Fear struck immediately, and the younger man Calvin glanced over at Charles, searching his face for an answer that he didn’t have. This 30-foot-long, football-shaped craft had a pulsing blue light, and characteristics that caused both men complete bafflement. As it rushed in toward them, Charles’ mind went into a swarm of self-questions. How could this be? How was this thing controlled? Was there anyone on board? This last question, of which, was about to be devastatingly answered. The blue light went out when the beings emerged. The two men intended to turn and run in a panic, but were somehow spellbound and frozen in fear.

Just when Charles started to get the Shakespeare’s Calvin let out a terrified scream, Charles joined in by shouting, damn it, what do they want? What are they going to do? And, as if to answer the question, the three beings came gliding in quickly and grabbed hold of the men, leaving marks on their flesh where they grabbed. Adding an element of absurdity to what was already completely unfamiliar, these beings did not look like your typical greys. They had baggy, wrinkled skin with three triangles on each side of their heads. Their legs remained together as they would float, and their movements were robotic and mechanical.

The hands that grabbed onto the friends resembled a more pliable version of like a crab’s claw. They were forced into the craft, and it became clear that Calvin was the one that they wanted. Now, inside the craft, a large eye came directly out of the wall and inspected Charles as he began to panic despite his overall paralysis. Charles was reminded of stories of people who had disappeared without a trace and thought to himself, perhaps this is how it happens. There was no thought in his mind about extraterrestrial beings. The only thing that could calm him was his memory of what was necessary for survival in the Korean War, as he was a seasoned war veteran.

He remembered moments where his unit had to keep their heads in a state of calm in order to survive, and he took on that persona. The younger man Calvin was not lucky enough to have had this kind of experience with fear. But then again, as Charles would later say, this was an entirely new kind of fear. He worried for his younger friend in that moment. Meanwhile, Calvin was certainly getting the raw end of the deal experiencing an abduction scenario that has become the classic archetype of this genre. He unfortunately did not have any knowledge of these scenarios as it happened.

So despite how brightly lit this room was, he was in the dark. The beings picked the duo back up and gently put them back where they had gotten them, just like we do with fish that we catch. And as they left, the beings telepathically communicated back to the men that they were peaceful and they didn’t mean to cause so much harm. This is the first moment when Charles thought to himself, quote, My God, they were from another world. Calvin waking from his paralysis was screaming, and it took him a few minutes to realize who Charles even was.

They had to kind of, you know, gather themselves back to sanity. Now, heavily debating whether or not they should speak of this, they ended up calling Kiesler Air Force Base out of fear. This could happen again, they thought, and frankly, they thought the earth was being invaded. Again, they understood the concept of aliens, but were not keen on the subject, especially that of alien abduction. Our society ignores these things. Thus, they didn’t know the lady on the phone at Kiesler Air Force Base disregarded the call and told them to call the sheriff. Charles thought to himself, my God, if we were being invaded, this would be ignored.

Calvin, our younger friend, absolutely refused to speak of this with the sheriff’s office. He pleaded with Charles not to call them, considering that he was getting married in the coming months and that this would affect everything. But Charles absolutely insisted that they had to tell somebody they needed help. So they agreed to connive a story where Calvin had passed out when he saw the ship. That way he could plausibly deny any unwanted attention. This didn’t work out as we’ll see. Before the men arrived to the police station, Sheriff Fred Diamond hid a tape recorder inside of a desk drawer and left the men alone to hear what they had to say.

This recording is the single item that convinced the entire police department that this was not only real, but a detrimental situation, real enough to get actual help from some higher up authorities. See how that door come in on the same chair? I didn’t see them door swing. The man realizing himself, bitches, he just knocked it to come out. Yeah, I went to sleep. You can’t believe it. You can’t make people believe it. I paralyzed right there. I couldn’t believe it. They won’t believe it. One each day. They won’t believe it one each day.

It’s not me too late. I knew all along that I wish you could be with them. I don’t want to let them. I knew all along. I never thought it was after me. Despite the sheriff’s promises to keep this report under wraps, the story leaked and changed life for that little town forever. After a long investigation with the Air Force, Calvin went into hiding and refused to do any press. And unfortunately, this event did affect his future marriage as they could not maintain a normal relationship because of all the fiasco. They tragically separated in hopes that she could live with some normalcy.

Charles would later recount how strange it was that the Air Force Intelligence had no issue believing his account unlike the civilian population. Meanwhile, Calvin would later suffer a nervous breakdown that caused him to be hospitalized. He was simply refusing to accept this new part of his life. To the surprise of the men involved, but probably no surprise to us, it would turn out that there were several other sightings of the same craft in that area. And it turns out the local Air Force at Kiesler was flooded with calls that night about this anomaly.

Every single one of which was ignored. And it makes you wonder what the purpose of an Air Force is. Enjoy them Tax dollars, boys. Get yourself a new Keurig. Charles could not even return to work and blame Sheriff Diamond for the story having leaked. It was utter chaos for a long time. But there is an important element of this story that goes completely ignored. We fast forward to today and the story actually has a heartwarming end. Much like Travis Walton, Calvin Parker was eventually able to accept this ordeal for what it was worth and in a way kind of alchemize it into something of value.

He learned to embrace his experience and has recently as of 2022 came forward as saying that these beings don’t mean any harm to us. Also long before his death, he actually reunited with his wife and they were able to live a somewhat normal life after having matured from this otherworldly event. I personally find it downright touching to see pictures of Travis Walton and Calvin Parker hanging out at Mufon Conventions and having a good time despite how absurdly negative these events were for them. There is a camaraderie that is unique there. These men saw the cold dark abyss of the unexplained face to face and after years of scorn and ridicule were able to rise from those ashes and create purpose and meaning from these events.

If you ask me, that is the realist kind of alchemy there is. In the red book, Carl Jung makes it clear that absurdity and meaning are the same thing separated by pulse. Even though the inexplicable is completely alien to us, if we have the courage to travel that pole like a tightrope walker to the other side, we will find purpose waiting for us. Many of us struggle with finding meaning from everyday life and there is nothing wrong with that. But after learning the stories of these men who have seen not only real darkness, but a darkness beyond abstraction and seeing that they could integrate that sheer unknowing fear into something beautiful, well, it tells me that humanity might not be so doomed after all.

And perhaps that is the message despite being delivered in a dark box that these otherworldly visitors have set up for us. It was Jesus who said, quote, whoever searches must continue to search until they find and when they find they will be disturbed and being disturbed, they will marvel and then they will learn to reign over all. I must be awake. Is that what you mean? I must be awake. Yeah. Come and do a trick. Look at this. Empty, okay? Show them. This has to cook, though. I want to say a few things.

First, I’d like to say the season’s greens. Then I’d like to say keep your hands on the table at all times. I am the dreamer. You are the dream. Look, the only thing that really matters here is what I’m about to show you. That’s not it. I didn’t come all this way for you to tell me that that’s what it is. Is there something under that? Because I don’t believe that one. It’s like a box, a Chinese box. You open it, there’s another one inside, there’s another one inside, there’s another one inside. You’re not going to let me see you, are you? It is a Chinese box, and you’re not going to be allowed to see, okay? So just get that clear.

You are not going to let us see you. That’s a good idea. [tr:trw].