Former Arizona Governor Fife Symington now states that he witnessed the huge "Phoenix Lights" UFO ten years ago, according to a published report by respected investigative journalist Leslie Kean.
In an article published Sunday, March 18, 2007, Kean reports that Symington claims that he saw a large triangular "craft of unknown origin" with lights.
"It was dramatic. And it couldn't have been flares because it was too symmetrical. It had a geometric outline, a constant shape," Symington is quoted as saying.Kean obtained the statements from Symington in an exclusive interview from Phoenix.
The former governor also said, "It was enormous and inexplicable. Who knows where it came from? A lot of people saw it, and I saw it too."Symington also told Kean that he called the commander at nearby Luke Air Force Base on the far west side of metropolitan Phoenix as well as the top general of the Arizona National Guard. Symington also checked with the head of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the state police agency about the huge mysterious object.
The former governor says they were "perplexed" and offered no explanation.
Arizona was on the brink of hysteria, Symington told Kean. So, six days later, on March 19, he and his staff staged a phony press conference in which an aide dressed up like an alien and was escorted before reporters in handcuffs.
"I never felt that the overall situation was a matter of ridicule," Symington now says. "I wanted them to lighten up and calm down, so I introduced a little levity."
Strange Evening in PhoenixJust over ten years ago, in the early evening hours of March 13, 1997, a huge V-shaped, triangular or boomerang-shaped object was reportedly spotted near Henderson, Nevada.
The object, with large lights on its underside, was reported by some witnesses to be more than one mile across in size.
It cruised gently and silently into Arizona in a generally south-southeast direction, according to witnesses and researchers.
Before it reached the outskirts of the metro Phoenix "Valley of the Sun," it was allegedly spotted by hundreds of Arizonans in smaller towns to the northwest.
By mid-evening, the object was drifting directly across metro Phoenix, including the central downtown area and Sky Harbor International Airport.
Cruising at a relatively low altitude, it was reportedly witnessed by hundreds or thousands of people.
Approximately two hours later, Air Force training exercises far to the west of metro Phoenix included the dropping of flares, which also were seen by some residents. According to many witnesses and researchers, the large V-shaped object and the Air Force flares were two different incidents.
That evening, many citizens called local police and TV stations, and in following days the story was carried by local, national and international media outlets.
Some government officials and some in the media claimed that witnesses simply mistook the military training flares over the western mountains for a huge V-shaped object directly over their heads.
According to journalist Kean's report, former Governor Symington considers the Phoenix Lights incident as unsolved and believes further official investigation is warranted.
Incident, Disclosures FascinateThe Phoenix Lights incident has become one of the most interesting UFO sightings in recent years.
The number of witnesses, the size and altitude of the object and the fact that it slowly cruised directly over a major American city during mid-evening all contribute to the fascination.
An award-winning documentary film,
The Phoenix Lights, was made, hundreds or thousands of news reports and research articles looked at many angles of the incident. Many TV shows have also examined the circumstances surrounding the Phoenix event.
A major conference exploring the incident and related matters will be held in Glendale, Arizona, just west of Phoenix, on Saturday, March 31, and Sunday, April 1, 2007. The "Eyewitness 2007 - You Are Not Alone" conference hopes to bring together witnesses and discuss many wide-ranging elements of the UFO phenomena, including connections to ancient and contemporary Native American cultures.
Former Governor Symington's admission, ten years after the fact, that he takes the Phoenix Lights case seriously, and was a witness himself, certainly will add a new dynamic to our understanding of this incident.
The disclosure about Symington's role is one more of the many pieces of this strange puzzle that has been in the public eye since at least the alleged 1947 crash of flying discs near a U.S. Army Air Corps base in New Mexico.
The truths about this complex situation have been cloaked in a fog of mysterious activity, national security and scientific anomalies that still puzzle many expert researchers.
Is a process of somewhat organized gradual disclosure to the public and media taking place now? This belief has gained some measure of credibility as former military personnel, government officials and scientific experts have stepped forward with direct accounts about UFOs and extraterrestrial visitors.
The Phoenix Lights incident, as Symington now says, created anxiety as well as fascination in thousands of Arizonans. Some military and government officials as well as others who claim inside knowledge also report a measure of worry about the larger UFO and ET situation.
Are all of the ETs allegedly visiting Earth friendly to humans? Do they want to help us or harm us? How many types of ETs representing how many civilizations are there? How long have they been visiting Earth and what are their connections to the human species?
These questions, even for the skeptical among us, seem to be worth thinking about. Because another dramatic incident could happen any day. More disclosure might occur and reveal additional interesting, worrisome or uplifting and hopeful information.
Being open-minded and prepared for further disclosure or incidents seems like a wise course of action for all Americans, and for people around the world.
- - -
See Leslie Kean's report and more information at -
Coalition for Freedom of Information:
Eyewitness 2007 conference home page:
Fact-based fictional account of Phoenix Lights incident:
Anyone interested in the Phoenix Lights or other footage of UFO will be please with an impressive collection over at Google Video and YouTube (now conjoined).
A good search term is "UFO" while selecting duration of Long (over 20 minutes).