The Phoenix Incident (2015)

1
Go! Go! Go!
: Go! Go!
: They've been here before.
Belgium, Osaka, Roswell:
those were recon missions.
They were testing our weakness.
Testing our capabilities.
But Phoenix was different.
: How was it different?
- It was only the beginning.
Come on!
- What the fuck is going on,
Mitch?!
- Jesus Christ, we gotta go!
We gotta go!
- Glenn, come on! Over here!
- Keep going! Go! Go! Go!
Come on!
- Come on, Jake! Come on, Jake!
- Aargh...!
- Come on!
- What the fuck is going...?
My God...
- Sorry, if I had known
I would've waited.
- Alright, well...
- We got plenty of time.
- You know, we'll go down,
we can get to the other side,
it'll be perfect.
Come on, come on, come on.
Pick it up, Jesus Christ.
Ryan! Let's go! Come on!
- You comin'?
- Cue to John Williams.
- Wow!
- Right?!
- Wow!
- You know how we're going down,
right, Jake?
- Put Ryan on Jake's back,
push Jake down the side.
- You've done this before,
right? Just sliding?
- ...ride you like an alpaca,
man!
I'm serious, you could do it.
You go first.
Come on, go first, you can.
- Wait! Camera! Camera, camera,
camera, camera!
: Four Phoenix area
residents are missing tonight
after a local camping trip
in the Estrella Mountains.
- Despite the efforts
of the Arizona County Rescue
and the AHP,
officials continue
to scour the area
by ground and in the air,
but have found no sign
of the missing hikers.
The men were all experienced
riders, and were in good health.
- Susan Lauder hasn't heard
from her son Glenn
since Thursday morning
around 11 a.m.
- March 14th, 1997,
authorities recover
an abandoned ATV
belonging to 28-year-old
Glenn Lauder.
His food and water supplies are
found less than 50 feet away,
but Glenn is nowhere
in the area.
- ...that provided
the first real clues
as to what may have happened
to the four missing riders
on March 14th.
- The individual committing
these abductions was
extremely methodical. The
location of the disappearance
has led us to believe this was
the work of a lone perpetrator,
operating in a specific part
of the desert.
- New evidence
has come to light
linking the unexplained
disappearance
of four missing Arizona hikers.
- Sheriff's Officials arrest
Walton S. Gayson,
a retired Veteran
and religious fanatic,
with a long history
of confrontations with police.
- The Phoenix District
Attorney's Office says
Gayson was involved
in a fourth aggravated assault,
where he attacked a Maricopa
County Sheriff's station.
- Chilling testimony
from Walton S. Gayson,
now the prime suspect
in what investigators believe
may be a four-person homicide.
Gayson, seen...
: During
interrogation, Gayson confesses
he witnessed
the men's abduction,
but insisted the men were
taken by non-terrestrial beings.
: But before Gayson
can stand trial,
Gayson is taken
into Federal custody,
and all information
in the case is confiscated.
- Investigators from the FBI
will be reviewing the evidence
and will be making a statement
in the coming weeks. Thank you.
- Gayson absolutely committed
these murders,
there's no question
in my mind.
It's like we were being
sabotaged by our own country.
- You think this was
a conspiracy?
- Absolutely. Something happened
out there in the desert.
- What do you think happened?
- We got too close
to something much bigger;
the military
didn't want us to know.
- You're aware that,
by giving this interview,
they could come after you
and your family?
- Yeah, I know, I know.
- Okay, you ready to do this?
- Yeah, let's go.
- In 1997, you took part
in one of the largest
military cover-ups
in United States history.
- That's correct.
- And this involved
a direct engagement
with extra-terrestrial craft.
- That's correct.
- But the official defense
department reports
have never been disclosed.
- Congress doesn't even know
that this happened.
- This began March 13th, 1997,
during the single most
controversial UFO sighting
in North America known as
the "Phoenix Lights".
- Hey Sue! Take a look at this!
- The Phoenix Lights.
Tonight, lights in the sky.
- Phoenix, Arizona residents
are talking about
one of the nation's
largest UFO sightings.
- There was a case... oh... a
couple of years ago in Arizona,
of some lights that were seen
over Arizona.
Um, and that has never been
fully explained.
- Like a fleet of planes or
helicopters flying in formation.
- The first reports of the
strange flying object came in
about 8:20 p.m.
from a former police officer
in Paulden, Arizona.
- ...hundreds of eye witnesses
reported sightings--
: They've been here
before.
Belgium, Osaka, Roswell:
those were recon missions.
But Phoenix was different.
- How was it different?
- This was the first time we
knew what they were capable of.
The first time we'd been
provoked into an attack,
or maybe the first time
they were.
- And as a result
of this operation, four civilian
men became collateral damage.
- Yeah...
I don't think a night's gone by
in seventeen years
that I haven't thought about
what happened to those boys
that night.
- Get down!
- Alright, so here's what I got.
See here, I had to cannibalize
a bunch of other cameras.
They are wrecked,
unfortunately, but, uh...
Yeah, that's right!
Hands free baby!
And, why hands free, you ask?
Lemme show you, with this...
Keeyah! Alright?!
You can do cool shit
like this... Pow!
Captain Fuckin' Magic, right?
- Uh, Glenn had mounted this
camera to the front of his bike
and actually one to his helmet,
too;
the best we could do
at the time, you know.
But, like,
he recorded everything,
he managed to get every stunt
way before Go Pros or,
you know, any of the shit
we have now.
Glenn was, um,
never scared of shit.
He was just fearless.
Oh ho-ho.
