Status: Explained (officially) — the Air Force Reserve said F-16s were training in the area. Some witnesses and researchers dispute that this accounts for everything.
In January 2008, dozens of people in and around Stephenville, Texas, reported seeing patterns of lights in the night sky. Some described a single large unidentified object, and local constable Lee Roy Gaitan, among others, gave interviews to national media as the small town became known around the world.
The Air Force Reserve later issued a statement from NAS Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base that F-16s of the 457th Fighter Squadron had been in military airspace designated for training when people reported the lights. An FAA email later showed two groups of F-16s on radar at about 6:17 and 6:26 p.m. local time.
MUFON collected dozens of witness reports, and independent researchers analyzed radar data and said some tracks lacked transponders. Whether the training flights fully explain the reports is still debated. The town has since embraced the attention, selling T-shirts that call Erath County the “new Roswell.”
Sources: Wikipedia: Stephenville, Texas — Stephenville lights
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