Two men report an alien abduction. The sheriff suspects a prank. Then he leaves them alone with a hidden tape recorder and the conversation doesn’t go as expected.

Josh and Travis are discussing the 1973 Pascagoula alien abduction, where Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker claimed a fishing trip ended aboard a hovering UFO.

We follow the encounter from the riverbank to the sheriff’s office, unpacking the secret police recording, reported puncture marks, polygraph testing, and hypnosis sessions that made this case a lasting fixture of UFO history. Along the way, we get into J. Allen Hynek’s involvement, skeptical explanations involving trauma and memory, and the question that keeps coming up: does believing these men were terrified mean believing they were abducted by aliens?

Then there’s life afterward: decades of unwanted attention, Calvin Parker’s eventual decision to tell his story, and Charles Hickson’s claims of further contact—including a mysterious “message stone.” Some details move the needle. Others move it right back.

What’s your verdict on Pascagoula? Share your theory and leave a review. And if you’ve read either man’s book, we want to hear from you.

Links mentioned:

• Netflix: Files of the Unexplained — Episode 1, “File: Pascagoula Alien Abduction”
• The Why Files: The Pascagoula UFO Incident | When Nightmares Come True
• Our earlier episode: Close Encounters of Every Kind Explained

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