Instead of being productive today, I was vegging on the couch watching the Travel Channel and the show I was watching reminded me of Arizona’s connection to the UFO phenomenon. Whether you believe in unidentified flying objects or not, Arizona is home to some of the most noted stories in UFO history.
Arizona made national news for an event that took place on March 13th 1997. Thousands of eyewitnesses from Kingman to Tucson saw a series a lights in a triangular formation in the night sky. These lights seem to stop and hover in the Phoenix area and thus became known as the Phoenix Lights.
The official explanation from the USAF is that the lights were caused by a series of flares dropped from A-10 Warhog aircraft but because of the motion and the path of the lights many people do not believe this explanation. This is a well documented event with many still photos and videos of these lights and this event is a well research one thanks to the amount of evidence available.
Another famous Arizona UFO incident took place on November 5th 1975. It was after a long day of logging near Snowflake AZ that the co-workers of Travis Walton watched him get attacked by a glowing orb of light on a lonely logging road. They left the scene in a panic with Walton laying by the side of the road but when they returned with police, Walton’s body was no where to be found.
Five days later Walton appeared in 30 miles away at Heber AZ, alive but naked and incoherent. Walton told a story of being abducted by aliens which was later turned into the book and movie “Fire in the Sky”. To this day, Walton’s story is still one of the most noted and controversial alien abduction stories.
Finally, there is a well known connection between Sedona, Arizona and UFO’s. Sedona is the location for numerous UFO sightings with the most recent I can find taking place on September 15th, 2009 on Wilson Mountain. Many believers feel that alien beings are attracted to Sedona because of a powerful crystal that is buried under Bell Rock about 5 miles outside of town and some people even believe that Bell Rock is actually an alien space ship. One restaurant in town, The Red Planet Diner, has gone so far as to have an alien theme throughout.
In all the time I’ve spent looking at the night skies of Arizona while backpacking, I’ve seen many shooting stars, airplanes and even a satellite or two but I have yet to see anything I would call strange. I’ll let you know if I do. Hopefully I’ll have a camera handy.
