Pascagoula offers history, culture, industry, & space aliens on the Gulf Coast
Round Island lighthouse
Pascagoula, Mississippi, on the Gulf Coast sits about an hours’ drive east of Biloxi, and offers a day’s exploration that includes nature trails, antebellum history tours, famous persons’ houses of interest, and, of course, the only extraterrestrial alien abduction story on the Gulf Coast that has maintained credibility for more than 40 years. The city is home to a major industrial center that includes Ingalls Shipbuilding, with its impressive iron gates; a Chevron refinery that’s the largest in the world; and Signal International, an oil platform builder.
Unique shops and restaurants round out the downtown area, and in the park is an impressive light house, Round Island Lighthouse (pictured above), built in 1859 on a barrier island off shore and moved to the Pascagoula park for restoration after it was decommissioned.
1973 photos of Hickson and Parker
But back to the alien abduction, which has put Pascagoula on the map. In 1973, local residents Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, friends who worked at the Ingalls Shipyard, were fishing off the Pascagoula pier when, according to their report, they saw a UFO that hovered over the water and beamed them up into the spaceship. Take into account this had nothing to do with the popular Steven Spielberg movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind starring Richard Dreyfuss. That movie was filmed just a few miles east of Pascagoula in the Mobile, Alabama, area. But work on the space alien movie started in 1976, and the film was released in 1977, three and four years after Hickson and Parker claimed they had been abducted.
Hickson and Parker insisted they weren’t drunk. And they never wavered from their story of the abduction. Indeed, Parker has recently released a book about their experience that can be purchased in Pascagoula. In fact, Pascagoula held an October 2018 event to spotlight the abduction. Main Street Pascagoula scheduled it at the River Art Gallery and had Parker on hand to sign copies of his book, Pascagoula -- Closest Encounter: My Story. Main Street Pascagoula encouraged those attending to wear alien costumes. I think they should have the event annually.
If you tire of space aliens, there’s much more to do in the southeast Mississippi coastal community. For starters, singer Jimmy Buffet was born in Pascagoula, and his childhood home is a point of interest. Famous writer William Faulkner also spent time in the city, and you can see the site where he wrote Mosquito Coast. President Zachary Taylor lived in Pascagoula and his house is still standing.
Some 21,900 people live in Pascagoula. The city has a beautiful mural in the post office depicting the Legend of Singing River, painted in 1939 by Lorin Thompson. Singing River is another name for the Pascagoula River and in late summer and autumn, you can hear the river sing mysterious music that sounds like a swarm of bees in flight.
As legend has it, the Pascagoula tribe were a peaceful people who crossed ways with the more warlike Biloxi tribe when Anola, a princess of the Biloxi tribe, fell in love with Altama, chief of the Pascagoula, when she had been betrothed to a chieftain of her own tribe. She fled to be with Altama. The Biloxi attacked the Pascagoula and threatened them with extinction. Led by the Pascagoula women, the members of the tribe joined hands and began to chant a song as they walked to their deaths in the Pascagoula River. Legend has it you can still hear the singing, which is why the river is also known as Singing River.
There are several historic districts in the city and a historic bike trail will let you ride through the districts to see 15 points of interest. Among other sites is the Katrina Memorial and Walking Trail, which depicts the wave actions of the tidal surge that hit Pascagoula during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
You can also take a boat trip to Petit Bois Island and spend time on its unspoiled beaches. The island is only accessible by private boats or a licensed tour boat. Check out Barrier Island Eco-Tours 228-990-0828, or Fish Kabob Charters 251-747-4600.
Or you can visit La Pointe Krebs house and museum, built in 1757, making it one of the oldest houses on the Gulf Coast. And you can visit Round Island Lighthouse, which is open Fridays and Saturdays. There is also a museum in a former shrimping boat, the Scranton Floating Museum. To delve into nature, there is also the Pascagoula River Audubon Center, 5107 Arthur Street, Moss Point, Mississippi, where you can rent kayaks or take marsh boat tours, and Scranton Nature Center, 3928 Nathan Hale Avenue.
For a bite to eat, check out Bozo’s Grocery and Grill, 2012 Ingalls Avenue, for fresh seafood dishes or Anderson’s Bakery, 2033 Market Street, for great pastries. Scranton’s Restaurant, 623 Delmas Avenue, and Brady’s Steak and Seafood, 3801 Magnolia Street, are also great places to eat. If you want to try Caribbean and Latin cooking, try El Punto Familiar Restaurant, 1903 Denny Avenue.
Getting There: Take the Pascagoula exit from Interstate 10 and head south. Don't take the East Pascagoula exit, which will take you to Ingalls Shipyard. Or, from Biloxi or Ocean Springs, take Highway 90 East into Pascagoula.