LEUCATE (11) 24.08.2015

On 24 August 2015 at 22:30, a witness and her husband were on a beach when they saw 8 lights in 2 rows, one containing 5 points and the other 3. They watched this arrangement for 1 hour and changed position to view it from another angle. The lights seemed to come from the clouds, never from the ground. They suddenly stopped and were replaced by an immense green sweep of light moving rapidly across the horizon. The couple stopped watching after 2 hours, around 00:30, while the phenomenon continued, and went to bed. Only the main witness submitted an account; her husband completed no questionnaire. The phenomenon appeared above the sea in 2 forms. First were 8 large round green points, each estimated at roughly half the Moon's apparent size. Their flashing began slowly and became faster; the lights were never all illuminated simultaneously. They remained arranged in rows of 5 and 3. Second was a huge fluorescent-green sweep crossing the horizon at high speed. The witness estimated its extent as approximately 10 km and its height as about 10 km, and reported no sound or trail. She described slightly cloudy weather, visible stars and the Moon to the southwest; Cap Leucate weather data confirmed some cloud. The strangeness lay in seeing no light projecting from the ground towards that region or reaching such a distance. The couple instead felt the light was behind the clouds. The 3 supplied videos contain mainly smartphone-handling noise, wind, surf and brief exchanges between the couple. They do not show the reported phenomena clearly enough to distinguish them. Images attached to the questionnaire are reconstructions, not photographs of the sighting. GEIPAN noted the open sea view from a busy Mediterranean resort during the August holiday season. The seafront was frequented during the stated 22:30-to-midnight period, and the witness mentioned being opposite 'La Terrasse – Chez Laundry' restaurant at dinner time. Only she and her husband were reported to have found the phenomenon strange; she described no discussion with other holidaymakers. GEIPAN also noted that nightlife venues advertise at that hour with skyward laser displays. It considered the points and green beam possible entertainment lasers. Slight cloud could account for light visible on cloud bases without visible beams from the ground. GEIPAN assessed the strangeness as rather low and the evidential support as moderate: 1 account, reconstructed images and videos that did not actually reveal the sighting. It classified the case B: probable laser projections onto cloud bases.