CALVIN: Four door. BUDD:
A four door car, um, um, okay. You get in that car and then you have your supper, you’re gonna go fishing, you’re gonna go fishing with Charlie. You like to see Charlie, have a good time and maybe, you are gonna drive over and pick up Charlie. I want you to feel yourself getting in that car, I want you to slam the door of the car, it’s a familiar sound, cars sound very unique, you can always tell what that car sounded like when the door slammed, you can tell what’s like when you put the key in to start it, it’s funny, the engine turns over in a way than other cars, it sounds different to other cars. Just putting your hands around that steering wheel, it feels a certain way; it’s your car, really familiar. You are going to drive over to Charlie, you’re going to pick up Charlie, it’s after supper. When you get over to Charlie’s, he’s, did you blow the horn out front, or did he just see you, or did you get out of the car and go in. What did you do?
CALVIN:
I go in. (inaudible)….cornbread, get some cornbread.
BUDD: Right. CALVIN :
Charlie’s raising all kinds of hell with Blanche (Charlie’s wife) she doesn’t want him to go off, for two or three days, to go fishing (inaudible)………..
BUDD:
Uh, uh, you get yourself back to the car there, did you bring some cornbread out with you?
CALVIN: Uh, uh, no. BUDD:
Okay. You get in the car with Charlie and off you go, tell me where you’re headed first, where are you gonna go?
CALVIN:
(inaudible) Magic Mart store. Charlie went in, got the bottle (inaudible)…came, out and took a drink of it.
Did you have a dink too or just Charlie?
CALVIN: Just Charlie. BUDD:
Okay. Now you’re gonna, you’re just sitting there in the driver’s seat and then just take off, see where you’re headed, when you left the store did you go right, did you go left, where did you go?
CALVIN: We go left.
BUDD:
You go left, okay. You can see yourself driving along now, see where you’re heading. CALVIN :
We’re going toward erm, a grocery store and we stop at the grocery store and I get some cakes and coke and Charlie gets a six pack of (inaudible)….beer. And then we drive all the way out (inaudible)… and talk about fishing, generally plan on going fishing, we just talk about it; we just wanna get our lines in. So, we drove, I don’t know how far it is and Charlie said that’s where he used to work, right here and he changed jobs and was working for Shell, come and worked for Shell, then we crossed the long bridge, a lot of water. Then we stopped, some little service station with a deep freeze, had a deep freeze, because I needed ice for the shrimp (shrimp was used for bait when fishing), …….Charlie said, we just turn right and go, we go down this road, (inaudible)…so we go down a dead-end street, then we stop and we sat there and Charlie drank the beer, I think he should have been…. (inaudible)…then we turn around and go back to the next road and we go down and Charlie says this is the grain elevator, this is where, he caught a lot of fish here, let’s try to fish here. So, Charlie had his fishing equipment in the back seat and mine was in the trunk. We got it out with some shrimp that was frozen; we had to sit there for a few minutes and try to get it unfrozen. Some kind of little bugs were all over us and erm, were coming off the water and (inaudible)….can’t stand it any longer.
BUDD: Yeah. CALVIN : He says I know another site where we can go and I never fished it there, never did any fishing, I was waiting on the bait to thaw out, so we sat down and talked…..So he said I know there’s somewhere we can go that’s darker and the lights …we can fish, so we drive down the road, it feels like we’ve been driving forever and Charlie’s really starting to get on my nerves, he’s talking about Blanche (Charlie’s wife) and taking about Sheila, how he hates who Sheila’s seeing, …..he’s just….
