Episode 187 The Pascagoula Incident

Southern Mysteries Podcast

Shannon Ballard

True Crime, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On a quiet night in October 1973, two men fishing along the Pascagoula River in Mississippi walked into the sheriff’s office with a story that would follow them for the rest of their lives. Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker claimed they were taken aboard a strange craft and examined by beings they could not explain. This episode of Southern Mysteries, explores the Pascagoula Incident, the fear and fallout that shaped both men’s lives, and why this Mississippi case still raises questions more than 50 years later. Join the Community on Patreon: Want more Southern Mysteries? You can hear the Southern Mysteries show archive of 60+ episodes along with Patron exclusive podcast, Audacious: Tales of American Crime and more when you become a patron of the show. You can immediately access exclusive content now at patreon.com/southernmysteries 🎧 Explore More Southern Mysteries Visit SouthernMysteries.com for more episodes and source lists. 📱 Follow on Social Media: Facebook: Southern Mysteries PodcastInstagram: @southernmysteriesEmail: southernmysteriespodcast@gmail.com Episode Sources Reuters. “Mississippi man who said he was abducted by aliens dies.” Sept. 13, 2011. https://www.reuters.com/article/world/uk/mississippi-man-who-said-he-was-abducted-by-aliens-dies-idUSTRE78C66R/ WLOX. “Calvin Parker, who claimed he was abducted by aliens in Pascagoula in 1973, has died.” Sept. 2, 2023. https://www.wlox.com/2023/09/02/calvin-parker-who-claimed-he-was-abducted-by-aliens-pascagoula-1973-has-died/ WLOX. “Coast Life: Alleged Pascagoula River Alien Abduction 50-years later.” Oct. 16, 2023. https://www.wlox.com/2023/10/17/coast-life-alleged-pascagoula-river-alien-abduction-50-years-later/ Country Roads Magazine. Alexandra Kennon Shahin, “The Pascagoula Abduction.” Sept.21, 2021 https://countryroadsmagazine.com/art-and-culture/people-places/the-pascagoula-abduction/ Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.” Jan. 12, 2023. https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/reports-publications/reports-publications-2023/3667-2022-annual-report-on-unidentified-aerial-phenomena Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “ODNI Releases Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.” Jan. 12, 2023. https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2023/3668-odni-releases-annual-report-on-unidentified-aerial-phenomena Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” (PDF). https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Unclassified-2022-Annual-Report-UAP.pdf U.S. Department of Defense. “Department of Defense Releases the Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.” Nov. 14, 2024. https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/article/3964824/department-of-defense-releases-the-annual-report-on-unidentified-anomalous-phen/ Episode Music Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

Transcript

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0:00.0	On October 11th, 1973, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department in Pascagoula, Mississippi, was quiet in the way small-town offices get after dark, paperwork, coffee gone cold, deputies watching the clock and listening to the scanner.
0:25.2	Late that night, the front door opened, and two men walked in. One of them was older, broad
0:32.1	shoulders in his early 40s. Charles Hickson was a shipyard foreman, a man people in town knew as steady and
0:40.3	never prone to wild stories. Beside him was someone who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else.
0:46.8	19-year-old Calvin Parker. The deputies would later say, the men didn't look drunk. They looked terrified.
0:55.9	When asked what was wrong, Charles told the deputies
0:58.3	that he and Calvin were out on the Pascagoula River,
1:01.6	fishing off an old boat lunch.
1:04.0	And then he said the words that would ultimately
1:06.7	change their lives.
1:08.6	He said they were taken, taken aboard something, a craft of some kind.
1:14.9	And there were beings on that craft, but they weren't human. The deputies put Charles and Calvin in an
1:21.5	interview room, closed the door, and left a tape recorder running. It was hidden out of sight. If this was a hoax, this is when
1:30.8	the truth would slip out. What that tape captured followed everyone in that building
1:36.8	for the rest of their lives. Welcome to Southern Mysteries, exploring Southern history and
1:44.0	true crime.
1:45.2	I'm your host, Shannon Ballard.
1:48.0	This is episode 187, The Pascagoula Incident.
1:56.6	What really happened to Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker on the banks of the Pascagoula River on that October night in 1973?
2:06.6	That's the question folks have been asking for over 50 years.
2:11.6	In 1973, Pascagoula was strictly a shipyard town on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. The river was the center of work and life. People fished there, they launched boats there, and they drove past that river without thinking twice. On October 11, 1973, Charles Hickson wrapped up his shift at the shipyard. He was in his early 40s, divorced
2:37.2	with grown children, the kind of man who's dependable. Not rich, but he was respected. The guy you call when
	...

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