1997-03-13 - Glendale, AZ - Fireball

Fireball on the top of mountain behind Luke Air Force Base, AZ

It was around 10pm and my husband ran through the front door almost paralyzed w/ fear. He ran down the hallway and I followed asking him to please tell me what was wrong. He initially said, "I can't tell you and I'll never tell anyone".

I kept at him and he suddenly grabbed me by the arm took me out the front door pointed up to the top of the tall hills on the back side of Luke Airforce base and said, "That's whats wrong." He then ran back into the house.

I stood there focused on what appeared to be a glowing fireball on the very top of the mountain. I watched it for a while then yelled to my husband that I was going to take the truck and go up there, as it looked like a crashed craft of some sort. He became hysterical and said, no way.

I then saw jets being scrambled from Luke AFB and a few minutes later I could see headlights from vehicles climbing the mountain trying to get to the fireball. The road back there is part of the Base, so I assumed they were Base security climbing the mountain. They only got about half way up the mountain and either stopped or shut off their headlights.

I went back in the house and tried to call local news (perhaps channel 10?). There was a busy signal, which I thought was odd for a news station. I managed to calm my husband down enough to tell me exactly what had happened to him while he was on his way home from his meeting and he put his hands on his head and said, that he was on his way home and came to a stop because the man in front of him had stopped suddenly.

You have to understand this is out in a very sparse desert area where it is pitch black w/ no street lights. He had his window down and then a "huge" object floated over his car and the man in front of him. The man in front of him also had his head out of the window.

My husband said there was no sound at all, but it blacked out the stars above seeming like it took an eternity to pass directly over the two idling vehicles. My husband said, he yelled at the man in front of him a! fter the object finally passed over and said, "You saw that right?" He said, the man said "yes, but would never tell anyone that he did".

My husband said, the huge object floated rising slowly and went to the top of the mountain just on the back side of the base and that's when he had run into the house and into the back bedroom, completely ridden w/ fear.

So, I can only report the fireball that I witnessed that I thought looked like a crashed craft as it completely lit the top of the mountain. But the whole story needed to be told, as my husband has NEVER been the same. It shook him to his very core and would refuse to talk about it as it brought back the intense fear.

After a while the fireball on top of the mountain slowly began to fade, but remained glowing for about two hours. I get angry at myself for not taking the truck up there to see for myself, but it's very rugged terrain to get up there even w/ a dirt road or a fire road on which to travel.

It has taken me this long to tell this eye witness account, but now it is told. By the way, I went to the front of the Air Force Base (about 3 blocks away) the next day and it was locked down tight.