UFOs flew over Phoenix in '97, (former Ariz. gov.) Symington says

[Newsjock]

Source: Arizona Daily Star

Former Gov. Fife Symington says now that those strange lights that appeared over Phoenix a decade ago were from another world and that he had a close encounter with an alien craft on March 13, 1997.

"I'm a pilot and I know just about every machine that flies. It was bigger than anything that I've ever seen. It remains a great mystery. Other people saw it, responsible people," Symington said Thursday. "I don't know why people would ridicule it."

Symington, who was in his second term as governor of Arizona during the Phoenix Lights incident, recently told a UFO investigator making a documentary that he had kept quiet about his personal close encounter because he didn't want to panic the populace.

He repeated his story Thursday on CNN, saying the craft he saw was "enormous. It just felt other-worldly. In your gut, you could just tell it was other-worldly."


Read more: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/174919

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. In all fairness...

We must remember that this is Symington, who was one strange cat. Doesn't mean I doubt the existence of UFOs or the possibility that there are, indeed, craft from other planets coming to Earth. I am just considering the source.

On the other hand, I have no faith at all that our government has ever been honest with us, in the least, regarding UFOs.

[Occulus]

46. I'm not alarmed at the prospect of ETs taking a look at us.

What does alarm me is the utter silence.

^^^ assume the above is true ^^^

My own personal opinion is that all of these things are items under human control. I say this because I know of a particular theory created over fifty years ago by Burkhard Heim which has recently come to public light here in the US. Experiments into what is now known as Extended Heim Theory, or EHT, have yielded promising results which are awaiting replication by a lab unconnected to the project. They (the group working on this theory) want to prove that propellantless propulsion is indeed possible, but they need an independent lab to verify their initial results.

All the above was gleaned from many internet forum posts on the subject from various interested parties. For a detailed and technical chronological discussion of this theory, I would suggest taking a look here.

Given all the above, I ask you: where does all that black project money go?

Answer: Research into theories such as this. Among other things.

[Joanne98]

2. Give the guy a hand! K&R!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. Had he been watching Independence Day?

darn, there could be aliens reading this?

[SoFlaJet]

4. hey you can laugh and mock if you want

but here's another skeptic that saw one in November 1997 that flew right over my house at about 11:30 at night and didn't make a sound and had lights that did NOT come from this planet-and was gigantic-oh yea then disappeared

[Joanne98]

6. I've seen two. I'm not laughing at all...

But being ridiculed is part of the plan to shut people up. I'm really proud of this guy for coming forward. His life will be ruined for sure but he helps move the discussion along. Brave guy.

[DesertRat]

19. Symington ruined his life long before this

While governor he was convicted of bank fraud in 1997. The Arizona state constitution does not allow convicted felons to hold office, so Symington was forced to resign. He was subsequently pardoned by President Clinton January 2001.

Symington saved Clinton from drowning during a 60's beach party when they were both college students. Some Arizonans think the pardon was payback.

[karynnj]

61. I never heard the story of him saving Clinton - that's awesome (n/t)

[Vidar]

28. I agree, Joanne, though I haven't seen any myself.

[leveymg]

9. Pretty slow spacecraft if it took eight months to fly from Arizona to Florida

Gotta wonder how long it would take to walk to Proxima Centuri?

Just HOW BIG was that thing that flew over your house, anyway? And, why are they attracted to people who fly airplanes? Hmm . . .

[Joanne98]

12. People who fly airplanes look up more...

Or are "up" more... That's my theory anyway..

[leveymg]

16. I was just joking.

Actually, there have been so many eyewitness accounts, and some really well-documented "Flaps" such as the triangular shaped craft the buzzed the Netherlands several times in 1989. The Dutch Airforce had it on radar and it outran an F-16. There are some fairly high quality videos of that one, but it looks very terrestrial in design (unlike anything I've seen, though - possibly a demonstration of some sort of American hypersonic, high-altitude aircraft ("Aurora" or related)).

Who knows?

