Phoenix Lights observed across Arizona
Thousands of witnesses across Arizona report a large V-shaped formation of lights moving slowly southward over the state, followed by a separate set of stationary lights over Phoenix. The Air Force later attributes the second event to flares dropped during a training exercise; the first remains unexplained.
On the evening of 13 March 1997, an estimated several thousand witnesses across Arizona, Nevada, and northern Mexico reported a large V- or boomerang-shaped formation of lights moving slowly southward over the state. The lights passed directly over Phoenix shortly after 8:30 p.m. local time, and were observed by then-Governor Fife Symington from the back garden of his home.
A separate set of stationary lights observed over the Phoenix area later that evening was attributed by the Maryland Air National Guard, after a 2007 inquiry, to magnesium illumination flares dropped from A-10 Thunderbolts during a training exercise at the Barry M. Goldwater Range. Symington publicly acknowledged in 2007 that he had personally observed the earlier formation and characterized it as 'otherworldly,' having maintained at the time of the event that the explanation was a publicity stunt.
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