Introduction
This project examines Charles Hickson’s appearance on the American television game show To Tell the Truth, in a segment related to the 1973 Pascagoula UFO incident. On October 11, 1973, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker reported that they encountered a UFO while fishing near Pascagoula, Mississippi. Their account became one of the most widely discussed American UFO abduction stories of the 1970s. In this television segment, however, the event is not presented as a documentary interview or formal investigation. Instead, it is transformed into a game-show performance.
The screenshot of the television show To tell The Truth, the three contestants were sitting and waiting for answering questions.
The format of To Tell the Truth is central to this project. Three contestants appear before a panel, each claiming to be the same person. Only one is telling the truth; the others are impostors. In this episode, all three men claim to be Charles Hickson. The host, Bill Cullen, introduces the segment and reads a signed statement attributed to Hickson. The panelists then question the contestants and vote on which man they believe is the real witness.
This project focuses on the idea of "mediated testimony". Hickson’s story is presented as his own written account, but it is read aloud by the host. This separates authorship from vocal performance: the words are attributed to Hickson, but their delivery, rhythm, and public framing are controlled by the television host. At the same time, Hickson’s identity is temporarily hidden among two actors, meaning that the audience must judge not only the story itself, but also the bodies and performances of the men claiming to tell it.
The project does not attempt to prove or disprove the Pascagoula incident. Instead, it asks how television stages credibility. How does a short entertainment segment invite viewers to decide who seems truthful? How do panelists interpret seriousness, humor, facial expression, posture, short answers, and hesitation as signs of belief or deception? How does the game-show format change the meaning of a reported extraordinary experience?
Through annotation, this project highlights moments of speech, action, and framing that shape the viewer’s understanding of Hickson’s testimony. Tags identify the host’s reading of the signed statement, the panel’s questions, the contestants’ short responses, moments of humor and skepticism, visual cues such as smiling or seriousness, and the final reveal. Together, these annotations show that credibility in the segment is not produced by testimony alone. It is created through television format, performance, audience expectation, and public judgment.
By analyzing this short video closely, the project treats To Tell the Truth as more than a curious piece of UFO media history. It becomes a case study in how popular television transforms testimony into entertainment and asks viewers to recognize truth through performance.
To Tell The Truth
Video source: To Tell the Truth, Charles Hickson / Pascagoula UFO segment. YouTube video, 9:19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgsyzKTV3wM