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It takes chisiness.

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In Phoenix, Arizona,

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formations of glowing orbs are seen by thousands.

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We questioned what we saw.

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What are we crazy?

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Officials deny any knowledge as public pressure mounts.

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The mysterious lights quickly gained national attention.

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In southeast Brazil, fighter jets scramble

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as mystery contacts light up military radar.

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This guy was full of UFOs.

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Pilots get close enough for a tantalizing glimpse.

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But who or what could they be?

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They didn't know what it was.

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And in Texas, two women claim to confront a massive diamond-shaped UFO.

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We thought it was the end of time.

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Witnesses develop physical injuries

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that even their doctors can't explain.

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I asked her how she got the burns and she said,

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you won't believe anything I'm going to tell you.

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Does anyone know what these phenomena are?

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And do the governments of the world know more than they ever reveal to us?

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The answers may lie in the fascinating stories of UFO conspiracies.

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On the edge of the solar system,

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a visitor from deep space hurdles towards the Earth.

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This vast body of ice and rock is the comet Hale-Both.

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It will pass within 120 million miles of our planet.

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NASA prepares to launch a probe as it nears Earth

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and around the globe astronomers look to the skies.

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On the outskirts of Phoenix,

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amateur stargazers gather on a hillside.

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But the mysterious scene they witness

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goes far beyond their expectations.

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March 13, 1997,

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Phoenix, Arizona.

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This is what people all over the valley saw

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on the night of March 13.

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It marks what some believe may be the greatest UFO mass sighting in history.

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It was very strange

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because at first we questioned what we saw.

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What are we crazy?

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People were in awe.

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People were mesmerized. People were in wonder.

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All of the calls were about the strange lights in the sky

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and they wanted to know if we knew what they were.

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Speculation leaned towards UFOs

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as officials ruled out any commercial aircraft and the military.

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We gathered here to take photos of a comet.

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That was a real event for us.

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Local photographer and stargazer Jerry Church

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is in the hills above Phoenix.

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When we first saw them,

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they were coming from sort of the northwest coming south.

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And we didn't know what they were.

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The lights seemed to be moving southward very slowly.

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They appeared to be in a straight line

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until you really looked at them

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and you realized they're more of a V-shape.

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Another witness to the mysterious event

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is Greg.

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He will only appear on camera with his identity hidden.

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I've been flying for 30-some years.

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I mean, I can't figure out what this is.

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He works for a defense contractor

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and is a former military and commercial pilot.

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He fears that talking openly will jeopardize his career.

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On the evening of this incident,

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Greg and his wife are driving home.

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And my wife was driving,

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so I was just kind of relaxing in the right seat there.

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We lived on an area that was largely undeveloped

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and lots of open land and open streets.

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And just as we're cruising along,

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she says, what are those lights?

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I looked up through the windshield

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and I saw kind of a V-shaped formation of lights

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and I went, that's just fighters out of loop.

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I was just like, what's going on?

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I looked up through the windshield and I saw lights

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and I went, that's just fighters out of loop.

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And as I said that, I realized,

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nah, they're not fighters,

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because I flew fighters at Luke

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and you wouldn't fly around in a V-shaped formation.

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As I looked some more, I noticed,

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well, I don't see any navigation lights

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or anti-collision lights,

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and it seems to be going pretty slow.

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So she pulled off to the side of the road

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in an area that was actually fairly dark.

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I just stood by the car

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and then about the time the lights were overhead,

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I realized I also didn't hear anything.

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There wasn't any sound.

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They didn't do anything dramatic.

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They just pretty much stayed in that V-shaped formation

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and flew on an east-south-easterly heading

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until they were out of sight.

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Unbeknown to Greg and his wife,

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other people across two states

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are also witnessing unknown lights in the sky.

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The massive scale of the sighting becomes clear

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as calls flood into the authorities.

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Verley Nanaman was a 911 operator with a Phoenix police.

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She's on duty answering calls that evening.

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It wasn't a busy night and there were about 15 operators working.

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911, where's your emergency?

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And the calls were very steady until about 8.15

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and then they just went crazy.

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911, where's the emergency?

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All of our callers were saying basically the same thing.

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They saw a V-shaped craft in the sky.

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It had 5 to 7 lights.

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Very low, no noise. It was very quiet.

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It was slow and it was traveling from the north to the south.

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So people in the whole valley, our area were calling,

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wondering what the lights were.

