Pascagoula River

42-year-old Charles Hickson was a foreman at a local shipyard and a good friend of 18-year-old Calvin Parker, who had recently begun working there.

On the night of October 11, 1973, they decided to fish along the Pascagoula River.

They'd done it before, and it was a perfect night for fishing.

As the two men walked along the banks, Calvin noticed a strange light in the distance.

Before the shipyard, Pascagoula held about 5,000 people.

At the mouth of the Pascagoula River, where it opens into the Mississippi Sound.

The kind of town where everyone knew everyone.

And not much happened after dark, except the mosquitoes.

So today, we're heading to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, to a quiet shipyard town called Pascagoula, for a case that a lot of researchers consider one of the most well-documented abduction stories on record.

On the night of October 11th, 1973, two shipyard workers went fishing on the Pascagoula River, like they'd done plenty of times before.

By the end of the night, they were telling a sheriff's deputy that they'd been lifted into a hovering craft by three strange gray,

robotic-looking creatures.

Yeah.

So let's dive into that night at Shumpeter Shipyard.

The encounter took place at approximately 9 p.m. on October the 11th, 1973, at the abandoned Shumpeter Shipyard on the west bank of the Pascagoula River in Mississippi.

The two men present were Charles Hickson, age 42, a shipyard foreman, and his co-worker, Calvin Parker, who was around 19.

And Charlie says, "You wanna go fishing tonight, son?" "Oh, yeah, great." So they had some dinner and packed their gear, bought some bait on the way.

Charlie's giving him directions, and they go down the Pascagoula River, park the car up.

They're fishing off an old pier when, hey, presto, these blue lights come from behind them.

They'd passed a no entry sign at one point.

So let's dive into this.

So it's been nearly 52 years since Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker claimed that they were abducted by aliens while fishing along the Pascagoula River in Mississippi, and yet another docuseries has been released on the alleged extraterrestrial encounter.

Pascagoula 73, a four-part series now available on Amazon and YouTube, was produced by Danny Weir and written by Weir alongside longtime UFO researcher Philip Mantle.

Mantle published two of Parker's books before his death and has done extensive research on arguably the best documented case of its kind.

So what was the Pascagoula abduction you might ask? Parker and Hickson, then 42, so we got a 42-year-old and a 18-year-old fishing in a boat.

All right.

Had just gotten off work on October 11th, 1973 when they decided to go fishing at an abandoned shipyard on the west bank of the Pascagoula River.

That's, that's not sus.

The date, October 11, 1973.

Location, Pascagoula River in Mississippi.

This is classified as a close encounter of the fourth kind, slash abduction, slash psychological trauma.

Now, October 11th, 1973 was a Thursday.

In the town of Pascagoula, Mississippi, the air was thick with the humidity of the Gulf Coast.

Charles Hickson, age 42, and Calvin Parker, age 19, were co-workers at the local FBD shipyard.

As their shift ended, they decided to go night fishing on an abandoned pier near the west bank of the Pascagoula River.

Hickson was a seasoned Korean War veteran, a man of grit and practical experience.

M-I-S-S-I-P-P-I.

And I'm going to have the opportunity to tell you about one of the most infamous abduction stories, the Pascagoula River incident.

It's a river.

You ever heard of it? Never.

So now that we have the setting for our story, let's move along to October 11th, 1973 at 11 p.m. to be precise.

The doors to Jackson County Sheriff's Department opened and in walked 45-year-old Charles Hickson and his 17-year-old co-worker, Kelvin Parker.

They entered to make a report about a strange encounter they had while fishing on the Pascagoula River.

Oh, man.

So basically the pair finished work and they've decided, you know, we've finished work, let's have a chill out, let's go fishing.

You know, why not? And they were fishing off, so the location they were fishing off is known as the Short Pier, where is the Short Pier? At the old Shao Peter Yard on the west bank of the East Pascagoula River between the rail bridge and Highway 90.

So it's kind of like an exact kind of location.

Yeah.

To the northward of Mississippi City and its neighbor, Hansborough, there extends a tract of pine forest for miles with but few habitations scattered through it.

Black and red creeks, with their numerous branches, drain this region into the Pascagoula River to the eastward.

With the swamps of Pascagoula as a refuge and the luxuriant and unfrequented bottoms of red and black creeks to browse upon, there are few choicer spots for deer.

Knowing this fact, a small party of gentlemen on the day before a crisp, cold Christmas started from Hansborough in a large four-wheeled wagon for a 30-mile drive into this wilderness of pine and a week's sport after the deer.