Government cover-up or cosmic starship? UFO filmmaker unravels 1997 Phoenix Lights mystery



Documentary filmmaker and content creator Patrick James has garnered millions of views on his YouTube channel exploring conspiracy theories, ancient mysteries, and unexplained phenomena. The popularity of his podcast, “So Weird with Patrick James,” is a testament to humanity’s intrinsic proclivity for mystery and the supernatural. From secret government projects to Egypt’s many conundrums, James takes a broad, multidisciplinary approach, blending compelling storytelling with open-minded inquiry as he dives into the unknown.

On a recent episode of “Back to the People,” James joined Nicole Shanahan to discuss the chief of all conspiracy theories: UFOs.

Nicole’s theory about UFOs is that they are “government contractors that are flying drones around our airspace,” likely paid for by the “$2 trillion in unaccounted spending” revealed by the Department of Defense’s 2023 audit.

James then brings up the mystery of the Phoenix Lights — a series of unidentified lights observed in a triangular formation over Phoenix, Arizona, on March 13, 1997, by thousands of eyewitnesses. Months after the sightings, the U.S. military dismissed the lights as flares dropped during a training exercise, but this response failed to address several aspects of sightings, including the miles-wide craft that were seen passing silently over the city. In his documentary, James dug “as far as [he] was comfortable going” into the controversy.

“What makes you uncomfortable?” asks Nicole.

“What makes me uncomfortable is that this story itself has been gate kept for at least 25 years, and the gatekeepers are the people who are collecting and filtering all the information coming from the witnesses and the people who were collecting the photo and video evidence,” he says.

One of the people he interviewed for the documentary was image processing pioneer and UFO researcher Jim Dilettoso, the founder of Village Labs in Tempe, Arizona, where the Phoenix Lights evidence was stored. Jim played a significant role in analyzing the video and photographic evidence.

After their interview, Dilettoso “called [James] every day” for weeks, pleading with him to not pursue the story deeper, especially as it related to a story about “men in black” confiscating video evidence from Richard Curtis, an eyewitness.

“I caught Jim contradicting himself multiple times,” says James, noting that Dilettoso was clearly uneasy any time he “started touching the stove around the men in black or this Richard Curtis character,” who mysteriously “disappeared” without a trace after he claimed in a FOX10 News interview that men in black had confiscated his footage. He claimed men in black were not real, even though a phone call from 1997 records him claiming he was personally visited by three of them at Village Labs.

James believes Dilettoso is clearly hiding something.

As for the numerous impossibly large aircraft spotted on that strange night in Phoenix, he says, all evidence considered, “I don’t think this was man-made.”

From a ship with “bright orange ... lava lamp” bubbles and “rainbow mists” that supposedly inspired “love and gratitude” to black hole theories, James and Nicole’s conversation leads to many strange and fascinating places.

To hear it in full, watch the episode above.

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GOP rep to head task force to declassify JFK files, Epstein client list



Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida announced Tuesday that she was appointed to chair a new task force aimed at declassifying federal secrets.

The task force will focus on declassifying records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Luna will also be investigating materials pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein's client list, documents related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, the origins of COVID-19, and UFOs.

'This will be a relentless pursuit of truth and transparency, and we will not stop until the American people have the answers they deserve.'

"For far too long, the federal government has not answered these questions," Chairman James Comer, who appointed Luna to the post, said during a press conference Tuesday. "This creates distrust in our institutions. That ends today."

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna talks to reporters following a House Republican caucus meeting in the basement of the US Capitol on December 20, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

"This will no longer be a task force that makes bold promises only to fade into irrelevance or send strongly worded letters," Luna said during the press conference. "This will be a relentless pursuit of truth and transparency, and we will not stop until the American people have the answers they deserve. We will cut through the bureaucracy, challenge the stonewalling, and ensure that the American people finally get the truth that they have been denied for far too long."

This task force emerged following President Donald Trump's historic executive order requiring the declassification of documents related to the assassinations of King and the Kennedys. Since then, the FBI has uncovered over 2,400 records tied to the assassination of President Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963.

