JEZEAU (65) 10.07.2024

On 10 July 2024, T1, a mother, watched from 01:00 to 04:00 and T2, her son, from 02:30 to 04:00 at their home in Jézeau, Hautes-Pyrénées (65). They saw a very bright white ball near a relay antenna on a hilltop to the south-south-west. Initially indoors and then from a balcony, they observed irregular movements over a small horizontal distance and occasional apparent doubling. Smaller white balls sometimes seemed to drop vertically towards the ground and rise again. They heard no sound. T1 recorded a few minutes of video. At 04:00 they stopped watching while it remained visible. GEIPAN assesses the evidence as satisfactory, though only T1 reported the event. A field investigation clarified matters despite the video’s limited analytical value. The movement was T1’s principal source of strangeness. GEIPAN’s evidential-strength criterion concerns the quantity of reliable, objectively supported information collected for an account. Investigators considered an aircraft, such as a helicopter or drone; a ground object in the mountains associated with activity at Saint-Lary-Soulan ski area; and overnight maintenance on TDF’s antenna infrastructure (see the investigation report). TDF operates digital infrastructure and networks. The last explanation proved correct and was confirmed by TDF. Investigators found fresh paint on the structure. A team had indeed been painting a pylon that night, working overnight to reduce the risk of service disruption. The observed movements probably came from technicians’ lamps as they climbed and descended the structure. GEIPAN classifies the case A: lights from overnight antenna-infrastructure maintenance.