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We didn't know what they were, of course.

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Dr. Lynn Katai manages to fill the lights from her mountainside home.

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As we're just about to settle in in our bedroom,

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suddenly the 6 lights pop on it.

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I grabbed my video camera

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and by the time I focused it and got out there, it had changed to 3.

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And what I captured were the 3 endpoints of a V or triangle object.

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And many people actually witnessed the same exact phenomenon

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gliding right over their heads, about 30 miles an hour, totally silent.

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As many more witnesses come forward,

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pressure for an official explanation reaches Feverpitch.

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Vice Mayor Francis Emma Barwood is the first to ask questions of the city government.

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Her curiosity will cost her dearly.

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I was the council person for District 2.

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I had 160,000 people in my district.

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And I felt that my job was to represent them and listen to them.

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During the council meeting, my turn came and I said,

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could we find out whatever this was that flew over Arizona?

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And everybody kind of stopped and looked at me.

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So I kind of felt a little funny and I didn't understand why.

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And then somebody cracked a joke and they went on with the meeting.

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And I thought, well, that was odd.

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And in my mind I'm thinking if something flew over Arizona

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and they don't know what it is, isn't this a safety issue?

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And I thought, something's wrong here. Nobody wants to talk about it.

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Barwood believes she's the victim of a campaign to discredit and ridicule her.

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There were cartoons in the paper.

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One cartoon was a rocket going in one ear and coming out the other.

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The other one was a Dr. Spock.

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And then on my picture in the lobby, they hung a little sign and it said,

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Francis Emma Barwood from the planet Xenon,

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speak into the foil and she'll hear you.

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You know, one thing after another and I thought, wow, you know, they're really,

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like, they want to shut me up.

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Barwood's constituents, though, are taking the matter seriously.

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Soon after, she receives call after call.

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Little League game, they all saw it.

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There were some joggers that saw it.

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There was people that came shopping at the mall they saw it.

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After counting all the people and all the people they said they were with,

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had to be somewhere around 10,000 people that saw this.

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So many people in so many places.

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I mean, I got calls from all over the state of people who saw it.

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There's no doubt in my mind that they really did.

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To this day, none of the government people ever interviewed any of those 10,000 people.

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UFO believers say that the Phoenix Police Department played down the reports they receive,

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even though their own staff admit that calls are pouring in that night.

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We were swamped with calls, all calling about the same thing,

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the mysterious lights in the sky.

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9-1-1, where's your number?

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9-1-1, where's your emergency?

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9-1-1 operator Verley Nanaman is certain that many reports had been made to the police.

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Rumors of a government cover-up soon emerge, as the public demands answers.

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It was time to end months of speculation on the question

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and investigate the matter once and for all.

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After the unexplained mass sighting over Phoenix, witnesses are left without any official explanation.

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But then, there is an unexpected breakthrough.

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For months there was nothing, and then on June 18, there was a front page USA Today article

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that opened up the sighting for the first time to international scrutiny.

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We were deluged by media.

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This is what people all over the Valley saw on the night of March 13th.

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The next morning it was on every news station, every morning show, Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, on and on.

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And by late morning, the very next morning, after nothing for months,

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suddenly we get an announcement that the governor, Simington, was holding a press conference that afternoon.

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To reveal the culprit of the lights over Phoenix.

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I suggested that it was time to end months of speculation on the question

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and investigate the matter once and for all to clear it up.

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Finally, it seems that the mystery will be taken seriously and officially investigated.

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And now I'll ask Officer Stein and his colleagues to escort the accused into the room so that we may all look upon the guilty party.

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And it was very disconcerting when he marches out one of his aides with a giant alien head and makes a mockery of the whole thing.

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Don't get him too close to me please.

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This just goes to show that you guys are entirely too serious.

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The publicity stunt angers eyewitnesses and prompts accusations of a government cover up.

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Everybody else thought, you know, how could he do this?

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You know, this is not funny. These people were serious at what they saw and they wanted to know what it is.

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In the aftermath, several explanations emerge.

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The military at first deny any of their jets are airborne.

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But it later emerges that a flight of F-16 fighters were in the air that night.

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They were conducting a training exercise south of Phoenix.

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Could aerial flares drop during this exercise solve the mystery?

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Former U.S. Air Force Major James McGehey has researched the events of that night.

