I don’t remember reading any of the men recanting the story. If he did, the six police officers that saw the event weren’t dreaming. Something got those men IMO, they were too scared and shaky to have been faking it. The USS Shark, a nuclear submarine, was about two miles down river from where they were fishing (They were on the docks of Gulf Cities Fisheries where I inspected shrimp). My Colonel surmised that there were top secret goings on nearby and the men must have been too close. The date was October 11, 1973, I remember it well.
I'd be scared and shaking too if G men dressed in alien costumes approach me in the middle of the night, and in the middle of nowhere, carrying an anal probe. :)
I was a child back when this happened, and remember when the local news reported the stories. I thought they were fishing from a boat and were abducted, or was it a different case?