Pascagoula incident

On the night of October 11, 1973, 45-year-old Charles Hickson and his 17-year-old relative Calvin Parker reported to the Jackson County, Mississippi sheriff's office that they had encountered a UFO while fishing off a pier on the west bank of the Pascagoula River. According to their account, they heard a whirring sound, saw flashing blue lights, and observed an oval-shaped object roughly 30–40 feet across. Hickson claimed three "creatures" with "pincers" took them aboard the craft and examined them before releasing them; Parker reportedly fainted and remained unconscious throughout the alleged examination. The report came amid a wider wave of UFO sightings across the U.S. South in 1973, sometimes called the 1973 UFO flap.

The two men initially went to the Mississippi Press office before proceeding to the sheriff's office. Captain Glenn Ryder, who interviewed them, said he was initially skeptical but came to believe the men were sincere, despite smelling alcohol on Hickson's breath (which Hickson attributed to whiskey consumed after the alleged release). Officers secretly recorded the two men when left alone, hoping to catch inconsistencies, but their accounts remained consistent. The story was picked up by the Associated Press and United Press International on October 12, 1973, and covered nationally. The men were examined at Keesler Air Force Base and cleared of radiation exposure.

Ufologists James Harder and J. Allen Hynek separately interviewed the men under hypnosis and told press the accounts were likely based on fact. Media comparisons were drawn to the earlier Betty and Barney Hill case. A local polygraph examiner concluded in October 1973 that Hickson "told the truth as to what he believed," while cautioning that this did not confirm a spacecraft landing. Parker, through an attorney, declined to take a polygraph unless requested by Hickson, citing a recent hospitalization.

Hickson became a prominent figure in UFO circles, appearing on The Dick Cavett Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and To Tell the Truth. He later claimed ongoing contact with the beings across multiple additional encounters and authored a self-published book in 1983. Parker later attended UFO conventions and in 1993 started a company called "UFO Investigations." In 2018, Parker published his own account of the events.

Aviation journalist and UFO skeptic Philip J. Klass identified discrepancies in Hickson's story and concluded the case was a hoax, partly because Hickson refused a polygraph exam by an experienced examiner. Skeptical investigator Joe Nickell characterized aspects of Hickson's behavior as "questionable," noted later alterations to his claims, and suggested Hickson may have experienced a hypnagogic "waking dream state," with Parker's corroboration possibly influenced by suggestibility.

Hickson died of a heart attack in September 2011 at age 80. A historical marker was unveiled at the alleged site in June 2019, attended by Parker and Hickson's family. Parker died of kidney cancer in August 2023 at age 68. The City of Pascagoula holds an annual festival marking the incident's anniversary, and the case has continued to receive media coverage, including in a 2024 Netflix documentary series.