UFO DISC-ussion

While the crew was planting trees, a herd of elk were grazing 280 ft. downslope of them, about 1,300-2,000 feet north from them. Fairfax says just before noon, a small UFO came slowly over the ridge, wobbling its way down toward the herd of elk. When the object was 100 feet from the herd, the animals became aware of the craft and ran uphill to the east.

One member of the elk herd separated from the others and the UFO pursued it. Without pause the craft went over the animal at a height that might have brushed the elk's head. Then the craft, with the elk dangling beneath, began to ascend to the northeast. The elk was slowly rotating, but no other movement from the animal was detected.

After the craft reached the end of the clear-cut and encountered the treeline, the elk was almost totally inside. However, the craft was not high enough to clear the treetops and the crew thought the treetops might have been hit. The craft circled (after much wobbling) 360 degrees. It then gained altitude and ascended nearly vertically until it was lost from sight in the clouds.

Fairfax and Davenport found a dead elk two miles or so from the sight, but there were no mutilation marks discernible, no gunshot wounds and no broken bones from a fall. The animal, a large female, appeared otherwise healthy. Apparently a calf was found dead elsewhere, but there's no reason to believe there is a connection. They were unable to examine the calf due to recent snows.

Eight days had passed since the event occurred, and no scavengers had attacked the elk carcass. The investigators found a dead porcupine on the drive out - maybe eight miles from the elk - but it appeared to have been killed by a cougar, and a scavenger bird was picking at the remains.

Two years have passed since mysterious lights appeared in a V-formation over Phoenix. Was it a UFO? An experimental military aircraft? A hoax? Dozens of people saw the lights, and millions around the world have seen Phoenix insurance agent Mike Krzyston's home video of them on TV. But no one can say for sure what they were.

Phoenix resident Tim Ley says his life has changed since he spied a low-flying, slow-moving object silently passing overhead on March 13, 1997. Ley, who owns a VCR repair shop, and his family were standing in their driveway when what appeared to be a V-shaped craft quietly drifted over their house and passed into Dreamy Draw, only 100 feet over a freeway.

He remembered its being an "alpha" shape, dotted with five brilliant white lights. But most of all, he remembered the shape - two 700-foot arms that came to a point.

Arizonans from all walks of life - joggers, a Little League baseball team, people scanning the sky for the Hale-Bopp comet - saw it. Accounts first placed the object in the northwest part of the state in the afternoon. Then, beginning at 8 p.m., it passed over Phoenix, Squaw Peak and the southern portion of the city known as Ahwatukee Foothills. At 9:30 p.m., it appeared in Tucson. Half an hour later, it was seen in Casa Grande. Finally, it was over Phoenix again at 10:10 p.m.

Former Phoenix City Councilwoman Frances Emma Barwood never saw it. But many of her former constituents on the northeast side of town did. "I was not a believer. But I am now," she said.

Barwood was ridiculed after she formally asked the city and the Air Force to investigate. She was dubbed the "UFO candidate" during an unsuccessful run for secretary of state last fall.

Some military officials have said what people saw that night probably were flares dropped at a gunnery range 40 miles south of Phoenix by eight A-10 Thunderbolts from the Maryland National Guard. The flares were dropped at 15,000 feet and had parachutes attached to them to slow their descent.