The Polygraph Examination of Charles Hickson

By Philip Mantle

One of the most controversial parts on the 1973 Pascagoula alien abduction is the polygraph examination undertaken by Charles Hickson. It was alleged that the polygraph examiner wasn’t qualified or some such thing. Of course with polygraph tests you just can’t win. If you pass the test you will be told that it doesn’t matter because the polygraph evidence is not admissible as evidence in law, but if you fail it you are branded a liar.

In Charles Hickson’s book he relates the following that took place on October 12th 1973. The day after their encounter:

“We were brought in the back way to the Sheriff’s office; the front was surrounded by news-people. After being greeted by Diamond, one of the first things Joe asked was could we take a lie-detector test. Sheriff Diamond replied, “We don’t have the equipment here for that and I don’t see any use in it, not after that tape last night. We had a tape recorder with them last night that they didn’t know about when they were alone.” Joe still insisted, but no one seemed interested at that time. “Maybe later,” someone said. To the best of my knowledge, Mobile, Alabama, was called, the closet place with equipment for a polygraph test, but they refused-didn’t want the publicity.”

Charles Hickson continued on Monday 15th October:

“My livelihood was here being a shipbuilder and with a family to support, after a few weeks off, I went back to my position in the shipyard, but there still was no rest from the reporters, either in person or on the telephone. Then the question arose through the news media; would I consent to a polygraph test? I agreed. It was given in the presence of our local Sheriff and chief deputy. The machine said I was telling the truth. This only caused more reporters, more telephone calls and more letters. No one will ever know, except Charles Hickson, the terrible strain I was under. But the many concerned people helped ease that strain with letters I received, for which I will always be grateful. There is still love and concern for fellow beings on this planet and always will be as long as we exist.”

Further along in Charles Hickson’s book ‘UFO CONTACT AT PASCAGOULA’ his co-author William Mendez tackles the claim that the original polygraph test was somehow compromised:

“(3) Objection:  There have been several charges made concerning the polygraph test given to Charlie in October 1973, by Scott Glasgow, an examiner with the Pendleton Detective Agency in New Orleans. Perhaps the two most serious are that Joe Colingo, Charlie and Calvin’s attorney at the time, was in collusion with the polygraph examiner and/or his boss and second, that Scott Glasgow was relatively inexperienced and therefore administered a worthless test. Is there any truth in these charges?

Reply: There is no truth in the first charge that Colingo and the tester and/or his boss were in collusion. The choice of the Pendleton Detective Agency came about as follows. Charlie and Calvin knew, of course, that their story was too incredible to be believed. Therefore, almost immediately after the abduction, they had agreed (and even desired) to be tested by polygraph. However, after the Sheriff, Fred Diamond, heard the secret tap, he no longer doubted that the men were telling the truth. Thus, he did not press for a polygraph test. However, the men’s lawyer, Joe Colingo, had other interests. He felt that Charlie and Calvin’s story was worth money, if it could be conclusively demonstrated to be true. Colingo thought a positive result on a polygraph test would do this and-he signed the men to a contract which stipulated that he would receive one-third of any profit resulting from the sale of their story.  This interest of Colingo in realizing a profit from his client’s experience has led one myopic critic to the conclusion that the whole incident must be a hoax. It has been my experience that attorneys (and many others) are frequently interested in making money. While it is probably true that Colingo exhibited more zeal that was perhaps discrete in this instance, this is not proof, nor does it imply, that he was part of a hoax. I shall have more to say about the ‘profit-motivation-hoax’ theory in reply (7) below. AS it turned out, Charlie and Calvin have terminated their association with Colingo and they no longer are party to any contract with him. Charlie and Calvin chose Colingo as their attorney somewhat by accident. On the morning after the abduction, the two men, unable to function on the job, eventually found their way to the shipyard owner’s office. After hearing their story, John Walker suggested that they might need legal counselling in the days ahead. He proposed that they use the shipyard attorney, Joe Colingo, who also happened to by Walkers brother-in-law. The men’s condition that Friday morning was such that they would have readily agreed to accept help from anyone, especially when the offer came from their ‘boss’. At the end of October, Colingo wanted a polygraph test and so did the men, they were anxious to prove their honesty. Neither Charlie nor Calvin had heard the secret tape; they were totally unaware of its significance. They knew of the tape’s existence, but they didn’t know what was recorded on it.  The men were not to hear that tape until one year after it was made. The Pendleton Agency was not the first contacted for a polygraph test. At least two others were called. One agency wanted the men to be brought to them, but the Sheriff and Colingo were unwilling to make the trip. This agency may have also wanted to charge the customary fee of a few hundred dollars, but Colingo felt the test should have been given free, as a public service. A Mississippi state agency was contacted, but they refused to administer the test because the men had not been charged with committing a crime. It was at this point that Colingo recalled that a college chum’s brother directed a detective agency in New Orleans, less than a hundred miles away. It took only a telephone call and Colingo had his wish, a freebie polygraph test with the examiner making a ‘house call’ from New Orleans to Pascagoula. Was the examiner, Scott Glasgow, competent to administer the polygraph test? Would the Pendleton Agency have sent someone (who had been administering polygraph tests for them for about one year) who they suspected was less than competent? While it was true that Glasgow had not yet been ‘certified’ by the New York school where he learned his craft, he led me to believe (in August 1974) that his certification was being held up because of the notoriety of the Pascagoula case and, of course, his role it. In any case, it is my belief that any past or future polygraph test is irrelevant to determining the truth or falsity of the Pascagoula abduction. Anyone who has heard the Sheriff’s secret tape cannot doubt that the men are telling the truth as they perceive it-and no ‘truth’ test could tell us more than that.”