- And you do realize how
ridiculous you look in all this,
right?
- You look ridic... Fuck you!
- He saved up his own money
to buy his cameras.
He filmed stunts, tricks,
anything you could film.
He was pointing that thing
at something.
Fuck yeah! Whoo!
- When they disappeared
it was...
it was like life just stopped.
They were so fun and...
and full of life.
- You find me attractive!
- I think, that's my foot.
And then they were just gone.
Oh, you son of a bitch.
Hey... you son of a bitch!
So you are the best alarm clock
of all.
I know.
Alright, let's do this!
It's D-Day, motherfuckers!
Shut up! Shut up.
- Hey, are you sure you got
enough food for this weekend?
- Yeah, I got...
I got everything we need.
- I don't wanna eat bologna
and beer every day.
- No, I know. I know.
It'll be fine,
don't worry about it.
- Where are we
even fuckin' going?
- Look, here, we can just...
We're right here...
- Why do we even have
to go that far?
Why can't we just, like,
hit a bar, or a...
- I'm not taking you to...
to 'Nam or anything...
- I just don't wanna get bit
by a fuckin' rattlesnake.
- Look, I'm doing this
as much for you
as I am for him, come on.
Fuck!
Yeah, I hear you! God dang.
Hey, hey, hey!
- What's up, man?!
- Ready? Whattup?!
- Look at Jacob, looking good,
buddy. Where's Ryan?
What? He's still asleep.
Sh-shh!
Whoo!
Give me some! Give me some!
Get the fuck outta here!
- Yeah, I know. No, I fucked it
up on that last jump,
it's not gonna zoom anymore.
- Oh, shit.
- It'll be fine, though,
I just can't zoom.
- It'll be great!
- "Bitches!"
Aw, man, if we don't get out
of here this day
it's 'cause of YOU, you...
What's the problem?
- The zipper's stuck.
- No, it's not. Hold on.
- Leather.
- Smells like victory.
- Leather!
So good.
So good.
- Out, out, out!
- Out, out, out!
One! Two! Three!
- After you.
- Oh, thank you, love.
- I mean, for years,
they told us it was over.
You know, they couldn't
explain the reports,
the bone fragments,
the lack of evidence.
How good do I look? Huh?
- No one would help us.
I mean, if... if our boys are
dead, where are the bodies?
You guys look great.
- But no parent should have
to outlive their kid.
We just wanna know
what happened to our boys.
- What?
- By coming forward
with this information now
you risk exposing
a military operation
that led to the disappearance
of these four men.
How did you become
involved with this event?
- In 1997, I was stationed
at Luke Air Force Base
in Phoenix, Arizona
as part of a special operations
aerial unit.
- And the weeks
leading up to the incident,
had you experienced
any warning signs
about an impending attack?
- There were reports
of livestock mutilations,
things of that nature
on our side of the spectrum.
We had experienced, uh...
atmospheric anomalies
about 50 clicks west
of the range.
- That's in an area where
the four men were abducted?
- That's right.
- But there was
no other indication
of an attack or an invasion?
- No. No, not at that time.
- And leading up
to the incident,
were you or your superiors
aware
of the four civilian men
prior to that night?
- No, we were not.
- Walton Gayson?
- No.
- Were you aware that the men
had been recording themselves?
Did you... did you know
that the footage existed?
- Not at that time,
I have subsequently
become aware of that.
I thought you had to piss?!
- Dude.
- Can I get space?
Dude!
- All right, fine!
Is this what you want?
This is what I want.
- It's gonna take me a minute,
hold on, with you watchin'.
- Are you pee shy? Don't move.
I'm gonna try to get it
between your legs.
- Nobody look,
I get really embarrassed.
- Oh my God,
what are you doing?
Holy shit.
Did that freak you out
at all? Is that gay?
Is this intimidating anybody?
Is that a squirt bottle?
Got it on my shorts.
- That's what happens
when you pee into the wind.
- Off a tire, into the wind.
- My father would be so proud.
God.
- At that time Hale-Bopp
was making its approach
to the North-West.
0430 Nor Comm El Paso reported
a... a triangular shape
that was trailing
behind the comet's tail.
- Did you know
what the object was?
- They referred to it
as a Chevron,
but no, nobody knew
what the hell it was.
At 0700 there was traffic
about a separation.
The object had been following
the comet
until 1.32 aeronautical units,
at which time
it began a break-off
and a rapid descent
into our atmosphere.
- And was there any
indication where it was heading?
- Yeah, somewhere over Arizona.
- Yeah, this is how it begins!
- We're gonna have
to stop for gas first.
- Sup, buddy?
- Whoa! Hello-o.
- We should take those, yeah?
- Yeah, I know, right?
Hey, here, take it, take it,
take it.
I gotta show ya something.
I've been practicing.
- Come on, man, I thought
you were ready to go!
Here, ready?
You son of a bitch!
- That's just like the best
thing I have ever seen.
- No, it's not!
- Mitch was a good kid.
He didn't deserve any of this.
- Well, the family took
the disappearance really hard.
Especially since
Mitch's brother Mark,
he, uh, died in a helicopter
crash
in '92, two years
after the Gulf War.
- You know, I think that's why
Mitch and Glenn had that...
I, I think, you know,
growing up around military,
they, they were like family,
you know, they uh...
they were close,
they were really
tight knit,
and... and once Mark passed
on, definitely more so, I think,
like, Glenn became
like a brother to Mitch.
- You could model...
- Don't "big brother" him right now.
- Just be nice,
you just gotta be nice.
- Look, I'm being nice, I'm
telling him that he's brilliant.