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The flares that were dropped were L-U-U-2B slash B ground illumination flares.

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They burn with 2 million candle power. They're incredibly bright.

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These high-intensity magnesium flares are designed to burn for five minutes.

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Since they normally don't land with these, at the end of the night operations, they dumped nine of them all at once.

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That was at about 10 p.m. The same time the mysterious lights were spotted.

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But not everyone is convinced. Former military pilot Greg witnessed the phenomena and has firsthand experience with flares.

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So the flare is actually flickering. It's a very distinctive wavelength.

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You can actually perceive kind of the smoke coming off it because it's burning and it has a parachute that's suspending it.

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And it descends and then eventually burns out.

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I could say that what I saw that night was absolutely not flares.

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When you're looking at a 36-inch long tube that's anointed at 80 miles, you're not going to see any smoke. It's too far away.

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And they hang because of the heat coming up from the flare, goes up into the parachute and sort of gives the parachute more lift so it doesn't descend as rapidly.

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But does that explain how the lights could have stayed in formation? Would flares disperse in the wind?

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Meteorologist Professor Randy Cervini explains.

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Very rarely, except during dust storm events here in the Southwest, do we get very strong winds.

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So if you drop a parachute with something hanging from it, the winds are not going to bounce it around very much.

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As long as we can keep that parachute aloft, that's going to fall fairly steadily and slowly down through the atmosphere.

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Because the turbulence of this particular area is pretty weak.

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To my mind, launching of flares by a plane that's traveling in a straight line is a pretty good explanation for the Phoenix Light scenario.

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That is not what I saw. I can say really beyond a shadow of a doubt that what I saw that night were not flares.

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But what could explain the reports of a V-shaped object passing directly overhead?

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At the same time that Greg witnesses five lights in the sky, a flight of military aircraft are en route from Las Vegas, Nevada to Tucson, Arizona.

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Many people saw the five lights and connected the dots and assumed it was this huge object.

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In fact, an amateur astronomer in Phoenix that night happened to put his 10-inch telescope on it and saw the aircraft.

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Could these jet aircraft explain the sighting? Former pilot Greg is skeptical.

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I flew fighters at Luke and you wouldn't fly around in a V-shaped formation.

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As I looked some more, I noticed I don't see any nav lights and it seems to be going pretty slow.

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I realized I also didn't hear anything that wasn't any sound.

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How could aircraft flying close formation without any navigation lights and without making any sound?

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They were flying that night under VFR conditions, visual flight rules, and they were flying with their formation lights on.

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They said they made no sound, but they were flying in cruise and it turns out the A-10 aircraft, which all of these aircraft were, it's a ground attack airplane, is the quietest airplane in the Air Force.

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If you're flying in cruise speed, when you're up to 15,000 feet, these airplanes are very, very quiet, so it's not unusual that they didn't hear anything.

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They flew right along the air corridor, the air traffic highway in the sky, so if they were alien spacecraft, they must know our FAA rules.

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McGehee believes the mass sighting is actually two events, each with its own explanation.

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And this very often happens in UFO cases. Multiple different things are going on, but they sort of get blended together and they're not really the same thing occurring.

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But could thousands of witnesses all be mistaken?

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That's possible, says cognitive psychologist Dr. Susan Clancy.

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It's very interesting because you have a group of people that claim to have seen the same thing at the same time, and people often think of that as very compelling evidence that something actually happened.

236
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:51,000
In fact, it's anecdotal evidence, which from a scientific perspective doesn't count as data. It doesn't matter how many people saw the same thing. They saw something, it was difficult to interpret, and they interpreted it as a UFO.

237
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:58,000
But some witnesses of the Phoenix lights remain convinced they saw something unexplainable that night.

238
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:07,000
And in a strange twist of fate, ten years after ridiculing witnesses, the now former Governor Simington makes a startling admission.

239
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:09,000
My remarks are pretty short.

240
00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:11,000
He too had seen the Phoenix lights.

241
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:28,000
I saw something that defied logic and challenged my reality. I witnessed a massive delta-shaped craft that silently navigated over the Squall Peak area in North Phoenix in the evening, and it was truly breathtaking.

242
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:38,000
And so the Governor joins Lynn, Greg, and countless others who are certain they saw something incredible that to this day is still not adequately explained.

243
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:45,000
I'm open. If somebody would tell me what it is, show me what it is, I am open to that possibility.

