Click to go to video
CNN.com Video — Whoa! Holy mackerel! Here’s a story that got by us (and everyone else it seems).
This is only covered in some obscure publications such as E-Canada now:
Fife also noted that he did request information from the the commander of Luke Air Force Base, the general of the National Guard, and the head of the Department of Public Safety. But none of the officials he contacted had an answer for what had happened, and were also “perplexed.”
Frances Barwood, who was the former Phoenix city councilwoman in 1997 and who launched an investigation into the event, said that out of the more than 700 witnesses she interviewed, “The government never interviewed even one.”
found by Mark McCullough
He was interviewed on one of the satellite majors, yesterday – about a five minute spot. Seemed pretty straight ahead to me.
The only obvious cringing was when he said his original reason for lying about what he saw – when he was governor – was that he didn’t want to start a panic. I imagine he was more concerned about votes for Republicans.
I think Fife is obviously jumping to conclusions about this, but it is still a fascinating story. He isn’t the only credible witness to come forward saying they couldn’t come up with a conventional explanation for it – commercial as well as former military pilots saw it and couldn’t begin to explain what it was. The official military explanation of “flares” took five months to come out – after they had denied there was anything there at all. Combine that with the fact that the lights were seen flying over head up to 100 miles north and 200 miles southwest of Phoenix by numerous witnesses that same night, and the “flares” explanation doesn’t make much sense.
Was the governor subjected to the standard anal probing that accompanies all UFO encounters, and has he told his wife?
When the aliens land in a Wal Mart parking lot and reveal their plans to offer everyday low prices, let me know.
But then again, these wonderful ContentLink ads may be evidence of extraterrestrial contact. God knows Dvorak isn’t dumb enough to put these on his site, even if he doesn’t know the difference between GIF and JPEG.
Ironically, another blog (badastronomy.com) I read daily also has a post about J. Fife’s appearance on CNN.
J/P=?
You see, aliens approach Republicans. Democrats are left to be attacked by viscious rabbits.
http://www.newsoftheodd.com/article1021.html
Re: #5
“Bunnies aren’t just cute like everyone supposes. they’ve got them hoppy legs and twitchin’ little noses. And what’s with all the carrots? Why do they need such good eyesight anyway? Bunnies, bunnies, it might be BUNNIES!”
4. JP. Yeah thats it. It was flares! Magic flares. Instead of an honest discussion of a sighting, your blog “bad asstronomy” just turned into a political attack.
Not exactly the most reliable source actually. The same year of the lights (1997), Symington was convicted of land fraud and tossed out of office. I’d say he is looking for free publiciy. The lights were more of a sideshow here, and the “flares” explanation was put out by the Air Force the next day.
The “Phoenix Lights” returned just this year, and local stations had an interview with the A-10 pilot that fired them. The primary US base for the A-10 is Davis Monthan in Tucson, and the firing range is located south of Phoenix. That’s enough explanation for me.
I am not surprised that any government agency interviewed any of the hundreds of eye witnesses. I think the government knows much about these objects. However, as the former governor said himself. It would create panic among us if our own goverment said these objects are real and are not explainable. Since our military studied these objects for some time in the 50s and 60s. I think they gained much information in those years to be able to explain these objects if they could.
It is interesting how many countries are starting to release files to the public related to unidentified objects. France, has done this just recently.
Off Topic: @6, Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins rules!
5 – They’re not here to save us from ourselves, they’re just politely waiting until we’re done with this mudball. Then they’re going to Glorxaform it and turn it into a party world. You don’t want to see them topless at the beach, trust me.
10. The Washington Post article about French Disclosure if interested.
http://tinyurl.com/2nsjuu
J’ever notice how, after travelling many lightyears to arrive at this exceptionally inconspicuous, out-of-the-way little system, finding their way to the one planet teeming with life – somehow they manage to get lost in the desert and can’t find New York or the LA basin, or any other stupendously obvious conurbation? 🙂
what’s the big deal. it’s most likely a flying wing prototype from the military.
