Subject: UFO Sighting Reports
Below is the result of your feedback form.
It was submitted by (jcuz@amaonline.com)
on Friday, July 11, 1997 at 13:56:53
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name: Jim Couzzourt
location: Near Merkel, TX (close to Abilene)
date: early summer, 1973(?)
time: 2-3pm


sighting: Was surveying archeological site SW of Merkel and often stopped to "re-orient" my head and neck because of stiffness from looking down so intently. On one occasion, I spotted a disk-shaped object almost directly above me, heading due north in a virtually cloudless sky. I stopped my neck-stretching to watch this peculiar object. The only clouds in the sky were some wispy, feathery types commonly seen at very high altitude. The disk crossed above them and its crisply clear edges remained readily visible. The disk was about the size of a dime held at arm's length, perhaps a slight bit larger. Its edges were perfectly visible and were perfectly round. As it moved north, its outline changed to an elongated oval, a normal trick of perspective you can also see when holding a small disk at arm's length and moving it away from you. There were no projections, appendages, fins, engines, nothing whatever to break up the circular outline. The object seemed to be somewhat thicker in the middle, but I never actually saw it on edge, and by the time it was far enough away for me to see its vertical structure, it was too distant to see clearly. It was a dull "brushed" silver-gray in color, and I was of the impression at the time that the underside I was looking at was in shadow. There were no portholes, windows, symbols, decorative elements -- nothing but a solid dully polished surface. There was no contrail, no smoke, no glow, and no sound. It took the object about 4, possibly 5 seconds to go from almost 90 degrees straight overhead to a point in the north, above the horizon, where it simply "shrunk" beyond my capability to see it. It also did not deviate from its northbound path, which was slightly off true north, perhaps 4 or 5 degrees toward the northwest. There were no other objects in the sky against which I could compare it to estimate the size. Its altitude must have exceeded 35,000 feet, judging by the thin, feathery clouds it passed over (I knew their names once). I was alone, and although my companions were in the yard of their rural home, they did not look up and they did not see the object. I was in the Air Force from '59 to '63 and saw many, many types of aircraft. In addition, I have loved and studied aircraft since I was a kid, and in 1973 I was a very good and accurate spotter/identifier. This object was something I had never seen before. It was not and could not have been any of the following write-offs: Venus, a balloon, a balloon with a radar target or dropping dummies from high altitude (heh, heh, nice try, USAF), an aircraft made by anyone on this planet, a flock of geese, a meteor or bollide, a piece of space debris re-entering, a star, a spider web, or swamp gas. Nor was it coming from the direction of Gulfport, Florida or the USSR, which would make it suspicious. I have no earthly idea what I saw that day. I just know what it WASN'T.

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