Phoenix Lights
| Phoenix Lights | |
|
[ IMAGE PLACEHOLDER ]
night sky over Phoenix, 1997 | |
| Date | March 13, 1997 |
|---|---|
| Location | Phoenix metropolitan area, Arizona, U.S. |
| Type | Mass sighting |
| Investigation | |
| Investigated by | U.S. Air Force (partial) |
| Notable witness | Gov. Fife Symington (acknowledged 2007) |
| Official conclusion | Flares (later lights only); V-formation unexplained |
| Status | Partly explainedDisputed |
The Phoenix Lights refers to a mass sighting on the evening of March 13, 1997, when thousands of residents across Arizona and Nevada reported observing a large V-shaped formation of lights moving silently over the region, followed later that night by a separate set of stationary lights hovering over Phoenix.[1]
The sightings
Witness reports described two distinct phenomena roughly two hours apart: an initial series of lights in a consistent V or boomerang formation moving from the Nevada border toward Phoenix around 8:30 p.m., and a later set of stationary, hovering orange-white lights over the city around 10:00 p.m. that many observers assumed were part of the same event.[1] Then-Arizona Governor Fife Symington, who initially mocked the sightings at a press conference, later stated in 2007 that he too had witnessed an unexplained craft that night, though he maintained his skepticism about extraterrestrial origin.[2]
Official explanation
The U.S. Air Force stated that the later stationary lights were flares dropped during a training exercise by A-10 aircraft from the Maryland Air National Guard at the Barry Goldwater Range south of Phoenix, and this explanation is generally accepted by investigators for that portion of the event.[3] The earlier V-formation lights, seen by far more witnesses and over a wider area at higher altitude, have not been attributed to the flare exercise and remain officially unexplained.
Skepticism and analysis
Skeptical investigator Tony Ortega and others have argued the V-formation is consistent with a formation of aircraft flying with lights only visible at certain angles, though no specific flight has been definitively matched to the observations.[4] Believers and several witnesses maintain the size, silence, and structured formation reported are inconsistent with conventional aircraft. The case is frequently cited as one of the most-witnessed UAP events in US history precisely because it split into a confirmed mundane explanation for one part and a genuinely unresolved report for the other.
See also
References
- ^ Kitei, L. (2004). The Phoenix Lights: A Skeptic’s Discovery that We Are Not Alone.
- ^ Symington, F. (2007). Public statement to the Daily Courier, Prescott, AZ.
- ^ U.S. Air Force, Davis-Monthan AFB public affairs statement, 1997.
- ^ Ortega, T. (1997). “The Great UFO Cover-up.” Phoenix New Times.