RENNES (35) 18.06.2024

On 18 June 2024 at about 22:30, while returning home to Rennes (35) from Fougères (35), a witness saw an unidentified aerial object in Cesson-Sévigné (35). Its round silhouette initially suggested an aircraft or hot-air balloon, but the witness quickly felt it matched neither. No sound was audible. It appeared as a sphere with pointed appendages and a downward-facing flame. The witness filmed it moving before it disappeared behind clouds. The case has good evidential support: a properly completed questionnaire, clear explanations and a usable video. GEIPAN defines evidential consistency as the amount of information in an account considered reliable and objectively supported. The investigation concludes that the video shows a paper hot-air balloon unusually shaped as a sphere surrounded by points, with a downward-facing flame (see the investigation report). The strangeness arose from the witness's inability to identify it. Flames underneath recall Thai or Chinese sky lanterns. Investigators found similar balloons made by the association Semeurs des étoiles and displayed on its website. This reduced the perceived strangeness. However, the analysis found that this particular object did not come directly from that association; it was probably an individual's reproduction of the design. GEIPAN classifies the case A: festive paper hot-air balloon.