244
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,000
I think about it now again, and I just wish I could see it again.

245
00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:00,000
May 19, 1986, São Paulo State, Brazil.

246
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:07,000
Air traffic controllers spot unidentified lights in the skies above São José dos Campos Airport.

247
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:19,000
Alarmingly, the unknown lights seem larger than any plane.

248
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:27,000
Operators at two other centers track multiple objects breaching their airspace.

249
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:32,000
Their size is estimated to be an excess of 300 feet.

250
00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:43,000
Thiago Ciccici is a leading UFO researcher and author on the subject. He's been investigating UFO incidents for nearly 20 years.

251
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:51,000
Blas was just appearing in the screen for more than four hours, five hours. This guy was full of UFOs.

252
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:06,000
Military commanders are anxious. They scramble five jet fighters. Their orders pursue and intercept.

253
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:14,000
Captain Marcio Prizala Jordeo was piloting one of these aircraft. He's a former military and commercial pilot.

254
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:18,000
He has over 5,000 flying hours.

255
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:29,000
Yet even 30 years later, it's this mission that vividly sticks in his memory.

256
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:35,000
Nearing the scene, controllers in Brasilia vector him towards the unknown contacts.

257
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:42,000
I was informed that I had some contacts approaching. Ten miles ahead of my aircraft.

258
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:49,000
But Jordeo's onboard radar shows nothing, and he can't see anything in the skies ahead of him.

259
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:56,000
Ground radar alerts him that the contacts are now in the air.

260
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,000
He's now closing from directly behind him.

261
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:10,000
He was amazin' 13 UFOs. Seven on the left side, six on the right side.

262
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:17,000
As the radar contacts approach, Jordeo maneuvers his aircraft, but struggles to get a visual fix.

263
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:23,000
He continues to patrol the area, and eventually manages to get something in his sights.

264
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:31,000
I saw a red light. It was just like a warning light on top of a building.

265
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:37,000
Controllers in Brasilia order him to pursue the unknown contact.

266
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:43,000
But Jordeo is unable to intercept it.

267
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:49,000
I was going towards the contact, but it was moving away from me at the same speed.

268
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,000
Controllers confirm his visual sighting on their ground radar.

269
00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:00,000
But running low on fuel, Jordeo is forced to break off and return to base.

270
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:07,000
Another of the jets scrambled that night reports a similar sighting.

271
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:16,000
Unlike Jordeo, the pilot describes the object as a glowing orb. Sometimes white, sometimes green or red.

272
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:26,000
On-board radar confirms his visual fix. It rapidly accelerates and then slows, and performs what appear to be deliberate maneuvers.

273
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:36,000
But before the pilot is able to intercept the contact, it accelerates out of sight and vanishes from radar.

274
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,000
After the incident, the aircrews return to base.

275
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,000
Unbeknown to them, details have already been leaked to the press.

276
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:53,000
The pilots find themselves in the middle of a media storm as military commanders make an astonishing confession.

277
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:58,000
They have no idea who or what the mysterious contacts are.

278
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:10,000
After an extraordinary night, the Minister of Aeronautics Brigadier Marrera Lima takes the unprecedented step of hosting a press conference.

279
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:16,000
He confirms that multiple unknown contacts have reached their airspace.

280
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:22,000
And he confesses they have no idea of what the mystery objects might be, nor who might be flying them.

281
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:28,000
It was more than a thousand kilometers an hour, because at that time I was flying at about the same speed.

282
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:32,000
Control were telling me I was getting closer and closer.

283
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:34,000
Were you scared?

284
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,000
I wasn't afraid. I was extremely curious.

285
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:43,000
Bewildered military commanders promise a thorough investigation.

286
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:47,000
But the results are immediately classified.

287
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,000
For 20 years, the public is left without any official explanation.

288
00:23:53,000 --> 00:24:00,000
The government promised to society to come up with the report of what happened in 30 days.

289
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:02,000
And it never did.

290
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:05,000
This was top secret, like the top.

291
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:10,000
Because they didn't know what it was.

292
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:15,000
The evening would become known as the official night of the UFOs.

293
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,000
Nick Pope ran the UFO project at the British Ministry of Defense.

294
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,000
For him, who the witnesses are, speaks volumes.

295
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:32,000
This isn't just some vague reports of lights in the sky from members of the public.

296
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:40,000
This is a properly documented case where the witnesses and the investigators with government themselves.

