KRAUS:
We’re right here with you, don’t be afraid now. (Charlie’s breathing becomes audibly heavier.)
CHARLIE:
(Taking a deep breath, but with a touch of panic in his voice, he cries out.) Calvin! Calvin! Did you hear that? (He’s panic stricken.) Oh my God! What is it? It’s got some blue lights on it.
It’s – no - it’s not touching the ground. (Charlie’s breathing is considerably heavier now.) Blue light just gone out.
Look at it close. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid now.
CHARLIE:
Somethin’- somethin’ openin’ in that thing – openin’- that light’s so bright - so bright. It’s pretty big.
MENDEZ:
What’s pretty big, Charlie? CHARLIE:
Well, that – that - that out there! It looks - I don’t know what the hell it is - it looks something like a big - (He does not complete the sentence.)
KRAUS:
Take a good look at it. CHARLIE:
It’s got something’ on top of it too. I can’t tell what that is on top, it looks like - there’s something there.
KRAUS:
You can see it real clear.
CHARLIE:
There’s someone comin’ in the doorway.
KRAUS:
Don’t be afraid now, Charlie. Don’t be afraid now. Something comin’ in - through the doorway. I can’t tell what it is yet.
KRAUS:
Watch it, watch it. Don’t be afraid, just watch it. CHARLIE:
Oh my God! What am I gonna do? I can’t move - I can’t run – nothing’- they’re comin’ out. What is it? (His voice rising.) Calvin! What is it? They’re getting’ closer! (Incredulously.) I can’t move!
KRAUS:
You’re not afraid. You can see it very clear.
CHARLIE:
There’s three – three - three of em. I can see ‘em better now. KRAUS:
Take a good close look. You’re not afraid. Don’t be afraid now. What’s going on now, Charlie?
CHARLIE:
Whatever it is, they’re moving’ toward us. There’s three all right. I don’t know, I can’t tell yet what - they’re not on the ground. I don’t know - Oh my God! (With disbelief in his voice.) Something’ that looks like that! They - don’t look like anything I’ve ever seen.
KRAUS:
Don’t be afraid of it. You can see very clearly and distinctly. Don’t be afraid.
CHARLIE:
They’re not that - that tall though. How tall would you say they are? CHARLIE:
I don’t know - they’re not touching the ground. It’s hard to tell, really. They’re not they’re comin’ on closer though.
KRAUS:
Take a good close look at them. CHARLIE:
Yeah, they’re comin’ closer. Oh boy! They’re kinda grayish lookin’, they’re kinda grey. If I had a little more light I could see better….It’s got a head on it, whatever it is - its round lookin’ thing. Let me look a minute - let me - (long pause.) They got something that’s stickin’ out in front of – I think it’s the head comin’ down to a sharp point. Got somethin’ on the side too, on the sides of the head - it ain’t nothin’- it ain’t like no - ear or anything though.
KRAUS:
What’s it like? Take a good close look at it, Study it. CHARLIE:
It’s got a rough lookin’- it just looks - it’s grayish lookin’; it’s got a rough - I don’t know what it is. It don’t really look like a - any clothes or anything.
KRAUS:
Take a good close look now, Charlie. Don’t be afraid. CHARLIE:
I never seen anything like that. I bet it don’t have any feet - I don’t see any - it’s up off the ground.
Look over it carefully. Describe it very easily. Don’t be afraid now. Study it real careful now.
CHARLIE:
It’s not - it’s not any kind of cloth. I don’t know - it looks - it don’t look like a metal. I don’t know, I can’t see it good enough. Still movin’ this way - (Sighs deeply).
KRAUS:
Don’t be afraid now, Charlie. CHARLIE:
They’re gonna take hold of me. That light! They’re gettin’ on me! Somethin’ got me - my left shoulder - I got a sharp pain there. Oh Lord! They got Calvin too.
The ‘pain’ Charlie felt as the creature took hold of his arm is one of the many events that remain inexplicable. The pain may have been some kind of electrical shock or injection aimed at incapacitating Charlie, as he did become paralyzed as soon as he was captured. Also, Calvin didn’t appear to experience pain, but it is possible that he did not notice it because he was traumatised.
To add to the mystery, Charlie suffered a peculiar kind of bleeding on the Friday following the abduction. Charlie recalls blood flowing from what appeared to be a small puncture wound on his upper left arm. The same place and arm grasped by the creature that captured him! There was sufficient blood to require repeated wiping with a handkerchief for long enough time periods to cause him considerable alarm. This bleeding was witnesses by Calvin and also by Charlie’s wife, Blanche.
The bleeding stopped Friday evening and the next day Charlie could not find any evidence of broken or punctured skin where the blood had appeared. Perhaps, because the bleeding stopped, or simply because of the confusion of those days, Charlie failed to report the incident to anyone investigating the abduction. Sometime later, however, he told the story to Ralph Blum, a writer, who mentioned it in his book, BEYOND EARTH: MAN’S CONTACT WITH UFOs.