So, why aren't you painting?
You never paint.
- I do paint.
- Dude, how come
you don't make music.
If you're a...
if you're all a musician...
- Ooh, I like it! That's a...
that's a very good idea!
- This is not about me,
this is about him.
- "Why don't you
make music?"
- You know why he doesn't have
to make music?
Because he dresses like
he makes music,
and that's the important part.
- You know what
that the difference is,
is I'm gonna be
a librarian who paints.
You're gonna fuckin' go
to L.A. and you're gonna...
you know, we're gonna listen
to you on the radio.
- Damn straight.
- You know, you're my best friend,
but you need to get
the fuck away from me
and get the hell out of here...
You know...
- You said I was
your best friend.
- Only on Sunday nights.
- You two belong.
- I'm gonna go smoke pot.
- Run, keep running,
all the way to the coast.
- If you don't, if you don't
come back,
we know you've gone
to Los Angeles
to be a rock 'n' roll star.
- Dude...
- Turn the fuckin' camera off.
- You just fuckin' ran
outta there?
- Turn the fucking camera off,
please.
- ...fuckin' problem, man.
Fuck that guy, dude...
I love him, I know...
- Ryan, he's doing it because
he loves you...
- No, he's not.
The only reason why he...
- No, we all do, 'cause we want you...
because we know you're fuckin' good.
- I get it.
But I don't need to hear it
from fucking Jake
who can't get over his wife,
who won't take his fuckin'
wedding ring off,
that I need to change my life
and do something with him.
Why doesn't he get off his ass
and do anything?
- That's his problem.
- It's his problem, but I don't need to be...
I know what I'm doing
with my life and at least...
out of the four of us,
I've got...
I've got a plan
to do something,
I'm not just sitting on my ass
and, and...
I don't know, dude.
You can't just...
I'm willing to do it. I'll pack
everything that I have
in the back of my car
and fucking drive,
and I'll get there.
And I'll pump gas,
I'll paint houses, I don't
give a shit what I have to do.
Well, just... Maybe there's
a side of me
that doesn't wanna leave,
I mean... I don't know, I mean,
- I'm... certainly
not one to talk...
- Yeah, I know, I know,
we're good.
- You don't believe Gayson
acted alone?
- When you're doing
a criminal investigation,
you look at every possibility,
and then you consider the
impossible. The impossible was
that four healthy, young men
could have been overpowered,
abducted, and murdered
by a single individual.
- We have a very limited time
that we get to talk to each
other, so, uh,
I would kind of like to get to
some questions that I have,
I've been wanting to ask you
for quite a while.
So, if you don't mind,
are you ready to, uh...
ready to begin?
- You don't want
to shake hands first?
- I don't think we're allowed
to actually touch each other,
Mr. Gayson, but I appreciate
the offer.
- Courtesy.
- But why did your department
release Gayson
after the incident?
- We're following protocol.
We investigate the case.
We investigate the leads.
We hit a dead end.
- Yeah, but you had
a suspect in custody.
- We had a suspect
who said that he witnessed
the men in the area,
but there wasn't
enough evidence to hold him.
- So you're saying
your department released
the last person
to see the men alive?
- No one took him seriously.
He was a bit of a, a bit of a...
a bit unstable.
- When history paints
a picture of me,
it will say I was
the monster that took them.
I wasn't the real monster.
- I didn't fuckin' feel it
at first.
Because of the shock, yeah.
And then I look down,
and the branch is literally
sticking through my thigh.
- You always laugh
when you get hurt.
Show and tell! Whoa.
- Hey, do you have your
Frankenstein, helmet rig thing?
- Oh! Yeah!
Get it out the bag in the back.
Record button's on the side,
just mash it
and it starts recording.
- He'll be the first man
on earth
to film his own death.
Well done.
- Pretty cool little thing.
- Alright, check it out.
Yeah, yeah, you like that? Yep.
- Hey, guys! Something's going
on over there.
- What, what's up?
- Check it out.
What's going on?
- What is it? What's up?
- I don't know.
- What the fuck?
- By 0900 multiple
atmospheric distortions
began appearing
across the state.
- In the same position
as the previous sightings.
- That's right.
Uh, the Nevada border,
Paulden, and Flagstaff.
- Those were the same
warning indicators
that happened
in Russia and Syria.
- We had two birds in the air,
but there were no other
confirmed contacts
except for the formation.
- Oh, shit...
- What is that?
It's not normal.
- What the fuck!?
- Goddamn it!
- Get out and check it, Jake.
- What did you hit?
Did you hit something?!
- I didn't do anything!
Goddamn it!
- Would you come look at this?
- I'm on it.
- Did you ever put oil in this?
- Fuck you.
- How far is it to your folks'
place, maybe we can walk?
- No, no. It's at least
15 miles or more.
I don't even know
where we are out here.
- I don't think AAA's gonna
come out this far.
- Well, I don't think anybody's
coming out this far,
that's the whole point.
- I'm sorry, guys,
this is my fault.
- No. Don't worry about it.
Look, we'll try and find a
phone, see if anybody's there
we can call for help, yeah?
- I'll stay here and see
if I can at least get it runnin'
or something. I'll get it
patched up, if I can,
and you can meet us back
here, alright?
- Jake, you're... yeah?
- Yeah, we're good.
- Dude, she's a big girl,
she'll be fine.
- Well, I don't like it.
- Whoo! Yeah!
- ...but Ryan got there like,
his nut sweat stain was like
a third of the size of yours,
which makes no sense at all.
- It was cold!
- Do you remember that?
He was like,
"No! My nuts are starting
to get sweaty, that's why.
