CARL HIGDON - FINAL

CH: No. Just that he's a hunter or explorer. That's all he does.

At this point in the interview, Dr. Sprinkle noticed Carl beginning to grow very distressed. Inquiring as to the reason for this outbreak of nervousness. Dr. Sprinkle and the others present were drawn right back into the vivid experience, as they watched Carl relive the pain caused by the bright lights around him on a far away world. His hands moved to his face as if he were trying to block out the rays of a powerful spotlight or beacon. Ausso One explained that they lived under a different sun. "Our sun burns them (the beings)... that's the reason for the black suits, and standin' in the shade. Cloudy days not bad!'

With this, the creature pointed his "hand" at the control panel, causing one of the levers to move up. Unlike their original trip, there were no other aliens to be seen aboard the caraft. Nor were any elk present. They had apparently been taken off while Carl was undergoing his examination.

Wishing to retain a souvenir of his unexpected voyage, Higdon hoped that the alien would not retrieve his one vital piece of proof that this experience had been genuine -- the three remaining pills in his jacket pocket. Unfortunately -- as in every previous case of this type -- the proof was whisked away almost at the last second. "He just pointed and they (the pills) floated out of my pocket." Ausso One had expressed a willingness to exchange momentos. "He wanted to keep my gun, but said this was not allowed."

The translucent cube hung silently in the air above Higdon's parked truck before the last act in this most amazing episode began to unfold. "When we got above the trees. Ausso One aimed his 'arm' at my pickup and it disappeared -- poof! -- vanished into thin air!"

Although he had no way of knowing it then, Higdon's borrowed company truck was instanteneously transported a distance of five miles. It had been "lifted" from its parking spot on the grassy knoll in McCarthy Canyon, and "dropped" in an area where no vehicle could possibly maneuver. "Since I was in a state of mental stress, this fact did not have any impact on me until sometime later. I know that I could never have driven over that impossible terrain -- even if I had been physically capable of driving, which I most certainly was not!"

Before Ausso One teleported him to the ground, Higdon's magnum rifle was returned. Resting next to the seat, on the floor of the cubicle, the gun suddenly levitated into his hands. Then suddenly, Higdon was back on the ground.

Sprinkle; Did he say anything to you when you were going?
CH: "We'll see you." A friendly good-bye.
Sprinkle: You don't remember how you got from the seat?
CH: From the seat to the ground -- I don't know. I just went like that, (moving his hands) and I was gone!
Sprinkle: Did you feel youself going down?
CH: No. Just like I said, you're sitting here and then you're over there. Don't feel a thing.

Equating the sensation to jumping out of a high tree but floating istead of falling. Higdon was glad to have his feet planted firmly on Earth again. In his eagerness to return to civilization, Higdon slipped on a rock and tumbled head-over-heels for a distance of eight or nine feet. Finding himself at the bottom of a shallow gully, he pulled himself up and began wandering aimlessly, with his eyes watering, and his head spinning.

Having extracted as much data as possible from his subject, Dr. Sprinkle concluded the session, easing Carl out from his deep slumber. Before being awakened, the thought was planted in Carl's mind that he could remember everything that transpired under hypnosis, and that he would no longer be fearful of his experience, accepting it, without discomfort, as an event of great significance to his life.

Higdon opened his eyes and shook out the cobwebs in his head. He appeared at ease -- memory restored to a large degree.

Of course many mysteries remain. Higdon, for one, freely admits that many riddles are still unsolved as of this writing. A prime example of one of the questions that still nags him, is how he was able to fit into the tiny five by seven foot cubicle without any apparent difficulty. "Rationally, I know that in order for me, the aliens, and the elk to get in there, we must have been shrunk -- there's no other way! I wouldn't venture how they accomplished this feat. Ausso One just pointed, and we were where he wanted us!"

Since the fantastic adventure took place, Higdon has complained about sharp pains in the back of his head and neck. "I feel like I'd been pushed together like this," he said playing an imaginary accordion. "That's just the way my muscles feel -- like they were compressed, and then yanked apart."

During 1958, Carl was hospitalized, because it was suspected he had contacted tuberculosis. X-rays showed traces of the disease. A series of examinations were conducted at regular six-month intervals, to make certain his condition did not worsen. In addition, doctors who treated him on these occasions confirmed that he also had numerous kidney stones.

Evidence for the medical profession to ponder? Verification comes from attending physician Dr. R. C. Tongo, who treated Higdon at Carbon County Memorial Hospital. "He's now in A-1 super condition!" the doctor is reported to have said.

Among the vitally important puzzles remaining unsolved is why Ausso One remarked that they were returning Higdon to Earth because he wasn't "what they needed." Mulling this over, Higdon had a seemingly logical explanation. "Well, this may sound stupid but nine years ago I had a vasectomy." This operation severs the duct through which sperm flows, making it impossible for him to impregnate a woman. "Maybe this is what they meant when they said, I wasn't any good! I kind of sense that they wanted young people."

The major piece of hard-core evidence is, of course the remains of the bullet which Higdon fired at the elk. It fell to the ground 50 feet from him, after striking an invisible "force field." Turned over for examination to Dr. Walter Walker, it apparently defies explanation. A 7mm bullet under ordinary conditions would travel at such tremendous velocity that its course would be impossible to chart. The odds against locating the spent bullet would be millions-to-one. Carl Higdon declares that after the bullet floated to the earth, he retrieved it and placed the piece of metal in his canteen pouch, where it was later found.

Higdon admits that when he first discovered the bullet in the bottom of his canteen, he had no idea what it was. "I'd never seen anything like it before, to compare it to," he said. "Soon as I could I took it to the Carbon County Sheriff's Department, where the officer in charge of ballistics analysis examined it through a microscope. He told me it was from a 7mm Magnum rifle, which is the caliber of my gun. Returning the chunk of metal, he noted that he had never seen a bullet in that shape or condition." The lawman further stated that he didn't think it was humanly possible to hammer the bullet into its current shape. Furthermore, he added that it didn't seem likely that the bullet had hit a solid object, such as a tree or a rock, and been compressed by such natural means. "To him, it appeared as if the bullet had been 'turned inside out "by superhuman hands." Dr. Walker's findings coincided with those of the local authorities, for he too is convinced that there is no scientific explanation to account for the present shape of the bullet.

A state of reasonable calm has returned to the Higdon household. Though Carl frequently thinks about what happened on that eventful day in October, he is no longer upset by the recollection.

In fact, Carl reports that within the past few weeks, while returning home at night, he has been followd by a large green light. The subsequent close approaches made by UFOs indicate the extraterrestrials are still keeping a close watch on their earthly communicant. Following an established pattern among contact cases, it is not too much to assume that further fateful meetings will take place.

Though his phone rings day and night, very few callers are of the crank variety. "People seem to accept it now. I'm being truthful as I can be. This all really happned!"
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This article was featured in SAGA's Flying Saucer Special UFO ANNUAL 1977 and written by Timothy Green Beckley.