The Phoenix Lights
On the evening of 13 March 1997, a formation of lights appeared over Henderson, Nevada, and moved south across the length of Arizona at a steady pace, observed by thousands. Witnesses in Prescott, Dewey, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, and Tucson described two distinct phenomena: a V-shaped formation of five to seven lights that moved silently overhead, and a massive, solid craft so large it blotted out the stars. At one point, the object passed directly over Phoenix, a metropolitan area of three million people. It was the largest mass sighting in American history.
I'm a pilot. I know what aircraft look like. This was not an aircraft. It was enormous and it made no sound whatsoever.Witness testimony compiled by Dr. Lynne Kitei, Phoenix, 1997
The Overflight
Three hundred miles of witnesses.
The first reports came from Henderson, Nevada, around 7:55 pm. A man described a V-shaped object with six lights on its leading edge, the size of a commercial airliner, moving silently south. By 8:15, reports were coming from Prescott, 200 miles to the southeast. Tim Ley and his family watched the lights pass directly overhead from their home in the Prescott hills. The object was so large, Ley said, that it took minutes to pass.
It reached Phoenix between 8:30 and 8:45. Hundreds of people in north Phoenix watched it approach. Mike Fortson, a former Air Force officer, described a solid V-shaped craft at least a mile wide. It moved slowly, perhaps 30 miles per hour, at low altitude, completely silent. At that size and speed, over a major city, it should have generated a sonic signature. It did not. Reports continued south to Tucson.
I saw it. It was enormous. I will go to my grave with that. It was otherworldly.Governor Fife Symington, CNN interview, 2007
The Governor
Fife Symington's mockery, and his confession.
Arizona Governor Fife Symington held a press conference shortly after the event. His chief of staff appeared in an alien costume. The room laughed. The witnesses did not. Symington's mockery effectively ended official inquiry at the state level.
Ten years later, in 2007, Symington reversed himself. In an interview with CNN, and later in a public statement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, he admitted he had seen the object himself. He described it as "otherworldly" and "enormous." He said he had staged the press conference to prevent panic. The admission was remarkable: a sitting governor had witnessed the same event as his constituents and chosen to ridicule them rather than confirm what he saw.
The Flare Explanation
What the military offered, and what it did not address.
The Maryland Air National Guard's 104th Fighter Squadron dropped flares over the Barry M. Goldwater Range south of Phoenix around 10 pm, roughly 90 minutes after the main event. These flares were filmed and later presented as the explanation for the Phoenix Lights. The timing mismatch was pointed out immediately: the main overflight occurred between 8:15 and 9:00 pm. The flares fell within a confined area south of the city. The V-shaped formation travelled 300 miles across Arizona.
Dr. Lynne Kitei, a Phoenix physician, documented the lights extensively with video and photographs. Her analysis showed the V-formation lights maintained fixed spacing over long distances, inconsistent with independently falling flares or aircraft in formation. The military explanation addressed a later, separate event and left the primary sighting unexplained.
The 1997 sighting was not the first or last over Phoenix. Dr. Lynne Kitei documented recurring appearances of anomalous lights over the city between 1995 and 2004. Her research is compiled in The Phoenix Lights: A Skeptic's Discovery That We Are Not Alone.
15 newsletter articles cover the Phoenix Lights. See the Phoenix Lights case file and Phoenix Lights article. Related: Arizona sightings, Nevada sightings.
Key People
The witnesses, investigators, and officials connected to this case.