BUDD:
Yeah, family stuff. CALVIN :
Right. I’m thinking well what (inaudible) going back another day. So we finally make it to this little road and we go in back there and I don’t know how we turned and Charlie said this old shipyard and I remember seeing a no trespassing sign. Charlie goes on, we don’t need to go in here, we could have some problems. He says no, I come and fish here all the time. I said okay, I’ll tell them to take you to jail not me. On the way in there’s a car, a red Pontiac, with a black top and there’s someone who gets up out of the back seat. I started laughing, I don’t know what they said, same thing I should be doing. Anyhow, we got in the car still and we drove down, I guess they didn’t pay much attention to those kind of cars….and we parked and I noticed the tall cane, so Charlie asked if we ever want to get a fishing pole this is where we need to come and do it, so we set a few of em along the bank and wait till we catch a few fish. We get our fishing equipment out and we go to another ….pier and I remember being very careful stepping up on the pier because it didn’t look like it could probably hold much of us (it was in a poor state of repair). I want you take a minute and look down at the pier, has it got holes in it? Just look at the wood you are walking on.
CALVIN:
Just at the back of it, it looks like, the earth has washed away from the pier about two foot. We had to make a long stilt just get back on to the pier. And erm, there was an old board that had a nail turned up in it, an old rusty looking nail and I remember taking my heel, trying to kick the nail down, but I had on some training shoes and wouldn’t, couldn’t do it, just there, erm Charlie’s not to step on this nail.
BUDD:
Look around again, can you see the bridge over there? CALVIN :
Yeah, I can see the bridge there’s a light….. (inaudible). A lot of traffic on the bridge, trucks, you can hear a noise coming from somewhere, it sounds like a boat coming down the river. Charlie said it was, erm, sounded like an old generator running of some kind off one of these boats, big coastguard boats, right across the river, a big (inaudible)…..it was quiet and there’s no boats around. Charlie’s really starting to piss me off, you know.
BUDD:
What’s he saying? CALVIN:
Erm, Charlie’s really upset ……. he’s still talking about his family, don’t seem like he can talk about anything else. He just wants to talk about his family, erm, it’s like he’s trying to…..I ask Charlie, I said Charlie will you shut your damn mouth and let’s fish. I hear, I hear a noise around back and I think it’s the car leaving, it’s a car leaving, it’s definitely leaving and it has a peculiar thing around it’s.. on the car, it’ like a neon on it’s tag …..it’s a strange red and it’s going round and round and round.
BUDD:
Can you see the tag on it, the license plate?
CALVIN:
1HB 348 JACKSON.
BUDD:
Right that’s that red Pontiac that’s backed up?
CALVIN: Yeah.
BUDD:
Can you see it. It’s pulling out? CALVIN :
Someone’s getting out of the car now, they stop. I told Charlie, I said …they gotta go to the bathroom before he leaves. Now he’s getting back in the car and he’s leaving. And then it’s really quiet for a while. And I start feeling a chill come up all over my back, back of my neck and there’s something wrong. I just, a bad feeling that something was really wrong. I couldn’t see anything 'cause I turned and looked and there was nothing back there. So I started looking at the train track and I noticed the train track, how peaceful it was and I thought it was real strange because as the track opened, I was thinking if a train came by it would run off in the river. I think Charlie’s telling me the legend; thank God he’s finally taking about something else besides his family. The legend of the train, for some reason they all they all started singing and marched off into the river and drowned themselves. I said well Charlie must have dreamed this ‘cause I never heard about this legend. But it’s kinda interesting.
Did you say anything to Charlie about feeling funny?
CALVIN:
No
I hadn’t mentioned it, I thought, maybe I was sick, but I knew I wasn’t sick, I had a chill though. I had a real scary feeling. Before he finishes about the river, before he finishes the telling the story, I try and I look and there’s a blue light, blue hazy blue light. Charlie there must be, you’re in trouble now, we’re trespassing, you’re gonna get us, you’re gonna pay my way out of jail tonight, because I didn’t want to come down here to start with. (inaudible). I hope not. And then the strangest thing, like a, and then it was orange and then there was an orange glow all around, next came these blue lights. And I really got an eerie feeling then.
BUDD:
Just for one minute now, I just want you to describe what you are seeing and just let the feeling go over you, that eerie feeling that you’ve described, just let go right over you right now. I want you to notice the lights around you, notice those hazy lights, let that feeling go over you, (inaudible)…..Calvin try to describe that feeling to me.
