Phoenix Lights
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🛸 Case
Contents 6
| Type | Case |
|---|---|
| On the Timeline | 1 event, 1999 |
The Phoenix Lights were mass UFO sightings over Arizona and southern Nevada on the evening of 13 March 1997, seen by thousands of people across a corridor about 300 miles (480 km) long. They are among the most widely witnessed UFO events in history. Investigators generally conclude that two separate events were involved: a formation of aircraft in the early evening and illumination flares dropped during a military exercise later that night, though some witnesses reject these explanations.[1][2]
The first event: a V-shaped formation
Sightings began around 7:55 p.m. local time, when a witness in Henderson, Nevada, saw a large V-shaped object moving southeast. At about 8:15 p.m. a former police officer in Paulden, Arizona, saw reddish-orange lights disappear to the south. In Prescott Valley, Tim Ley and his family watched five lights in an arc, which they later described as a huge carpenter's-square shape with one light at the front and two on each side, passing low overhead. Between about 8:30 and 8:45 p.m., people in Glendale and Phoenix saw the formation pass through thin cloud.[1]
Amateur astronomer Mitch Stanley, in Scottsdale, viewed the lights through a telescope and said they were clearly individual aircraft flying in formation. Skeptic Robert Sheaffer and others identified the formation as five A-10 aircraft from the Maryland Air National Guard flying under visual flight rules to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson as part of Operation Snowbird, a winter training program; they landed around 8:45 p.m. In 2007 Lt. Col. Ed Jones of the Maryland Air National Guard confirmed that he had flown in one of the formations.[1][2]
The second event: hovering lights
At about 10 p.m., many people across the Phoenix area saw a row of bright lights that seemed to hover or slowly descend south-west of the city, and the scene was widely filmed. The military said these were LUU-2B/B illumination flares dropped by A-10 aircraft during an exercise over the Barry M. Goldwater Range. The flares hang from parachutes, and the heat of the burning flare slows their descent. Analysts noted that the lights disappeared one by one behind the Sierra Estrella mountains, and that flares 50–70 miles away would appear about as bright as those seen from Phoenix.[1][3]
Governor Symington
Shortly after the sightings, Governor Fife Symington III held a press conference at which he joked that "they found who was responsible" and brought out an aide dressed in an alien costume. In 2007 he told a UFO investigator and reporters that he had himself seen a huge, unexplained craft that night, saying it "was bigger than anything that I've ever seen".[1][4][5]
Later lights and legacy
Similar lights over Phoenix on 6 February 2007 were attributed to flares dropped by F-16s from Luke Air Force Base, and lights in April 2008 were traced to flares tied to helium balloons released by a local resident.[1] The 1997 sightings inspired documentaries such as The Phoenix Lights... We Are Not Alone, featuring Symington and astronaut Edgar Mitchell, and the 2017 found-footage film Phoenix Forgotten.[1]
On the UAP Timeline
- CAUS Phoenix Lights lawsuit (22 January 1999) — A civilian group sues for records on the Phoenix Lights.
References
- Phoenix Lights — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Robert Sheaffer, "The 'Phoenix Lights' Become an 'Incident'", Skeptical Inquirer (2016) · skepticalinquirer.org · archived copy
- Brian Dunning, "The Alien Invasion of Phoenix, Arizona", Skeptoid #41 · skeptoid.com · archived copy
- "Symington: I saw a UFO in the Arizona sky", CNN (2007) · cnn.com · archived copy
- "UFOs flew over Phoenix in '97, Symington says", Arizona Daily Star · tucson.com · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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