They just look smaller!"
- Shut up.
- Screamin', "I was in the
pool! I was in the pool!"
- Were the four men aware
of the impending operation?
Do you think they had any idea
of what was about to happen?
- Now y-y-you-you've asked me
some form of that question
two or three times now,
and I've already given you
the answer:
they didn't know,
we didn't know.
That's it,
that's not gonna change.
Tire... I'm tired.
- Okay...
- Hey, don't touch the fence,
I think it's electric.
- You think?
You think this thing's on?
- I don't know, man.
I hope it's not on, I just
picture a fat serial killer
on the other end,
just staring at us.
Shut up, dude. Shut up.
- So, what was the official
cause of death?
- They said that
Ryan had been attacked
by some kind of an animal.
The coroner said
that they thought they found
what were his remains.
: Police say
the remains of the four men
have yet to be identified,
however officials
are classifying this
as an animal attack,
believing the men may have
become victims of a bear...
:...the March 14th,
1997 attacks,
where 4 hikers disappeared
in the Estrella Sierra...
- Following the coroner's
announcement,
the County Attorney's office
has suspended
further investigation
into the men's disappearance.
- How many bodies
did you recover?
- There were no bodies.
No tissue residue.
Not even DNA could be
recovered from the site.
- So, in your opinion,
could this have been a bear?
- No. Absolutely not.
- Everyone knew Gayson
would never testify.
So, the medical examiner was
instructed to classify the event
as a 'bear attack'. Families
never had any resolution
to what happened to their kids.
: Despite
public criticism
of the Medical Examiner's
announcement,
the County Attorney's office
has suspended
further investigation into
the men's disappearance.
- Givin' up over here, or what?
- I guarantee you he has never
put oil in this car.
He can barely wipe his own ass,
how could he make it in L.A.?
- What's with you guys,
you used to be best friends?
- I'll take that,
I've had enough of this.
I'll see
if there's anything else...
- I'm gonna go try to find
some help with that road.
- Are you sure?
- Yeah, it's not that far.
- Alright.
- I'll be back.
- Be careful, alright?
- I will.
- I don't want Mitch
putting me in the ground.
Great... f...
- By 1100 hours, NORCOM
had lost visual with the object.
Within 30 minutes
we had lost
two KH-12 satellites
over the Southwestern
atmosphere.
- They were entering
our atmosphere?
- There were conflicting
reports, the...
It was a fuckin' mess, nobody
knew what they were lookin' for
or where the hell to look.
Well, Glenn, congratulations
'cause we are pretty fucked
out here.
Uh, Ryan's car's
out of commission, so,
we're stuck, and...
There isn't shit for miles.
And judging by the look
of that shack
you guys just headed off for,
I'm gonna guess you're about
to be chopped up into uh...
hamburger meat, so,
let me just go on the record
and say 'I told you so'.
You know, this whole trip,
just... great fuckin' idea.
- You need to leave!
You need to leave, now!
- Were you with the men
the night they disappeared?
- I warned them...
...but they came back.
You need to leave!
You need to get out!
Fuck!
- Authorities claim
you were responsible
for the disappearance of those
men, but you've never spoken
about any military operation
that night.
Get away from my car!
: If you say so.
- Why not come forward?
Expose the truth?
- I have made peace
with my Lord,
and He shall grant me
forgiveness.
I can't say the same for you.
Whoa! Jesus!
- Open the fuckin' door!
- Take it easy! Take it easy!
- Where is he? Where did he go?!
There was this fucking guy
right here!
- What the fuck are you doing?
- There was some
fucking psychopath
banging on the fucking car!
- Hey! Relax! Ryan! I...
- I think I just peed
a little...
- I didn't see anybody, did you?
- What happened?
- Why don't you just
own up to the fact
that you were beatin' off
in there.
- Look, can we get back
on the ATVs?
- I'm sorry I disturbed you,
all right?
- I mean, if we can expose
a conspiracy, then none of this
has to happen again.
- It is happening...
- I think people believe
what they want to believe.
But in my heart, I know
Gayson killed those men.
- They come. They take.
They feed.
They have no pity,
no remorse.
Their vision is pure.
- See ya later.
- We're good!
- I'll pick you up later
tonight!
- Go! Come on, douchebag!
Let's go!
- Go on! I'm gonna catch up!
- Those boys found something
out there,
something no one
was supposed to see.
The police, they just
didn't wanna say what.
- What do you think they found?
- The truth.
- And then you received a call
to stop the investigation?
- Can you shut that off?
Our department...
was told to back down
by the Air Force
investigative commission.
- We have recovered
circumstantial evidence
of a possible connection
to an incident in Arizona...
- We received a call.
They told us to suspend
all search and rescue
operations
in the Estrella region,
so that's what we did.
- So you were told, essentially,
to back off?
- Yes.
- Well, would you say that that
was unusual for the military
to intervene in a missing
persons investigation?
- Yeah. I'd say
that's very unusual.
- I was told. "Don't ask
any more questions",
and that's kind of
where it ended.
- This was not about a bear,
or even about
investigating Gayson.
- You believe they were
covering something up?
- It was a distraction, to keep
people from knowing the truth.
- Look, no one talks about
what happened that night.
- At this point
you were at DEFCON 2?
- At 1730, the 104th reported
multiple bogies
descending
into Nevada airspace.
I got that one on video.
- When they made an abrupt
turn at the south...
...law enforcement,
civilians had already seen it.
There was no way
to isolate or contain it.
We couldn't respond in time.
- Major sighting, here!
- Well, our newsroom has been
flooded with calls tonight...