297
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:45,000
But does the military's involvement add any credibility to the sighting?

298
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:54,000
Cognitive psychologist Dr. Susan Clancy believes that the testimony of pilots and military officials is as fallible as any other.

299
00:24:54,000 --> 00:25:04,000
Just because a pilot was involved and just because the government may have been involved or airports doesn't make it any more real.

300
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:14,000
We're all prone to perceptual distortion, to memory fallibility, to getting confused between reality and fantasy.

301
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:16,000
It's actually just a sign of being human.

302
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:22,000
And we're biased to distort things in the direction of what we fear or what we hope or what we expect.

303
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:28,000
But what about the radar contacts received by multiple control centers?

304
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,000
Could a technical error be to blame?

305
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:40,000
One of the interesting things about these sightings is that two different ground radar installations actually detected the objects.

306
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:47,000
This eliminates the possibility that what you had was a technical fault with one of the sets of equipment.

307
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:53,000
So what could explain visual sightings verified by both ground and onboard radar?

308
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:58,000
One suggestion is a rare atmospheric phenomenon known as ball lightning.

309
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:03,000
Ball lightning is a very poorly understood scientific phenomenon.

310
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:05,000
We know that it has to do with thunderstorms.

311
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:17,000
It apparently involves some kind of discharge of lightning such that the discharge of lightning takes on a globular or ball-like structure.

312
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:24,000
This rare amateur footage of the phenomena was shot in 2001 on the outskirts of Lyons, Colorado.

313
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:29,000
Even under the best of circumstances, ball lightning is a very rare occurrence.

314
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:36,000
We have good observational evidence of ball lightning, but we've never been able to reproduce it adequately in the laboratory.

315
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:43,000
Although ball lightning is little understood, experts do agree on the conditions required to create it.

316
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:49,000
In order to have ball lightning, you have to have a convective thunderstorm.

317
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,000
A thunderstorm that's putting out a lot of lightning.

318
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:58,000
But what are the weather conditions that night? Do they rule out the ball lightning theory?

319
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:03,000
The weather condition was perfect as we say in Portuguese,

320
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:05,000
Céu de Brigadeiro, like a clear sky.

321
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:12,000
Is it possible the eyewitness reports were simply wrong?

322
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:18,000
Experts suggest a psychological principle known as priming may hold the answer.

323
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,000
Professor of neuroscience, Bo Lotto explains.

324
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,000
Because your brain has expectations, it's only ever seeing what it's expecting to see.

325
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,000
You can actually create those expectations.

326
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:34,000
I can suggest something to you, and even though you're not aware of my suggestion, it can alter what you see.

327
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:41,000
It's possible the pilots were primed by the earlier reports and misinterpreted otherwise ordinary lights.

328
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,000
But shouldn't pilots be able to make accurate observations?

329
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:52,000
Experts are usually very good at observing the things that are in their sphere, the things that are relevant to their experience.

330
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:58,000
What's interesting is sometimes becoming an expert or being an expert makes you worse at noticing things.

331
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:02,000
The reason is because an expert has a tremendous amount of expectations and assumptions,

332
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,000
which means they can become blind to the things that are unexpected.

333
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:15,000
Twenty years on from the incident, UFO researchers finally get hold of the once top secret report.

334
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,000
Its conclusions are shocking.

335
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:30,000
When we got the package in the middle of those 1,000 and some pages, there was this report, a very important report.

336
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:45,000
And it said in this report that it's a conclusion of the Brazilian Air Force Defense Command that the UFOs observed on that occasion were under intelligent control.

337
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:54,000
Although a startling admission, the declassified documents offer no explanations of who or what the unidentified flying objects are.

338
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,000
We don't think that all the documents are here.

339
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:06,000
We're looking for the investigation documents, we're looking for photos, we don't know if they have.

340
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:11,000
And we're looking for the films of the airplanes.

341
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:16,000
We are sure that there's some film to come.

342
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:21,000
It seems that for now at least the incident will remain unexplained.

343
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:30,000
I know I saw a light. Whether it was a UFO or an alien, I'm waiting for the answer.

344
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:39,000
Montgomery County, Texas December 29th, 1980.

345
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:46,000
Betty Cash, Vicki Landrum and Vicki's grandson Colby are driving home after a night out.

346
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,000
The women are from a conservative religious upbringing.