Kraus probed the strange bleeding experience while Charlie was under hypnosis and the following details were revealed. Apparently Charlie first noticed that he was bleeding at about 8:00 am on Friday, October 12, at the Walker Shipyard where he was employed. At the time, he wiped the blood with a handkerchief and he saw what looked like a small puncture wound. Later that day at home, around 6:00 pm, Charlie again noticed his arm was bleeding. It was at that time that he showed it to Blanche and Calvin. Charlie then took a shower and apparently did not notice any further bleeding. Charlie did not reveal any concern of anxiety about the bleeding under hypnosis. He described it in a very matter-of-fact tone and said that at the time, he had thought that he might have been hit by a piece of steel at the shipyard.
Before turning to Calvin’s account of the abduction under hypnosis; let’s consider a few of Charlie’s comments, which strongly indicate that his regression was deep and genuine. For instance, while describing the spaceship he said, “It’s pretty big.” When he was asked, “What’s pretty big?” he answered, “Well, that – that - that out there”. He is unable to name what he sees as a “ship” of “craft” because at this point he is reliving the experience and he had not yet decided what it was that was hovering before him. We assume - that was precisely his situation on the night of the abduction. Charlie’s next observation under hypnosis was similar in that something which he had consciously and frequently described as a “dome” eluded him when he saw it under hypnosis. He could only say, “I can’t tell what is on top…there’s somethin’ there.” The creatures are treated in the same way by Charlie’s ‘unconscious’. He described them as “Something comin’ in
- through the doorway. I can’t tell what it is yet.” All of these instances appear to suggest the same thing - that Charlie’s regression under hypnosis was a genuine ‘reliving’ of the experiences and that his knowledge was limited to what he knew on that October night. Calvin’s hypnosis session follows. Again, the hypnotic state was induced by John Kraus. ….Soon I’m going to count from one to three - count of three you’re going to open your eyes. You’re going to be right back again - that night, on the Pascagoula River. Nothing to be afraid of, you’ll know you’re just viewing it, just as though you’re watching a movie - your eyes, you’re going to see it all happen again. Nothing to fear. The count of three you’ll open you’re eyes and remain in deep, deep hypnotic sleep ….One….Two….Three….Okay, open your eyes and remain in deep trance. Open your eyes and
drift into deeper and deeper trance. You can communicate perfectly. Open your eyes now. (Calvin opens his eyes.) That’s fine, Calvin, that’s fine. You’re there on the pier now. You can re-experience again just as you did then. You’re right there now and I’m there with you, there’s nothing to be afraid of. You can describe what you’re seeing now - you just heard the sound.
CALVIN:
(Speaking in a slow sleepy voice.) We’re fishing; we just come back from the grain elevator. Sat down, we ain’t been there just a few minutes. Charlie and I was fishin’, he was on my right side. We hear a noise, I hear a noise - I glanced up - Charlie’s lookin’. Turn around, there’s some blue lights - two blue lights on it. At first it was just a hazy blue, Charlie - Charlie was standing up, I stood to my feet. The blue lights resembled - on a patrol car, then they just lit up real bright. There was an opening, some kind of creatures comin’ out.
From Calvin’s initial remarks it seems that his hypnotic regression is not as ‘pure’ as Charlie’s. It is condensed and focuses only on the highlights of the experience in an almost summarizing fashion. The language is also different. Calvin uses a mixture of past and present tense verbs, which suggests that he is witnessing parts of the experience rather than ‘reliving’ them. Perhaps this occurred because John Kraus suggested to Calvin that he would be ‘just viewing it, just as though you’re watching a movie-your eyes, you’re going to see it all happen again’. ….
Charlie’s induction talk did not contain those suggestions. Such suggestions put a kind of ‘distance’ between the subject under hypnosis and the experience he is describing It is usually more comfortable for the subject to describe a traumatic experience if he is ‘viewing it’ as though on a movie screen, as if it were happening to someone else. Perhaps, this is why Kraus gave Calvin those suggestions; he knew of Calvin’s breakdown and most likely wanted to be sure Calvin would not suffer unnecessarily.
KRAUS:
You can see them. Don’t be afraid of them. CALVIN:
I only see one right now. He’s standing’ there in the openin’. They start comin’ out - two of ‘em and there’s a third one. Two of ‘ems approaching Charlie - they’re on him. They’re takin’ Charlie aboard. One - one’s comin’ towards me. I don’t know - I can’t move - I’m just standing’ there - I want to run - I can’t, but he’s still comin’.
KRAUS:
What’s he doing? Don’t be afraid. I’m with you. CALVIN:
He’s just easin’ over. He ain’t said nothin’. They - they approach me and they take me by the arm - one of them. Takin’ me aboard with Charlie.
As Calvin continues his narrative, his regression increasingly approximates the ‘reliving’ character of Charlie’s account. His words change from the past to the present tense.
KRAUS:
What’s happening now? Don’t be afraid.
CALVIN:
I see black dots - I remember a bright light - a real bright light. Then I see nothin’…. Where’s the creature?
CALVIN:
I can’t see him.
KRAUS:
Has he got hold of you?
CALVIN:
He’s got hold of me.
KRAUS:
What’s happening?