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Why is the new media so obsessed with angels and demons? Christian paranormal podcasters explain sudden shift



We are living in a time of great change. The mainstream media is dying, but podcasts exploring angels and demons are exploding. Perhaps we are entering a new age of enlightenment, but this time, society is turning toward the supernatural, not away from it.

The Robertson brothers recently invited podcasters Luke Rodgers and Nate Henry to the show to discuss this shift in public interest.

Rodgers and Henry are the hosts of “Blurry Creatures” — a highly popular Christian paranormal podcast that uses scripture to explore concepts like Bigfoot, aliens and UFOs, giants, and really any mysterious creature that hasn’t been proven to exist yet.

Christians, Rodgers says, must have a way to evaluate “the weird stuff,” especially now that the weird stuff is moving out of the fringe and into the mainstream. The fact that Congress just had a hearing to discuss “alleged secret government investigations into UFOs” is proof of this.

And now that big names in the new media, like Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, who claims he was mauled by a demon, and Shawn Ryan, among others, are talking about strange phenomena, more and more people are beginning to reject a materialistic worldview. What once was “relegated to wearing tinfoil hats” is becoming a subject of widespread interest.

Al Robertson, who’s been “studying and teaching and preaching the Bible for most of [his] adult life,” says that Christians shouldn’t be shocked or even that skeptical when strange otherworldly events occur.

So much of scripture, he says, involves "another realm and people on this Earth who are interacting back and forth” with that realm.

To believers who scoff at things like UFOs/UAPs and other kinds of preternatural events, he says, “Well, the Bible is full of it. ... What’s so shocking about things we can’t really explain or describe?”

Henry, invoking Dr. Michael Heiser, Old Testament scholar and Christian author whose studies on the supernatural culminated in his oft-cited book “The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible,” adds that “the average seminarian graduate only gets two classes on angels and demons.”

And by “classes,” he doesn’t mean courses but rather “lectures,” meaning that the average seminary student spends only two to three hours learning about supernatural entities in the entire time it takes to earn their degree.

This lack of education doesn’t make sense when you consider that “our Bible has got a lot of weird stuff in it,” says Rodgers, noting that angels, beings that are “not earthborn ... by definition should be extraterrestrial.”

Henry and Rodgers then share what they’ve learned about God, humanity, and the supernatural from their years of dissecting strange phenomena. Jase also shares his one experience that made him “revisit [his] thoughts on modern-day demon possession.”

To hear these harrowing stories, watch the episode above.

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FACT CHECK: Instagram Video Claiming To Show UFOs In Maryland Is AI-Generated
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FACT CHECK: Instagram Video Claiming To Show UFOs In Maryland Is AI-Generated

A viral video shared on Instagram purports to show unidentified flying objects (UFOs) over Maryland.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Prey Everyday (@preyeveryday) Verdict: False The video’s creator admitted he made the content with artificial intelligence (AI) in a subsequent post. A media forensics and AI expert also denied […]

‘My time at Area 51’: What does Kash Patel know about UFOs?



Kash Patel is Donald Trump’s choice to head the FBI, but before he receives the great honor of helping the president-elect lead and protect our great country, he sat down with Alex Stein of “Prime Time with Alex Stein” for an interview.

And in that interview, Stein grilled Patel on UFOs, which are now mysteriously flooding the sky across America.

“This is a tough question, and I want you to give us the real answer because I think it’s all a bunch of fuddy-duddy bullcrap,” Stein began. “All this UFO stuff, Kash, what’s going on with that?”

“I mean, is it another balloon? Is there really a lifeforce from a trillion space miles away, light years away, whatever the mumbo jumbo is, or is that all meant to distract us?” Stein asked.

Patel’s answer hinted that he may know something, but what he knows will remain a secret.


“When I come back in like 60 days and reveal myself as the biggest mole in CIA history, I will tell you all about the UFO landings and my time at Area 51. But, I’m just saying that as an ‘if’ right now,” Patel joked.

“But when I come back, I’ll describe the spaceships in detail and the places that we take all the aliens when we remove them,” Patel continued. “But you know what? They all have a copy of ‘Government Gangsters’ already, so they’re already ahead of the curve.”

