The forgotten 1970s Fleetwood Mac song inspired by a UFO sighting: “I almost had a heart attack”

In 1973, Mississippi fishermen Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker reported that a UFO appeared over the Pascagoula River and took them aboard. Their account became a widely discussed alleged encounter and later inspired Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Welch’s song ‘Hypnotized’.

The men said they heard a hissing sound, saw a blue light and were examined before being released unharmed. Their recorded testimony was released in 2013, and both continued to tell the story despite public disbelief. Welch said he drew on the incident, his interest in the paranormal and other strange experiences when writing the track, released on the 1973 album *Mystery to Me*.