CALVIN:
The feeling that I have now.
BUDD: Yes. CALVIN :
I feel like jumping into the water and swimming, running away or something, but there’s so much stuff in here (junk in the river) I don’t wanna do that, I’ll drown. I’m not a good swimmer. And Charlie, he’s really getting upset now. He, Charlie’s threw his pole down, his fishing pole. Charlie never (inaudible)… he’s throwing his pole down, I wonder what he’s gonna do, that’s like throwing one of his kids there, (inaudible).
BUDD:
Are you both sitting, what’s it like there? CALVIN :
Charlie’s was sitting I was standing there. And Charlie was trying to get er, Charlie, I guess Charlie had too much to drink and (inaudible). I was afraid he was gonna fall off into the river and drown. So I reached and grabbed him by his shoulder and er, pulled Charlie back on the pier and helped him up. Now we are both standing and turned around.
BUDD:
Ever felt like this before?
CALVIN. No, no. BUDD:
Your body, your body has its own memory. I want you right now to tell me what your body feels. You will be able to remember exactly what your body feels. What does it feel like, you are standing and your body knows, tell me what you feel like?
CALVIN :
I feel, er, cramps, all over, all over, all the way from the back of my legs to the back of my neck. And I can’t control anything, I’m being pulled and pulled and these cramps, I’ve never felt anything like it, at any one time and it just starts pulling me down and I can’t move, I can’t move at all, just drawing my body (inaudible)….but it’s coming from the noise and it didn’t start until the noise started. First a little low, low noise, I couldn’t describe it if I wanted to, I couldn’t make this noise, it’s so soft, but it’s so harsh and then this noise it starts and then it stops and then it’ll start and then it stops. And every time this noise goes off I feel the cramps coming back and I notice Charlie, I turned, the noise had stopped and I turned to look at Charlie and he said my God Calvin what is this and I said my God Charlie why the hell are you asking me this, I don’t know. So, we’re standing there and I noticed now that, that something, that something really strange, er, it’s so large, so big, I still don’t know how big it was, it’s as large as a football field.
BUDD:
You don’t have to worry about (inaudible)…do you think you can make a run for the car? CALVIN :
I want to, but this thing is parked behind the car, there’s nowhere to go, I looked to the left, I looked to the right and there’s water on both sides, there’s water in front and there’s something behind my car, it looks like a train, it sounds like a train and I don’t have anywhere to go. All I can do is stay. I’ve got a gun in the front seat of the car, if I could just get to that. I was starting to go towards the car and then there’s a beam of light, the brightest light I’ve ever seen in my life and it’s shining on me and I stopped. And I’m still thinking if I could get to my car and get to my gun.
BUDD:
Why didn’t you just walk past the beams?
CALVIN:
I can’t move, I’m paralyzed.
BUDD:
Just look at that light again, does the light have any colors or is it just white?
CALVIN:
Blue, it’s a blue light.
BUDD:
Bright blue? CALVIN :
Very bright, not like any color I’ve ever seen, a sharp blue and then there’s an orange sitting on top of it, a big orange light, it’s real shiny.
BUDD:
What feelings do you have right now?
CALVIN:
I’ve nothing.
BUDD:
No feelings?
CALVIN:
No feelings, (inaudible)…my body is just like it’s not there, I’m just paralyzed.
BUDD:
Okay, feeling that paralysis, now (inaudible)…..let’s see what happens next. CALVIN :
There’s something, something I don’t recognise. (inaudible)….coming out of a door and I’m thinking it’s a joke that someone’s pulling, but they got a good one over on us. They came closer and closer and I realise now serious, what a serious situation we were in and there’s something like I’ve never seen before in my life, they’re coming forward. There’s one, two, three of them coming out the door and there’s one more standing in with them.
BUDD:
(inaudible)….what were they shaped like?
CALVIN
: Like a football player.
BUDD:
A football player?
CALVIN: Yeah.
