On the evening of March 13, 1997, a huge number of Arizonans reported lights over the state. The events likely fold together two phenomena, one of which has a solid explanation. But the earlier sighting — a vast, silent V — is still argued about, and one famous witness later changed his story.
Witnesses describe an enormous, silent, V-shaped craft gliding overhead — too large and too quiet to be conventional aircraft.
Hundreds to thousands of reports across a wide area lend unusual weight.
Analysts separate an early moving formation from a later set of lights.
Home videos captured the later lights, which hung and then winked out in sequence.
The later (~10pm) lights are well explained as military flares dropped during exercises at the Barry Goldwater Range, which would hang under parachutes and extinguish in sequence. The earlier V-formation is more contested; one explanation is a formation of high-altitude aircraft.
Skeptics point out that a string of lights at distance can read as a single 'craft,' and that flares account neatly for the most-filmed portion. Human perception of size and distance at night is notoriously unreliable.
The early formation hasn't been pinned down to everyone's satisfaction. And Governor Symington's reversal — from mockery to admitting he couldn't explain what he saw — gives the case unusual staying power.
The Phoenix Lights are among the most-witnessed UFO events in U.S. history and a fixture of documentaries and annual commemorations.
- Arizona news archives, March 1997
- Air Force statements on Barry Goldwater Range flare exercises
- Fife Symington public interviews (2007 onward)