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FACT CHECK: No, Connecticut Congressman Didn’t Say Alleged Drones Over New Jersey Are ‘Federal Operations’

A video shared on X claims that Connecticut Democratic Representative Jim Himes said the drones purportedly seen over New Jersey are “federal operation.” 🚨BREAKING: New Jersey Drones Are “Federal Operations” After attending a classified briefing in a Secure Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), Jim Himes, said: “These sightings in New Jersey, Connecticut, anywhere they’re being sighted, are […]

Is the US covering up UFOs firing on New Jersey?



Mysterious drones have been spotted flying over the United States, and a recent video purports to show a drone firing tracers over New Jersey.

New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew told Fox News that “Iran launched a mothership probably about a month ago that contains these drones” and that “we know it’s not our own government.”

While the government continues to deny and claim ignorance, Sara Gonzales of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered” doesn’t believe for a second that it's giving us the whole story.

“He’s like, ‘Well it’s not our own government, because then we’d know,’” Gonzales tells Eric July. “No you wouldn’t. How many times has the Biden regime gone rogue on so many different things?”

“Oh, you think they’re not going to keep that from you?” She continues, adding, “I just don’t buy that to begin with.”


“I think when things like this happen, a lot of people’s minds just go in the complete opposite direction, where they assume that it could be, let’s say, some foreign country or something of that nature. I think it’s very dangerous, especially when you start looking at these government officials who go out on a limb and are like, ‘Oh, I think it was that person or that group,’” July says.

“We’ve seen war started for less,” he says, noting that meanwhile, drone technology is only escalating.

“They’re advancing quick, man. These things are able to do some really, really, I’d argue, cool things. But yeah, when I see something just sitting there floating and it’s spraying something, I’ll be like, ‘Is it mosquitoes? Or are you doing something else?’” He continues, adding, “And I think any person that’s going to see something floating in the air is going to be kind of turned off by that.”

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Key US Air Force base shut down over drone activity as aerospace CEO unveils chilling theory on wave of mysterious drones



Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton was shut down for four hours on late Friday night and early Saturday morning because small unmanned aerial systems were spotted in the vicinity, WJW reported.

'My belief is that they're trying to smell something on the ground — gas leaks, radioactive material, whatever.'

Robert Purtiman — a spokesman for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — stated on Sunday, "Installation leadership has determined none of the incursions impacted our base, our residents, our facilities, or our assets. We're taking all of the appropriate measures to safeguard the installation and all of our residents."

The drone incident in Ohio highlights growing concerns over the barrage of drone activity in the Northeast, especially in New Jersey.

The Joint Staff confirmed that there had been sightings of drones over two military installations in New Jersey but said it is "not a new issue."

"We have had confirmed sightings at Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle," a spokesperson for the Joint Staff said. "This is not a new issue for us. We've had to deal with drone incursions over our bases for quite a time now. It's something that we routinely respond to in each and every case when reporting is cited."

In New York, Stewart International Airport was shut down for an hour around 9:40 p.m. on Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration reported that a drone was spotted in the vicinity. The airport reopened its runways roughly an hour later.

"There were no impacts to flight operations during the closure," said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Stewart Airport, located about 60 miles north of New York City.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) called on Congress to take action on the drone situation because it "has gone too far."

Hochul petitioned Congress to pass the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act, which would strengthen the FAA's oversight of drones and grant more authority to state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate drone activity.

Hochul also implored the New York State Intelligence Center to investigate drone sighting incidents.

"Extending these powers to New York State and our peers is essential," Hochul proclaimed. "Until those powers are granted to state and local officials, the Biden administration must step in by directing additional federal law enforcement to New York and the surrounding region to ensure the safety of our critical infrastructure and our people."

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also called for Congress to pass the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act.

"It is critical, as we all have said for a number of years, that we need from Congress additional authorities to address the drone situation," Mayorkas stated. "Our authorities currently are limited, and they are set to expire. We need them extended and expanded."

"We want state and local authorities to also have the ability to counter growing activity under federal supervision," Mayorkas said.

