Last updated on May 1, 2024

Arizona UFO Sightings in 1976

This page aggregates and analyzes all UFO sighting reports made in Arizona during 1976.

How many Arizona UFO sightings were there in 1976?

  • There were 4 officially reported UFO sightings in Arizona in 1976.
  • In 1976, Arizona ranked #27 on the list of states with the most UFO sightings for that year.
  • Adjusted for population size, Arizona ranks #19 in the list of states with the most reported UFO sightings in 1976, with an average of 0.23 reports per 100,000 residents.

Arizona Cities with the most UFO Sightings in 1976

Rank City Number of Reports
1 Phoenix, AZ 2 UFO Reports
2 Sierra Vista, AZ 1 UFO Reports
3 Tucson, AZ 1 UFO Reports

Arizona UFO Sightings Analysis

We analyzed all 4 UFO sighting reports in Arizona from 1976 to identify possible patterns and gain insight into the phenomenon:

Arizona UFO Sighting Reports in 1976

This is a sampling of 20 Arizona UFO reports from 1976, presented as they were submitted other than paragraph breaks added for easier readability where necessary.

You can click the 'Report' link to view the original report along with any photos that may have been submitted to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC).

Sierra Vista, AZ

Full Report Text:

very close encounter in 1976, in arizona, with extremely large craft,seen clearly I am a college graduate,artist,mother,was secondary educator. at the time I was driving on a secondary highway, heading home with my daughter (sleeping) from an appointment with specialist in tucson.it was warm and my windows were down,had the radio on low.

saw a "falling star" was ready to make a wish, when the falling star matched my speed(60mph)and contiued by me for about 4 min. it was aprox.100 ft.

from ground, same distance to my left.Icould see it clearly. it was silent (turned down radio-it did not go off.

) I watched it and it watched me.it was very large-at least two football fields and organic looking black,with what appeared to be windows down the sides. it was quite beautiful.

my thought was: this is someone important! suddenly it ignited from rear and shot off into the distance out of site in approx 1 sec. I had seen the stealth just previously-no comparison. my husband then worked for the local radio station so I had access to various military bases and had seen some of the latest military and experimental aircraft up close and being tested(flown.

) have been to many current airshows so I feel I have enough exposure to what we have developed on earth. this was not of this earth,it came from the stars. it did have some kind of lights but they were indescribable.

no one believed me-but I don't care. I saw it and I believe they wanted me to see them. maybe they liked the little volvo sports car I was driving.

at any rate I know we have extraterestrial visitors and they want us to know . remember this happened in 1976! can anyone explain this away? I keep looking for the same description and experience.anyone else see a craft like this ?.

11/19/76 11:00 PM

UFO Shape:

Lasted: 4-5 min.

Report

Tucson, AZ

Full Report Text:

large metallic disc over central tucson in thunderstorm One night during a thunderstorm in july 1976, while watching lightning striking outside, thru the south side facing back door window of family house at age 8, I saw a very large (300+feet diameter) metallic disc floating stationary inside of the thunderstorm. It had lights around outside bottom of disc, and 4 hemispherical protrusions, and bright bluish light in the center bottom. I was totally amazed to watch the lightning strike the craft several times, and noticed when the light reflected off the highly polished metallic surface.

I yelled for my mother, who came running, and we then watched the craft for about 3 or 4 minutes through the backdoor window. Then it slowly moved upwards thru the clouds and vanished. My father, who was retired from air force 3 years earlier, was told the story next day, and was very interested.

I remember parents talking about an article in the local newspaper the following day, where hundreds of people saw the same thing. I have never been able to find article, but i know what I saw, and it was the real deal, an unforgetable experience. ((NUFORC Note: Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate.

PD)).

07/19/76 9:00 PM

UFO Shape: disk

Lasted: 4 minutes

Report

Phoenix, AZ

Full Report Text:

Phoenix, AZ, mid-July, 1976, 11:30 am, shiny silver disk- shaped object hovering over vacant lot at about 200'. Driving on Interstate 10, downtown Phoenix, on an overpass in the middle of the business district of the city. My father was driving, my mother in the passenger seat, my niece in the back driver's side, and I in the right back passenger side of the car.

