2. EVALUACIÓN DEL ESTADO AMBIENTAL ACTUAL
2.4. Evaluación del estado actual. Principales presiones, actividades e impactos
2.4.5. Evaluación integrada del estado actual de los indicadores y el descriptor
The most dramatic encounter in the southern CS states that autumn occurred on the Pascagoula River in Mississippi. Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker had their fishing expedition interrupted by three aliens.
headed straight for them and stopped dead in its tracks; it was close enough to fill the helicopter's windscreen. What happened next defied all the known laws of aeronautics. A green beam swept down from the
UFO
and seemed to hold the helicopter suspended in mid-air. This weird beam was also seen by several witnesses on the ground.The
UFO
then flew away and the crew of the Huey felt the helicopter being sucked upwards by an invisible vortex. This was despite the fact that the pilot had the controls positioned for a gentle descent. After a short while, thecontrols returned to normal and the startled crew were left to file an official report with the military authorities.
Sceptics have claimed that the
UFO
was a meteor, but this seems ridiculous given the size of the alien craft and the three-minute duration of the encounter, not to mention the unexplained behaviour exhibited by the helicopter.UFO
investigator Jennie Zeidman conducted a major inquiry into the incident and, after reviewing the witnesses' accounts, came to the conclusion that this was one of the most impressive cases of aUFO
sighting on record.Fisherman's tale
This alien wave also produced a remarkable case involving two fishermen, Charlie Hickson, aged
42,
and Calvin Parker, aged 19. At around9pm on October 1 1 , Hickson and Parker Strange were reeling in catfish from an abandoned shipyard at Pascagoula, Mississippi, when they heard a strange 'zipping' noise coming from somewhere behind them. They turned to sec an oval object with windows and blue lights that had come low down over a nearby clearing.
A door opened and three figures floated out. Hickson and Parker got the same odd impression as the woman in Somerset - that these creatures were robots. They stood
5
feet tall with claw-like hands and drifted silently towards the shocked men. 1\vo of the beings grabbed Hickson by the anns and he felt a stinging sensation in his shoulder. Before entering semi-consciousness, he saw that his young companion had fainted and was in the process of being dragged towards the object by the third figure.Memories of what happened during the next
20
minutes are dim. There were bright interior lights, a feeling of suspension and the sight of an eye-like object that moved across their bodies as if it were scanning them. Then the men were deposited back by the riverbank.Just before the object took off, Hickson claims he heard a voice 'in my mind' say, 'We are peaceful. We meant you no harm.· l ie claimed to have heard this several times afterwards and felt that the aliens wanted him to stress their benign intent.
Hickson and Parker now sat in their car for
20
minutes composing themselves before going into town. They called a local Air Force base but were told that the US government had stopped investigating UFOs and they should contact the police. The Sheriff asked them to make a statement and they were closely questioned for two hours.The men impressed Sheriff Fred Diamond and his officers \\ith their sincerity �md very obvious terror. Almost from the start they insisted that they should take a polygraph (a lie detector test) and demanded a promise
1 9 7 3 : M A R K O F T i l E A LI E \ S 7 5
(which was sadly not fulfilled) that the police would give them no publicity.
Intriguingly, the two men were left alone in the interview room and, unknown to them, secretly tape-recorded. The trick was set up with the expectation that their private conversations might reveal their story to be a hoax. But the tape shows no change in beha\iour. The men talked to each other in the same shocked tones, Parker telling l lickson he wanted to leave to consult a doctor and Hickson repeating that nobody could be expected to believe them. When left briefly on his own the teenager can be heard pra}ing, 'Oh god, it's a\\ful. '
Utterly stunned b y these events the sheriff then arranged for the men be taken to the nearby air base where they could be given a thorough medical examination. A strange 'cut' mark was found where blood samples could have been taken from the \\itnesses. Parker and Hickson were also interrogated at length by military officers who were left just as impressed as the Sheriff had been by their evident sincerity. A few days later Charlie Hickson took a polygraph test, after which operator Scot Glasgow said, 'This son of a bitch is telling the truth ' . He went on to say, rather more reflectively, 'I am cominced that he believes he saw a spaceship.·
Meanwhile, Cal\in Parker was in a nursing home, ha\ing suffered a nervous breakdown attributed by medical staff to the stress of the terri�'ing encounter. He recovered only gradually.
In 1987 I met Charles Hickson. He struck me as being a simple, honest man who had never sought attention.
'I had to learn to accept what happened,· he said, 'because I saw what happened to a man who could not accept it. This thing almost destroyed his