CALVIN:
I remember goin’ in the door - the opening, then everything gets real dark. A comparison of Charlie’s and Calvin’s descriptions of the initial encounter under hypnosis reveals that they are essentially consistent in regard to details, such as, the craft with blue light(s), making a sound when they first noticed it, an opening appearing in the craft and three creatures floating out of that opening. Let us compare these details with what Charlie said on the night of the abduction. This quotation is transcribed from the Sheriff’s secret tape:
DEPUTY:
Start from the beginning.
CHARLIE:
Well, this’ll be the third time.
DEPUTY:
That’s what we want. CHARLIE:
…We were sitting’ there fishin’ and - I don’t know how - I guess we must have seen the thing at the same time - just a blue light circling a little bit…a blue light, Jesus Christ!...It was just circling - it looked like the light was….after a little while there - it just come down on the Bayou, you know, about two or three foot above the ground…and I couldn’t believe it…and a little buzzing sound (imitate sound) just like that…this opening just laid up there and three of them just floated out of the thing.
Calvin was also interrogated privately, without Charlie. Unfortunately, no tape recording was made of that session. Charlie’s testimony, however, contains the same description we have noted earlier: the blue light (by ‘circling’ Charlie meant the way blue lights appear to circle or turn on a police car), the ship hovering close to the ground, the buzzing sound, the strange opening and the three figures coming out of the opening. On the day after the abduction, when Charlie and Calvin were taken to Keesler Air Force Base for a radiation contamination check, they requested an interview with officers serving at the base. A comparison of the relevant parts of the Keesler interview with the above accounts reveals no inconsistencies. The men tell the same story at Keesler as they told at the Sheriff’s Department and as they related under hypnosis. I think it was only right that I included our hypnosis. Hypnosis is by no means a truth-serum, you can still withhold things. But I have nothing to hide and as William Mendez has said our interview at Keesler Air Force Base supported what we have said all along. The interview from Keesler Air force Base is reproduced in full in the next chapter.
****** CHAPTER EIGHT
Interview at Keesler Air Force base Charlie and I were worried that we may have been contaminated by radiation from our encounter so we asked to be checked over. The Sheriff’s Department nor the local hospital could do this but nearby Keesler Air Force base could. We were checked over and given the all clear we were then interview by officers at Keesler AFB.
I really think the people around us was relieved we weren’t contaminated also. The reason for thinking this is seeing the relief on their face because they had been around us all day.
When we first started meeting and talking to people after the ‘close encounter’ I think everyone around us had some sort of doubt about our story. But as the day went on they started seeing that the fear was real and slowly but surely began believing in us. Then, when I told them that I was worried about everyone around us being contaminated, possibly by radiation or some kind of bacteria and then them going home to their families and possibly contaminating them as well, then they started getting us the help we needed in order to check us out and test us to see if we were any way contaminated by radiation. I was scared, I have to admit it.
By this time, looking back, I think they knew that they might have made a mistake by not putting us in quarantine because if we had been exposed to something they would have a major problem on their hands because by now we had met hundreds of people and any contamination would have already started to spread as a result.
That why I think anyone being abducted should be checked as soon as it happens. As we walked into this meeting you could see the concerned looks on everyone face because mistakes had been made but thank God it worked out for everyone,
Getting back to how serious this was for everyone you could feel the tension when we walked into the room and the expressions on their faces would be locked into my memory forever. This is when everyone got really serious and started asking questions. They were direct and to the point. Someone later on asked me if there was a conspiracy to cover any of this up but I told them no, there was too much press involved. I think everyone there just wanted the truth and to hear the story from Charlie and me in person. This story would have been hard to cover up because of the press and we were never asked in anyway to keep anything secret.
The interview went really well and there was no pressure from anyone in the room but a lot of pressure had been taken away by now because we knew then that we wouldn’t
contaminate the people around us. I am not going to get in to what was said because they wrote it all down and it is reproduced in full at the end of this chapter, totally unabridged, I’ll just outline instead what I was thinking at the time. At this point it was starting to sink in what had happened to us. I really didn’t want to talk about it so I just kept up with story that I was passed out which worked out very well for me. You see at this time in my life I didn’t care if anyone believed what I was saying or not and I still don’t care if anyone believes me or not as long as I am true to myself, that is all that matters. As long as a person is true to themselves and their family and to God it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Charlie asked me on the way home why I didn’t tell them more than I did. I just told him it was because I just wanted to get back to my life and to work. Back to normal again before all this happened. I told Charlie before we walked in there let’s try to calm this down as much as we can and hopefully everyone would soon forget about it. They would well have done this if Charlie would have let them, but it’s like he thrived on telling people about the abduction and everyone always thought he was the brave one, but after the visit to Keesler Air Force Base he wouldn’t let it go. We were in there for what felt like forever but it was around an hour or so. After being interviewed by the military they let us go, not telling us if they believed us or not but by the look on their faces I think they did.
Here is the complete unabridged transcript of our interview at Keesler Air Force Base.
As you can see I have copied the transcript document of our interview direct into this book so that way no one can accuse me of editing it in any way. I would like to thank Mark Rodeghier of the J.Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies for supplying this document.
PASCAGOULA-THE CLOSEST ENCOUNTER: MY STORY Page 8