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right|thumb|400px|Map showing coastal route [[U.S. Route 90|US 90, connecting Pascagoula with Ocean Springs, Mississippi.]]

The Pascagoula incident was an alleged UFO close encounter reported by Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, who claimed that while fishing near Pascagoula, Mississippi they were taken aboard a UFO and examined by aliens before being released. <!--The events are claimed to be relatively inconsistent with an intentional hoax, even by skeptics of UFOs and alien abductions who suggest the fishermen were 'hypnogogic'. -->

Around 8 PM on October 11, service station operator Larry Booth called the sheriff to report seeing a strange craft with a blinking colored light pass overhead.

Publicity and later activities

The two men scheduled a press conference for the 11:15 AM on October 12, but it was cancelled. The two men were examined at Keesler Air Force Base, cleared of radiation exposure, and released. Locals called for federal officials to investigate. Ufologist James Harder and debunker-turned-promoter J. Allen Hynek traveled to Mississippi and interviewed the two men, separately, under hypnosis. They told press the accounts were likely based on fact.

By October 17, press documented subsequent UFO reports in the wake of nationwide attention. On October 19, an article under the pair's name appeared in the local paper; that piece argued the creatures were robotic and friendly. An artist conception of a 'creature' was published in Biloxi on October 20. The pair agreed to tell their story to the local Rotary Club. It was reported the pair were set to take lie detector tests.

By October 24, press compared the case to the Betty and Barney Hill case. Local press reported the two men had not been seen at their workplace, prompting speculation they were being paid to tell their story. October 27 press confirmed an upcoming polygraph. By October 30, a Los Angeles radio station was advertising an exclusive interview with the two men. On October 31, press reported that a local polygraph examiner had concluded Hickson "told the truth as to what he believed", cautioning "we do not say a space ship landed or that creatures emerged from it." The use of the polygraph as a lie detector was discredited by the 1980s. Through an attorney, Parker declined to take a polygraph unless requested by Hickson. The attorney said Parker had recently been hospitalized. Hickson appeared on the November 2 episode of The Dick Cavett Show. On November 8, local press reported that a fisherman and his 14 year old son claimed to have seen an illuminated object underwater in the same river. On November 29, Hickson appeared at a taping of The Mike Douglas Show; the episode aired in syndication in late December. Hickson also appeared on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

In January, Hickson was arrested for public drunkenness after being found wandering along a highway. In April, Hickson traveled to Detroit to address a UFO group. That month, Hickson told press that he was in on-going contact with the beings, having had three different encounters. Hickson teased that the being would soon provide a message along with proof of their existence which he would relay to Washington. Later in April, Hickson met with "ancient astronauts" proponent Eric von Däniken. Hickson gave interviews and lectures, and appeared on television (including an episode of the game show To Tell The Truth).

In 1974, Hickson claimed additional encounters with aliens. <!-- Boys Life brief mention https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-austin-daily-herald-alleged-sighting/177113267/-->

In October 1974, Hickson was described as a "UFO celebrity" who would be featured in an upcoming NBC documentary. “We did everything we knew to try to break their stories," Jackson County sheriff's Capt. Glen Ryder told The Washington Post in 1975. "If they were lying to me, they should be in Hollywood."-->In September 2011, Hickson died of a heart attack at the age of 80.

In 2018, Parker released his book, entitled Pascagoula: The Closest Encounter, My Story, which is "the first full account of the event given by Parker along with how it affected his life".

In 2024, Netflix's Files of the Unexplained covered the incident.

The City of Pascagoula hosts a festival every year in October to mark the anniversary of the incident.

Skepticism

Aviation journalist and UFO skeptic Philip J. Klass found "discrepancies" in Hickson's story, noted that Hickson refused to take a polygraph exam conducted by an experienced examiner, and concluded that the case was a hoax. Skeptical investigator Joe Nickell wrote that Hickson's behavior was "questionable" and that Hickson later altered or embellished his claims. Nickell speculated that Hickson may have fantasized the alien encounter during a hypnagogic "waking dream state", and suggested that Parker's corroboration of the tale was likely due to suggestibility because he initially told police he had "passed out at the beginning of the incident and failed to regain consciousness until it was over",

</references>

  • Information about the Pascagoula Abduction and Calvin Parker's book.
  • "All They Meant To Do Was Go Fishing" (NICAP transcript of an interview with Hickson and Parker)
  • Nickell, Joe. "The Pascagoula Abduction: A Case of Hypnagogia?" in Ballester-Olmos, V.J., and Heiden, Richard W. (Eds.), The Reliability of UFO Witness Testimony. UPIAR, Turin, Italy (2023), pp.&nbsp;137–140. .