:...from all across
the state of mysterious
flying objects in the sky...
:...in what many
are already calling
the largest UFO sighting
in North America.
- There were so many phone calls
coming in
from the city and the county,
and people were concerned
that this object
could have been a threat.
It passed over our airport,
it passed over the towers,
the buildings, and nobody
was doing anything about it.
- I don't care what nobody's
talking about, man.
Those were aliens and shit,
like E.T., but aliens, man!
- After hundreds of panicked
911 calls and reports
to local authorities,
airport officials were prompted
to temporarily suspend
flights, as the strange lights
crossed over
Sky Harbor air space.
Air traffic controllers
had been notified
by Luke Air Force Base
authorities,
and numerous reports from
nearby residents confirmed
the base had scrambled F-16s
shortly after the sightings.
- We were tracking 'em
for about 90 minutes
coming in from Nevada.
As soon as they entered
our air space,
we scrambled two '15's, but...
the 104th was already
engaged over that area.
- Engaged?
- Yeah, they had encountered
them
over the Barry Goldwater Range
and evaded them into the south
until we could intercept.
That's when operation Snowbird
went into effect.
- Don't worry, baby,
I'll snuggle up to you tonight,
keep you warm.
Come on, give me a kiss.
- Quit jerking off
with your toys.
Geek!
- What the fuck?
I mean, look at 'em.
They're all fucking aligned.
- What are you guys lookin' at?
- You're fuckin' retarded,
you know that, right?
- Look, look, look, look, look
they're comin' this way.
- Hmm?
- Jesus. That... That's a UFO.
It is not a UF...
those are flares, dude! Come on!
- Flares? From what?
- Shh-shh-shh-shh... Listen.
Huh, you hear 'em?
You hear the A-10's?
- Yeah, yeah, you can hear 'em.
- That's what they're from,
you dunce. Hmm?
- What are they doing out here?
- Must be part of that operation
we saw this morning.
- They've been doing maneuvers
over the desert all day.
- Oh, dude! Check it, check it,
look, look, look! You see 'em?
The two A-10's?
- Oh, shit. That's not it, man.
- Those are '15's!
Oh, shit, those are '15's!
Look how fuckin' fast
they're going!
Whoohoohoo! Oh, my God!
- Why are they dropping flares,
were they chasing something?
- Maybe it's an exercise
or a... training something.
- What? At nine o'clock
at night?
- Yeah, I haven't seen '15's
do maneuvers over a city
in, what, like forever?
- Yeah, but why here?
Why aren't they down
by the base?
- I don't know! You know
what this means, right?
We're fuckin' going up there!
- No!
- We are goin' up there! Come
on, man, let's go! Let's go!
We are doin' this, baby!
- Absolutely not.
- What?! Come on...!
- We don't know what that is,
we don't even know
where the hell we are
right now.
We should just
stay here or go home.
Melissa's fucking
waiting on us anyway!
- No, please don't bring
Melissa into this, no...
- Whatever shit
is going on there,
we do not need
to be fucking with it.
- You kidding me?
You want to go home, Jake?
Would you quit hiding
from stuff? Please stop
being such a fucking pussy,
it breaks my heart!
- I'm not being a fucking pussy,
I don't think we should be
fucking around out here, okay?
I just have a bad feeling
about this.
I think we should go home now.
- It's just some planes!
- Yeah, and in two minutes,
they're gonna be gone!
- You're telling me that
those are flares dropped
from fighter jets,
and you want to go closer?
What if it's the fucking
Russians, or something!
- It's not the Russians!
What are you talkin' about?!
- Look! I swear I will get you
the best blow job ever,
just please come with me,
alright? We'll go up there,
we'll come back down,
it'll take 10 minutes.
You are going, yes?
- Fuckin' a, man--
- Yes! He's going! He's going!
And you're going too, baby!
Let's do it! This is gonna be
fucking great! Let's go!
Let's go, let's go!
- Jesus...
- Lt. Col. James Edwards,
now the Assistant Director
of Operations
for the 176th Operations Group
in Maryland,
says his squadron
of A-10 Warthogs
was on a training exercise
over the Barry Goldwater Range.
- So you're saying the lights
that people witnessed
were flares?
- Most likely they were
our LUU-2
illumination parachute flares.
- Is that unusual, to drop
flares over a populated area?
- We were miles
from any civilian areas.
It was standard procedure
to drop unused ordinance
after a run.
- I still don't know
what it was.
As a pilot and a former
Air Force officer, uh...
I can definitively say
that this craft did not resemble
any manmade object
that I'd ever seen.
And it was certainly not
"high altitude flares",
as put out by the, uh... the Air
Force at Luke Air Force base,
because I've never seen flares
fly in formation.
- There were about five or six
craft, uh...
We were tracking their progress
for about ten more minutes...
And when they passed
over the city,
they broke south for Tucson.
- What changed?
- Well, after what happened in,
uh... Belgium and Osaka,
we... we sure as hell weren't
gonna take any chances.
- What kind of chances?
- Fuckin' move, let's go!
- Mitch, Mitch. Hold up, man.
- Move it, let's go!
- Are you serious?
See that shit?!
- Let's just turn around.
...freakin' me out.
- ...seen anything like this?
I mean,
what the fuck is going on?
- What's that one
behind that one over there?
- I don't know, it's not a '15.
- Yeah, no fucking a right,
it's moving too fast.
- They're dumping more flares.
Ugh, let's get
the fuck out of here.
- Two of our F-15's approached
them from the North.
One of our birds
attempted to make contact
with the lead craft,
and the other objects
instantly egressed from the AO.