BUDD:
Broad shoulders? CALVIN:
Very broad shoulders, long, long arms, like they don’t have a face, there’s still no face, (inaudible)…..the second one has something else, my eyes were really blurry, I noticed some like dots in front of my eyes, this first one still, he had hold of my arm and there’s a feeling, I almost get sick to my stomach, like I’ll throw up, but I couldn’t throw up. I felt a burning, the second he touched me there was burning all they way through me. And it felt, it felt like hot coals.
BUDD:
That one is close enough to touch your arm. What I want you to do Calvin, you can see, if you can move your yes enough, if you can see, I want you to look firmly at the face. If he’s that close to hold you, even though your eyes are blurry you may make out something. When I count to three, put my hand on your shoulder and count to three, that’s a sign that everything’s okay. You are here with us, my hand’s going down your shoulder. One, you are gonna look at that face of the alien, two, you are just about to look directly at him, three.
CALVIN:
There’s, like a glass light (could be flashlight) and it looks like two marbles, two blue marbles behind the glass light.
BUDD:
Could the glass light be a mask, you mean (inaudible)…. How would you describe it?
CALVIN:
Well, it’s just a glass light with two marbles behind it.
BUDD:
You mean a round (inaudible)….plate?
CALVIN:
Uh, erm, kinda round.
BUDD:
Like a dinner plate? CALVIN :
No, no, no, just clear glass. And the marbles are sitting way to the back as though you are looking at a stage and it’s a black background with two marbles sitting there.
BUDD:
What do you think the two marble things are? CALVIN:
I dunno. I get a felling of peace. I was real frightened and then I saw these and I felt a feeling of peace.
BUDD :
Now again your body is extremely sensitive, remember how you feel, how your body’s moving, if it’s stable, if it’s changed position, if you sit down your body’s gonna know if there’s any movement. You know that if there is some movement if you move in some way, if something happens, your body’s gonna know in some way. Tell me what you feel your body feels.
CALVIN:
My knees, I feel the weight lifted off o
f our bodies as though I was floating, real floating, but I can feel my knees. I had a patch on my jeans, I’m able to, I bend over to look at this patch as though I’m a (inaudible)…and I feel like I’m floating.
BUDD:
How far away is the alien? (inaudible)….if you have to look straight down (inaudible).
CALVIN:
Well, right in his face. (inaudible)
BUDD: Okay.
CALVIN:
They’re carrying me now.
BUDD:
Do you feel your weight being supported by them now? CALVIN:
Uh, uh. But it’s not a pain anymore, it’s a relaxing feeling (inaudible)….I don’t feel any pain at all and I’m floating. I remember feeling this way a long, long time ago, like I was floating and then I felt like I could fly and this is the way that I feel, like I could fly, I feel like if they let me go I would fly. And then next to me I remember seeing Charlie.
BUDD:
What position is Charlie in? CALVIN:
Charlie’s standing up. Then they, then they rotate around us in a circle, two or three times in a circle, (inaudible)… I’m feeling like a ball being dribbled.
BUDD:
Bounced up and down? CALVIN:
No, I felt the dribbling sensation, the turning, like on a merry-go-round. Then a bright light reappears, bright, bright light shines and I’m being drawn to the inside of the craft, to the inside (inaudible)…..everything’s real bright now, it’s really bright, (inaudible).
BUDD:
(Inaudible) CALVIN:
Yeah, my legs are starting to come right down, my arms, my clothing and I’m standing up, but I don’t feel any pain and I’m standing.
BUDD:
Can you see your feet standing on the floor? I don’t feel them (inaudible)…..I feel a tugging, a tugging on my arm and then a very, very big burning sensation went all through my body and this is where I prayed that I would die.
BUDD
I want you to tell me just what you think, (inaudible)….right now? CALVIN:
(inaudible)…..I don’t know whether this is the way things are supposed to be, erm please, just let me die. Please take me, because anything has to be (inaudible).what am I getting in to. But I couldn’t physically (inaudible)……
PASCAGOULA-THE CLOSEST ENCOUNTER: MY STORY Page 12