On Monday, April 21, 2008, odd red lights appeared in the sky over Phoenix, Arizona. Video and photos were taken and Air Traffic Controllers in the main tower at Sky Harbor International Airport saw them. The FFA says that the lights did not appear on radar and weren't a threat to any air traffic, so no action was taken. However, the FAA has issued a statement saying that they will not allow the Air Traffic Controllers to talk about what they saw.

According to regional FAA Spokesperson Ian Gregor, it's against agency policy to allow the ATCs to discuss what they saw. The Phoenix New Times reported the story about the silencing of the Sky Harbor Air Traffic Controllers. They have already filed an official request to receive any documents or recordings that contain statements about the lights by the ATCs.

When asked what the FAA plans to do about the appearance of the lights in the sky over Phoenix on Monday night, FAA Spokesperson Ian Gregor said, "There is nothing to investigate." This is in direct opposition to the FAA policy to investigate anything and everything strange that might be reported in the sky over the USA. That policy has been in place since the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01.

Just a day after the lights were spotted, the Arizona Republic newspaper reported that Phoenix resident Lino Mailo claimed his neighbor launched several helium balloons with flares on them. Lilo says the balloons went up in the sky from his neighbor's yard around 8pm on Monday night. A Phoenix Police Helicopter Pilot also says that he saw what he believed were helium balloons with flares hanging from them. Despite these claims, there are some problems with the helium balloons explanation.

After hearing the hoax story, I contacted a friend who lives in Phoenix. He agreed to try and reach Mailo or his neighbor. Since the article came out on Tuesday, attempts to contact Lino Mailo have failed. He does not answer his door and his neighbor wasn't home when my friend stopped by on two occasions. In fact, people living two houses down from Mailo say that they know Lino's next store neighbor and he was not home on Monday night. They claim they were out in their own backyard that evening and would have seen balloons with flares being launched. They also agreed to ask him about the flare story when they next see or speak with him.

By contrast, a number of witnesses have come forward to say that jets took off from Luke Air Force Base on Monday night. Luke still claims they had no aircraft in the sky that evening. Further, I asked Kelly Atwood, a professional photographic software expert, to take a look at the video and photos from 4/21/08 lights event. She has extensive experience examining UFO photos for legitimacy and has been able to identify many hoaxes involving balloons, dry cleaning bags and flares.

Kelly says that the lights were too bright and the wrong color to be flares. She also states that the video does not show the normal affect that flares exhibit as they burn. Instead, the lights resemble objects that would have been much larger with a steady source of illumination. Kelly lives in phoenix, but was working on Monday night and didn't see the lights.

Apart from the holes in the hoax story, the FAA issues and Luke Air Force Base denials that jets were in the air when residents living near Luke say jets taking off, there are other things that point to the fact that strange lights have been back over Phoenix for some time. All told, there have been hundreds of reports about strange lights and unidentified objects in the Phoenix area since the original March 13, 1997 infamous 'Phoenix Lights' event. Many of the reports include photos, video, and come from credible witnesses.

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written by Cullan Hudson

Thursday, April 24, 2008-While watching a repeat episode of UFO Hunters recently on the History Channel, a colleague heard mention of an Oklahoma City connection in their "Reverse Engineering" episode. In the episode, the team investigates claims that both individuals and government agencies were hard at work reverse-engineering captured UFOs of extraterrestrial origin.

One interviewee claimed he had even ridden on such a device, which transported him 10 miles away in just a few seconds. This gentleman says the device had been constructed by Otis Carr with plans purportedly drawn by Nichola Tesla. The man claimed the craft "vibrated" to the frequency of the destination and that this resonance somehow moved the craft to its desired location.

Eager to absorb yet another unverifiable witness testimony as the gospel truth, the UFO Hunters team doesn't question what they are hearing. Had they bothered to ask the simplest of questions - who is Otis Carr? - they might have been shocked at the answer. In researching this very question, my colleague and I learn that Otis T. Carr was a one-time hotel desk clerk from Baltimore who had a scheme.

Otis T. Carr arrived in Oklahoma City sometime in early 1959 and immediately set about soliciting contributions for the development of his OTC-X1 "flying saucer," which he claimed would be able to fly to the moon and back. His launch was scheduled for December that year. Not long after his arrival, he also entered into a contract with Frontier City, an Oklahoma City amusement park, to develop a spaceship ride based upon his OTC-X1.

