PASSING THROUGH PASCAGOULA

Panagiotakis. The Road to Pascagoula: A Research Trip - 1981. Flying Disk Press, 2018.

With the publication of Pascagoula - The Closest Encounter by Calvin Parker, and a reprint of Charles Hickson’s UFO Contact at Pascagoula, both published by Philip Mantle’s Flying Disk Press, there has been a revival of interest in this abduction incident. Now we get this reprint and translation from the Greek, of Stefanos’ 1981 trip to Pascagoula. 

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Almost by accident he was at that time working as a Radio Officer on the cargo ship the Torm Jessie that ended up docking at Pascagoula. As a UFO fan he was determined to make the most of the few days at the port to investigate as much about this case as possible. This book follows his adventures in the town as he attempts to visit the site where the UFO sighting and abduction event occurred and his mission to interview Charles Hickson. Even eight years after the event it was still a local talking point and Stefanos provides a wonderful snapshot of this period. Certainly interest in the story had not waned and most people were happy to help him in his quest.

Stefano takes at face value that the two men had an encounter with a spaceship and were examined by mummy-like aliens. He compares himself to the aliens who also travelled to this port from a foreign place. Although the case made worldwide headlines and received intense publicity many ufologists have dismissed it as a fantasy or hoax. Martin Kottmeyer regarded the story as being dreamlike and was composed of elements from existing UFO reports and films.

Stefano is more of a ufological tourist who does not set out to critically examine what occurred on that fateful night in October 1973. His interview with Hickson on 19 July 1981 is more like that of a fan interviewing a rock star rather than any attempt at getting at the truth of the matter. In his opening words he tells Hickson: “I feel a great honour and pride as a UFO researcher and as a Greek citizen in meeting you in person...Your experience for me, deep in my soul, the final proof that we are not alone in the universe.’

Hickson retells his encounter experience and how he had numerous hypnotic regression sessions. He is able to reassure Stefano that there is no hell and we all reincarnate to reach a higher level of perfection. Hickson claims he has lived five times before and we should believe ‘in the Supreme Being which is God.’ Apparently God revealed to Hickson that he sent these beings from another world to visit him. He is a chosen person and he will make a big announcement on national television when the time is right. Hickson adds that the world has to change or it will be in danger of being destroyed. This has happened in the past but this time the beings from another world will come to save us.

Whatever happened to Hickson and Parker it had a shattering effect on their lives and it had a ripple effect on the world. Hickson never did give us the big reveal, but that’s ufology for you!

This short book chronicles one of the ripples that metaphorically brought Stefano’s ship to the shores of Pascagoula. He provides an entertaining story that will thrill those of an ET persuasion. -- Nigel Watson.