In about Dec 1977 my husband and I went to visit his family for a family reunion. I had just graduated from college the year before, so was 23 years old, and my husband was about 27. I was an office worker at the state capitol and he was a certified auto mechanic. We drove from Tampa FL to Houston TX, taking the interstates, driving west passing thru New Orleans. As we were passing thru New Orleans I woke up and a few minutes later saw very bright light approaching in the Western sky. Husband was driving and saw it too. We speculated about what it could be, even laughing about a UFO. We at first thought maybe there was an airport nearby. At this point we were still on the outskirts of the city and I believe there was a little air traffic, but nothing else in the sky nearly as bright as this light. As we continued to drive west we eventually left behind any town area and continued over bayou/swamp on elevated divided hwy/bridge road. We continued to watch the bright light, as it was interesting and the drive was a long one. Although initially we were tracking it toward our right front of our car heading west and it appeared far away as just a very bright light, as we watched it seemed to travel thru sky toward the left side of our vision, so when we finally passed it, it was on the far left (drivers side of car). (Sort of like a lazy s curve.) We saw that the light we had been watching appear to stall over a cypress swamp. No civilization/man-made structures/towns were nearby, nothing but swamp and water and bridge/road. The object appeared to stall or hover over the swamp above a stand of very high cypress trees. There were no power poles or other structures anywhere nearby that would confuse where it was or could be attached to. It appeared to be just floating silently, alone. We had watched the light for at least 20-30 minutes by this time, and now were considerably closer. It was a good way above the trees, probably at least 50 ft. From the roadway the UFO was perhaps 500 ft to our left, and 150 ft up. It was massive. We were struck by how large it appeared to be, like the size of a football field or 10 large houses stuck together. Altho this was at night time around 2 am, the stars were very bright. The UFO appeared to be shaped like a capital H and had appendages like antennae and/or machines all over its surface, not smooth at all. We could determine its shape through the stars, as it was a very clear, still, cold, starry night with enough light to make out the shape easily. It didnt move and we drove slower and slower, finally passing it altogether. As we were now driving on an elevated roadway bridge over a swamp, there was no place to stop or pull over or even call for help. During this entire time we passed only a couple other cars heading east into New Orleans but I could not tell if they saw the UFO or not. This might sound stupid, but as it wasnt moving, nor making noise or doing anything at all but hovering, we just kept driving west, not quite knowing what else to do. It didnt seem like a good idea to just stop and get out. We were driving over the bayou, in the dark. Plus, we were still on a divided road with the object hovering on the farthest side of the separate eastbound bridge to our left. We just kept asking each other, what IS it? Eventually we reached the end of the swamp area and pulled over, the UFO miles behind us. My husband and I decided to sketch independently of each other what we each thought we saw. We both drew an H shape. When we got to Houston we spent time with family and went to see the new movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I recall being a little freaked when we saw something in the film that was close in shape to what we saw that night. NOTE: The above image is real but from a UFO sighting in Alloway New Jersey.
