New Eyewitness Account of the Phoenix Lights Surfaces Online

New Eyewitness Account of the Phoenix Lights Surfaces Online

A new eyewitness account of the infamous 1997 Phoenix Lights incident in Arizona and Nevada has just surfaced online, describing the “massive lights” from a vantage point of almost directly underneath.

The Phoenix Lights were seen by thousands of people in the Southwest on March 17, 1997. From the hours of 7:30 PM to 10:30 PM eyewitnesses reported seeing a giant “carpenters square” shaped craft hovering in the air in a space of some 300 miles. The incident was phoned in by everyone from civilians, to police offers, to even the Arizona governor and has since been the subject of numerous books and movie.

The official government explanation for the strange sight was that the public had seen “illumination flares” from a training exercise. This might have been a satisfying explanation for some, but there are plenty, particularly those that witnessed the sight for themselves, who hold steadfast to the believe that these lights were no flares, but something far stranger.

Now, nearly two decades after the event, a user from the Above Top Secret forums has shared a portion of correspondance with someone who claims to have witnessed the Phoenix Lights in 1997 from almost directly underneath. The email, shared by “esteay812“, is as follows:

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My family and I recall that night often. I had only lived in phoenix for about a year, year and a half at most. We were living on williams airforce base when we saw it. We actually saw it from two vantage points though. Williams was the second. 

We were at my aunts house when we first noticed it. That was about 10 miles to the north north west (roughly) near Mesa Dr. and I forget what other road. There was a middle school nearby my cousin went to. Anyway, it was just after sunset, or so it seemed, I was still young. My cousin John Doe spotted it and called me outside. Then i saw it and called out my dad and broth (sic).

It was very large to my memory. Not as high as a jumbo jet or anything, but it was at least 5,000 feet up and massive, in the shape of a V made out of lights. They weren’t regular sized lights, they were relatively larger than stadium lights while standing at the bottom of the pole they are mounted on, but thousands of feet in the air and not extremely bright either. They were more like a yellow, old school street lamp as it looks through a rainy fog, maybe even distorted, but you could dismiss that as being mesmerized at the time.

After seeing it and watching it move towards the south (ish) direction, we went back into my aunt’s house for five minutes and then left. My dad, my brother, and myself all drove home and we stared out the window at it, as we went. We were headed back south along the freeway, from Mesa Drive towards Williams AFB. (Sorry, I don’t know the cross streets, all i know is that it was within about 10 – 15 mins from our house at most)

There was a point where we kind of ended up not under it directly, but we could see less lights off to the side more. (im writing the story on here as it recalls in my head, trying to be honest as possible without deleting things)

We were talking a lot at this point and I don’t remember as many visual details. We got home a few minutes later. My dad got inside and made his bed and crap, while John Doe and I were watching.

At this point we were farther away and the vantage point changed. We saw the same V shape, but it wasn’t as large. Also, you could see the thickness of the lights now, very thin in comparison to it’s size. They looked like those weird battery powered, ‘as-seen-on-tv’ lights ~ the round ones that you slap or press to turn on. The lights still appeared as if they were under that same fog, the same thickness, but from a further distance.

We watched this thing move all across the city for about 20 – 25 minutes in total, just like we did when they were too far away to judge, but still visible.

I think it was a show, like going to a nocturnal fish or zoo exhibit and just shinning a flashlight down thinking “hey, they are probably too dumb to know whats going on”… maybe they are right, but who knows.

You can archive this, or do whatever you want to do with it. This is the same thing I have said, every time, to the best of my memory.

Granted, there’s no way to verify is this person is who they say they are, but the account seems to match up just the same. The unique description of the lights themselves is the most interesting part of the report, leading some forum posters to question whether or not the glowing objects were some sort of “propulsion exhaust”. You can read the entire thread (there’s a rumor the eyewitness may show up to discuss the event in person) here.

Four years ago another report came out from a man who claimed to have inside knowledge of the response to lights from the 56 Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base, saying that the US Air Force was in a “state of anxiety” due to the event, and the flares dropped were merely a distraction.

So, could this be another piece to the Phoenix Lights puzzle? Or is it just another wild goose chase put on by a forum user with too much time to kill? Do you believe the official government story of flares, or do you think the lights were something else entirely? Let’s talk about it in the comments.


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