Gautier man made famous by alien abduction dies at 80

GAUTIER, MS (WLOX) - A Gautier man made famous for an alleged alien abduction died at the age of 80 on Friday.

Charles Hickson was known best for an "out of this world experience" that changed his life. The story this every day guy shared for close to 40 years even made some skeptics believe that extra-terrestrial life does exist.

It all began on a quiet night October 11th, 1973 when Charles Hickson was fishing with friend Calvin Parker on the Pascagoula River. Both men said they saw a large UFO hovering behind them.

In a 2000 interview, Mr. Hickson told WLOX News that "It was some type of craft, it was 30 or 40 feet. There were three things they weren't human beings. I know now they were robots."

Hickson said they took them on their space craft and examined them with strange, oblong instruments, later releasing them unharmed.

He said, "They put me back into the light and put me back on the ground about where I'd come from. I heard a zipping sound again, and I looked around and that craft was gone."

Hickson and Parker told authorities immediately what happened and they were recorded while sitting in a holding room, not knowing anyone was listening. We have the rarely heard original tape recordings made just hours after the alleged abduction.

The two men were recorded saying:

Parker: "I almost had a heart attack, I ain't sh@#ting you."

Hickson: "I know it scared me to death too."

Parker: "I was standing there right now just crying, I can't help it."

Hickson: "I know it. I couldn't take much more of that. I tell you, I need some more pills or something or go see a doctor or something. I can't stand it. I'm about to go hog crazy."

Parker stayed pretty tight lipped about the experience. Hickson was just the opposite. He later wrote a book about bizarre experience called "UFO Contact at Pascagoula." Charles Hickson went to his grave knowing that many people, including his family, believed his alien abduction story to be 100 percent true.

His son, Eddie Hickson, said of his Dad's story, "It's never changed. Daddy's taken numerous polygraph, been under hypnosis and from my understanding it's almost impossible to lie under hypnosis, and it's never changed."

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