Gautier — Charles Hickson didn’t need the recent reports of a UFO sighting in Stephenville, Texas, to stir up memories of what he says was his encounter with alien visitors more than 35 years ago.
“I was terribly frightened,” Hickson told WLOX-TV News of that late October night in 1973.
Hickson, now 76 and living in Gautier, decided to go fishing on the Pascagoula River with his buddy, 19-year-old Calvin Parker. Something happened that night that would change their lives forever.
“It looked to me like air, or steam, or something escaping from a pipe,” Hickson recalled.
A piercing sound made Hickson and Parker stop what they were doing, Hickson said, and that’s when he spotted a large object hovering behind them.
“It was some kind of craft, it was probably 30 or 40 feet,” he said. “There were three things, they weren’t human beings. I know now they were robots.”
The sight is burned into Hickson’s memory.
“They appeared to me that they had something like elephant skin, it was very wrinkled. These things came to us and took a hold of me, and one took a hold of Calvin. We went into that beam of light and they carried me aboard that craft.”
He said the aliens held them for about 30 minutes.
“Something came out of that wall, like a big eye. It came up in front of me, it went under me, and it came back up my back side. The next time I saw it, it came over my head in front of me. They turned me around and carried me right back out where they pick me up.”
Then, Hickson said, within the blink of an eye, it was all over. The UFO was gone, and the men were left wondering what happened.
“I thought it might be a threat to the country, some type of threat to the country. We talked it over again, and decided we would go the sheriff’s department,” Hickson said.
After reporting the abduction, Hickson and Parker both passed lie detector tests and were even questioned under hypnosis. Investigators are on record saying the pair’s story never wavered.
“I am not trying to force anybody to believe anything. I just simply tell them what happened to Calvin and me, and they make up their own minds if they want to believe it or not,” Hickson said.
Despite the years, Hickson said the ordeal remains fresh on his mind.
“They’re just simply unidentified flying objects that come from other worlds out there, and those worlds are ... I have no idea.”
Hickson and Parker’s alleged abduction played a crucial role in the creation of the National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle. The center is a centralized place for people to call and report strange and mysterious things they see.
Parker is reportedly now living in Louisiana and has declined to discuss the incident.
Local News
Gautier man shares story of 1973 alien abduction
- Local News
-
-
PMHS GRADUATION
Picayune Memorial High School held its graduation ceremony Thursday night where the school’s valedictorian Jared Christopher Bates, left, and salutatorian Bryce Austin Warden gave their speeches.
-
POPLARVILLE GRADUATION
Poplarville High School held its graduation ceremony Thursday night where the school’s valedictorian Rebecca Starke, left, and salutatorian Meagan Whitworth gave their speeches to the graduating class, parents and friends.
-
Local man paralyzed by juvenile shooting
Medical personnel were teaching a local man how to swallow again on Saturday after his spinal cord was severed by a .22 caliber bullet, fired by one of three juveniles, on Thursday.
-
Potential bridge replacement fund shortage draws discussion
Despite a lengthy agenda for Pearl River County supervisors Wednesday the board handled many of the items with a straight up and down 5-0 vote.
-
Glade Woods dies
Funeral services for Earl Glade Woods , 75 of Picayune, are Monday at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Picayune. Woods passed away on Friday.
-
MHP on patrol for holiday
Even though there has been a remarkable reduction in the number of fatalities in Mississippi over the past seven years, last year’s Memorial Day Weekend was particularly deadly.
-
POLICE MEMORIAL
City employees were out at the Picayune Police Department memorial Thursday morning doing some upgrades to it.
-
ACCIDENT
ACCIDENT — Emergency personnel responded to this accident Thursday morning on South Haugh Avenue.
-
Supervisors support sales tax proposal
The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors unanimously supports District 1 Supervisor Anthony Hales proposal for a 1-percent county sales tax.
Hales had outlined his proposal at two earlier meetings of the board of supervisors and the other four members voiced their support for the idea at Wednesday’s meeting. -
Lawrence sentenced to 57 months for child porn
Picayune native Clifford Lawrence has been sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for possession of child pornography.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