347
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:57,000
As they drive down a quiet country road, they are oblivious to the terrifying ordeal that lies ahead.

348
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:08,000
Colby Lee saw a light and he kept asking us what the light was.

349
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,000
I said honey, I don't know.

350
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:15,000
Betty said I believe it's getting closer.

351
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:17,000
I said well it kind of looks like it.

352
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:21,000
All of us noticed it because it lit up the entire sky.

353
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:23,000
There was no way you could have missed it.

354
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,000
But we had no idea that we were going to get hurt.

355
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:34,000
The women claim they are confronted by a large diamond shaped UFO hovering over the road.

356
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:40,000
Here was this huge object and flames shooting from it.

357
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:47,000
And they weren't just small flames. They were gushing from it.

358
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:50,000
Colby is terrified.

359
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,000
His grandmother Vicki tries desperately to calm him.

360
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,000
I said Colby don't be afraid.

361
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:03,000
I said if you see a man, it'll be Jesus. He will not hurt you.

362
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,000
They describe flames shooting from the base and intense heat.

363
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,000
It looked like the woods were being set on fire.

364
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,000
Inside the car it was so hot.

365
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:19,000
So my handprint is yet on the dashboard of Betty's car.

366
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:25,000
They stare in awe at the mysterious object before slowly venturing out of the car.

367
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:27,000
They got out on the other side of the car.

368
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,000
I stepped out on mine and I walked toward the front of automobile.

369
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:38,000
Vicki and Colby return to the car.

370
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,000
But Betty remains outside captivated by what she sees.

371
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,000
I stood there. I don't know how long.

372
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:49,000
Trying to see what I could figure this out.

373
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:53,000
It was just burning. It was just too much heat. I could not tolerate it.

374
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,000
The heat becomes unbearable and Betty is forced to retreat to the car.

375
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,000
They claim the object hovers over the road and then slowly climbs into the sky.

376
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:06,000
They say a fleet of military helicopters arrives and surrounds the UFO.

377
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:08,000
We counted it.

378
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:10,000
We counted it.

379
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:12,000
We counted it.

380
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:14,000
We counted it.

381
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:15,000
We counted it.

382
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:17,000
We counted it.

383
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,000
I don't know how many of you have heard of it.

384
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,000
The fleet of military helicopters arrives and surrounds the UFO.

385
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:25,000
We counted it.

386
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:27,000
Twenty-three.

387
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,000
There were so many of them it sounded like a tornado.

388
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:34,000
They circle the UFO and follow it as it moves into the distance

389
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:36,000
and eventually out of sight.

390
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,000
But the terrifying ordeal is far from over.

391
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,300
and diarrhea.

392
00:32:43,300 --> 00:32:46,120
Several days later, Betty is admitted to hospital.

393
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:53,000
Dr. Brian McClelland was Betty's physician

394
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,280
for nearly 15 years and is familiar with her medical

395
00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:57,240
history.

396
00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:00,040
Well, I first met Betty when she came back from Houston

397
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,520
to Birmingham, Alabama.

398
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:04,520
She got this bright exposure the next day.

399
00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:06,360
She felt she was sunburned.

400
00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,080
By the afternoon, she was getting sick to her stomach.

401
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:11,720
And she then was hospitalized.

402
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:14,440
Her hair starts to fall out while she's in hospital.

403
00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,960
She had burns on her.

404
00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:21,480
Well, she very closely follows exactly what would happen

405
00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:22,720
after radiation exposure.

406
00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:28,280
Betty is isolated for the protection of staff and patients.

407
00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:34,040
Vicki and Colby say their symptoms are less severe,

408
00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:38,840
but they also suffer from weakness and skin sores.

409
00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:40,280
The women believe their illnesses

410
00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:42,400
are the result of the incident and begin

411
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:43,520
searching for answers.

412
00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:50,280
Journalist and former UFO investigator Nick Hope

413
00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:54,760
has been studying the case for nearly 15 years.

414
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:57,720
After this encounter, a cash and land

415
00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:00,240
room reached out to the local authorities,

416
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:04,560
both government and military, to say, what happened to us?

417
00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:05,640
Please investigate.

418
00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:09,000
Please tell us what it was that we encountered.

419
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:13,880
The women believe the military is involved and demand answers.

420
00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:16,520
Their struggle for truth would bring them face to face

421
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:18,560
with those they believe are responsible.