On Sunday, Mayorkas told “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos, "There's no question that people are seeing drones. I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings."

"Some of those drone sightings are, in fact, drones. Some are manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones," Mayorkas continued. "But there's no question that drones are being sighted."

As Blaze News reported on Monday, two men were arrested for allegedly operating a drone "dangerously close" to Boston's Logan Airport.

The FBI said its tip line has received 5,000 tips, but fewer than 100 have led to leads “deemed worthy of further investigative activity.”

The DHS, DOD, FAA, and FBI said they have been unable to determine who is responsible for flying the drones but noted that there is no indication that the drones are being operated by America's enemies with nefarious ambitions. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said during a Wednesday press briefing there was “no evidence these are coming from a foreign entity or the work of an adversary.

"We're going to continue to monitor what is happening," Singh continued. "But you know, at no point were our installations threatened when this activity was occurring."

Singh stressed, "These are not U.S. military drones. Again, this is being investigated by local law enforcement."

As Blaze News reported on Monday, President-elect Donald Trump said the government "knows what is happening" with mysterious drones.

When asked about the wave of suspicious drone sightings across the country, Trump declared, "The government knows what is happening."

"Our military knows where they took off from," Trump proclaimed. "They know where it came from and where it went."

Trump told reporters at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, "For some reason they don’t want to comment … for some reason they want to keep people in suspense. Something strange is going on. For some reason they don’t want to tell the people."

The CEO of an aerospace company revealed a chilling theory about the potential mission of the drones. John Ferguson is the CEO of Saxon Aerospace — a drone manufacturer in Kansas. Ferguson claimed that the drones could be searching for "gas leaks" or "radioactive material" in a TikTok post that has gone viral.

Ferguson noted that the drones "have no reason to be in the air at night," unless they are looking for "bad guys or a victim."

"My own guess is that these drones are not nefarious in intent. If they are, they are, but I doubt it," he said. "But if they are drones, the only reason why they would be flying, and flying that low, is because they're trying to smell something on the ground. That's it."

Ferguson stated, "My belief is that they're trying to smell something on the ground — gas leaks, radioactive material, whatever."

In his assessment, he said drones currently don't have the capabilities to fly from the Atlantic Ocean to the interior of the East Coast, as some have suggested.

Prolific podcaster Joe Rogan said of Ferguson's theory, "This is the first video about these drones that has got me genuinely concerned."

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UFOs?! What in the world is going on over New Jersey?



Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve likely seen videos flitting around social media of what appear to be drones, but are otherwise unidentified flying objects, soaring through the air in New Jersey.

The reports of large, unidentified drones appearing overnight in multiple New Jersey counties and parts of New York City have puzzled residents and raised concerns among local and federal authorities.

New Jersey Congressman Jefferson Van Drew claims to know what’s going on.

“I’ve gotten to know people, and from very high sources, very qualified sources, very responsible sources, I’m going to tell you the real deal,” he said in a segment on Fox News. “Iran launched a mother ship, probably about a month ago, that contains these drones.”

Van Drew went on to say that the “mothership” is located “off the east coast of the United States of America.”


“Know that Iran made a deal with China to purchase drones, motherships, and technology in order to go forward. The sources I have are good, they can’t reveal who they are, because they are speaking to me in confidentiality. These drones should be shot down,” he added.

However, deputy defense press secretary Sabrina Singh explained in a Defense Department briefing that there are no Iranian motherships.

“We have no evidence that these activities are coming from a foreign entity or the work of an adversary. We’re going to continue to monitor what is happening,” Singh said.

“Raise your hand if you would actually just buy it at face value any explanation that this government would give you about this,” Steve Deace of the “Steve Deace Show” comments. “Nobody does, right?”

Deace believes the truth about the UFO’s is one of three options.

“The third option here: so cowardice, complete and total incompetence, or you can also have here what our friend and colleague, Jason Buttrill, what he posted earlier today,” Deace says.

“The U.S. claims they don't know what they are... but they're not a threat. Riiiight. The only way authorities would be able to say that is if they WERE TOLD to say that,” Buttrill began in a post on X.

