A photo of the famous Phoenix Lights. Credit: nationalufocenter.com
I wonder how many UFO enthusiasts have heard about the Phoenix Lights, which were a series of unidentified lights that appeared over the skies of Phoenix, AZ, as well as various other nearby cities and towns, in 1997. I’m sure most people who are even somewhat passionate about UFOs have heard of them, and like the Rendlesham Forest incident, this was one of many breathtaking sightings of something that people still can’t explain.
Of course, an ‘official’ explanation was given for at least one of the sets of lights that were seen, which is that they were from flares the Air Force fired off in the area that night. However, some witnesses are convinced that what they saw had nothing to do with flares or any other excuse that debunks the idea that the lights were explainable or could be attributed to coincidence.
Here, I’d like to examine at an account of the Phoenix Lights that comes from the popular UFO network ‘MUFON’. As MUFON’s report about the lights tells us, thousands of people saw them over Arizona, Nevada and even Mexico.
“The Phoenix Lights (sometimes called the “Lights over Phoenix”) were a series of widely sighted unidentified flying objects observed in the skies over Arizona, Nevada in the United States, and Sonora, Mexico on Thursday, March 13, 1997.
“Lights of varying descriptions were seen by thousands of people between 19:30 and 22:30 MST, in a space of about 300 miles (480 km), from the Nevada line, through Phoenix, to the edge of Tucson.” (1)
Snippet from a newspaper article about the lights. Credit: Wikipedia
Two different types of lights were seen; the first was a triangular formation, and the second was a series of lights that were attributed to flares.
“There were allegedly two distinct events involved in the incident: a triangular formation of lights seen to pass over the state, and a series of stationary lights seen in the Phoenix area. The United States Air Force identified the second group of lights as flares dropped by A-10 Warthog aircraft that were on training exercises at the Barry Goldwater Range in southwest Arizona.
“Witnesses claim to have observed a huge carpenter’s square-shaped UFO, containing five spherical lights or possibly light-emitting engines. Fife Symington, the governor at the time, was one witness to this incident; he later called the object ‘otherworldly.’” (2)
We’ll learn more about Gov. Symington later, but for now, it’s important to point out that he described the object as ‘otherworldly’. People who talk about this stuff are usually smeared as tin-foil hat wearing lunatics, but here we have a governor saying something pretty bold about what he witnessed.
I’ve said before that it’s unfortunate that these sightings aren’t taken more seriously, and while we don’t want to get carried away and claim something is of extraterrestrial or even military origin if it can indeed be debunked, we also don’t want to be so closed-minded that we ignore compelling evidence when it shows up at our doorstep.
According to MUFON, the first sighting occurred in Henderson, Nevada, and the second occurred in Paulden, Arizona.
“At about 18:55 PST (19:55 MST), a man reported seeing a V-shaped object above Henderson, Nevada. He said it was about the ‘size of a (Boeing) 747’, sounded like ‘rushing wind’, and had six lights on its leading edge. The lights reportedly traversed northwest to the southeast.
“An unidentified former police officer from Paulden, Arizona is claimed to have been the next person to report a sighting after leaving his house at about 20:15 MST. As he was driving north, he allegedly saw a cluster of reddish or orange lights in the sky, comprising four lights together and a fifth light trailing them. Each of the individual lights in the formation appeared to the witness to consist of two separate point sources of orange light. He returned home and through binoculars watched the lights until they disappeared south over the horizon.” (3)
People who saw the lights in Prescott and Prescott Valley reported that they belonged to a solid object.
“Lights were also reportedly seen in the areas of Prescott and Prescott Valley. At approximately 20:17 MST, callers began reporting the object was definitely solid, because it blocked out much of the starry sky as it passed over.” (4)
Another picture of the lights. Credit: ufodigest.com
This alone makes it clear that these lights weren’t independent, as in the case of being flares or something else that could be debunked. From the witness accounts, they were clearly attached to something solid. Again, we can’t ignore things like this just for the sake of comfort, and the accounts of the people in the Prescott area alone has made the picture clearer.
Not only did the lights that were seen in the Prescott/Prescott Valley area appear to be a part of a solid object – they also made the shape of a V.
“John Kaiser was standing outside with his wife and sons in Prescott Valley when they noticed a cluster of lights to the west-northwest of their position. The lights formed a triangular pattern, but all of them appeared to be red, except the light at the nose of the object, which was distinctly white.
“The object, or objects, which had been observed for approximately 2 to 3 minutes with binoculars, then passed directly overhead the observers, they were seen to ‘Bank to the right’, and they then disappeared in the night sky to the southeast of Prescott Valley. The altitude could not be determined, however it was fairly low and made no sound whatsoever.” (5)
MUFON shares an account that was received from the Prescott area by The National UFO Reporting Center.