- Flares...
- Okay.
- ...multiple bogies closing in
on your position.
- Check your nine o'clock...
- We had an E-3 in the air
covering with FLIR.
We could see them on visual,
but they were completely
invisible to radar.
- I was passed some information
that said
this was operation Snowbird.
The information this man
gave me was codenames
and Snowbird was diversion.
- Can you tell us specifically
what operation Snowbird is?
- In the event of a mass
sighting or an engagement
over a civilian populated area,
operation Snowbird would deploy
deterrent measures
or diversionary tactics to draw
eyes away from the combat zone.
- A distraction operation?
- Yeah.
- So when the public saw
the lights over the city
they weren't seeing
the actual craft?
- No. No, they were seeing
our flares.
- Is it unusual to drop flares
over a populated area?
- Well, I've already stated that
we--
- Eh! Look, as Lieutenant
Colonel Jones stated
in his report,
the events of March 13 were
a documented training exercise
with the 104th fighter squadron.
- Is it unusual that A-10's
from another base
would violate your air space
without first contacting
your flight controller?
- Lt. Col. Jones and his men
were well within their area
of operation.
- And, does this include
operation Snowbird,
as a diversion exercise
over the Estrella Mountains?
- Alright, we're going to end
this interview now.
- I didn't expect
those questions.
- At, uh, 2200 hours...
they cleared
the E. Mountain line,
and that lead craft, uh...
changed trajectory,
and engaged our fighters
head on.
- So, what was going through
your mind?
- I had never seen anything move
so fast in my life.
Okay, stay on top of them...
- Everyone defending!
...missile launched!
- Warning. Warning.
Warning. Warning.
- I don't think so, I mean
they're not supposed to be able
to move like that.
- Whoa! Look, look, look,
look, look!
- Oh shit!
- Oh, fuck, what the hell
was that?!
- Jesus Christ!
- What was that?!
- Oh, my God, man,
that's a pilot...
- But why did we shoot it down?
- Come on, we gotta go.
- What're you doing?!
- That's enough, listen, dude...
Mitch, get...
- Everybody on, everybody on!
Come on, man!
- Goddamn it!
- Where the fuck is it?!
- I think they went this way,
somewhere over here, come on!
- They're looking
in the wrong place!
- Come on!
- Do you see it?!
- It's on the mountain there!
- Right over there! Look!
- Mitch...
- Wait, hang on,
get down, get down.
We need to turn around,
right fuckin' now.
- Hang on a second.
- No, why...?
- It's a fucking pilot,
we can't leave him.
- Listen to him, man,
he's right.
You've had your fun,
let's get the fuck out of here.
- If that's one of ours,
I'm not gonna leave him here!
- "One of ours"?
What are you talking about, dude?
If that's one of ours, military,
someone's coming after him.
- There's nobody else here!
It's our chance to save him.
Will you just fucking come
with me for one second?!
- We don't know what the hell that is!
- We're just gonna see if he's okay!
If he's fine, we'll go back down,
we'll get some help, alright? It'll be fine!
- If who's fine?!
- The fucking pilot, man! God, he needs us!
- Listen to me.
Nobody needs us,
and this is not the time
for you to play hero.
- What're you worried about?
- What am I worried about?!
About him going up there,
getting us all fucking killed,
we shouldn't be here
in the first fucking place.
Listen, Mark is not up there,
okay?
- What the fuck did you say
to me?! Fuck you, dude!
- I'm trying to save
his fucking life!
- You wanna be a fucking baby,
fine! I'm going after him!
- You've lost your fuckin' mind!
Go!
- You sack of shit!
Fuck you, Ryan!
- Fuck...
- If he dies, it's on you!
- We gotta go, we got--
- Get the fuck off me!
- Let's go!
- This is bullshit! Let him go!
- Would you leave up there,
alone? Come on!
- This doesn't make any sense.
- Come on, man...
- Mitch! Mitch!
- Ryan, man! Ryan!
Shit!
- They were scared.
We... uh.... We're talking
about best trained pilots
in the world, best equipment
in the world, it doesn't matter.
We were not prepared for
anything like this, nobody is.
- Can we fucking go now?
- Come on, Jake,
a little further, buddy.
- Come on!
- You see this?
- Hey, you good?
- Yeah.
- Mitch--
- Shh! Shut the fuck...!
Dude, come on!
- That's gotta be
one of our jets, man.
Did you guys see
an ejection or anything?
- No!
- No, nothing. Can we go now?
- Would you shut the fuck up,
come on!
I gotta go up.
- Mitch, no. No, no, no, dude!
- Mitch!
- Fuck. Then stay here!
- That is far enough!
- Mitch!
What the fuck is that?!
- There was no heat signature.
Our E-3 controllers were
unable to find the crash site
for 28 minutes.
By the time we did find
their location,
it was too late.
Oh, my God!
- Go! Go! Go!
Go to the bikes!
Come on, come on!
- Shit! Shit! Shit! Mitch!
- Come on. If they knew
they were trapped,
wouldn't they have done
something about it?
I mean, this is the
U.S. military for Christ's sake,
they can do anything they want.
- Come on, Jake!
- Glenn!
- Mitch! Ryan!
- Jake!
Jake! Jake!
- Jake!
- Oh, my God, dude...
His leg is fucked, man! Shit!
- Take it easy.
Jake, listen to me, buddy.
You're gonna be alright, okay?
You're gonna be okay.
- Oh, God, Jesus.
- I don't know, alright.
I don't know.
- Let's just get him
back on one of the bikes.
- Don't think
that's a good idea!
