Phoenix Lights
The Phoenix Lights were a series of UFO sightings over a vast area of the southwestern United States — centered on Phoenix, Arizona — on the evening of March 13, 1997. The incident is widely regarded as one of the largest and most thoroughly witnessed mass UFO sightings in American history, with hundreds of witnesses including a sitting state governor. The Arizona Republic reported thousands of calls to local law enforcement and media in the days following the event.
| Date | 1997-03-13 |
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The Sightings
Two distinct phenomena are documented from March 13, 1997:
Formation of lights (7:30–8:45 p.m. MST): A large V-shaped or boomerang-shaped formation of lights was observed moving slowly and silently across the night sky, traveling from the Nevada border south through Arizona to the Sonoran Desert. Witnesses described a massive structured craft with no sound and lights at regular intervals along its leading edge. Estimates of size ranged from hundreds of feet to over a mile across. Fife Symington, then Governor of Arizona and a licensed pilot, observed the craft and described it as a large, delta-shaped object with "very distinctive leading edge" and "enormous lights."
Stationary lights (10:00 p.m. MST): A second cluster of lights appeared stationary near the southern horizon over Phoenix, visible for extended periods before extinguishing sequentially. These lights were attributed by the US Air Force to flares dropped by A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft from the Maryland Air National Guard operating at Barry M. Goldwater Range.
Official Explanation
The US Air Force attributed the second cluster to flares. Many witnesses and researchers, including Governor Symington, disputed this explanation as inadequate to account for the structured craft reported in the earlier sightings. Symington wrote in a 2007 CNN editorial:
"I'm a pilot and I know just about every machine that flies. It was bigger than anything I've ever seen. It remains a great mystery."
His official request for a military explanation and inquiry was denied.
Significance
The Phoenix Lights case is notable for governorship-level witness testimony, the enormous geographic footprint of the sighting, the unresolved nature of the large formation, and the visible gap between official explanation and witness accounts. It remains one of the most-cited mass sighting events in UAP discourse.