heard something like a buzzing sound," said Hickson, "and I saw what looked like a bright, flashing blue light. It looked bluish to me. All of a sudden it seemed to stop."

He said it appeared to be "hovering" a few feet over the ground and "one end just opened... and I saw three things coming out. They seemed to be floating across the water a couple of feet high."

"Before I knew it they were on me and two of them had me by each arm and immediately I was lifted off the ground. I was quite scared. It's hard to recall exactly what did happen."

He said he was carried to the "vehicle" where he was examined by "some kind of instrument... it reminded me of a big eye which covered my entire body."

He said he was not harmed and "didn't have any sensation whatsoever. I was just helpless."

Parker, who also works at a local shipyard, said he was taken to the craft too, but passed out shortly after the creatures appeared and could not remember what happened afterwards.

Both men admitted to authorities they took "a stiff drink" after they were released, but said they had not been drinking before. Chief Deputy Barney Mathis said they definitely were not intoxicated.

Diamond said the "space craft" was described as fish-shaped, about 10 feet square with an eight-foot ceiling. The occupants were said to have pale silvery-grey skin with no hair, long pointed ears and noses, with an opening for a mouth, big eyes, and hands "like crab claws."

They were "real wrinkled" and the only sound they made was a "buzzing- humming sound."

Neither man suffered any apparent injuries but they were taken to a military hospital at nearby Keesler Air Force Base, to be checked out for possible radiation exposure as a precaution. Kessler officials said an examination by Air Force physicians found no evidence of radiation.