Nooo!
- Okay...
- What about those things?
I don't know!
- Fuck!
- Come on, Jake, we gotta go, buddy!
This way!
Come on, man!
- Come on, Jake. Come on, buddy.
- Guys, this way!
Jesus!
- I can't see 'em!
- What the fuck is going on,
Mitch?!
- Move! Come on, man!
We gotta go faster!
Come on! Come on!
This is the way, guys!
Come on, follow me!
Hey, guys! Over here!
Down here! Down here, come on!
Come on, let's go.
Oh...
: What are we even doing?
- Shh-shh-shh-shh!
Okay, alright, hold up.
Let's stay here for second.
: We never should
have fuckin' come here.
- I know, I'm sorry, buddy.
- We'll never get out of here!
- Listen, man. Just hang in
there, alright?
We're gonna get through this.
I'm sorry, buddy.
We gotta keep moving, though,
okay? Can you walk?
- I don't know, man,
I don't know.
- Jesus. Uh...
Alright, listen...
It's either stay, alright?
And wait for the sun.
Or we try for it.
It's up to you.
Shit...
- What're we doing here, Mitch?
- Just... let me think
for a second.
- I think they gave up.
We can make a run for it!
- Shhh, did you see
how many there were?!
- Are you fucking crazy?
They are fucking hunting us!
: Okay, we've got four
civilians heading in 0230.
Multiple contacts
North of their position.
- Stop! Stop!
- Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay!
Jesus Christ!
- We gotta go!
Come on! Come on!
- What the fuck
are those things?
- Glenn, come on!
- Over here!
Over here!
- Come on!
- What's that light coming from?
- I don't know,
maybe it's a house.
We gotta go! Go, go, go!
- Come on, Jake!
- Come on, Jake.
- Shit! It's the same house
from this morning.
It's the same fuckin' house
from this morning, man!
- I know it is! What else
are we going to do?!
This way, come on!
- Argh!
Come on, come on!
You got him?
- Tracking civilians at 0647.
- I wish I could share the pain
I live with everyday.
The shame I feel when I look
at myself in the mirror.
I've prayed.
Oh, God, I've prayed.
I'm not ready
for the Kingdom of Heaven.
There's only one savior
waiting for me.
Hey! Hey!
Guys, over here! Come on.
- Mitch, they're close! Come on!
- Come on, hurry up!
- Ah, Jesus, come on!
- They're coming!
- Come on, open the gates!
Open the gates!
- Open the fucking gates!
They're right behind us!
- I don't wanna die out here.
It's open! It's open!
Go! Go!
- Get inside! Get inside!
- Help me bar the fuckin' door!
- Ooh, Mitch! Mitch! Mitch!
- Yeah-yeah! I'm coming!
Put this... put this over here!
- See how fast they were moving?
- Oh, my God, guys. We have
got to get Jake to a hospital!
- Call my dad, he'll... he'll
know who to call, he's...
Can't find a phone!
Where's the fucking phone! Shit!
Mitch!
- We can't stay here.
We gotta find some help.
- Well, listen, whatever took
that thing down, if it's military,
someone's gonna come
looking for it, right? Right?!
- Wanna stay here
and wait for them to get here?
- I mean, what are we going
to do about Jake?
- I don't know, maybe...
we'll just leave him here.
- What?! What the fuck
are you talking about?!
We can't just leave him here!
- I am not staying in here
with those things coming in
to tear us apart!
You understand me?
- Oh, shit!
- Fuck!
Who the fuck is that?!
- Who the fuck is this guy?
- Shit...
- Man, I know we're trespassing here,
but we got these things
out there chasing us.
- Listen, man.
We have to find a phone.
- Our friend is hurt real bad.
Please help him. Please. Please!
- Hey, look, I think there's
some kind of misunderstanding.
If you could just let us
wait here for a while,
we'll stay here until
somebody can come and help us.
Hey...
- What the fuck, man?!
- What the fuck did you just do?
Dude, how could you open those gates!
- You son of a bitch!
- Oh, my God, dude!
Mitch, Mitch! Mitch!
- Come on, we gotta move.
Come on, let's move!
We can't stay here!
- Come on, come on, Jake!
- Okay. Okay, okay! Okay, okay.
- Guys. There's a lot of blood,
man,
we gotta stop this bleeding.
- Goddamn it! What the fuck?!
Okay, check the beds.
There's gotta be
something in here.
- Oh, shit!
- Yeah.
- I got two! I got two!
- That'll work.
Yeah.
- At least it's something.
- It's better than something.
Here, catch.
Hanging in there, Jakey?
- Mitch...
Mitch, I'm sorry for what I said
about Mark, man.
I didn't mean it, okay?
- Yeah, I know, man.
- And...
I'm sorry about Melissa.
I'm sorry I porked your mom.
...but I kinda wish
it was the Russians.
- Easy, man.
Just take it easy, okay?
It's gonna be fine.
You're gonna be fine.
- Jake!
- Oh, my God! Jake!
- Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Jake!
- Oh, my God!
- Then why did the men
return to the house?
- Geographically, it was the
only place within miles of them.
It was the only safe port
in the storm.
- And other than those men,
the public had no idea
what was happening.
- They were the only ones
up there
and we couldn't risk anyone
compromising the operation.
- You got it?
You got it, man?
- Yes. Yes, I fucking got it!
- Come on!
We got to get 'em.
- No, dude, you have no idea
how many of those things
are out there!
- But I pushed him here--
Turn the fuckin' light off!
Shh-shh!
- It's in the house!
- Shut up!
Shh! Shh-shh!
