PASCAGOULA-THE CLOSEST ENCOUNTER: MY STORY
Page 6
Calvin sounded frantic.
CALVIN: I got to get home and get to bed or get some nerve pills or see the doctor or something. I can't stand it. I'm about to go half crazy.
CHARLIE: I tell you, when we through, I'll get you something to settle you down so you can get some damn sleep.
CALVIN: I can't sleep yet like it is. I'm just damn near crazy.
CHARLIE: Well, Calvin, when they brought you out - when they brought me out of that thing, goddamn it I like to never in hell got you straightened out.
His voice rising, Calvin said, "My damn arms, my arms, I remember they just froze up and I couldn't move. Just like I stepped on a damn rattlesnake."
"They didn't do me that way," sighed Charlie.
Now both men were talking as if to themselves.
CALVIN: I passed out. I expect I never passed out in my whole life.
CHARLIE: I've never seen nothin' like that before in my life. You can't make people believe.
CALVIN: I don't want to keep sittin' here. I want to see a doctor
CHARLIE: They better wake up and start believin'... they better start believin'.
CALVIN:You see how that damn door come right up?
CHARLIE: I don't know how it opened, son. I don't know.
CALVIN: It just laid up and just like that those son' bitches - just like that they come out.
CHARLIE: I know. You can't believe it. You can't make people believe it.
CALVIN: I paralyzed right then. I couldn't move. CHARLIE : They won't believe it. They gonna believe it one of these days. Might be too late. I knew all along they was people from other worlds up there. I knew all along. I never thought it would happen to me.
CALVIN: You know yourself I don't drink' . CHARLIE : I know that, son. When I get to the house I'm gonna get me another drink, make me sleep. Look, what we sittin' around for. I gotta go tell Blanche... what we waitin' for?
CALVIN (panicky): I gotta go to the house. I'm gettin' sick. I gotta get out of here. Then Charlie got up and left the room and Calvin was alone.
CALVIN: It's hard to believe . . . Oh God, it's awful... I know there's a God up there.
His words, as he prayed, became inaudible. The Pascagoula case is not unique. As Dr. Hynek has pointed out, people around the world have, for years, been experiencing "close encounters" with bizarre craft and, in many cases, contact with "occupants."
But this was the first time I had seen for myself the profoundly disturbing effect of a UFO encounter on two ordinary human beings. It was impossible to be with Charlie and Calvin - or listen to that tape - and not believe that something terrifying had happened to them.
And yet what happened in Pascagoula seems to be part of a mystery that is at least as old as man himself.
SOURCE: BEYOND EARTH: Man's Contact With UFOs, Ralph & Judy Blum, 29-36
******
CHAPTER FIVE
The secret tape The famous secret tape has frequently been cited as proof that Charlie and me were not lying, that we truly believed we had been abducted by extra-terrestrial creatures. It has been reported that we were placed in a cell that night which contained a hidden microphone and that our conversation was monitored. Actually, Charlie and me were never placed in a cell, but were questioned in various rooms at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. We told our story at least twice that night before it occurred to the Sheriff and his deputies to secretly record our testimony. While I was being questioned by one of the deputies, Charlie was taken to Detective Thomas Huntley’s office, a small room furnished with a few chairs, table and a desk in which the tape recorder was permanently concealed. This was not the first time the ‘bugged’ office had been used at the Sheriff’s Department to record a witnesses testimony.
The secret tape begins with a deputy asking Charlie to tell his story again. “Well, this will be the third time!” Charlie replied. The request was repeated and Charlie began to relate the events of the evening leading up to the abduction. At the completion of his story, which took about half-an-hour, the Sheriff promised Charlie that he could soon go home. At that point, Charlie’s interrogators excused themselves on the pretext of getting coffee and Charlie was offered a cup, but declined. As the men left the office I was brought in and left alone with Charlie. The door to the office was closed, the tape recorder left in operation, hidden in one of the desk drawers. We were alone for about five minutes. The following is a verbatim transcript of the secret tape covering that five minute period.