“The National UFO Reporting Center received the following report from the Prescott area:
“While doing astrophotography I observed five yellow-white lights in a ‘V’ formation moving slowly from the northwest, across the sky to the northeast, then turn almost due south and continue until out of sight. The point of the ‘V’ was in the direction of movement.
“The first three lights were in a fairly tight ‘V’ while two of the lights were further back along the lines of the ‘V’’s legs. During the NW-NE transit one of the trailing lights moved up and joined the three and then dropped back to the trailing position. I estimated the three light ‘V’ to cover about 0.5 degrees of sky and the whole group of five lights to cover about 1 degree of sky.” (6)
When Tim Ley and his family first saw the lights over Prescott Valley, the lights appeared to be separate. They quickly realized, however, that the lights were all moving together in a specific direction.
“Tim Ley and his wife Bobbi, his son Hal and his grandson Damien Turnidge first saw the lights when they were above Prescott Valley about 65 miles (100 km) away from them. At first they appeared to them as five separate and distinct lights in an arc-shape like they were on top of a balloon, but they soon realized the lights appeared to be moving towards them. Over the next ten or so minutes they appeared to be coming closer and the distance between the lights increased and they took on the shape of an upside down V.” (7)
It soon began to seem like the lights were actually traveling down their street.
“Eventually when the lights appeared to be a couple of miles away the witnesses could make out a shape that looked like a 60-degree carpenter’s square with the five lights set into it, with one at the front and two on each side. Soon the object with the embedded lights appeared to be coming right down the street where they lived about 100 to 150 feet (30 to 45 meters) above them, traveling so slowly it appeared to hover and was silent.” (8)
Can you imagine seeing a set of lights that look like they’re attached to a huge craft, just floating down your street? I’m sure it’d make a believer out of any average person, and at least some of the people who witnessed these lights had to have went on to research UFOs in an effort to understand just what they saw.
I know it’d have to do some research after something like that, and I’d more than likely want to spread the world so everyone else could know that something strange is happening.
Ironically, when the apparently V-shaped object hovered over the Ley family’s heads and away from their street, it hovered into a V-like opening in the Squaw Peak mountain range.
“The object then seemed to pass over their heads and went through a V opening in the peaks of the mountain range towards Squaw Peak Mountain and toward the direction of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Witnesses in Glendale, a suburb northwest of Phoenix, saw the object pass overhead at an altitude high enough to become obscured by the thin clouds; this was at approximately between 20:30 and 20:45 MST.” (9)
Bill Greiner, a cement truck driver who spotted the lights when they arrived in Phoenix, quickly became a believer.
“When the triangular formation entered the Phoenix area, Bill Greiner, a cement driver hauling a load down a mountain north of Phoenix, described the second group of lights: ‘I’ll never be the same. Before this, if anybody had told me they saw a UFO, I would’ve said, ‘Yeah and I believe in the Tooth Fairy.’ Now I’ve got a whole new view and I may be just a dumb truck driver, but I’ve seen something that don’t belong here.’ Greiner stated that the lights hovered over the area for more than two hours.” (10)
If you’re passionate about disclosure and you believe our governments and military institutions have been covering up the existence of extraterrestrials and advanced technology, such as the technology that could’ve been witnessed over Phoenix, then you could say that the rest of the world will one day have their minds blown as wide open as Bill Greiner.
He was fortunate enough to realize ahead of time that there’s something going on that’s shocking and undeniable, and while it’s unfortunate that it had to happen for him in such an unsettling way, the very same thing could happen to the rest of the world if and when some type of disclosure occurs.
Our understanding of reality would dramatically shift if revelations suddenly surfaced about the existence of extraterrestrials and advanced ET/government craft, and everything we thought we cared about would suddenly become irrelevant. This would inevitably become the biggest issue on everyone’s minds, and I’m sure people like Greiner already can’t stop thinking about it.
I’ve had a few interesting UFO sightings, but nothing that holds a candle to the Phoenix Lights or the Rendlesham Forest incident. You can bet I’ll be more passionate about researching UFOs than ever if I do, and I’m sure plenty of people have witnessed things that put them on a search for truth.
Concluded in Part 2 tomorrow.
Footnotes:
“The Phoenix Lights – 1997”, MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) – http://www.mufon.com/phoenix-lights—1997.html (all other references for this report come from here)
Loc. cit.
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Source:By Wes Annac, Culture of Awareness, August 17, 2015 – http://tinyurl.com/ndoz9ce
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