Phoenix Lights became Arizona UFO legend in 1997

• A second sighting later that night was reported by a police officer who said he saw a series of red-orange lights hanging over the Valley.

The intrigue: The second sighting was attributed to Maryland Air National Guard aircraft dropping flares during a training exercise.

• A Tucson astronomer and retired Air Force pilot chalked up the first incident to another group of A-10 Warthogs flying in formation.
• Some still view the first incident as unexplained.
• Many believed the lights were from UFOs.

Flashback: The Phoenix Lights incident prompted one of the most memorable press conferences in Arizona history a few months later.

Zoom in: In June 1997, then-Gov. Fife Symington said during a press conference that he was asking the Department of Public Safety to investigate the lights.

• Former adviser Chuck Coughlin said the governor's aides were concerned about how the comment would make Symington look during his ongoing federal trial on bank fraud charges.

• The solution was to make a joke out of it, he said. So they sent a staffer to a local costume shop for an alien suit.
• Symington announced that the source of the lights had been found and presented his chief of staff, Jay Heiler, decked out in his alien costume.