422
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:24,440
Following her bizarre encounter, Betty

423
00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:27,760
meets with officials at Bergstrom Air Force Base.

424
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:31,000
She explains the incident as well as her physical and psychological

425
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:32,640
injuries.

426
00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:34,600
She believes the military is involved

427
00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:37,240
and submits a claim for damages.

428
00:34:37,240 --> 00:34:40,120
The local air base denied having any activity that

429
00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:42,840
could explain what had happened to the witnesses.

430
00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:46,240
No one, it seemed, knew what was happening to these people.

431
00:34:46,240 --> 00:34:49,320
No one wanted to talk.

432
00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:52,800
Their claim for damages is denied.

433
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:54,600
Left with mounting medical bills,

434
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:58,080
the women are no closer to explaining their ordeal.

435
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:00,080
Was it because no one knew anything

436
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,120
or was it as some conspiracy theorists

437
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:04,360
allege because there was a cover-up

438
00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:08,360
and a conspiracy had already started?

439
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:11,480
One theory is that the women witnessed a prototype nuclear

440
00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:13,200
powered aircraft.

441
00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:15,840
My bet would be this was some sort of test

442
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:20,520
involving a new secret prototype spy plane or drone.

443
00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:22,880
Perhaps something went wrong.

444
00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:26,880
Perhaps there was a power source that was not properly shielded.

445
00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:29,720
If there's any cover-up, it's unlikely to be aliens.

446
00:35:29,720 --> 00:35:32,720
It's more likely to be deep black projects

447
00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:36,200
and new terrestrial technology.

448
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,280
But the proximity to populated areas

449
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:41,440
casts doubt on that theory.

450
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,600
Military testing is conducted in vast, empty ranges,

451
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:48,160
out of harm's way, and away from prying eyes.

452
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:51,440
Defense journalist Chris Pocock explains.

453
00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:54,840
Testing of secret aircraft is routinely

454
00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:57,120
conducted in out-of-the-way places,

455
00:35:57,120 --> 00:35:59,400
not just for reasons of secrecy,

456
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:03,200
but simply because the large airspace that can be reserved

457
00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:08,000
for such testing is not going to be overpopulated areas.

458
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:12,520
In the US, there are big areas of military-controlled airspace

459
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:16,480
in Nevada and Texas in particular.

460
00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,280
They ain't going to do it over a big city.

461
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:22,920
As Betty's health continues to deteriorate,

462
00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:26,000
doctors struggle to diagnose her.

463
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,680
Dr. McClellan believes some form of radiation poisoning

464
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:31,480
is the cause.

465
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:35,440
I did a biopsy of her arm, and it had radiation dermatitis

466
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:40,120
with the diagnosis on the biopsy, which I can't get

467
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:42,800
radiation dermatitis myself because you

468
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:44,560
have to put your hand into a nuclear reactor,

469
00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:46,720
and I don't have one.

470
00:36:46,720 --> 00:36:50,760
Could radiation poisoning have caused Betty's symptoms?

471
00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:53,680
Jim Thurston is a radiation specialist.

472
00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:56,400
He dismisses the idea of radiation exposure

473
00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:59,760
as their symptoms are only possible following a lethal dose.

474
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:03,200
The onset of the symptom would indicate

475
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:06,880
a very high radiation dose, a dose which

476
00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:12,240
is two, three, or even four times the expected lethal dose.

477
00:37:14,720 --> 00:37:19,040
So what else could have caused Betty's symptoms?

478
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:22,400
A particular issue I have with these symptoms

479
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:25,920
is that some of them you could just as easily attribute

480
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:29,920
to a chemical agent rather than a radiation exposure.

481
00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:35,240
A test to determine radiation exposure

482
00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:39,160
is never conducted during Betty's hospitalization.

483
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:42,720
Her medical history prior to the incident is not released.

484
00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:45,800
Without it, it's impossible to verify the cause of her symptoms.

485
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:48,920
Some believe the incident may even

486
00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:50,720
have been an elaborate hoax.

487
00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:55,960
But sociologist Dr. Robert Bartholomew

488
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:57,960
suggests otherwise.

489
00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:01,920
Most people are honest, sincere witnesses.

490
00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:06,520
They are ordinary people reporting extraordinary things.

491
00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:07,800
They're not lying.

492
00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,120
They're not hoaxing, and they're very sincere,

493
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:11,920
and it's very easy to get carried away.