CHARLIE:
Calvin, you okay. hoss? Tellya, I’m scared to death. CHARLIE:
We need to get over there and let me tell Blanche she - I’m telling you man, that’s something that’ll scare you damn near to death, you know? Jesus Christ!
CALVIN:
You hear about something like that, but you can’t believe it.
CHARLIE:
Yeah, you hear about it, I know, Calvin, I know, but
CALVIN:
Reckon it’s something the United States would have up there?
CHARLIE:
No, no, it just couldn’t be.
CALVIN:
I don’t knowCHARLIE:
Not what we seen though, not what we seen - it’s something and the Air Force and all I know it’s up there too, see - and this ain’t gonna be the only time, it’s gonna happen again. And until, they
CALVIN:
This evening’ I like to had a heart attack tonight, I ain’t shittin’ ya.
CHARLIE: I know.
CALVIN:
I came damn near to dyin’.
CHARLIE:
I know, it scared me to death too, son.
CALVIN:
I’m just damn near crying right now - I can’t
CHARLIE:
I know - it’s something you just can’t get over in a lifetime, see - Jesus Christ!
CALVIN:
What’s so damn bad about it, won’t nobody believe it! CHARLIE:
I thought I had been through enough of hell on this Earth and now I had to go through something like this, see. But they could’ve, you know, I guess they - well, they could’ve done anything to us - they didn’t hurt me.
CALVIN:
Reckon why they just picked us up? CHARLIE:
I don’t know, I don’t know. I’m telling you man, I can’t take much more of that. I got to get home, get to bed or get some nerve pills or something, see the doctor or something. I can’t stand it. I’m about to go all to pieces.
CHARLIE:
I tell you, when we get through, I’ll get you something to settle you down so you can get some damn sleep.
CALVIN:
I can’t sleep yet like it is - I’m just damn near crazy. CHARLIE:
Well, Calvin, when they brought you out of that damn thing - when they brought me out, well, I like to never in hell, you know, goddamn! I like to never in hell get you straightened out, man!
CALVIN:
My damn arms, I remember - my arms they just froze, just like that and I couldn’t move, just like I stepped on a damn rattlesnake!
CHARLIE:
They didn’t uh, they didn’t do that way though, they - oh boy! CALVIN:
I passed out, I passed out, that’s the first time I ever passed out in my life. (Inaudible)…and it is.
CHARLIE:
I’ve never seen nothin’ like that before in my life. It’s something-you can’t make people believe in that though
I don’t give a shit whether they believe it or not, cause I know
CHARLIE:
They’d better wake up and start believing.
CALVIN:
You’re damn right.
CHARLIE:
They’d better wake up and start believing.
CALVIN:
You’re damn right.
CHARLIE:
(For the third time.) They’d better wake up and start believin’ CALVIN:
‘Cause I seen 'em. I can’t figure out the damn thing - did you see how that door come ri
ght open in front of us all of a sudden?
CHARLIE:
Yeah, I don’t know how it opened, son. I don’t
CALVIN:
I didn’t see no swing or…
CHARLIE:
I don’t know how it opened - I don’t know how it opened I didn’t see it open. All I seen was this here zzzzzip
CHARLIE:
Have you ever seen something CALVIN:
Then looked around - then damn blue lights and them sons-a-bitches was just - just like they come out.
CHARLIE:
I know, you can’t believe it and you can’t make people believe it.
CALVIN:
I paralyzed right there, I couldn’t move. CHARLIE:
They’re gonna believe it one of these days. They’re gonna believe it one of these days. It might be too late. I knew all along they was - they was people from other worlds up there, I knew all along. I never thought it would happen to me.
CALVIN:
You know yourself, I don’t drink.
CHARLIE:
I know, I know that. CALVIN:
We’re going to be accused of being a damn dope-head and everything else-cause I know I ain’t!
CHARLIE:
Any very little I drink - and I drank some a while ago when I got out of the damn thing, to settle my nerves.
