| On March 13, 1997, unexplained lights appeared | | | | in 1997. |
| over Phoenix, Arizona. I was in town when the | | | | According to her recent statements, Barwood |
| mysterious event took place. While authorities | | | | was unable to convince federal authorities to |
| would like you to believe that these were merely | | | | interview even one of the seven hundred |
| military flares, former Arizona Governor Fife | | | | witnesses that she spoke to about the Phoenix |
| Symington says there is much more to the story. | | | | Lights. Big surprise! Being an elected official isnt |
| Symington now admits that he was among the | | | | enough when it comes to getting answers about |
| hundreds of witnesses who saw a huge triangular | | | | UFOs from the Military. Just ask current Arizona |
| object in the skies over Phoenix. The former | | | | Governor Janet Napolitano. |
| Governor made a number of statements about | | | | Janet Napolitano called for an investigation into the |
| the Phoenix Lights mystery to Leslie Kean, Special | | | | Phoenix Lights during her 1997 campaign to |
| Correspondent to The Prescott Daily Courier. The | | | | become Arizona Attorney General and was |
| statements were included in an article by Kean | | | | elected to that office in 1998. Despite her former |
| published in the Courier on March 18, 2007. In that | | | | position as a U.S. Attorney for the District of |
| article, the former Arizona Governor describes | | | | Arizona, we can assume that she was served the |
| what he saw on March 13, 1997: | | | | same plate of disinformation from the U.S. Military |
| "It was enormous and inexplicable," he said. "Who | | | | that the rest of us received. What does she think |
| knows where it came from? A lot of people saw | | | | of Symingtons new revelation and the Phoenix |
| it, and I saw it too." | | | | Lights overall? We have asked and are awaiting |
| Symington was referring to a V-shaped object | | | | her answer. |
| with lights on it seen in the skies over Phoenix ten | | | | My own experience earlier that day was |
| years ago. Some estimated the lights to be the | | | | frightening and likely related to one or both the |
| size of a football field, while others said they could | | | | sightings of March 13, 1997. I was driving in from |
| have been a mile long. He continued to describe | | | | Flagstaff (north to south) on I-17 in the early |
| his own sighting of the triangular object: "It was | | | | afternoon. On a day when traffic was already |
| dramatic. And it couldn't have been flares because | | | | heavy and almost at a standstill, State Patrol |
| it was too symmetrical." The former Arizona | | | | vehicles suddenly appeared and caused vehicles to |
| Governor revealed the object to be a craft of | | | | pull over to the far right lanes. A few minutes |
| unknown origin. | | | | later, military vehicles filled with troops and |
| While Symington hasnt been the only political | | | | equipment covered by tarps went flying by at |
| figure in Arizona to comment on the Phoenix | | | | high speeds. The military procession lasted several |
| Lights, he stands alone in his admission that they | | | | minutes. |
| were more than just flares. When asked to | | | | I was later told by other drivers who attended a |
| comment on the Phoenix Lights in 2000, Senator | | | | seminar I was giving in Phoenix that the same |
| John McCain said, That has never been fully | | | | thing happened that night and the next day. |
| explained. He also quickly added, But I have to tell | | | | Others who attended my seminar reported being |
| you that I do not have any evidence whatsoever | | | | almost buzzed by the lights while driving on |
| of aliens or UFOs. | | | | various local roadways. They described huge balls |
| Fife Symington says he called the commander of | | | | of light which seemed to come down very low |
| Luke Air Force Base, the Arizona Department of | | | | and keep pace with traffic. Apart from all the |
| Public Safety and a General with the Arizona | | | | witness reports, more than a few people took |
| National Guard back in 1997 to ask about the | | | | photos and video of the Phoenix Lights. |
| lights. None of them were able to provide him | | | | Huge triangular objects have been a constant part |
| with any answers and seemed perplexed. One of | | | | of the UFO phenomenon from the very beginning. |
| the problems with the sightings were the | | | | Some believe the triangle sightings date to |
| multitude of explanations available at the time. | | | | prehistory and many point to sightings that may |
| The V-shaped object with lights was seen in the | | | | have occurred in the late 1800s. Most witnesses |
| sky around 8:30pm. The lights that were | | | | at that time assumed they were experimental |
| videotaped and seen around 10:30pm are what | | | | kites of some sort. Then, there were all the |
| most people call the Phoenix Lights. These are | | | | unexplained triangle sightings in the 1950s, with |
| often explained away as flares, but not everyone | | | | and without lights. Two of the most famous |
| agrees. People that videotaped the 10:30pm event | | | | involved the U.S. and British Military. |
| back in 1997 say the lights were in a triangular | | | | Beginning on September 13, 1952, Military |
| shape. Some of them had seen military flares | | | | Personnel aboard ships involved in NATO |
| being dropped on other occasions and say this | | | | Operation Mainbrace saw and tracked a triangular |
| was something completely different. However, | | | | shaped object flying at over 900 mph between |
| authorities stayed with the flares explanation and | | | | Denmark and Norway. Witnesses said the object |
| explained the earlier events as a sighting of the | | | | emitted a bright white light. There were additional |
| Hale-Bopp Comet. | | | | UFO sightings during the NATO exercise as well |
| Synmington called for an investigation into the | | | | which may have included saucer and cigar shaped |
| Phoenix Lights shortly after the sightings occurred, | | | | crafts. |
| but the statement was a hollow one. Either he | | | | In July of 1955, a dark colored boomerang |
| was not able to obtain cooperation from military | | | | hovered completely still over Lasham Airfield, |
| authorities, or he never made much of an effort. | | | | Hampshire, England, during the National Gliding |
| However, with pressure mounting from the public, | | | | Competitions. Seen by trained military observers, |
| UFO researchers and news gathering | | | | experienced civilian pilots and untrained spectators, |
| organizations, he had to eventually take some | | | | the object hovered for thirty seconds before |
| action. | | | | moving off to the southwest. |
| On June 19, 1997, Governor Fife Symington held a | | | | A triangular-shaped UFO captured the attention of |
| press conference in Phoenix. Dressing one of his | | | | the worlds press in November of 1989 when a |
| aides up as an Alien, the Governor said that the | | | | huge, dark triangle with sparkling bright lights |
| Phoenix Lights were flares and nothing to get | | | | underneath was seen by citizens and police in |
| upset about. He also said that he was only joking | | | | Liege, Belgium. More sightings followed. In 1990, |
| when he ordered the Arizona Department of | | | | Belgium Military Officials announced that two F-16 |
| Public Safety (Arizona State Police) to investigate | | | | jet fighters scrambled from a NATO base chased |
| the sightings. Today, he still defends those actions. | | | | a triangular shaped object for over an hour. One |
| "I wanted people to lighten up and calm down, so | | | | jet locked the object in on radar. On the pilots |
| I introduced a little levity. But I never felt that the | | | | screen it looked like a diamond. |
| overall situation was a matter of ridicule," | | | | There have been recent sightings of unexplained |
| Symington says about the infamous press | | | | lights near Phoenix and triangular shaped craft |
| conference. But not everyone was laughing. | | | | over New Mexico and other parts of the |
| Former Phoenix Councilwoman Frances Barwood | | | | Southwest. |
| made a serious effort to investigate the sightings | | | | |