On March 13, 1997, two formations of light were sighted in the skies over the Valley and other parts of Arizona. One was shaped like V and cruised across the sky while the other was a series of glowing orbs that appeared in a line near the Sierra Estrella mountain range.
The two incidents became known as the Phoenix Lights, one of the largest and best-known UFO sightings in history. Thousands of people across Arizona witnessed the phenomena, which caused a hullabaloo in the media over the next few months that grew into a worldwide obsession.
Despite the public clamoring for answers about what caused the Phoenix Lights, both at the time and over the ensuing decades, no official investigation has ever occurred. Here's everything to know about the Phoenix Lights.
What are the Phoenix Lights?
The Phoenix Lights were two separate UFO sightings on the same night in March 1997 over Arizona. The first was a V-shaped formation of six to ten glowing orbs the flew from from southwest Nevada over Prescott, metro Phoenix, parts of Tucson and southeast Arizona. The second sighting occurred hours later when a line of glowing orbs appeared near the Sierra Estrella mountain range in the southwest Valley.When did the Phoenix Lights happen?
The Phoenix Lights sightings took place on March 13, 1997. The first sighting happened between 7:55 and 8:40 p.m. and the second between 9:15 and 9:35 p.m.How many people saw the Phoenix Lights?
Several thousand people reportedly witnessed the Phoenix Lights, with a 1997 Rocky Mountain Poll indicating that up to 10 percent of Arizonans saw it.Why did so many people see it?
Shane Hurd, assistant state director of the Arizona chapter of the Mutual UFO Network, told Phoenix New Times in 2022 the sighting occurred on a clear moonless night, which aided visibility. Many people were already watching the skies because Comet Hale-Bopp was highly visible to the naked eye at the time because of its brightness.
Did any celebrities see the Phoenix Lights?
Yes. In 2017, actor Kurt Russell told BBC's “The One Show” he was flying his stepson Oliver Hudson into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport that night and spotted the V formation while landing and reported it to air-traffic controllers. The actor joked that might have made the first official report of the sighting.Despite publicly mocking the fervor over the Phoenix Lights during a joke-filled news conference months after the sightings, then-Arizona Governor Fife Symington claimed a decade later that he saw the phenomenon. In 2007, he began stating in interviews that he’d ditched his security detail on the night of the sightings, joined a crowd of skywatchers at Piestewa Peak (then Squaw Peak) and witnessed the V-shaped formation.
In a 2021 episode of the Showtime program "UFO," Symington claims his reluctance to reveal that he witnessed the sightings was due to being under federal indictment at the time for 21 counts of extortion, bank fraud and making false financial statements.
How famous are the Phoenix Lights?
Pretty famous. The late Art Bell, host of the syndicated paranormal radio show “Coast to Coast AM,” called it "the second biggest case in UFOlogy after Roswell." It’s become part of both pop-culture (including being referenced in movies like “Captain America: Civil War” and television shows like “The X-Files”) and Valley lore.
Was there a Phoenix Lights investigation?
Officially, no. Frances Emma Barwood, then a Phoenix City Councilwoman and Vice Mayor, publically called for an official investigation after her office was deluged with inquiries from the general public. She later lost her Council seat, partially because of the public humiliation she received over the matter, and dropped out of politics.In the 2021 episode of "UFO," Symington claims that, as governor, he inquired with officials at Luke Air Force Base about the possibility of military exercises or flight maneuvers being mistaken by witnesses as alien spacecraft.
What are some of the explanations for the Phoenix Lights?
The explanation accepted by most skeptics is that the Phoenix Lights were caused by military activity in Arizona during the night of the incidents.The first sighting is believed to have been a group of A-10 Thunderbolt jets flying in a V-shaped formation as part of Operation Snowbird, a pilot training program operating out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson by the Air National Guard.
The story is backed up by the account of Mitch Stanley, a 21-year-old amateur astronomer living in Scottsdale at the time, who told New Times in 1997 he used a 10-inch Dobsonian mirrored telescope to view a squadron of fighter planes.
In regards to the second sighting, Lieutenant Colonel. Ed Jones of the Maryland Air National Guard told the Arizona Republic in 2017 it was caused by a different squadron of A-10 jets dropping parachute-equipped flares while conducting exercises at what's now the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range near Gila Bend.