“This is similar to when the B2 was first unveiled. We're being desensitized to a new technology. They're getting ready to use this tech in actual military applications all over the world. This is both a warning to countries like Russia and China, as well as a heads up to the American people on what to expect in the near future,” he continued, concluding his post with a question, “Where did we get the technology? I won't speculate. Who knows... but probably not from Kansas.”

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US airspace in chaos: Four theories behind the New Jersey drones



Let’s talk about what’s going on in the airspace over New Jersey. Because on this night before Christmas, what to my wondering eyes did appear but possibly Iranian-guided, Chinese-financed drones that are leaving far more than visions of sugarplums dancing in my head.

Right off the bat, I think we’ve got an epistemological problem here. Raise your hand if you would simply take at face value any explanation the current United States government would give you about this. I don't know what they could possibly tell us that would create calm amid the cold civil war they started and perpetuated with scamdemics and transgendering our kids. Our current worldview clash governs everything, even when literal UFOs hover in the sky.

What’s more likely? That the media will uncover the truth behind this situation or that they are complicit in it?

Considering the sketchy and manipulative filter through which we must view reality today, I believe we have four options to explain what in the Donder and Blitzen is going on here.

1. It’s the option presented by New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, saying a source has told him that essentially we are allowing Iran to operate in complete violation of our airspace in full view of the American people via a drone mothership somewhere over the Atlantic. Let’s call it “the cowardice option.”

2. Brian Bergen, a member of the New Jersey state legislature and a former Army Apache helicopter pilot, revealed that an attaché from the Department of Defense told him they have no idea where the drones are coming from but are not concerned about it. That’s “the complete and total incompetence option.”

3. Our friend and colleague at Blaze Media, Glenn Beck’s chief researcher and former Defense Department intelligence analyst Jason Buttrill, gave us this chestnut to consider on X:

— (@)
Congress holds a hearing where Reproduction Vehicles (craft that has been retrofitted or copied from UAPs) are disclosed. Russia unveils some new super weapon (hypersonic) in Ukraine. It's touted as unstoppable. Craft starts showing up all over American skies. The U.S. claims they don't know what they are ... but they’re not a threat. Riiiight. The only way authorities would be able to say that is if they WERE TOLD to say that. This is similar to when the B2 was first unveiled. We’re being desensitized to a new technology. They're getting ready to use this tech in actual military applications all over the world. This is a both a warning to countries like Russia and China, as well as a heads up to the American people on what to expect in the near future. Where did we get the technology? I won't speculate. Who knows ... but probably not from Kansas.

That’s the “We are conducting high-level psyop theater in our own airspace in order to send a very provocative message to the rest of the planet and desensitize the American people to a level of technology that they don’t have yet” option — also known as “the COVID option.”

4. All that’s left after the above is "the supernatural option."

So what should we be making of this in a world now filled with people who think health insurance CEOs absolutely deserve to be killed in cold blood on a public sidewalk? Now elevate that lethal mania to drone warfare and who knows when it is your turn to have justice served to you “Hunger Games” style?

The situation reminds me of the show “The Mysterious Benedict Society,” which dovetails nicely with Buttrill’s view. The story centers on a manufactured concept called “the emergency,” delivered through new technology in newspapers and other media via “the whisperer.” Its purpose is to incite public panic over fake issues while diverting attention from real problems. Sound familiar? The story originated as a book and was later adapted into a two-season series streamed on — wait for it — Disney Plus. Buttrill suggests this is akin to Pinocchio turning into a real boy, as many on the political right seem to be letting their guard down during this post-election honeymoon phase.

Whatever the case, this feels nefarious, like implanting a chip in your brain to modify behavior. The media, driven by contempt for everyday people they seek to control, act as perpetual crisis actors. So what’s more likely? That they will uncover the truth behind this situation, or that they are complicit in it?

So mama in her kerchief may be intent on settling in for a long winter’s nap as she waits for jolly old St. Nick to come, but he may need to outfit his sleigh this year with air-to-air missiles if that bag of presents is going to find its way down the chimney this time around.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all ... pass the ammunition!