LABASTIDE-SAINT-PIERRE (82) 20.07.2024

On Saturday 20 July 2024 at 23:50, a witness driving on a small country road saw a seemingly nearby light to his right toward Montauban. The sky was cloudy and a thunderstorm was approaching. Trees quickly obscured it. Continuing toward a junction, just before the stop sign he saw a lasso-shaped light changing shape like an elastic band, with rapid changes in direction and altitude. He filmed it for 11 seconds on his smartphone while concentrating on driving rather than looking directly at it. The video shows a pale light making various movements in the windshield view. After taking the turn, he noticed only Montauban's city lights, about 10 km away in his direction of travel. The whole observation lasted about 2–3 minutes. The case has a substantive evidential basis*: a completed technical questionnaire and analyzable video (see investigation report). Its lasso shape and multidirectional movement accounted for most of the witness's strangeness. *Under GEIPAN's criteria, evidential strength is the amount of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively substantiated. Remote investigation and video analysis suggest a skytracer operated by a Montauban nightclub, at the Les Lucioles festival occurring downtown at the time, or privately that Saturday evening. Supporting points are: - The reported and filmed pale white lasso shape matches a ground searchlight's illuminated spot on low cloud, whose presence is established. - The back-and-forth movements described and recorded are typical of a skytracer. - Saturday evening is favorable to such festive use. After his own inquiries and another similar observation, the witness himself also considered a skytracer, which he called a laser. No actual skytracer use in or near Montauban at that date and time could be confirmed. Nevertheless, private use or use at Les Lucioles cannot be excluded. GEIPAN classifies the case B: probable observation of a skytracer.