Sedona’s Skies Hold More Than Just Stars

Opinion | By Nick Falsetto

(Image Courtesy of Colin Freld)

Sedona has long carried a reputation that stretches beyond its red rocks and hiking trails. To some, it is a spiritual center with portals and vortexes that open into other dimensions. To others, it is a hotspot for unidentified aerial phenomena. Over the years, the city has developed a mystique that blends folklore, strange sightings, and whispered stories of things the official maps never mention.

Take Bradshaw Ranch, for example. For decades locals have traded tales of glowing orbs, unexplained disappearances, and secret experiments rumored to take place behind its fences. Just west, in the rugged sprawl of Secret Mountain Wilderness, hikers talk about an underground military presence. The stories say there are bunkers carved into the rock and camouflaged men with rifles who patrol the trails. This is not just legend. As a teenager, I twice had my own run-ins in that area with armed men who warned me away without explanation. The Bradshaw Ranch was eventually acquired by the federal government, which only added fuel to suspicions that something unusual is being hidden.

The strange energy here does not stop with human encounters. Sedona has been referred to by many in the field as the UFO hotspot of the world. I have personally seen Thunder Mountain lit from the inside, as if a window had opened in the rock and a blinding light poured through. It was not the kind of glow headlights or flashlights could create. It looked as if the mountain itself had come alive. Add to that the countless UFO reports that circulate around Sedona every year, and it is clear the skies here demand attention.

Many visitors brush these stories off as exaggerations or tall tales told to boost Sedona’s reputation as a tourist destination. Yet anyone who has lived here long enough knows how persistent and consistent the reports are. Locals share them in quiet conversations. Guides slip them into tours with a knowing smile. Even skeptics admit there are too many independent sightings, too many photographs, and too many strange encounters to dismiss outright. Sedona may be beautiful by day, but the night sky is what really defines the town for many of us who live under it.

There is also the matter of government secrecy. Arizona has a long history of strange aerial incidents, and Sedona sits in the middle of military flight corridors. Residents sometimes whisper about craft that move silently, lights that appear and vanish in ways no aircraft should, and the possibility that this region hosts more than meets the eye. Locals have even documented Apache military helicopters moving in and out of Secret Canyon, with some photographs showing them apparently escorting unidentified aerial phenomena away from the area.

The Phoenix Lights of 1997 remain one of the most famous UFO events in history. Sedona sat directly in the flight path of the sightings that night, which only adds to the lore of the phenomenon. More than 10,000 people saw something in the Arizona sky that night, and I was one of them. Not only there, but so close that I felt I could reach out and touch the craft as it moved silently overhead. I could see directly into it, make out shapes and shadows, and vividly recognize the presence of figures. The full story of what I saw and experienced that night is for another time, but let me say this much: it left me with far more questions than answers, and perhaps, even more than just questions.

I bring this up not to shock or sensationalize, but to encourage a deeper curiosity about the place we call home. The mystery of Sedona is not only its red rocks or its vortex sites. It is also in the unexplained lights above, the strange military rumors, and the possibility that we are sharing this landscape with forces we do not yet understand.

Today, the Sedona UAP Network, or S.U.N., has formed to bring together those who want to document and understand what we are witnessing. We meet weekly for observation sessions, and anyone curious or experienced is welcome to join. If you are interested, reach out to me through the contact form at OakCreekChronicle.com. The skies above Sedona are alive, and we intend to keep watching.

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