The object was in a position of about 1 o'clock (To my right, SW), hovering at about 200', over a vacant corner lot, on a busy city street, in the midst of tall office buildings. It's altitude was below some of the tallest buildings, so that it should have been seen by anyone looking in that direction, either from the ground level or out of any of the buildings' windows. It must have been casting a shadow directly beneath.

It was a highly polished, aluminum-looking disc-shaped craft, round, about the size of a third of a city block (it covered the entire vacant lot). The best way to describe it would be that it had the appearance and proportions of a fat silver dollar with rounded edges, but absolutely smooth. There were no extraneous antennas, wings, tail, propellers, insignia, doors, windows, etc.

It hovered motionless, without sound that I could hear (my window was open). I watched it for about 6 seconds, thinking, "Oh, there's one now." In other words, I was very calm.

There was no question in my mind that this was an extraterrestrial craft. I turned my attention to the interior of the car and asked my family, "What's that?!" Unfortunately, at that exact moment, a small private plane was buzzing the freeway, very low, right in front of us, from right to left (from the direction of the craft). Everyone in the car said, "It's a plane.

" I said, "No, not that! That!" and as I turned to point to the object, it was gone. No one else in our car saw it. I do believe that the people in the small plane came close enough to call it a near miss.

Maybe that was why they were so low over the freeway; they had spotted it and came down for a closer look. Since it had just disappeared, or had taken off straight up (the only two possibilities, considering the close quarters it was in amongst the tall buildings), I looked up and down in every direction (as much as possible from the back seat of a car) for miles. The sky was absolutely clear with only one small cloud to obscure any view.

I watched this cloud dissipate, as they do in the desert, trying to see if maybe the object had flown into it. One can see for miles in the flat desert around Phoenix, and I could not spot it anywhere. ((NUFORC Note: Date of event is approximate.

PD)).

07/10/76 11:30 AM

UFO Shape: disk

Lasted: 6 secs.

Report

Phoenix, AZ

Full Report Text:

viewed saucer manuveurs and air force search for extended period of time from close range My friend and I were attending a drive-in movie in central Phoenix, AZ around the bicentennial time. We saw a disk-shaped object come quite close to us. It was noiseless and hovered off to my left (I was on the passenger side of the car).

At one point it started to descend and that is when the shape became apparent. It had a row of very bright white lights that revolved (or the ship did, this was unclear) which it turned on an off a few times. There was a (either blue or green, I believe green) stationary light on the top which stayed on at all times.

After descending it went back to approximately its original position.This viewing lasted around 15-20 minutes. Then the craft moved off to the south very fast and stopped.

I could only see the lights at this point. An air force jet came from west toward the craft and turned and went back. Then a jet came from the east and did the same.

The two more jets came from other sides, one at a time, and turned away. Then a jet came from the west side again only it came closer to the craft than the others had. Immediately the craft moved incredibly fast to the east side of Phoenix.

The jet followed, at a slower speed. Then the craft turned to the south slowly with the jet in pursuit. At this point all the white lights on the craft went out.

Immediately the lights on the jet went out. They moved to the south . I could only see the blinking of the light on the top of the craft.

When they got to south Phoenix the craft was no longer visible to me. I believe the jets lost it also. For the remainder of the movie (which was around 2 hours long the jets combed the south area.

The sky was clear. The weather nice. I am bad with measurements but I believe the craft was about two blocks away and approximately 100 feet in diameter.

The craft could hover, move incredibly fast, was noiseless, revolved (I believe), and the white lights were very bright. I am unsure of the color of the object as the lights were very bright but it also didn't seem to have a color as such. My friend saw it and was afraid it was going to land and didn't watch much of it.

At one point I got out of the car to not only get a better look but hoped to attract attention to it. I mentioned to a couple in the next car but they did not seem interested. There were no reports in the paper or news.