CALVIN: (Inaudible.)
CHARLIE:
And I’ll probably take me a couple of drinks when I get to the house and make me sleep. CALVIN:
I’ll tell you something, if I thought it would help my nerves I’d go drink something right now.
CHARLIE:
When I get to the house I’m gonna get me another drink and make me sleep cause I - I can’t
CALVIN:
I can’t - it’s somethin’- I won’t never forget it . CHARLIE:
Look! What are we waiting for on? I got to go tell Blanche - Why did they say we had to wait?
CALVIN:
Uh - I got to go to the house. I am done sitting here getting so damn sick right now, I ain’t shittin’ ya. I got to go to the house.
CHARLIE:
Wait a minute; let me go talk to ‘em. (Charlie leaves the office.) (Calvin is alone now.) Yeah, it’s just hard to believe. (Pause.) For it to happen on the Pascagoula River. Talk about strange things. I know there’s a God up there - (Inaudible). Perhaps Calvin says, “I’m not going to ask why.”
His voice fading to a bare whisper, “Why did it have to happen to me?” (The Sheriff’s deputies enter the office at this point.). The original recording of this conversation was made on one-quarter inch reel tape: it is kept I believe at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, Pascagoula, Mississippi. This tape is available to persons doing research in the UFO field.
The secret tape is strong evidence that Charlie and I weren’t lying, that something did indeed happen on the west bank of the Pascagoula River that October night. Listening to the tape is even more convincing, if that is possible, than reading a transcription of it. You can hear Charlie and me talking in that office, sometimes both at the same time, speaking not so much to communicate with each other, but to reassure one another and ourselves. It is plain to see that we have been through a traumatic event.
Our anxiety and confusion is revealed by the tone of our voices and the rapidity of our speech, things which are almost impossible to transcribe. I was, in particular, on the brink of hysteria.
“I’m just damn near crying right now - I can’t - I can’t stand it. I’m about to go all to pieces….I’m just damn near crazy…Uh - I got to go to the house, I (inaudible) I’m getting’ scared right now, I ain’t shittin’ ya,. I got to go to the house.”
At this point and at the risk of repeating things, I would like to include an extract from the Mutual UFO Network’s (MUFON) file of the Pascagoula case. I would like to thank Jan Harzan, the Executive Director of MUFON for supplying us with the whole file. Names in the file have been redacted by MUFON as is their policy and not by the author. Other items from the MUFON file will be featured elsewhere in this book as a great deal of it was magazine and newspaper cuttings. Here I reproduce a section from the MUFON file that deals specifically with the ‘secret tape’ and again I apologise if certain things have been duplicated but I felt it necessary use this material so as I could not have been accused of hiding anything.
MUFON FILE – THE SECRET TAPE
Please remember that I was nineteen years old at the time. A man, especially a young man, will usually try to hide his fear, such is his conditioning. I was disturbed, however, that I found it impossible to conceal my terror. Approximately three weeks after the incident I suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalised.
When Charlie said, “I knew all along they were people from other worlds up there,” it is sheer bravado. In all probability, prior to his abduction, Charlie gave little thought to the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. However, that night, within hours of the abduction, he said, “I knew all along…”- possibly for the same reason that children say (when someone has frightened them out of their wits) “I knew you were there all along.”
Somehow, that false claim makes them feel better. This is the secret tape, make of it what you will, but I can confirm that it is true and accurate. Me and Charlie were scared to death. We were not lying, not exaggerating, hadn’t been on the drink and we never messed with drugs. What we told the Sheriff and his deputies was the truth. It was after they listened to the tape that they treated us differently. I believe it also played a big part in Dr. Harder and Dr. Hynek believing our account. It was long time after before we even knew about it let alone heard it. Over a year I reckon. Why we didn’t hear it before then I’m not sure and I dare say you will be able to find it somewhere on the internet to listen to yourselves.
