From the Wrath of Joe.
If you’e been around the esoteric block, then you certainly recall Ufology’s resurgence during the 1990s. Encompassing television, the radio, and comprising a good portion of websites during the internet’s innocent heyday, Ufology, one felt, was on the brink of something big. Things reached their zenith with the Phoenix lights sightings in March of 1997. Now, if you didn’t catch the original coverage of this event on the news (some months later), or Art Bell or various internet message boards, or indeed the mighty Paranet Continuum hosted by Michael Corbin, then it is almost impossible to relate just how significant the Phoenix lights were or at least seemed back then. The general sentiment, among believers, was that with so many lights for so long of a duration with so many witnesses either some government agency’s hand would be forced, someone would disclose something, or, at the very least, the evidence would be so compelling so as to create a burgeoning new Ufology movement and firmly persuade the public to the reality of the phenomenon.
Of course, none of these things happened. And, if you recall when the story broke, you’re probably still bewildered the phrase Phoenix lights is relatively obscure, even in esoterica. Brief flames of a resurgence in Ufology proved to burn themselves too quickly, leaving us the pit of smoldering embers we inherited at the beginning of this decade. Don’t get me wrong, the story itself was and still is huge; all in all, the Phoenix lights case is the most important in Ufology history, eclipsing both Roswell and the Washington, D.C. flap, if only for record of the event. March of 1997 should have dictated the direction of Ufology for at least the rest of the decade. This should have been the one event that helped organize an otherwise ragtag and incredulous field. Researchers ought to have put their investigative powers to work on a case that, more than likely, is teaming with FAA and military information at some subterranean point just waiting to burst into the daylight. Furthermore, the research undertaken thus far proves itself the product of lackluster individuals purveying shoddy investigative techniques and standards. Let me be blunt, the Phoenix lights case was and is the biggest possible ball thrown into Ufology’s court and Ufology not only dropped the ball, it seems, in retrospect, Ufology failed to pick the ball up to begin with!