494
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:17,640
When people see things and they describe later what they saw,

495
00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:19,240
they are reconstructing.

496
00:38:19,240 --> 00:38:21,520
They are not telling you what they saw.

497
00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:24,120
They're telling you what they remember

498
00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:27,640
and how they remember they saw.

499
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,480
That's because the human mind does not take in information

500
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:32,080
like a videocassette recorder.

501
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:36,240
It interprets information as it takes it in.

502
00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:38,280
Could Betty and Vicky have witnessed something

503
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:39,920
that they had never seen before?

504
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,720
Could Betty and Vicky have witnessed something altogether

505
00:38:42,720 --> 00:38:44,920
more down to earth?

506
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,320
Meteorologist Professor Randy Servenny

507
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:49,720
believes it may have been an optical illusion.

508
00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:52,760
As meteorologist, when I first heard about the cashlandrum

509
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:55,520
situation, I was thinking of something

510
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:58,640
along the lines of a superior mirage,

511
00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:03,640
the result of light passing through different densities

512
00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:04,520
of air.

513
00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:08,000
It can, on rare occasions, get focused up into the sky

514
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,520
to create what we call a superior mirage,

515
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:12,800
so that lights near the surface might actually

516
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:16,240
be projected up in the sky.

517
00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:19,480
What could be the source of such lights?

518
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:22,520
Within 30 miles of the incident are some of the world's largest

519
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:25,200
petrochemical plants.

520
00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:27,000
They routinely burn off waste gases

521
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:29,640
in a process known as flaring.

522
00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:33,880
Columns of flames can often reach hundreds of feet in the air.

523
00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:36,160
Could these flames explain the sighting?

524
00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:39,080
The lights from the petrochemical plant

525
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:42,920
could also be then worked upon by the atmosphere itself,

526
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,440
that if we have cold air near the surface,

527
00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:48,440
that light can actually be bent as it's passing

528
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:51,960
through the cold air inversion and actually be magnified,

529
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:54,280
so that to a person at the plant itself,

530
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:56,440
they may not see anything unusual about the lights.

531
00:39:56,440 --> 00:39:59,040
But to someone many miles away, those lights

532
00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:01,800
could be transformed into a superior mirage that

533
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:04,600
could be made much bigger than it would actually

534
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:05,840
be in real life.

535
00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:09,960
I think the idea of having that petrochemical plant nearby

536
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:13,080
is one of the more plausible explanations for what

537
00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:15,720
these particular lights were.

538
00:40:15,720 --> 00:40:17,800
But how does this explain the physical injury

539
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:20,760
is that Betty, Vicki, and Colby suffered?

540
00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:23,400
Skeptics have suggested they may have been pre-existing

541
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:24,960
conditions.

542
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:28,280
Others suggest that the injuries might have been psychosomatic.

543
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,000
The human mind is very powerful.

544
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:35,760
And it's very well known that with the placebo effect,

545
00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:37,760
if you ingest something that you think

546
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:40,000
is going to make you feel better,

547
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:43,320
often you could heal yourself.

548
00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:45,880
It also works in reverse.

549
00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:48,080
So if I give you something and you

550
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:49,760
think that it's going to make you sick,

551
00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:52,680
then you can actually become physically ill.

552
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:54,760
If they think they've been exposed to something

553
00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:58,160
that's harmful, can actually have a reaction

554
00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:02,040
with rashes on their body, with headaches,

555
00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:05,320
with even vomiting.

556
00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:08,640
However, Betty's physician remains convinced she suffered

557
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:12,040
severe psychological and physical injuries.

558
00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:15,800
I think it's just completely true that she had some kind

559
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:17,320
of radiation exposure.

560
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:19,920
I think that it's most likely that she had an exposure

561
00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:22,680
to a military experimental vehicle.

562
00:41:25,680 --> 00:41:27,920
Facing crippling medical bills, the women

563
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:31,120
take the unprecedented step of suing the US government.

564
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:37,120
But officials deny any knowledge of such a craft.

565
00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:41,120
And their case is thrown out.

566
00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:46,120
Betty died in 1998 and Vicky in 2007.

567
00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:48,120
Both went to their graves convinced they'd

568
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:51,120
witnessed something extraordinary.

569
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:54,120
After more than 30 years, many doubt we will ever

570
00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:57,120
know the truth about what happened that night.