This caught my attention since it happened near a town that's only about 40 minutes away from me.

On the evening of October 11, 1973, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker claimed to have been abducted by aliens while fishing near Pascagoula, MS. The two heard a strange droning, looked up, and spotted two flashing blue lights coming from a domed, cigar-shaped vehicle in the sky. The men recalled that it must have been between 30 an 40 feet across and 8 to 10 feet high as it levitated 2 feet from the ground.

Suddenly, a door opened to reveal three man-sized beings who seized the two fishermen and levitated them inside. Parker fainted, but Hickson managed to stay lucid. He recalled the creatures as being pale and wrinkled without any eyes and only slits for mouths. Their heads, which were possessed of strange "carrot-like" protuberances that seemed to mimic the placement of ears and a nose, sat atop their shoulders with no discernible neck. Their hands were like the claws of a lobster and their single leg terminated in an elephant-like foot. Their movements, Hickson thought, were oddly mechanical.

The two men were examined by some sort of device that seemed to scan their bodies, according to Hickson. Parker had no recollection, but later hypnotic regressions revealed some vague tid bits. Twenty minutes later, the two men were taken back to their spot on the river bank.

Too frightened to move, the pair sat in their vehicle for nearly an hour, drinking whiskey. Although, I'm not sure how this would have deviated from their intended post-fishing routine...

The pair decided at last on a course of action. They contacted the folks at Keesler Air Force Base who informed them that they were no longer interested in such reports and that they should probably contact the local police department. So, at 10:30 that night, Hickson and Parker entered the Sheriff's office, catfish in tow, to tell their tale.

While the Sheriff wasn't sure he bought their tale (I'm thinking strong whiskey breath might have contributed to this conclusion), he did think the men were sincerely disturbed by SOMETHING that happened on the river that evening.

According to a secretly taped interview (later transcribed by NICAP), the men's story continued even after the Sheriff left them alone, lending credence to the belief of many that their story--fantastic or not--was true.

In the days that followed, the spoke to no one about the event, but co-workers could tell something wasn't right with the men. It wasn't before long that the men got a call from the Sheriff, complaining about reporters that were now hounding him for information on the case. The two men each blamed the other for leaking the story to the press. In short order, the whole area was soon buzzing with the tale.

According to research by famed UFO researcher Jerome Clark, the men were taken to the Air Force base to be examined and debriefed by military intelligence.

The story was going national quickly and the men found themselves in front of UFO big wigs like James Harder and J. Allen Hynek. Hickson acquiesced to a polygraph that determined that, at the very least, he BELIEVED the story he was telling. But research by other journalists revealed that the fishing spot at which the men claimed the incident transpired was in full view of two 24 hour toll booths and neither attendants on duty at the time heard or saw anything strange that evening.

The stress of it all soon took its toll and the two fled 150 miles north to hide out with family.

Many years later, Parker (who no doubt knew all the details of Hickson's account by then) claimed to have lied about fainting and he actually remembered it all. But he had more to offer.

In addition to the bizarre carrot men, a small female being grabbed his man junk and injected a needle into the underside of his shaft. She communicated with him telepathically; informing him his abduction had a purpose. Parker said that nearly 20 years passed without incident when suddenly one evening he encountered the craft again. Aboard was the same female being who informed him that the two shared the same God, the Bible was truth, and that she and her kind wished to live on Earth but could not because of humanity's war-like nature.

The excuses carrot nosed beings will come up with as to why they didn't call the next day. Tsk, tsk, tsk...

The two kept a fairly low profile in the decades following, only occasionally speaking about the event. Hickson co-wrote a book on his experiences. He passed away September 9, 2011.

Maybe it was all a prank that got out of hand--so out of hand that these two men felt ensnared by their own lies. I could see that. Maybe they really did see something strange that night, but maybe their drinking began a bit earlier than the bit of whiskey to calm their nerves and the details got a bit confused. Or perhaps we should be watching out for more than just snakes, gators, and creepy banjo-pluckin' inbreds on the rivers and streams of Mississippi.

Origin: aliens-are-friends.blogspot.com