GENELARD (71) 06.01.2017

A witness reported successive observations on 6 and 7 January and 25 and 26 February 2017 in Génelard (71): coloured phenomena moving in the sky or near the ground. The observations lasted a long time, from 20:30 until daybreak. Gendarmes at the scene observed nothing. Only 1 account was collected, through a questionnaire and telephone calls. The account described highly strange phenomena occurring almost every night, with or without clouds, just above or even on the ground as well as in the sky, in front of and behind trees. These were mainly glows, but sometimes something resembling a craft. The witness also reported sounds in the sky, creaking trees, and photographs on a computer that could move or reveal his name in the trees. Because of the reported strangeness, GEIPAN sought accounts from the other witnesses present. His wife declined to give one. His friends promised accounts but did not provide them: one whom GEIPAN reached by telephone in the original witness's presence and another contacted separately. These 2 friends described significantly strange features over the telephone. Although similar in nature—glows in the sky and on the ground—their descriptions overlapped only partly. Gendarmes present one evening noticed nothing, but the main witness considered the phenomenon less intense that night, while still present. GEIPAN considers the refusal of these 3 witnesses to provide accounts to greatly reduce the evidential substance, leaving too little reliable information to validate the strangeness of a single witness's observation. The account is therefore classified C, unsuitable for analysis because of insufficient reliable information. The discrepancy between what the gendarmes observed and the main witness's perception further reinforces the already established lack of reliable information.