I did hear of a man (through friends) who saw it also across town but did not know him or get a name. I was 19 years old at the time and did not know the correct way to report this. Also my memory has faded to exact date and color of light on top of craft.

But the rest is quite clear. I remember the movie name and hoped to check the running dates for the movie but I am sure the drive-in is closed by now. I am interested in finding more information about this sighting, if possible.

I cannot be contacted collect by phone, as I do not have long distance service but would appreciate any info on this.

06/25/76 10:00 PM

UFO Shape: disk

Lasted: 1 1/2 hrs.

Report

Arizona UFO Sightings From 1976 By Shape

This is a standardized set of shapes a UFO report can be filed under.

Shape / Appearance Sightings % Of Total
Disk 3 reported sightings 75.00% of all reports

Arizona UFO Sightings From 1976 By Month

This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the month the sighting occured in.

Month Sightings % Of Total
July 2 reported sightings 50.00% of all reports
June 1 reported sightings 25.00% of all reports
November 1 reported sightings 25.00% of all reports

Arizona UFO Sightings From 1976 By Weekday

This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the day of the week the sighting occured on.

Weekday Sightings % Of Total
Friday 2 reported sightings 50.00% of all reports
Monday 1 reported sightings 25.00% of all reports
Saturday 1 reported sightings 25.00% of all reports

Arizona UFO Sightings From 1976 By Date (Top 5)

This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the date the sighting occured on, limited to the top 5 dates with the most sightings.

Date Sightings % Of Total
06/25/76 1 reported sightings 25.00% of all reports
11/19/76 1 reported sightings 25.00% of all reports
07/10/76 1 reported sightings 25.00% of all reports
07/19/76 1 reported sightings 25.00% of all reports

Arizona UFO Sightings From 1976 By Time

This data point is an aggregation of all UFO reports by the time of day the sighting occured during. We took logical 4 hour windows in order to split the day into early morning, morning, afternoon, evening, night, and late night buckets for this analysis.

Time Of Day Hours Sightings % Of Total
Night 20:00 - 23:59 3 reported sightings 75.00% of all reports
Morning 08:00 - 11:59 1 reported sightings 25.00% of all reports

All Arizona Cities with reported UFO sightings in 1976

These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports were filed per city in Arizona, in 1976

City Number of Reports View Reports
Phoenix 2 UFO Reports Phoenix UFO Sightings in 1976
Sierra Vista 1 UFO Reports Sierra Vista UFO Sightings in 1976
Tucson 1 UFO Reports Tucson UFO Sightings in 1976

Other Years with Reported UFO Sightings in Arizona

These are running counts of how many UFO sighting reports are filed per year in Arizona.

Year Number of Reports View Reports
2024 33 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2024
2023 149 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2023
2022 139 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2022
2021 134 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2021
2020 227 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2020
2019 234 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2019
2018 93 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2018
2017 208 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2017
2016 240 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2016
2015 284 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2015
2014 302 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2014
2013 236 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2013
2012 212 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2012
2011 166 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2011
2010 124 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2010
2009 161 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2009
2008 178 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2008
2007 142 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2007
2006 124 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2006
2005 204 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2005
2004 200 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2004
2003 127 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2003
2002 122 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2002
2001 115 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2001
2000 214 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 2000
1999 95 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1999
1998 70 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1998
1997 144 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1997
1996 25 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1996
1995 44 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1995
1994 12 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1994
1993 15 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1993
1992 4 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1992
1991 9 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1991
1990 7 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1990
1989 13 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1989
1988 13 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1988
1987 9 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1987
1986 7 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1986
1985 6 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1985
1984 4 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1984
1983 7 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1983
1982 4 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1982
1981 7 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1981
1980 7 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1980
1979 6 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1979
1978 10 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1978
1977 4 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1977
1976 4 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1976
1975 10 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1975
1974 3 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1974
1973 3 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1973
1972 4 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1972
1971 2 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1971
1970 2 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1970
1969 3 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1969
1960 1 UFO Reports Arizona UFO Sightings in 1960