A Congress, AZ, witness reports watching a "sequence of lights" that formed sequential patterns in the sky beggining about 9:30 p.m. on June 14, 2011, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.
The witness reports that the lights were appearing on a clear night with a nearly full moon north of Wickenburg and west of Highway 93 - a route that connects Wickenburg and Flagstaff and continues to Las Vegas - a "sparsely population" area although a "busy highway."
A single bright light first caught the witnesess' attention.
"I waited for the light to move or blink, as would an aircraft light, however it simply disappeared after perhaps 20 seconds," the witness stated. "A moment later another light appeared, slightly lower and a few degrees north of the 1st light, and it became a sequence or row of five lights in a straight horizontal row. The initial light went out and immediately the second light turned on, remaining for about 1/2 second, went out and the 3rd light turned on, and so forth for 5 lights total. The separations between lights was uniform and it was clearly a row of lights, not a single light that was moving and blinking."
The light pattern repeated four more times.
"This pattern of sequential lights was repeated four more times, at intervals of 5 to 10 minutes, during the next hour, but with significant variations. Specifically, the next three times the sequence was of six lights in the row, not just five. The 5th and last time the row was composed of 10 to 12 lights, which appeared much closer together and the on-off sequence was twice as fast as in the previous four appearances. Each appearance was at a slightly different location in the sky, making it appear that the lights were attached to a rigid platform, such as a large UFO, which moved slowly over a distance of several miles."
There were also individual lights in the sky.
"In between and even during the 'row-sequence' appearances there were individual lights scattered about this area of sky, which single lights appeared for several seconds and then disappeared. Some were distinctly moving slowly but most appeared motionless."
A brighter light appeared at 10:30 p.m.
"At about 10:30 a much brighter light appeared. It was orange in color, much larger than the white lights, forming a circle of uniform brightness. The orange light tuned on slowly, came up to full brightness and reamined so for perhaps 10 seconds and then faded into darkness. Still later, after most of the one hour show, a motionless green light appeared several times at various intervals. It was a soft green, rather diffused and dimmer than any of the white lights. After the green light had appeared six or seven times over five minutes, all light activity seemed to have ceased and I stopped observing."
No images or videos were included with the MUFON report, which was filed on June 15, 2011. The above quotes were edited for clarity. Congress is in Yavapai County, AZ, population 1,717.
We recently reported this June 10, 2011, sighting: Fireball 'chases' Arizona couple through desert at ground level.
Also on June 14, 2011, another Arizona case was reported to MUFON as Case # 29562. "Bright large clusters of amber light that faded in and out in the sky above and very clear of the mountains easily visualized to the north on this nearly full moon night."
From the unedited MUFON report: "Noted these lights in place where no lights should be as we drive this road (SR 72) quite often during the night after visiting friends in PHX> We began seeing them about 7 miles from Vicksburg road on SR 72. 5 times we saw the lights become bright, each time a bit further west and every time, after about 1-3 mins, they faded...Not abruptly, they dimmed. Hard to tell shape anything other than the lights were clustered and we noted two clusters. They moved west towards the Colorado river and after the fifth time we never saw them again. Have no idea what we saw."
Arizona is a current UFO ALERT 5 rating, with a low number of UFO sightings nationally. Arizona had 11 reports in May 2011 - and remains on our Watch List - while California had 55 UFO reports - the highest reporting state in the nation.
You can read more details about other recently reported cases at the UFO Examiner home page. The most up-to-date UFO information can be heard at web radio show UFO Traffic Report every Wednesday, 9 - 10:30 p.m. EST, which includes a UFO Witness Testimony Program segment, and an update of the UFO ALERT national rating system. Past shows are available at the Archive page.
The following is the unedited and as yet uninvestigated report filed with MUFON. Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or manmade. If Arizona MUFON State Director Jimm Mann investigates and reports back on this case, I will release an update. Please report UFO activity to MUFON.com.
AZ, June 14, 2011 - a sequence of lights appearing in a line, repeating in various locations over time, plus individual lights in same area. MUFON Case # 29565.
Location of lights: North of Wickenburg, AZ, and west of Hwy #93 which connects Wickenburg to Flagstaff, AZ, and continues to Las Vegas. Area is sparsely populated, but easily seen from this busy highway.
Conditions: Clear and hot with almost full moon at zenith, hence no stars were visible, being obscured by the backscatter of moonlight.
Description: At about 9:30 a single bright light in the western sky caught my eye through a window in my residence in Congress, AZ, 10 miles north of Wickenburg. (Phoenix is about 50 miles east of Wickenburg.)
No stars or aircraft could be seen. I waited for the light to move or blink, as would an aircraft light, however it simply disappeared after perhaps 20 seconds. A moment later another light appeared, slightly lower and a few degrees north of the 1st light, and it became a sequence or row of five lights in a straight horizontal row. The initial light went out and immediately the second light turned on, remaining for about 1/2 second, went out and the 3rd light turned on, and so forth for 5 lights total. The separations between lights was uniform and it was clearly a row of lights, not a single light that was moving and blinking.
This pattern of sequential lights was repeated 4 more times, at intervals of 5 to 10 minutes, during the next hour, but with significant variations. Specifically, the next 3 times the sequence was of 6 lights in the row, not just 5. The 5th and last time the row was composed of 10 to 12 lights, which appeared much closer together and the on-off sequence was twice as fast as in the previous 4 appearances. Each appearance was at a slightly different location in the sky, making it appear that the lights were attached to a rigid platform, such as a large UFO, which moved slowly over a distance of several miles.
Inbetween and even during the "row-sequence" appearances there were individual lights scattered about this area of sky, which single lights appeared for several seconds and then disappeared. Some were distinctly moving slowly but most appeared motionless.
At about 10:30 a much brighter light appeared. It was orange in color, much larger than the white lights, forming a circle of uniform brightness. The orange light tuned on slowly, came up to full brightness and reamined so for perhaps 10 seconds and then faded into darkness. Still later, after most of the one hour show, a motionless green light appeared several times at various intervals. It was a soft green, rather diffused and dimmer than any of the white lights. After the green light had appeared 6 or 7 times over 5 minutes, all light activity seemed to have ceased and I stopped observing.
Of coursse distances of "lights in the sky" are impossible to judge with any accuracy, however the platform of 5, 6 or 10 sequential lights provided some visual clues. Thus, I would estimate the main light displays were west of me about 10 to 15 miles, which would put them a few miles west of highway #93, and thus easily visible by traffic on that busy highway. Perhaps a truckdriver has or will report similar sightings.
If that rough distance estimate has any merit, it would require that the sequnce light platform be at least a half-mile in length, perhaps a full mile, as the sequence appeared a several locations at various heights above the horizon.
This is not my first UFO sighting by any means. My wife and I watched a "dance of 7 brilliant UFOs in 1975 in Minnesota and I photographed a UFO in Scottsdale, AZ, in 2005, plus I have seen a dozen or so UFO-like phenomena.
I do not for a moment doubt that I was observing lights on board several UFO craft in this area for over an hour. There was no sound, the actions were totally unlike any aircraft and no aircraft lights or stars appeared during this time period. The purpose of displaying their lights in this manner seems clearly to be to make humans think and to raise human awareness that we are not alone in this wonderful universe.