The Phoenix Lights in 1997: Why the Flare Story Does Not Cover the Whole Night

On the evening of March 13, 1997, residents of Arizona and Nevada called to report large lights moving across the sky. The earliest call preserved by the National UFO Reporting Center, or NUFORC, came from Paulden, Arizona, at about 8:16 p.m. The caller was a former police officer. He said that he and his family saw four or five red-orange lights in front, with another light behind them. The lights moved quickly and formed a V or wedge.

People in Prescott and Prescott Valley soon reported lights passing overhead. Later calls came from communities near Phoenix and from places farther south. The witnesses did not all describe isolated points of light. Many described a large, dark, silent shape with lights along its edge or underside.