It’s been 47 years since Calvin Parker and Charles Hickson contacted the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office claiming they were abducted by aliens. Recently, a recording, said to be made that night of what they told Sheriff Fred Diamond and Capt. Glenn Ryder, has surfaced.
“It was about the time the coronavirus hit,” Parker, of Moss Point, said of when he received two copies of the recording. “I’d been talking with him on the internet. He just showed up at my house.”
UFO witnesses speak: ‘The story is very true. That’s what has bothered me for 45 years.’
Parker explained the man who gave him copies of the recording was an officer with the Pascagoula Police Department on the night the abduction occurred, but does not want to be identified. Parker said the officer was involved because he fielded roughly 50 phone calls that night from people claiming to have seen something unusual in the sky.
“When I sat down and listened to it, it hit me how real all of this was,” Parker said. “It kind of choked me up a little bit.
“I’d never heard it — not the full recording — just the piece where Charlie and I were locked in the room and they walked out. I was surprised they had the whole thing on tape.”
At the time, Parker said he did not know there was a recorder in the room.
“I had no idea,” Parker said. “Apparently, Charlie didn’t, either. They was all hid.”
The interview took place on Oct. 11, 1973 after Parker and Hickson claimed they were abducted by aliens while fishing from the bank of the Pascagoula River. News of the event thrust the two into the media spotlight and put the town of Pascagoula on the map. It was unwanted attention for Parker, who tried to distance himself from it.
However, events in Parker’s life led him to feel he needed to tell his story and he published a book in 2018 detailing his experience. Once again, the event became the center of attention for many and Clarion Ledger published stories about the book and other people claiming to have witnessed unidentified objects in the sky that night.
Now, the 47-year-old story continues with release of the interview recording.
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‘It was a blinding light’
In a 2018 interview with the Clarion Ledger, Parker said he noticed blue light reflecting off the water and his initial thought was law enforcement officers had arrived to tell the two fishermen they needed to leave the property. However, when Parker looked up, he realized the light was coming from a craft like nothing he’d ever seen.
“A big light came out of the clouds,” Parker said. “It was a blinding light.
“It was hard to tell with the lights so bright, but it looked like it was shaped like a football. I would say, just estimating, (it was) about 80-foot. (It made) very little sound. It was just a hissing noise.”
Parker said three legless creatures floated from the craft. One had no neck with gray wrinkled skin. Another had a neck and appeared more feminine. Parker described their hands as being shaped like mittens or crab claws.
When one of the creatures put one of its claws around his arm, Parker said he was terrified, but then another feeling came over his body.
“I think they injected us with something to calm us down,” Parker said. ”I was kind of numb and went along with the program.”
Parker said the creatures held his and Hickson’s arms and floated them into the craft where examinations were performed on the two. Then they were returned to the bank of the river.
After some debate, the two decided they needed to alert authorities and ended up in an interview room at the sheriff’s office. During the interview, Parker remained silent — something he regretted when he listened to the recording.
“I was wishing I’d really opened up to them and told them everything,” Parker said.
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‘I couldn’t resist them’
Hickson, who has since died, tried to explain during the 1973 interview what happened and what he saw, including going into the craft.
“And they glided me into that thing,” Hickson said. ”You know, how you just guide somebody.
“All of us moved like we were floating through air. When I got in there they had me, you know, they just kind of had me there. There were no seats, no chain, they just moved me around. I couldn’t resist them. I just floated, felt no sensation, no pain. They kept me in that position a little while, then they’d raise me back up.”
Hickson also tried to describe a machine he thought was used for a medical examination.
“No, it wasn’t like no x-ray machine,” Hickson said. ”There ain’t no way to describe it.
“It looked like an eye, like a big eye. It had some kind of an attachment to it. It moved. It looked like a big eye and it went all over my body, up and down. And then they left me.”
Hickson answered many questions and described the the aliens as being about five feet tall with a single leg and foot-like appendage without toes. He said they had what appeared to be ears, a nose and a mouth, but none of the features looked human. He said he was so scared he couldn’t remember if they had eyes. He also said he couldn’t remember details about leaving the craft, only Parker’s reaction.
“The only thing I remember is that kid, Calvin, just standing there,” Hickson said. ”I’ve never seen that sort of fear on a man’s face as I saw on Calvin’s.
“It took me a while to get him back to his senses, and the first thing I told him was, ‘Son, ain’t nobody gonna believe this. Let’s just keep this whole thing to ourselves.’ Well, the more I thought about it, the more I thought I had to let some officials know.”
After the questioning, Diamond and Ryder left the room. Ryder, now retired and living in Vancleave, said he didn’t believe any of Hickson’s story.
“I wasn’t really impressed with them,” Ryder said. “You have people trying to get notoriety and I thought they were trying to get notoriety with a spaceship.”
‘They didn’t make it up’
While Parker and Hickson were alone, the hidden recorder was still recording. What was recorded changed Ryder’s mind. The two talked about fear, sleeplessness and needing to see a doctor among other things. At times, it was almost like they were talking to themselves.
“Jesus Christ, God have mercy, I thought I’d been through enough of Hell on this earth and now I’ve got to go through something like this, see,” Hickson said. “But they could have, you know, I guess they, well, they could have harmed us, son.
“They had us. They could have done anything to us, but they didn’t hurt me.”
Parker spoke mainly about his anxiety.
“I just want to cry right now,” Parker said. “What’s so damn bad about it is nobody’s going to believe us.
“I got to get home and get to bed and take some nervous pills or something, see a doctor or something. I can’t stand this. I’m about to go all to pieces. I can’t sleep like it is. I’m damn near crazy.”
The two continued talking and Ryder still remembers Parker’s words.
“I put them in a room with a voice-activated recorder and that convinced me,” Ryder said. “When that boy was talking about them coming back to get us — you had an 18-year-old boy that had never seen anything.
“He was genuinely scared. He was telling Charlie, ‘Don’t talk to the deputies. They’ll come back and get us.’ They didn’t make it up. I can guarantee that.”
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