The Phoenix Lights
March 13th 1997. Northwestern USA
On the evening of March 13th 1997, thousands of people across the Northwestern US, witnessed a huge V-shaped light formation gliding silently over their heads.
Initial reports began at 6:55pm with a man in Henderson, Nevada who saw an object that he guessed was approximately “the size of a Boeing 747” with six orange lights along its edge.
The next recorded sighting was from a retired Police Officer driving in Paulden, Arizona at around 8:15pm. He saw what appeared to be a cluster of four orange lights trailed by a fifth slightly behind. He noted that each point of light in the formation appeared to consist of multiple light points. He watched the object with binoculars until it disappeared over the horizon to the south.
What followed was a flood of telephone reports to law enforcement & news media offices, as well as Luke Air Force Base., from people in communities to the north and west of Phoenix. Descriptions were varied, with reports of distinctly red or orange lights, to yellow and brilliant white. Witnesses reported seeing between three and nine lights, some appearing in a line or V formations, and others in clusters. Some believed that the lights were moving slowly, or even hovering for minutes at a time, while others emphasised their incredible speeds.
Many witnesses believe that the lights were part of a one single, giant, solid object, as they remember how it blocked out the stars when it passed overhead. They said that they could clearly see how the lights were embedded in a gunmetal coloured craft in the shape of a carpenter's square, with the point of the V leading the formation. The witnesses were keen to emphasise how huge the object was, with estimates putting it at over a mile long.
It's unknown whether these discrepancies are due to differing angles and perspectives, or there were multiple objects flying over Arizona that night.
Controversy later arose from the incident after public demand for an explanation was met with a press conference in which Governor Fife Symington made light of the situation by bringing his aide on stage dressed in an alien costume. Symington later went on to admit that he himself had been a witness to the object. Describing it as "dramatically large" with a "very distinctive leading edge with some enormous lights."
The military later claimed responsibility for the strange lights, explaining that the event was a series of slow-falling, long-burning LUU-2B/B illumination flares dropped by a flight of four A-10 Warthog aircraft on a training exercise between 9:00 and 10:00 pm.
However, witnesses continue to maintain that what they saw was unlike anything they had ever seen or heard of before. They argue that the lights were too symmetrical to be flares, and lacked the smoke usually seen trailing behind.
Furthermore, some of the most dramatic reports occurred in the hours before the military began dropping flares.
Apart from a handful of local articles, there was a notably suspicious lack of media coverage after the event. There was no early coverage from national press, despite the fact that they were made aware of the strange case with its tens of thousands of witnesses. It was not until Mid-June, almost 10 weeks later, that USA Today wrote an article about the sighting.