Case file · Sighting
The 2008 Phoenix lights hoax
On 21 April 2008 a row of red lights hung over north Phoenix and was widely reported as a return of the 1997 Phoenix Lights; a neighbour saw a man launch flares on helium balloons, and the hoaxer confessed on local television.
2008 CE · 33.70, -112.05 · status: hoax
The sceptical view
A confessed hoax; it is a useful control case for how quickly lights are read as a craft in a city primed by an earlier famous sighting.