UFO News Article:

“Mississippians Report UFO Sightings, Visits”,

15 October 1973 (Merced Sun-Star, California)

A short time after Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker’s UFO encounter in Pascagoula (on the night of 11 October 1973), Marion County civil defense official James Thornhill of Columbia, Mississippi, picked up an unknown object on his radar set, according to the article:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BjJcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wFUNAAAAIBAJ&pg=7000,2166826

Quote from the article:

“ ‘I observed what I thought to be an aircraft,’ Thornhill told officials. ‘It got rather close to the station, about three miles, then it became stationary and all of a sudden my radar just completely jammed.’

‘I’ve never seen anything quite like this, except perhaps during World War II,’ he said.

Thornhill said the radar unit developed streaks when the UFO returned later. Area residents, he said, reported seeing a craft with bright blue lights Sunday night.”

Columbia is situated 157 kilometres (98 miles) north west of Pascagoula.

“Pascagoula, Mississippi” (City-Data.com):

http://www.city-data.com/city/Pascagoula-Mississippi.html

“Columbia, Mississippi” (City-Data.com):

http://www.city-data.com/city/Columbia-Mississippi.html

Wikipedia text: “A view of a section of the Ingalls Shipbuilding Company showing various United States Navy ships under construction in Pascagoula” (wikimedia.org) 

(wikimedia.org photo)