Pecos photographic UFO report — July 16, 1980

The Pecos record preserves a dramatic account attributed to a Civil Air Patrol cadet, Craig Weitzel, and dated July 16, 1980. In the anonymous letter behind that version, a dull metallic object landed, Weitzel approached and took photographs, and a humanlike figure in a metallic suit emerged. The letter added a subsequent visitor demanding photographs and alleged official secrecy. That account is directly contested by the named witness's later testimony. Robert Hastings's 1989 dossier reproduces Benton Jamison's December 1985 telephone-interview summary. Weitzel described a bright summer day during mountain training with roughly 25 cadets and airmen, using parachute panels for a ground signal. A small dark-silvery object appeared high overhead, hovered, reversed direction and accelerated away. He was unsure of the exact location and whether the month was July or August. He recalled reporting it after returning to base. Hastings states that Weitzel rejected the letter's close-encounter embellishment and photo-demand visitor. The dossier also discusses a possible typewriter connection with Richard Doty; that attribution remains a research allegation, not necessary to establish the witness's denial. The occupant, landing and photographs cannot therefore be treated as verified elements of his sighting. The neutral plate separates the mountain observation from a clearly labeled illustration of the contested letter's claim.