Arizona
man claims UFO hoax 08:44
AM CDT on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 By
BRIAN WEBB / KTVK-TV PHOENIX
— Many Phoenix-area residents reported seeing mysterious red lights in the
sky over the north Valley Monday night. Some said they could be seen for miles,
leaving many to wonder what was going on. Those
who saw the four lights said they appeared randomly. Some said the lights made
shapes — a straight line, a square and a triangle. The lights reportedly
were visible for between 15 and 30 minutes at about 8 p.m. An
area man who does not wish to be identified claims that he was behind the mysterious
phenomenon. He
told KTVK-TV that after the sun went down Monday night, he tied road flares to
four large helium-filled balloons using fishing line. Then he released the balloons
one-by-one, at one-minute intervals. "Very
impressed," the man said. "Very bright, and something I'd never seen
before." According
to Deer Valley Airport and air traffic controllers at Phoenix Sky Harbor, no planes
were on the radar, although people at both locations reportedly saw the lights.
Luke Air Force
Base said it had no operations in the air at the time the lights were seen. NORAD
(the North American Aerospace Defense Command) also confirmed no activity on its
radar Monday night. Some
Valley residents said the lights might have been a UFO. "It
was really close to the star, and when it would go really close, and then go fast
far away," said Annie Braslawsce. "It was just unbelievable. I thought
it was the coolest thing. It was pretty intense." The
man who claims to have launched the flares said an aircraft did get near the balloon-borne
lights. He figures that the atmospheric disturbance left in the plane's wake caused
the flares to move in a pattern. Monday
night's sighting comes about a month after the 11th anniversary of the famed Phoenix
Lights, when thousands of people reported seeing several lights in a "V"
formation hovering over the city. The Air Force eventually said those lights were
flares, but not everybody believes that explanation. The
man who said he launched Monday's sky show said he thinks the 1997 Phoenix Lights
could indeed have had a similar, terrestrial origin — but that it wasn't
his doing.
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