UFO -
Phoenix Lights
Published:
6:09 PM 6/12/2015
... no one
has been able to account for what really happened
See the UFO
Casebook file, The Phoenix Lights
By Nadine
Arroyo Rodriguez
It was one
of the most memorable moments in recent Arizona history. It’s still something
many talk about today — some skeptically, others with certainty.
In March of
1997, Arizona skies lit up with lights many say they had never seen before. The
event called the Phoenix Lights became national news, claiming the state had a
UFO sighting.
Did You
Know… up to date, no one has been able to account for what really happened?
“It was
big. It’s still big. This was monumental. This is as big as Roswell as far as
I’m concerned," said Jim Mann, the state director of the state Mutual UFO
Network, or MUFON.
MUFON is an
organization dedicated to investigating any reported unidentified flying
objects in Arizona.
“So here we
are, you know, 15 years later, 18 years later," Mann said. "People
are still coming forward and telling us what they saw as it becomes more and
more acceptable in society to talk about the UFO phenomenon.”
Sightings
actually happened near the Nevada-Arizona border. A man said that in the early
evening hours he saw a chevron-shaped object with six lights underneath it.
Similar reports came from the Prescott area, followed by others in Phoenix and
the rest of the Valley. People in Tucson and along the Sonora border also
claimed they saw an unusually large V-shaped, translucent object.
“I think it
was taken seriously at first," Mann said. "As the days went by,
Governor Fife Symington made light of it on TV.”
During the
press conference held by Governor Symington after the reported sightings, he
poked fun at the reports claiming the one responsible for the event was caught.
That’s when his chief of staff was brought into the room, dressed in a martian
costume.
“Well, we
didn’t need to lighten up," Mann said. "Something flew over this
state, something flew over this city. We just simply wanted to know what it
was.”
Weather
experts say winds shifting directions that day may have kicked up objects like
balloons. Others say the lights were military aircrafts flying in formation.
And local military officials say those were illumination flares dropped by
aircraft on a training exercise.
Mann said
his agency continues to investigate the Phoenix Lights and talk to people who
say they saw them that night in 1997. His local MUFON chapter also reports they
receive about 300 cases a year of unusual sightings.
“We don’t
immediately go to the alien, the E.T. side of the room," he said. "We
always say, well, who knows what this thing is. Let us investigate it first.”
Since 1997,
people have reported seeing the same lights on other occasions.
By the way,
in the past several years, Governor Fife Symington has spoken publicly about
seeing the Phoenix Lights himself back in ’97 and, at the time, keeping quiet
about it.
The Arizona
Historical Society is hosting an exhibit on the March 13, 1997, Phoenix Lights
starting this weekend.
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