3-5: Quick, call out the joke brigade! Lets lay waste to any intelligent conversation, and perhaps the aliens won’t think we are intelligent enough to bother with.
All joking aside, between the Governor’s farcical press conference (done with an obviously pained look at times, in retrospect), the military floating one silly story after another, and the bizarre way that the media treated the story outside of the Phoenix area, it seems that managing news relating to the reality of a universe teaming with life is a high priority for some. The other thing worth noting is how clumsily it was handled; TV news didn’t touch it for months, then did so all on the same day, as if on orders. In my experience, it was the US media’s great glorious Pravda moment, when the levers being pulled became too obvious to ignore.
#10 ” I think the government knows much about these objects. ”
Yes they do know about them because the government shot them out of the back of an A-10.
It amazes me that the same people who think our government, military and intelligence community is so inept could think for a second that they could keep knowledge of UFOs secret for going on 60 years.
#18 If you believe that flares shot out of an A-10 could (maintaining a triangular formation) fly 200 miles, turn, and fly a few hundred more, then I have some scrap copper down on Ellis Island to sell you, ’cause you’ll believe any lie if it is convenient.
#20 I believe they different sets of flares could be seen over a 200 mile area at about the same time.
It amazes me that a group of people such as those on this blog who think the government and especially the military and intelligence communities are completely inept could also think that those same groups could keep knowledge of UFOs secret for 50 years.
So, the lights showed up for a few nights and that’s the best video anyone got?
It is not the military that is inept it is their civilian leaders that are inept.
For the record, I believe that 90+% of all UFO incidents are military aircraft, secret and known. I also think there is life on other worlds, but they haven’t made it here yet.
(If there really is a secret government-alien conspiracy, however, I reserve the right to change my mind if evidence is presented.)
If space aliens had the technology for flying saucers then they wouldn’t be hiding from us if they indeed found this planet because any power the we could use to attack they would have already invented a 100% defense of it. Of couse, unless, they come from a 100% total peaceful world and they would be right to hide. But I doubt that. Technology was invented by the war machine.
Tell me, what was the point… look at our bright lights?
They knew they’d be seen, so why not hover in the daytime?
Interesting that alien spaceships are always silent.
What happened to the saucer design? With such advanced technology for interstellar travel, you’d think that one shape would become de facto. Even with our limited intelligence we don’t roll on hexagons, or sail the ocean in a cube.
… spotlights or those 2 million caldle power flashlights on low cloud cover?
I saw a Discovery Channel or Science Channel investigation of this incident. These were DEFINITELY flares dropped over the military range near Phoenix. They even did computer simulations to prove it. The seemingly strange sequential disappearance of the lights was due to the far distant flares eventually dropping behind the mountain chain whose dark silhouette cannot be seen in the videos.
As for Roswell, that was wreckage from the then Top Secret balloon-based Project Mogul, an attempt at long-distance detection of sound waves generated by Soviet atomic bomb tests and ballistic missiles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mogul
Sorry, kids.
Run that beautiful bean footage!
The Wikipedia article on the “Phoenix Lights”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights
Look in the article for the category “Skepticism.”
Case closed.
Wasn’t it Carl Sagan who said “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”? I see none here.
“It amazes me that a group of people such as those on this blog who think the government and especially the military and intelligence communities are completely inept could also think that those same groups could keep knowledge of UFOs secret for 50 years.”
20. They cant keep it secret, its obvious because the information is all over. Secrecy has been blown for a long time. What they CAN do is muddy up the water with disinformation, some valid information mixed in with untruths, making anybody who broaches the subject appear ridiculous. The reason behind the secrecy that does exist, I think, is what this would do to challenge religious beliefs of fundies in all religions, and THAT could destabilize the world even more than George Bush ever dreamed.
The US military wants people to believe this stuff is UFOs, so they can have others dismiss their tests as either a UFO or some nut thinking he saw a UFO. No UFOs.