MARCH 13, 1997 — ARIZONA, UNITED STATES
On the evening of March 13, 1997, residents across Arizona began reporting an extraordinary sight: a massive V-shaped formation of lights moving slowly and silently across the night sky. Reports came in from Prescott in northern Arizona beginning around 7:55 PM and tracked the phenomenon southward through Phoenix and toward Tucson over the following two hours.
Witnesses described a solid, structured craft — not merely lights — of extraordinary size. Estimates ranged widely, but multiple credible witnesses described it as wider than a football field, with some estimates reaching nearly a mile in width. The craft was moving at low altitude, perhaps a few thousand feet, and was completely silent. Stars visible through or around the structure allowed some witnesses to estimate its dimensions.
The Phoenix metropolitan area, with a population approaching three million at the time, provided thousands of witnesses simultaneously. Amateur video footage was obtained by numerous individuals. The story dominated local news within hours and eventually received national and international coverage.
At the time, Governor Fife Symington held a press conference that was widely seen as dismissive — at one point presenting an aide in an alien costume. However, in 2007, Symington publicly reversed course entirely:
It was dramatic. And it couldn't have been flares because it was too symmetrical. It had a geometric outline, a constant shape. I'm a pilot and I know just about every machine that flies. It was not a conventional aircraft.
Governor Fife Symington — CNN interview, 2007Symington is a former Air Force officer and licensed pilot.
Researchers distinguish between two separate phenomena observed that evening. The first — between approximately 7:55 PM and 8:30 PM — involved a large, structured craft moving slowly over the state from north to south. This is the event described by most eyewitnesses who saw a solid V-shape.
The second event — beginning around 10 PM — involved a formation of stationary lights over the Estrella Mountains southwest of Phoenix that remained visible for an extended period before extinguishing sequentially. The Air National Guard has stated that Maryland Air National Guard A-10s dropped LUU-2B/B illumination flares during a training exercise at the Barry M. Goldwater Range that evening. Many researchers accept this as an explanation for the second light event.
The first event — the large structured craft — has no accepted official explanation. The Air Force did not respond to FOIA requests for records of the earlier sighting, and no credible conventional explanation has been advanced for a structured object of those dimensions moving silently at low altitude.
The Phoenix Lights remain among the most heavily witnessed and least officially explained UAP events in American history. No government agency has provided an explanation for the structured craft reported in the initial sighting. The case is frequently cited by researchers as one where the scale of witness testimony alone demands serious investigative attention.