Shh-shh! Shh!
Shh-shh! Shh!
Turn the power back on!
I don't.
- Jesus!
- Motherfucker!
What are those things?!
What'd they do to Jacob?!
Tell me! What do they want?!
- Oh, shit.
- What the fuck?
- Once we were able
to mark their position,
our SAR teams were still
about 15 minutes out.
You could see the men were
getting ripped apart
and...
and we had no choice, we had
to do it, we had to attack.
- Oh, oh, God, they're shelling us, man!
- Who?!
- The military!
- Jake's still out there!
- They're bombing 'em!
- Shut up. Shut up!
If you don't fucking help me,
I will end you!
Where's more ammo?!
- Watch him.
- No! Mitch!
No! Mitch, come back, man!
- Mitch, wait!
- Hey...
There's a light up there!
- Oh, shit!
- Find something.
Go through this!
- He's got cameras everywhere.
He's been watching us
the whole fucking time! Shit...
- There's gotta be something
we can use!
- Mitch!
- Yeah. Keep it.
- Okay.
Shit. They lead us here.
He's helping them!
- Guys!?
- That's Jake.
Oh, shit!
- Hey, hey!
- Mitch. Mitch!
- Ryan! Ryan. This is you.
You got my back,
I'm going after Jake.
Alright, let's go. Come here.
Come on! Let's move!
- Mitch, wait!
Mitch?! Ryan?!
Glenn!
- Let him go!
No, n-no, man, please? Please?!
No-I, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!
- You okay? Alright, come on,
get up. Get up.
Come on. Come on, Ryan,
let's go! Let's roll.
Glenn, let's go!
- Where the fuck did he go?!
Come on, let's go!
Over here!
Glenn, come on, let's go!
- We gotta go!
- I'm going to go out the front and get Jake.
You two go out the back, get to the ATV's,
I will meet you there. Okay?
Now, come here, come here.
Listen. I can do this, alright?
I got it. I'm way faster without
you two bitches, anyway.
Alright? First one there,
get to the ATV,
fuckin' haul ass
and get some help. Okay?
- Okay, okay.
- We can do this. Let's go.
- Alright.
- Mitch!
:...local hostiles
converging on the target.
- We could see 'em on scope.
There was nothing else
we could do for 'em.
That was the worst thing
I've ever seen.
:...clear to engage
the target.
- Roger that.
- One friendly down, confirm,
we have one friendly down.
- Okay.
- Continue engaging.
- Ryan?!
Come on! Let's go, come on!
No...
It's in the house!
It's in the fuckin' house!
Ryan!
- Go! Go!
Glenn! Run! Go!
Don't fucking stop!
Oh!
Let's go! Go!
- Come on!
Come on!
- Come on! Come on!
- They found us!
: We got
two civilian friendlies
exiting the structure.
- Yeah.
- Roger that, we got them.
Hold that position!
- Hey!
- Hey! Down here!
: Back and left.
Back and left.
Alright, hold. Get that ladder
down to them.
- We got 298-9
about 30 seconds on scene.
- Down here.
- Come on!
We're getting outta here, Glenn!
- We're down here!
- Hey!
- Oh, shit!
- Ryan? Ryan?
What're you doing?
- Run.
Run!
Ryan!
No! No!
- About two weeks
after the, uh... incident,
a captain from Davis-Monthan
made overtures toward the press,
apparently he was going
to bring this story
to their attention.
About 72 hours later they found
he and his A-10 aircraft
crashed into the side
of a Colorado mountainside.
Pentagon said it was, uh...
equipment malfunction
and gross pilot error.
Nobody came forward after that.
- Do you believe the men
were taken by aliens?
- I'm not telling you
what I think.
I'm telling you what I know.
- He was 28
when they disappeared.
Glenn would've been
43 years old next month.
- And the official medical
examiner report
still lists the incident
as an animal attack?
- That monster took my son.
He knew what he did,
and they're just as guilty
as he is for not telling us.
- And then it was over.
They just closed the case.
It was like
no one would help us,
or even acknowledge
they existed.
- Their case was never brought
to my attention,
and when I asked
about the incident
I was told
"no more questions".
- But now I'll ask Officer Stein
and his colleagues
to escort the accused
into the room
so that we may all look
upon the guilty party.
- But the bottom line is,
they lied to us.
They're trying to hide
the facts
that fit their version
of what happened.
- Look, our goals are the same
as the families':
to find answers.
Now, as a parent,
I sympathize with them,
but in this case there's
simply not enough evidence
that this was anything
but an animal attack
or some kids
who got caught up in a cult.
- The amateur photographer
was camping in the Estrella
mountain range, south of the
I-10 highway. Along with him,
Mitch Adams...
- Anyone with information about
their possible whereabouts
is encouraged to contact
the Arizona Missing Database
or call 1-866-2Find-Them,
and remember,
the call is anonymous.
- It is 8:16, the night of
March 13th, 1997, and suddenly,
over the skies
of Paulden, Arizona,
what is described as a giant,
brightly lit boomerang,
soars through the air
slowly and silently.
Just 16 minutes later
that same UFO is spotted
by thousands of people
over the Phoenix area.
People report seeing it,
pilots report seeing it
in the air,
yet military radar screens
pick up nothing.
- If those boys are dead,
where the fuck are their bodies?
Where the fuck...
are their bodies?!
Okay.
Hello.
My name is Walt Gayson.
And my joyous day
has finally come.
My brothers and sisters
have all risen above this world
and left their vehicles behind.
But today it's my turn
to follow the Chosen Ones
to the Kingdom of Heaven.
It is time.