It has been described as one of the most credible alien abduction stories in history.
Now, fifty years later, new evidence has come to light that UFO experts say shows a close encounter took place on the Pascagoula River in Mississippi.
On October 11, 1973, two fishermen were enjoying an after-work outing when they heard a bizarre noise and saw flashing blue lights that they at first thought belonged to a police car.
Instead, a floating oval-shaped vessel was created. From it, they told investigators, emerged their captors – three “beings” with “robotic slit mouths” who took them on board and physically examined them.
Colleagues Calvin Parker and Charles Hickson managed to escape the ordeal, dazed, confused and with little more than pinprick wounds.
Their wounds have been described as ‘physical evidence’, which UFO enthusiasts say debunks skeptics’ claims that it was all in the men’s heads. And now, for the first time, photos of the injuries have been made public.
Calvin Parker and Charles Hickson claimed they were abducted by aliens while fishing in 1973
“Three punctures were noted on the left arm of Charles Hickson,” Dr. Harder wrote after examining the men
On Parker, ‘similar punctures were noted on the inside of his foot as indicated in the photos’
The men’s never-before-seen photos and testimonies have been published by UFO researchers who say they are ‘unprecedented’ evidence that alien life forms are coming to Earth.
Philip Mantle has been studying UFO sightings for decades and says he finds Parker and Hickson’s case, now supported by the new evidence, the most credible he has ever come across.
‘I have been researching UFOs for forty years and have never come across anything like this. It is unprecedented physical evidence that something happened that night,” he told MailOnline.
Parker and Hickson were interviewed and examined by Dr. James Harder in the hours after they were allegedly abducted and dragged into a “strange glowing object” by humanoids.
In a document that Mantle said was typed by Dr. Harder, an engineering professor and UFO enthusiast, the men are said to have left “certain markings” on their bodies “neither of which could be explained.”
The document, which Mantle said was shared with him by CUFOS, reveals the ufologist’s research methods and what he found about the two men.
‘Three puncture marks were noted on the left arm of Charles Hickson… on close examination it was found that the epidermis had been pierced as if by a needle-like device… at the same time certain portions of the epidermis had been removed in a circular manner.’
No other injuries were found, it said. Parker had “similar punctures noted on the inside of his foot as shown in the photographs.”
Again, ‘no other spots or rashes were observed on the rest of the body, except naturally occurring spots and pimples.’
Ufologists have long been fascinated by an alleged encounter on the Pascagoula River, Mississippi, in 1973
Mantle insists that the small cuts on the men’s arms, feet and legs could not have come from brush or other rough surfaces they encountered during their fishing trip.
Mantle and fellow researcher Dr. Irena Scott found the photos after searching the archives of several UFO groups, including the Center for UFO Studies, which shared the documents with them.
Mantle also extensively interviewed Parker himself, who unfortunately passed away last month at the age of 69.
Parker was just 19 years old at the time and was taken fishing by a colleague, 42-year-old Charles Hickson, after his first day at a new job.
The men stayed until after sunset and were about to collect more bait while hunting for fish, when they saw lights and the ‘object’ appeared.
From the craft – which was said to be 9 to 12 meters wide, 2.5 to 3 meters high and 6.5 meters above the ground – emerged three creatures described as “humanoid in shape” and approximately “one and a half meters tall ‘.
“Certain parts of the epidermis had been removed in a circular manner,” Dr. Harder noted on October 13, 1973.
In Mantle’s summary of the various descriptions the men gave of their captors, he wrote: ‘The skin of the creatures was pale in color and wrinkled, and they had no eyes that could distinguish the men, and slits for mouths.
‘Their heads also appeared to be connected directly to their shoulders, with no discernible neck.
‘There were instead three ‘root-like’ growths: one where a human’s nose would be, the other two where ears would normally be.
‘The creatures had lobster-like claws at the ends of their arms, and they appeared to have only one leg (Hickson later described that the creatures’ lower bodies looked as if their legs had been fused together) that ended in elephant-like feet.
“Hickson also reported that the creatures moved in mechanical, robotic ways.”
In a document that, according to Mantle, was written on October 13, 1973 by Dr. Harder was typed, the men were said to have left ‘certain markings’ on their bodies ‘which neither could explain’.
Both men said they were paralyzed and taken to the UFO, where they underwent extensive physical examinations.
The men originally wanted to keep their wild story hidden and longed for nothing more than an everyday life, with Parker’s wedding only a month away at the time.
But after some thought and some persuasion from his friend, Hickson, a Korean War veteran, felt it was his duty to report what they had seen.
They called the local air base to get in touch with Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force’s UFO research program, but were told it no longer existed.
Hickson was told to speak to local authorities and instead contacted the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
Dr. James Harder, a Berkeley engineering professor and UFO enthusiast, who investigated Parker and Hickson after their alleged abduction
They were brought in to be interrogated separately and together by police, with the transcripts of the meetings revealing their terror.
“We did everything we knew to break their stories,” Jackson County Sheriff’s Captain Glen Ryder told The Washington Post in 1975.
“If they lied to me, they should be in Hollywood.”
Mantle also cites several other tests performed on the men, and what he says are reams of witness statements from the night in question.
The men were taken for a radiation test, which came back negative, Mantle admitted, but other tests performed, he said, support their accounts.
Parker, who remained convinced of what he saw until his dying day, said in an interview before his death: “We did polygraph tests and voice stress tests, were hypnotized three times, had more credible witnesses than any case before, and more credibility.” people talk.
An artist’s impression of the ‘creatures’ that Hickson and Parker described – with ‘robotic slit mouths’, ‘lobster-like claws’ and ‘root-like growths’ on their heads
“But look, in the 1970s people thought you were crazy for doing or seeing something like that.”
While naysayers continue to label the encounter a hoax five decades later, Mantle said he won’t give up hope that the evidence he gathered will be taken seriously.
He added that he is open to skepticism and admitted that the UFO community needs skeptics to keep them rigorous in their research, inviting anyone who doesn’t believe the claims to read the evidence he laid out in his new book, written in collaboration with Dr. Scott.
Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The Pascagoula Alien Abduction, was released on September 1 and can be purchased on Amazon.