[Morgana LaFey]

39. I am personally convinced

that the whole SDS (Star Wars) initiative Reagan dreamed up was his effort to try to be able to fight the extraterrestrials, should the need arise.

[guruoo]

49. I believe that was one of ours

[Javaman]

69. The Aurora stuff is pretty wild...

the exo-fuel bleed design is still very hush hush, but from a Popular Science article a few years back, it stated something like, the Aurora concept vehicle is able to exceed speeds of mach 7 or 8.

It may be more than that but my memory is a bit fuzzy.

[Javaman]

68. My B-I-L flew a fighter in Viet Nam...

He never went into detail (he was still flying for a major airline when he told me this), but he did say, he saw some pretty strange stuff then and while a commercial pilot.

[Javaman]

67. It walked...

:rofl:

[Duppers]

14. I saw one too

No one believed me either. I don't care, but I know what I saw!!! There was a news article about my sighting because a whole ball-field of folks saw it. It was dismissed as a weather balloon....a weather balloon with lights???!! I don't think so!
My theory is that there are many of these 'things,' whatever they are are.

Perhaps it makes people feel safer to laughingly dismiss us.
But it's MEAN of them.

[Javaman]

70. it was one of those "special" weather balloons...;) nt

[leveymg]

20. Here's a '97 CNN report with a link to an amateur video taken that night in Phoenix

http://www.cnn.com/US/9706/19/ufo.lights/

[lovuian]

24. They returned again after 10 years just sighted again

Ya its going to be funny when the government announces after suppressing knowledge of them for over 50 years that they are real

then us Crazy UFOers will be laughing

[Taverner]

53. Or...we have developed aircraft like this and kept it under wraps

Like the Stealth Bomber.

Now, if you had never seen a stealth bomber before, you might think those were extraterrestrial at first.

[lovuian]

56. well then they need to come out and tell us

we have seen stealth fighters and people know about them Just admit that night a stealth fighter flew over there

[Taverner]

57. Well getting them to admit anything is like pulling teeth

Hell, Area 51 doesn't even exist on paper

[barb162]

63. yeah but they're pretty damned noisy

[Taverner]

52. Unidentified, perhaps. Extra-terrestrial - very unlikely

The USAF has a number of test aircraft they develop in secret (Area 51 anyone?) and it would be no surprise to me if they were working on some kind of large, barge like aircraft. Think how rapid troop deployment could change with such a breakthrough.

Just like the Stealth Fighter (which they had kept under wraps for years before going public) I'm sure there is a ton of aircraft that we would think were "extra-terrestrial" that in fact, are not.

[colorado_ufo]

74. Why "very unlikely?"

Of course, there could be other explanations, including highly secret, newly developed aircraft. But think about it: Why, "Very unlikely?"

This is a vast universe, and we don't even begin to understand the true laws (if indeed they are laws) of physics. Distance is only relevant if we confine our thinking to current knowledge and earth-based travel. Quantum physics opens many worlds.

We in the USA are so accustomed to thinking of ourselves as a Super Power, the most advanced in all scientific, military, and many other fields; it can be frightening to think that there are beings of knowledge and intelligence - to use a cliche' - who can "fly rings around us." We could, literally, be at their mercy, whether as individuals or as nations. We would have to adjust our religious beliefs, which form a core of many people's lives. Our social structure would surely need a "tweak!"

If we still have race issues among human beings, how much more so, if we would need to embrace another species?

It is much more comforting to look around us, feel grounded, and ignore or ridicule anything that does not fit our concept of reality.

[barb162]

65. I believe you.

I saw one in the 80s.

I was scared like all get-out! Were you?

[colorado_ufo]

72. I've seen two.

One as a child, and one that started frequenting the area where I live now, starting about a year and a half ago.

[melody]

5. It's a brave act to come out and testify to things one knows people will laugh at

Good for him, no matter the reality of what he witnessed. This is a world
of bullies, cowards and a few brave people.

[SoFlaJet]

7. I'll tell you guys

seeing that was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my 51 years on this planet-it was a life-changing experience

[Joanne98]

10. Me too. That's why I post UFO stories on DU. I'm glad to see...

Someone else doing it.
:pals:

[SoFlaJet]

17. Didn't Jimmy Carter and John Lennon

also claim to have seen one?

[OKIsItJustMe]

29. Jimmy Carter's Report

http://www.presidentialufo.com/carter_ufo_report.htm

[lovuian]

25. I do to but it takes bravery to do it

I commend you guys and gals

and censorship is never a good idea

[aquart]

18. So cool.

[lovuian]

37. You have lots of company the mechanics that saw the

OHare UFO had significant changes ...it effected them profundly

other people have reported feeling drained after the encounter

[jayfish]

38. I Saw An ABC Special...

hosted by Peter Jennings, just before he died, that contained interviews of people who saw the object around dusk. They said they could actually make out it's structure. What time did you witness it?

Jay

[melody]

45. I know the feeling

I've taken two pictures of ghosts. Until you've experienced something like this, you can't explain it to anyone.
And even when someone does experience it, they join us all on the side being sneered and laughed at, so they are
thought to be suspect witnesses.

We come to clarity one by one, I guess.

[alstephenson]

8. Those of us in Arizona....

know Symington is a wacko. It's not that I don't believe in UFOs, it's just that you have to consider the source in this case.

[Joanne98]

11. It starts already. He's a wacko.. Why don't the Feds just release the

Roswell files? People who are brave enough to say they have seen UFO's have their lives ruined BUT they still won't release the files?

[DesertRat]

22. He's a lying crook and a disgrace to our state

We're not calling him a wacko because of this story. While governor of AZ, he was indicted on charges of extortion and making false financial statements, and of bank fraud. He was convicted of bank fraud in 1997 and was forced to resign.

He has expressed interest in running for office again. I am suspect of his motives for coming forward with this now.

[alstephenson]

32. He's not a wacko because he saw a UFO....

he's just a wacko (and a crook).

[Alexander]

44. Um...Symington is a felon. Convicted of bank fraud while in office.

While I do not dispute that there is intelligent life out there, and that some of that life may have paid us a few visits, I do not trust Symington, or anything that comes out of his mouth.

Kind of like if Bush said tomorrow the sky is blue, I would go outside and check just to be sure.

[damntexdem]

13. Well, it's about ten years too late to identify them now --

so I guess they'll just have to remain unidentified.

[ThoughtCriminal]

15. The REAL untold story

Is that there is probably nothing to the story.

Although I lived in the area, I did not see the "Phoenix Lights". I have however, seen the videos heard most the stories and local FOX specials. I have also on numerous occasions see almost identical phenomena to the lights over South Mountain at nearby gunnery ranges when military aircraft drop flares in a row.

A local amateur astronomer also saw the formation of lights moving across the area and was able to observe them close up through a telescope. Verdict: fixed wing aircraft. His story was pretty much ignored by all of the local media except for the New Times (one of the few progressive media sources in the area).

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1998-03-05/news/the-hack-and-the-quack/

[gulfcoastliberal]

21. Liveleak has some interesting UFO clips

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b795419c81 (missile test or UFO?)

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=de00834a5e (wtf is that?)

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f375e93a83 (this one is awesome - Nellis AFB footage)

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a3f5e984cf (another really good one - excellent)

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d3540aac11 (great analysis of STS 48 UFO)

Just a few good ones!

[tridim]

34. If I had video of the UFO my friends and I saw in 1988 you'd all believe

At least you'd say, "that's definitely not one of ours".

Obviously I'm sick of the ridicule whenever anyone says they saw something that can't be explained.

[gulfcoastliberal]

35. You don't have to convince me!

I know many people who've seen UFOs - including commercial pilots. I've not seen one yet, but I'm hoping I do one day.

[Amonester]

54. I saw two very weird UFOs one evening before sunset, in 1974.

I was living on the 18th floor of a 21 floor high-rise appartment building at the time and I could see them very clearly. No obstacle at all in my viewing angle. I still regret to this day I had no 8 mm. camera at hand to get them on screen.

Then I saw one in July of last year, and another one in early August, both sightings in broad daylight. The one in August, I was walking by the entrance of a subway station, and there was a woman waiting at the bus stop and I told her I was sorry I had to ask her if she would be kind enough to look at where I was pointing her in the sky, and tell me if she could see the same UFO I was seeing, and to my surprise, she did! After about 4 to 6 seconds, she said to me I was not the only one seeing that strange thing. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry to go downtown so I couldn't stay there to see what it would do next. No mention of it anywhere the next day.

We're not alone. (I know how you feel). Watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsLj2ScRkFo&mode=related&search=

[Lorien]

40. That forth one moves like the ones I've seen

I've never seen a saucer shaped craft, though. One was rectangular and big as a football field, a group of them were oval shaped, and one was cigar shaped-but they could all hang silently in the air, then take off at that same rate of speed in random directions. Most of my sightings were with groups of people who saw exactly what I did, so I know that I didn't imagine them.

That first video looks like a rocket launch that I saw 45 miles from the Cape (NASA) once. It was dusk and the rocket was headed Northeast. With the setting sun, the plume of vapor behind it was lit as that video shows, with the rocket itself a tiny bright speck at the tip. I remember my neighbors freaking out and thinking that it was a UFO, but I checked the radio and learned that NASA was setting off a rocket at that time. It would have never looked so odd at another time of day.

[Occulus]

71. And what was the one thing they all had in common?

Propulsion.

I'm almost 98.75% certain that everything we're seeing in the skies belongs to us, because I'm aware of new theories in physics (new, as in, 50 years old, "new") that could possibly allow for propellantless propulsion. Such a craft could easily be any shape, so long as the entire craft is affected by the field causing the craft to move.

[ewagner]

42. Hmmm..

the first and second are explainable....I think...

three, four and five.... = :wtf:

[jayfish]

43. Here's One Of My Favs.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4987931999759537743&q=ufo+crash

Jay

[youthere]

78. My grandmother swore on her life she saw one...

and her description of what it looked like and how it behaved matches exactly with the 4th link you listed.

[LongTomH]

23. And now from the skeptic's corner................

Phil Platt has a great entry on this on his Bad Astronomy website: Phoenix Lights Again?

The latest step back from reality comes from… wait for it… former Arizona Governor Fife Symington. Yes, the governor of an entire state says that the lights were from UFOs. And not just literally UFOs — that is, unidentified objects — but actual alien spacecraft.

Here's the real scoop:

There was in fact a squadron of planes flying in that area that night. They did in fact drop flares with little parachutes so they took a long time to fall. These flares were in fact seen to disappear over the mountains as they fell. A young man saw the planes through his telescope (but has been almost totally ignored by the press). The pilot of one of the aircraft has in fact come forward to say these very things.

Phil's Bad Astronomy website is a great resource for countering media pop-science!;-)

[SoFlaJet]

26. This guy was on Coast To Coast the other night

http://ufotracecases.com/


There are a few pretty neat pictures

[SoFlaJet]

27. And here's my song I wrote about that experience

http://jimdibattista.com/music-79.html

if Hi-Fi don't work try the other

[frogmarch]

50. That's great, SoFlaJet!

Wow! :applause:

[SoFlaJet]

51. Thanks for checking it out

FM

[jayfish]

58. I Was Prepared To Be Underwhelmed.

fortunately I was pleasantly surprised. I especially like the part where you were running through the trees, struggling to get a better look. I could feel your excitement. Very nice!

Jay

[SoFlaJet]

59. thank you Jay

for listening

[maveric]

30. My ex-wife swears that she was abducted in 1976. Arizona desert.

For the 28 years I've known her she is yet to rescind that story.
Swore it on the eyes of our children.

"We are not alone".

[bluetrain]

47. Seriously? How did she describe the experience?

My dad has an ex-fiance who claims to have been abducted. But she was, also, a Moonie and a Santerian and a junkie.

I believe in "aliens" but have never seen a UFO.

I was at a bar a few weeks ago in Hollywood and this old dude dressed up in expensive black cowboy duds, duster, hat and all convinced the entire place that he was an astrophysicist (apparently, he did used to be an astronaut) and that "work" had just called him and told him that there was a 25 yard long craft hovering near the moon which was "not one of ours". There was a light near the moon, but it looked more like a star or a satellite to me. Everybody kept going outside to check out the UFO. It was weird. And I really don't think it was a spaceship. I'm usually amongst the first to want to believe anything out of the ordinary is going on, but I, also, wasn't as drunk as everyone else. The guy had a real gravitas to him, sipping his 15 straight whiskies, gravelly voice, knew how much space he took up... My friend and I jokingly decided he probably killed Kennedy.

[gulfcoastliberal]

31. Here's 2 really cool ones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfDvgPyWh3Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRIfn8ttFdk

[DesertRat]

33. KO is going to talk about this on Countdown tonight. n/t

[lovuian]

36. I made a UFO video on the recent Phoenix Lights 0f 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H6rhCBpigY

They returned after 10 years

heres the pics

Enjoy

[struggle4progress]

41. Another demented Republican crook

[BushOut06]

48. You can't believe everything you hear from these crackpots

Just because UFOs have been witnessed by police, sheriffs, military commanders, astronauts, scientists, Air Force pilots, and other highly credible witnesses, means nothing.

:sarcasm:

[ends_dont_justify]

55. This comes out after France comes out with information too

I guess with all of these recent sightings they're testing the waters for coming out with something?

[Marie26]

60. Weren't those military flares? nt

[Orrex]

76. That's the explanation that I recall

I remember a show on the Discovery Science Channel that went into pretty thorough detail about these "mysterious" lights, going so far as to superimpose the film of the lights' vanishing on top of a photo of the mountain known (in daylight, even) to be at that same location. The lights vanished, one by one, as they fell behind the mountain.

Reasonably compelling, as I recall. If there's another anser that can explain why these alien craft went out of their way to disguise themselves as military flares, I'd like to hear it.

[SarasotaDem]

62. Speaking of Astronauts ...

http://www.syti.net/UFOSightings.html#anchor359160

[barb162]

64. All those workers at O'Hare saw a UFO too a few months ago

anmd they got the laugh treatment too. Experienced pilots saw the UFO too.

[Javaman]

66. "he didn't want to panic the populace" or...

didn't want to screw his chance for reelection...

[underpants]

73. Can anyone explain why this would panic the public?

Is it because we have all been told that it would?
Is it because of some religious thing-UFO prove that a GOD didn't create this world OR that GOD invented more than one (I thought they said he created the universe) and people can't handle that?
Is it that I haven't been properly programmed? (see above)


I seriously have never understood why the existence of UFO's would create panic or that anything akin to it.

Maybe it is just that I grew up when UFO's and such were starting to be talked about so it has been around my whole life. Maybe it is just a generational thing (I was never trained to think that my schooldesk would save me from a nuclear blast)

I seriously have no idea why this would be such a shattering event to people. A significant event in the world's history sure but does it really shake the foundations?

[Javaman]

75. Panic the public is code for...

make them think I'm completely wacko enough to not vote for me

[Phoonzang]

77. Hold on... There seems to be alot of confusion...

...about this sighting. There were actually multiple events. The one the media went nuts over, the one with the video of the lights appearing in a straight line, happened hours after the initial sightings of a large, structured craft. Simington witnessed (or so he says) the earlier incident.

Most people who've looked into the (including UFO researchers) believe that the later, more well known incident were in fact military flares. The media apparently is incapable of doing basic research (surprise!) and confuse the two sightings. Skeptics debunk the entire thing based on the flares caught on video. However, the earlier incidents are much harder to explain. Fact is people are seeing these black triangles all over the place, and not all of them are people's imaginations.

A short summary of the Phoenix incident:

http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc1276.htm

[Odin2005]

79. Yeah, right; and I have monkeys comming out of my ass.

Not that I don't think that there are other sentient beings in the universe, but "aliens" have become to modern society what demons and angels were in the middle ages.