The Lobster-Claw Aliens That Terrified Two Fishermen

On October 11, 1973, two fishermen walked into the Jackson County Sheriff's Office in Mississippi with the kind of story that would normally get you laughed out of the building. Charles Hickson, 42, and his 19-year-old co-worker Calvin Parker claimed that while fishing on the Pascagoula River, they'd been abducted by aliens—aliens with lobster-claw hands.

The sheriff's deputies weren't buying it. So they did what any skeptical law enforcement officers would do: they left the two men alone in a room with a secret recording device running, fully expecting to catch them congratulating themselves on fooling the cops.

What happened next became one of the most compelling pieces of evidence in UFO history.

When the Tape Started Rolling

Instead of dropping the act, Hickson and Parker continued talking about their ordeal in voices that Captain Glenn Ryder—who conducted the interview—would later describe as genuinely fearful. On the recording, you can hear Hickson telling the terrified younger man: "It scared me to death too, son. You can't get over it in a lifetime."

Ryder, who still worked for the sheriff's office decades later, was adamant about what he witnessed: "I know you don't fake fear, and they were fearful. They were fearful."

The Creatures They Described

According to the men's account, they heard a whirring sound around 11 PM and saw an oval-shaped object with flashing blue lights hovering near the riverbank. Three creatures emerged that stood about 5 feet tall with:

• No visible eye sockets, just a small slit for a mouth
• Wrinkled, gray skin that looked almost robotic
• Lobster-like pincers instead of hands
• A stiff, mechanical way of moving

The beings allegedly floated the men aboard the craft and subjected them to some kind of examination before returning them to the pier, disoriented and traumatized.

Why This Case Stands Out

The Pascagoula incident didn't fade into obscurity like most UFO reports. Parker passed a polygraph test. Neither man ever changed their story or tried to profit from it significantly. Parker, in particular, was so traumatized he rarely spoke about it for decades.

The secret recording remains the clincher. As Ryder noted, the deputies were trying to catch them in a lie. When you think you're alone and still maintain absolute consistency—while clearly terrified—that's not how hoaxers behave.

Charles Hickson died in 2011, still maintaining every detail of the encounter. Calvin Parker eventually wrote a book about the experience, not to cash in, but because the weight of staying silent had become too heavy. Whatever happened on that riverbank, both men genuinely believed it happened—and a hidden tape recorder meant to expose a lie ended up doing the opposite.