****** CHAPTER SIX
The Press, Dr Harder and Dr Hynek Here it is 4:00am October 12th, 1973. I had lain in bed all night not sleeping just laying there and I was listening to see if I could hear anyone in the house talking. Eventually I heard Charlie and Blanche talking so I got up around 4:30am. Blanche was cooking breakfast and Charlie was drinking coffee. I just said good morning, not wanting to say anymore because I didn’t know if Charlie had told Blanche or not. I went back to my room in order to gather up everything I had bean wearing the day before, even my shoes. I put them all in a garbage bag and threw them away. I didn’t want anything that reminded me of the day before, plus I didn’t know what kind of bacteria could be on them that would affect anyone else. I wanted to talk to Charlie about what had happened but I couldn’t because of everyone around us.
I went back to the bathroom, found some bleach and poured it all over me and then washed it off in the shower and put on some clean clothes and different shoes. I informed Blanche that I didn’t feel too good so I wasn’t hungry but thanked her for cooking the breakfast. At around 6:00am I said to Charlie let’s go to work, so off we went, out of the apartment and got in the car. I tried to start the car a few times before it finally sprang to life. While it was warming up I said to Charlie that we needed to be checked for bacteria. In the back of my mind no one around us was safe unless we were put into quarantine and checked out for a while. Charlie said we were okay but I asked him, how in hell do you know that, you’re not a doctor? Think about it Charlie, I said, this could affect everyone we have been in contact with. Charlie said, “I’ll take care of it later”, but I told him if he didn’t I would. I didn’t want anyone to know but I felt like we were putting other people in danger by keeping things to ourselves. Charlie said let me handle it or I could make everyone panic, then it would simply get out of control. He wanted to stop at the store and get something but I told him I was not stopping until we got checked out. So, we took our time because of the way the car was running, it was missing really bad and back firing, so we took our time drove on in to work.
This was around 7:30am and I noticed that there were a lot of cars there that I hadn’t seen before. When we arrived
at the gate the guard told us that they wanted us in the office, “both of you” he said. I thought “oh no”, I bet the Sheriff’s Department has changed their mind and was going to take us straight to jail. But I was wrong. I couldn’t have been more wrong. We walked into the office where they were waiting for us and the boss told us to go to the back. There was about five people sitting there that I didn’t know, so I didn’t say much, I just let Charlie do the talking. They said that reporters were calling from all over the place jamming the phone and that they could not conduct any business because of the phone ringing all the time. The office was full of reporters and this really upset me because I didn’t want anyone to know and I was thinking how on earth could they have found out. I then started to think that everyone had scanners of some sort, the ones that could listen in on your conversation that had to be the way they found out. Looking back I was probably getting a little paranoid. I still hadn’t even called my family and told them what had happened and I had no plans to tell them at all. But then the press started plastering it all over the news. I would give my family a call when I got a chance and tell them that everything was alright and would tell them about what happened later. (Remember, there were no cell phones back in 1973).
The Sheriff, Fred Diamond, showed up at the shipyard with a couple of deputies to help control the traffic and the media. Charlie was as shocked as I was to see all these media people there. Well, it was now official and all hell had broken lose. The story was out now and there was nothing we could do about it. Charlie asked the Sheriff, Fred Diamond, why he told the reporters about us and he replied that he hadn’t said a thing and neither had any of his deputy's. I knew that either him or his deputies had to tell someone because they were the only ones that knew. We never find did out who broke the story to the press. All I know was that it wasn’t me or Charlie.
The shipyard called in their lawyer to help handle the legal end for the shipyard, justin-case. The lawyers name was Joe Colingo. Later on Charlie suggested we should get into a legal contract with Colingo just-in-case, so we did. I was just going along with things just everything as things were just moving too fast for a country boy like me. The legal contract didn’t last long, just a week or so. Charlie cancelled the contract but I don’t really know why. Charlie just said he was not doing anything with Colingo as he was only in it for financial gain and wasn’t interested in us. I don’t know how true that is and I don’t really care.