Establishing himself as OTC Enterprises, Inc., Otis T. Carr and his associates, Norman Colton, Lari Kendrick and Charles Rhoades, Jr., began selling unregistered stock shares to individuals like Yukon pilot and railroader, Gurney G. Warnberg. Once the Securities and Exchange Commission got wind of this, a restraining order was obtained to block further sales. The SEC filed a deposition with the federal court on May 11, 1959 wherein Carr employed Fifth Amendment rights 85 times, avoiding questions concerning his finances and OTC Enterprises, Inc. It had been said he raised roughly $50,000 in "capital".

All the while, Carr was busy working from his "laboratory" in the 4800 block of NW 10th street in Oklahoma City. In April, he drummed up publicity with local news media by promising a demonstration of the craft, which he claimed operated with magnetic fields and counter-rotating mechanisms.

The test flights were postponed twice. After the second cancellation, Carr told the media that a total redesign might be needed. The most reporters got to see was a partially disassembled saucer that looked like two 6' metallic bowls sandwiched in opposing directions. At the top was a retractable entry hatch and it rested on tricycle wheels below. The saucer stood approximately 4' high. A third demonstration was slated that summer at the Frontier City amusement park. Once again, the crowds gathered but the saucer was a no-show. It slowly became clear that Carr intended to take them for a ride - just not to the moon.

Unfortunately, as the media buzz surrounding the saucer waned (it was a joke by summer), the fervor with which they covered his legal woes never faltered. In a suspicious world, one might see retribution in documenting each stumble the would-be inventor made. The press had been strung along by Carr, who swept into town like the Music Man, and they weren't happy about it. Carr gave them plenty of ammunition to work with too.

In November 1959, a jury found Carr guilty of securities fraud and Judge Clarence M. Mills fined him $5,000. He was lucky. He could have faced up to three years in prison. Upon leaving the courtroom, TV cameraman, Scott Berner, was assaulted by Cleve Bordner, an investor in OTC Enterprises, Inc.

It is probable that Carr left Oklahoma shortly after his trial, leaving his attorney to file appeals to postpone paying the fine. His colleagues, Wayne Aho and Lari Kendrick, faced similiar charges. A felony warranted was issued for Norman Colton, the OTC X-1's "flight engineer." Colton disappeared in the wake of Carr's legal troubles.

However,less than a year later Carr was at it again in California. The "inventor" had moved his operation to Apple Valley, California. He told locals there that his "flying saucer factory" would employee 200 workers with an annual payroll of a million dollars.

Carr claimed his factory would work in three areas: developing his working saucers, engineering a 5,000 watt "power package" for industrial applications, and building spaceship rides for amusement parks. The latter would have, according to former Frontier City promoter, James Burge, violated a contract the promoter had for exclusive amusement park ride manufacturing rights. Burge was the one that initially built a saucer ride at Frontier City, perhaps to assuage resentful customers. According to a Wikipedia entry, Carr began serving part of a 14 year sentence when his appeals to get out of paying the $5000 fine went unanswered. Sources are murky in that entry though and I have to question the validity of this statement. Primarily because the law enacted in 1957 which was used to prosecute him held a maximum penalty of three years in prison. Of course, it IS Wikipedia, after all.

The same entry also says no one in Oklahoma City saw anything more than a drawing of the proposed craft, which is simply not true. Fortunately, Wikipedia does caution readers on the reliability of its references. Carr retired from the UFO spotlight after this period, living quietly in Pittsburgh until his death in 1982.

Despite claims from UFO Hunter’s interviewee of having ridden in this fantastic craft, Oklahoma City "tests" in 1959 and California efforts a year later, yielded no results. This witness also claimed that resonant frequencies were the key to the crafts propulsion. Carr, however, maintained that his OTC-X1 utilized magnetic fields to "fly". Carr never once mentions Nichola Tesla either. Perhaps, this part of his pitch was added later in California or, as I suspect, was wholly fabricated by the less-than-credible witness interviewed by the UFO Hunters.

Had he crack investigative team at UFO Hunters even bothered to check into their witness’ claims, they would have easily debunked this outrageous story and once again exposed the charlatan, Otis T. Carr.

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