Strange Beam of Light Photographed in Arizona Desert

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Beam of Light behind campers in McDowell Mountain Regional Park, AZ

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Click on map for larger view.

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I just received this emailed report and photo.

In the photo taken the evening of March 16, 2012, there was a beam of light shining down behind a camp area at McDowell Mountain Regional Park, Fountain Hills, Arizona.

Several photos were taken in a series, at the same angle, with a Droid X camera phone.  The beam of light shows up in only one of the photographs.

I examined the original photo in close detail.  It does appear to be a beam of light shining down upon the ground from some unknown aerial source.  The beam appears uniform and somewhat diffused.

Here is the emailed reports, as if, with only the witness's name withheld.

* Please note that I have blacked out the faces of the people in the photo and removed shirt print, per witness' instructions. -SW
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"Hello,

Not sure if you're interested, but thought I'd share a photo we took last night in Fountain Hills, AZ. We were camping in the middle of the desert, there was absolutely no one and nothing behind us. We were, obviously, shocked to see this beam of light in this photo, as my husband never saw it when he was taking these photos. He took a series of photos at the same time/same angle and this is the only one with the "beam". As soon as we realized the beam a few minutes after the photo was taken, we searched the background quite extensively and couldn't find anything that we could remotely link to the beam. We took this with our Droid X camera phone. My friends tell me this is just light refraction, etc of the digital camera, and I suppose it very well could be, but the four of us who were camping last night surely don't think so. I would love to hear your thoughts...

Thank you,"
[Name redacted-SW/LITS]

I asked a few questions and got a quick response:

"Hi Sunny,

Thank you so much for your quick reply! The terrain behind us was slightly elevated, perhaps a 20% incline. My husband guesses the light is about 50 feet behind the gentleman in the photo, and my husband believes the light to be touching the ground. Behind us were desert shubbery, and there were rocks everywhere but we do not recall any rocks/boulders of good size. The nearest mountain range was at least several miles off in the distance behind us.

My husband and I only joined our friends for that evening. They camped there and we returned home a few hours after the photo was taken. I called our friends just now. They are still there and packing up, though they had to move to a different campsite the second night (someone else had reserved that site the 2nd night). They are going to try to go back to that campsite and take a photo of the background. Hopefully if there are people at that campsite, they will allow them to take photos. 
Yes, you may post our photo and story on your website. Thank you for asking first. A more exact location - we were in McDowell Mountain Regional Park. But yes, we would like to remain anonymous, and please blur our faces and the writing on my sweatshirt.

I will send you the daylight photo if my friend is able to get it.

Thank you again for your help!"
[Name redacted-SW/LITS]


[Note: If you were in the McDowell Mountain Regional Park, AZ on 3/16/2012, and you witnessed anything unusual, please send me a detailed report.  Thank you. -Sunny]

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