Scott Glasgow Polygraph Examiner Explains to Sheriff Diamond the Test Results

Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, Ph. D. “Possible Questions for Charles Hickson Regarding His UFO Experience”

Page 5

“Dear Mr. Mantle,

I may be able to answer the questions in your August 27th (2018) letter – and provide additional data on the space craft incident and related personalities in Pascagoula, Mississippi that you referred to.   At the time I was president of Pendleton Detectives, Inc., the private investigative service that handled the matter (as no local or federal government agency chose to become involved).  As it was believed to be the only (or first) time an extra-terrestrial incident like this occurred, and witnessed and verified by first-person interviews and polygraph, our client authorized release of details, and I was subsequently interviewed by CBS, NBC, and ABC television on the findings.  To safeguard against foreseeable harassment, the polygraphist’s identity was not revealed; and his findings did not verify that aliens had landed on earth (or by the dock where the shipyard workers were fishing at the time) – only that, according to the polygraph technique, their stories of being approached by “aliens”, etc. were truthful.  

The two subjects were consistent in their descriptions (physical characteristics of space creatures, transport vehicle, etc.) in their polygraph interviews and testing as far as they went – but as Parker passed out (nervous breakdown) before being brought aboard the craft only Hickson was taken in, where he was placed in a horizontal position, examined by some sort of electronic sensors, and then placed outside as the craft departed in a quiet takeoff.  Hickson (about 38?) took and passed a polygraph test, then later gave speeches, etc., while Parker (about age18?) apparently had mental complications from the unusual experience and faded out of sight. 

I was aware that only Hickson was administered a polygraph test – but not Parker.  Because of his resulting emotional state he was not a reliable test subject.  I do not know where any polygraph documents are now located. 

The above is, according to my memory (of about 45 years ago), accurate, but not complete if a full account is needed.  Further, some minor adjustments are needed in your letter (e.g., my dad, Forrest Pendleton, founded our company in 1920 after a career with the Justice Department/FBI, and I took over in 1970;  

Raymond A. Pendleton.”

The email exchange continued and the next email was July 29th 2021.

  “Mr. Mantle, thank you for your July 27th letter and expressed intent.  We are inclined to assist, but must know the purpose and scope of your efforts; and, if for commercial gain, your willingness to share a commission from gross revenues.  

Best wishes,

Raymond A. Pendleton. “

I continued to ask Mr Pendleton more questions on email and he replied on July 29th 2021.

“Mr. Mantle:

Thank you for your response.

I will let you know what additional items may surface to assist, but can verify that Mr. Glasgow was fully qualified to administer the polygraph test.  His academic background and “low key” approach to test subjects, essential for his role, were occasionally/erroneously viewed as non-aggressive.

Sincerely,

Raymond A. Pendleton.”

This was my last email from Mr. Pendleton. I have no idea what happened, perhaps their company was a victim of the pandemic, who knows? But like I said, you just can’t win when it comes to a polygraph examination but it goes without saying that Charles Hickson’s polygraph was discussed by many back in 1973 and irrespective of whether Scott Glasgow was qualified or not, Mr. Hickson passed it.

Actual Polygraph Test Papers

Polygraph Test of Charles Hickson-1

Polygraph Test of Charles Hickson-2

Polygraph Test of Charles Hickson-3

Polygraph Test of Charles Hickson-4

Polygraph Test of Charles Hickson-5

Polygraph Chart - 1

Polygraph Chart - 2

Secret Police Recordings

Secret police recording of Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker discussing their abduction just after their encounter

Partial transcript;

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.”

CHARLES: “ I tell you, when we’re 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.”

CHARLES: “ 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. 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.”

CALVIN: “ I passed out. I expect I never passed out in my whole life.”

CHARLES: “ I’ve never seen nothing like that before in my life. You can’t make people believe.”

CALVIN: “ I don’t want to keep sitting here. I want to see a doctor.”

CHARLES: “ They better wake up and start believing … they better start believing.”

CALVIN:  “You see how that damn door come right up?”

CHARLES: “ I don’t know how it opened, son. I don’t know.”

CALVIN: “ It just laid up and just like that those sons of b*tches -just like that they come out.”

Charles Hickson, and Calvin Parker Jr. (1973)

Fred Diamond, Sheriff of Pascagoula, MS, is Interviewed on the Radio (12/12/1973)

“Calvin’s story is compelling, in large part because of the real, all too human consequences he and his wife have endured for 45-plus years.”
George Knapp

Official Website of Calvin Parker and the Pascagoula Abduction Encounter