| Country | United States |
| State or Province | Arizona |
| City | Gila Bend, Akchin, Casa Grande … all AZ |
| Date | 1/18/13 |
| Time | 7:30 PM to 8:00 PM |
| Weather | Clear |
| Duration | First: 2 minutes, Second: 2 minutes, Third: 10 minutes |
| Witnesses (Number) | 5 |
| Distance | All three sightings were a mile. Guesstimate. |
| Solid Object | Not Specified |
| Size | Half a full moon |
| Shape | Sphere |
| Shape Details | Not Specified |
| Metallic/Shiny | No |
| Color | Very Bright white, sometimes changing hue to orange |
| Glow/Halo | Yes |
| Lights | No |
| How Many Lights | Not Applicable |
| How Bright | Not Specified |
| Light Coloration | Not Specified |
| Sound | No |
| Motion/Speed | First: 70 mph, Second: 10 mph, Third: stationary |
| Number of Objects | Three |
| Coordination/Communication | No |
| Windows | No |
| Occupants | No |
| Description | WITNESS ACCOUNT: On January 18, 2013, a Friday, I was riding in a car with four other people. We were driving from a construction site in the southern Arizona desert back to our apartments in Phoenix. We were driving east on Interstate 8. The US Naval Observatory records indicate a 5:50 pm sunset, and 11:40 am moonrise and moonset just past midnight for that date. Records show a quarter full moon for that date. I do not recall seeing the moon that night. The sky was black. Dusk was done. We were working 12-hour work shifts, so I am thinking it was about 7:30. Looking at a satellite view today, I am guessing we were about 25 miles east of Gila Bend, AZ. Three round white very bright lights appeared through the windshield on the front passenger side of our vehicle, which would be the south side of the road. No vehicles were present in our lanes going east, or the lanes going west. I was in the seat behind the driver of this late model Ford Explorer. One of the lights seemed to me to be about 20 to 30 feet away from the car, and at that distance it appeared to be about 2 feet in diameter. It was at my eye level. All five of us saw the lights. The front passenger rolled the window down. There was no sound other than the road noise from our vehicle. The light appeared to be moving along at the same speed as our vehicle. Besides these lights, it was very dark outside. The lights appeared close to each other. The lights slowly dimmed and went dark singly in order soon after we first saw them. We five talked about what they could have been. The driver thought they could be after burners on jet fighters. But we did not hear any noise from jets. About 10 miles further down the road, the person in the rear seat spotted three lights. This Ford Explorer had three rows of seats. This time the lights appeared behind us and further south. This time the lights appeared at a higher elevation and further away. As we watched, they dropped in elevation behind some mountains. The very bright lights then created a large silhouette of the mountains. Later we exited interstate 8 onto highway 84 for a few miles, then headed north towards Phoenix on highway 347. Just south of Akchin, we noticed lights again on the left side of the vehicle, towards the west. Akchin is about 37 miles south of Phoenix. We stopped our vehicle on the highway shoulder and got out to listen and watch. No sound from the direction of the lights. This time there were only two lights, high in the sky. I remember looking up at about a 45-degree angle. The lights stayed relatively close to each other. The lights eventually faded out. Attached are two photos taken with my cell phone. I may have taken a video too but am still searching for those files. These photos were taken while we watched the lights from the side of the road. We spotted lights on three separate occasions that night. Probably all within 30 minutes. The first view of the night, at my eye level, and appearing to travel with the vehicle, could have been lights a far distance away. An illusion similar to how the moon looks to be traveling when viewed from a moving car. Have you ever watched a full moon, low on the horizon, while in a car, and feel like it was moving with you? The terrain along Interstate 8 is rocky, hilly, with an occasional mountain and full of small cactus and giant Saguaro cactus. This was not a vehicle with spotlights moving in the desert near us. Homestead lights are few and far between. These lights were not from homesteads. These lights were not planets or stars. During the second view, after the light dropped behind the mountains, it really lit up the sky, making a silhouette of the mountain. The objects were really putting out a lot of bright light.After the third view, I reasoned they must be a flare connected to a parachute. My one doubt about that was that they stayed in the sky too long. They did not appear to change elevation. Parachutes were not visible. Later, an internet search did not come up with any information on flares used by the border patrol. We were about 100 miles from the border with Mexico. A few days later, I searched online but could not find any reports of the lights we had seen. So I reported the experience and sent photos. No one responded. My notes seem to indicate that I reported it to a site called sightingsreport.com. I cannot find it today in an internet search. Here are two of the photos (see below). The phone camera makes the lights appear fuzzy. That night, they were not fuzzy, but smooth round lights. The lights changed colors from bright white to orangish. The desert on a moonless night is very dark. There is little reference to determine distances. Whatever these lights were, it was an experience for me and the people with me. |
| Nearby Landmarks | Table Top Mountain |
| Latitude | 32.9487 |
| Longitude | -112.7168 |
| Altitude | First: not sure, Second: 5000 feet, Third: 5000 feet |
| Propulsion | No |
| Advanced Capabilities | No |
| Visible Payload | No |
| Radar | Not Specified |
| Signatures | No |
| Awareness | Not Specified |
| Aggression | No |
| Health Effects | No |
| Physical/Environmental Effects | None known |
| Animal Disturbance | I was only near other observers, just curiosity |
| Witness Feelings | 11 years later… still wondering |
| Witness Assessment | It did not seem like a natural phenomenon. |
| Additional Info | Witness may have reported sighting to a site in 2013 named sightingsreport.com, and reasoned the sighting could have been related to border patrol operations. |
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