PERSONFU//ARIZONA PUBLIC INTEL WIKI

Summary

On the evening of March 13, 1997, thousands of people across a 300-mile corridor from Prescott, Arizona to Tucson reported seeing unusual lights in the sky. The event comprised two distinct phenomena: a V-shaped formation of lights moving silently southward, and a series of stationary lights appearing over the Phoenix metro area later that evening.

The sighting remains one of the most widely witnessed and best-documented UAP events in modern history. It drew attention from local and national media, prompted an official (and later retracted) dismissal by the state governor, and continues to generate debate decades later.

The Two Events

Event 1: The V-Formation (approx. 8:15-8:45 PM)

Witnesses from Prescott to Phoenix to Tucson reported a massive V-shaped or boomerang-shaped formation of lights moving silently from northwest to southeast. Accounts consistently described:

• Five to seven lights in a rigid V or chevron pattern
• Silent movement — no engine noise at any altitude
• Estimated size of "multiple football fields" by multiple witnesses
• Stars being occluded as the object passed overhead, suggesting a solid structure
• Slow, deliberate movement — estimated 30-100 mph

Event 2: The Flares (approx. 10:00 PM)

A second set of lights appeared as a row of stationary orbs over the Estrella Mountains south of Phoenix. The Maryland Air National Guard later confirmed dropping LUU-2B/B illumination flares during training at the Barry Goldwater Range around this time.

Many researchers and witnesses maintain that the flare explanation accounts only for the second event, not the first.

Key Witnesses

Governor Fife Symington III — Initially held a mocking press conference in June 1997 with an aide dressed in an alien costume. In 2007, Symington publicly reversed his position, stating: "I'm a pilot and I know just about every machine that flies. It was bigger than anything that I've ever seen. It remains a great mystery."

"It was enormous and inexplicable. Who knows what it was? As a pilot and former Air Force officer, I can definitively say that this craft did not resemble any man-made object I'd ever seen." — Fife Symington, 2007

Truck driver on I-17 — Multiple northbound truckers reported the formation passing directly overhead near Black Canyon City. One described it as "blocking out the stars from one side of the highway to the other."

Official Response

• Luke AFB: Denied any unusual activity on the night of March 13
• Maryland Air National Guard: Confirmed flare drops at the Barry Goldwater Range (accounts for Event 2)
• FAA: No anomalous radar returns reported for the Phoenix area that evening
• Governor's Office: Initially mocked, then reversed a decade later

Why It Matters

The Phoenix Lights case is significant for several reasons:

• Mass witness event — thousands of independent observers across multiple cities
• Multiple evidence types — visual, photographic, video (though video quality is poor)
• Government response failure — mockery followed by reversal eroded public trust
• Military airspace proximity — the corridor includes Luke AFB, Barry Goldwater Range, and Davis-Monthan
• Ongoing relevance — cited in Congressional UAP hearings and Pentagon reports

If You Go Deeper

The Phoenix Lights exist at the intersection of several rabbit holes: