Today is the 10-year anniversary of the UFO sighting known as "The Phoenix Lights."
In the early evening hours of March 13, 1997, a massive V-shaped or boomerang-shaped object with large lights on its underside was reportedly observed by thousands of people across Arizona and metropolitan Phoenix.
And later this month, researchers, witnesses and average people from around the U.S. and the world will be converging on Phoenix for a conference exploring the UFO phenomena in general and the Phoenix Lights incident particular.
The "Eyewitness 2007 - You Are Not Alone" conference will be held in Glendale, Arizona, on Saturday, March 31, and Sunday, April 1, 2007.
It will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Phoenix Lights sighting and hopes to bring together many witnesses of that event.
Conference participants will recall the evening ten years ago when Arizonans reported the huge object slowly and silently drift over the metropolitan Phoenix area and other parts of Arizona.
Some witnesses said the object seemed to be one mile to two miles across in size.
The Thunderbird Executive Inn and Conference Center in Glendale will be home base for the conference.
Glendale, immediately west of the Phoenix city line, is a vibrant community conveniently located for access to freeways and many other areas of interest.
Conference plans include video recording of witness testimony for historical documentation, discussions, formal and informal information sharing, talks by experts and researchers, a workshop on photographic skills and other activities.
Sirius Seminars is helping coordinate the event and conference producer William W. Warwick IV says, "We do not pretend to have all the answers, but we feel that we are asking the right questions."
Warwick is scheduled to be a guest on the immensely popular radio show “Coast to Coast AM” with host George Noory tonight. Another radio interview with Warwick on “The Jerry Pippin Show” has been completed and due for broadcast as well.
TEN YEARS AGO
The Phoenix Lights incident has become one of the most publicized and well-documented UFO sightings in recent years. An award-winning documentary film, THE PHOENIX LIGHTS, was created and tells the story in vivid detail.
According to witnesses, the large object was first sighted northwest of Arizona in Henderson, Nevada, at approximately 7 p.m. Then, according to researchers, the object proceeded in basically a southeast or south-southeast direction somewhat diagonally across Arizona.
Its flight path included passing close to the Arizona town of Prescott and then directly over the metro Phoenix "Valley of the Sun."
It reportedly cruised over central Phoenix and was observed by personnel at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport. According to reports, air traffic controllers and commercial aircraft crew members saw the object drift overhead.
By approximately 10 p.m. the object had continued its path in the same direction as it left the southeast outskirts of metropolitan Phoenix.
Calls poured into local police, the news media and nearby Luke Air Force base. The next day, local newspapers and TV stations reported the story. Many national and international news outlets also carried the reports.
Tens years later, the incident still captures the imaginations of people around the world as they wonder about what occurred that night.
The Eyewitness 2007 conference at the end of this month will provide another opportunity for interested people to find out more about the incident, and about the wider and deeper implications of UFOs that the human race faces now and in the future.
NATIVE AMERICAN CONNECTIONS
The Eyewitness 2007 conference will also include information about the history of UFOs and anomalous phenomena among Native American peoples.
Guest speaker Guillermo Chavez Rosette will talk about ancient traditions and prophecies of the Mayan, Azteca and Hopi cultures, emphasizing their relationship with UFOs.
Other Native American connections will also be explored. Unusual petroglyphs and pictographs - "rock art" - created by ancient indigenous people, will be part of the conference's activities.
Conference participants can take a field trip to the nearby Deer Valley Rock Art Center to view actual petroglyphs and pictographs.
This area is home to ancient Indian sites and is regarded as sacred by several tribes.
The rock art center museum includes an outdoor nature trail where ancient images created on a nearby hill can be viewed. Rock art center guides are available to answer questions. The Deer Valley Rock Art Center is coordinated through the Arizona State University School of Human Evolution & Social Change.
Visitors can drive a short distance just west of the rock art center to find perfect spots for short hikes in the Hedgepeth Hills and excellent views of the "Valley of the Sun."
ARIZONA SIGHTS, SITES AND SIGHTINGS
Other locations of interest include Luke Air Force Base in far west Glendale near the White Tank Mountains.
According to reports and lore about the Phoenix Lights incident, fighter jets from Luke may have been scrambled that night. The Air Force denies these reports and claims that the lights reported were flares dropped during military exercises.
The weekend before the Eyewitness 2007 conference, the annual "Luke Days" will be held and an exciting air show will thrill many families. This year's event is "Luke Days Show of Force 2007, from Heritage to Horizons." The Air Force Thunderbirds precision flying team will be featured.
A couple of hours drive straight up the I-17 freeway, conference visitors can see the world-famous red rock formations in Sedona. This area of Arizona is also known for unusual and anomalous phenomena.
Sedona is located at an altitude of 4,500 feet in Arizona's magnificent "Red Rock Country." About 125 miles north of Phoenix (elevation 1,100 feet) and about 30 miles south of Flagstaff (at 8,000 feet), Sedona is famous around the world as place of mystical beauty.
The huge and dramatic red rock formations jut out from the red soil and create a magical feeling in many people.
The Sedona area is also reported to be regarded a sacred place by regional Native Americans and has a reputation as a spiritual and metaphysical center.
Some people claim that unusual sensations there may originate from geological, magnetic or other factors that have created "vortexes" of energy, or even a "portal" to experience higher and deeper states of consciousness and spiritual insight.
Is Sedona really a kind of cosmic crossroads where Nature and physics are altered? Each year, thousands of visitors travel there to find out for themselves.
Visitors to Phoenix and Arizona for the Eyewitness 2007 - You Are Not Alone conference are sure to find plenty to see and do in the Sonoran Desert, the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona's pine-covered mountains and in the rest of the beautiful Grand Canyon state.
Maybe these visitors will see or discover something exceptionally interesting in the skies, in the desert or mountains … and within themselves.
For more information:
Eyewitness 2007 conference home page: www.siriusseminars.com/events.html
City of Glendale: www.ci.glendale.az.us/
Deer Valley Rock Art Center: www.asu.edu/clas/shesc/dvrac/
Fact-based fictional account of Phoenix Lights incident:
http://books.iuniverse.com/viewbooks.asp?isbn=0595154344&page=197
