13/03/1997 - Phoenix, Arizona - Phoenix Lights Sighting
Updated: Aug 31, 2020
Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 29/08/2020
Last Updated: 31/08/2020
Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used
In May 2020 I was contacted by a gentleman named Nathan from Virginia, USA who wanted to discuss his numerous contact and UFO experiences which have taken place since childhood. As part of our discussion he informed me of his military career as part of aircraft maintenance on a number of Air Force bases. Of particular interest was the fact that he was one of the many witnesses of the Phoenix Lights incident - one of the most impressive UFO related events to have ever taken place!
Due to the significance of this sighting I have seperated it out from his other experiences. There is a link to the case report covering his other experiences towards the end of this one. This report will focus specifically on Nathan's part in the events of 13th March 1997.
The Phoenix Lights
I will assume that many people viewing this report will already have a good knowledge of the incident, but if you do not, here is a brief summary of what took place.
At 6.55pm on the evening of the 13th March 1997 a man from Henderson in Nevada reported seeing a large V-shaped object with six lights on its leading edge travelling in a South Easterly direction. At around 8.15pm a police officer saw five reddish-coloured lights travelling South as he drove away from his house. Soon after this sighting reports began coming in from the area of Prescott. Some of these sightings reported that it was a singular solid object as it blocked out the stars as it passed over.
The first sighting from Phoenix occurred while the UFO was still over Prescott Valley. A family noticed the lights in the distance, thinking at first they were a formation of separate objects. As the lights got closer over the next ten minutes the witnesses realised they were attached to a huge V-shaped object. This passed overhead and travelled off in the direction of Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport.
As the object flew over Phoenix many other witnesses would watch in awe as the incredible sight. It was seen from the ground by many residents and police officers, and from the air by numerous pilots. Many people have come forward in the years following the incident to describe what they witnessed. One such person was the governor of Arizona, Fyfe Symington, who famously brushed off the incident while in his position, but years later came out to say he had also observed it and that he believed it to have been alien in origin.
Fyfe Symington, the governor of Arizona at the time of the incident:
After the UFO had left the area of Phoenix it continued on a South-Easterly course towards Tuscon. Some of the last reported sightings of it came in from the North Western outskirts of the city.
Map showing the locations of various witness reports:
Hours later at around 10pm a curved line of glowing lights was observed and video-taped by numerous witnesses. This caused much confusion and some witnesses attributed the lights to the same object which had passed over the city earlier in the evening.
It was later proposed, and wi