SAINGHIN-EN-WEPPES (59) 07.09.2024

In the early evening of 7 September 2024, a father and son, T1 and T2, saw a black circular object resembling a doughnut above the houses across the street from their home in Sainghin-en-Weppes (Nord, 59), against a cloudy sky. T1 filmed it on his phone, noting east-to-west movement and rotations that seemed unrelated to aerodynamic conditions. A second object then appeared, triangular or V-shaped. He tried to film it, but a handling error lost the first seconds; only footage of it receding remained. On returning, T1's wife, T4, confirmed that her brother, T3, had also seen the first object pass over his home. GEIPAN considers the amount of reliable, objectively supported information good, with several witnesses and 2 videos, although only 1 account was collected. This assessment concerns the quantity of such information collected for an account. The case has low strangeness and good evidential substance and is identified as letter-shaped balloons; see the investigation report. Their appearance strongly resembles balloons used at weddings and birthdays. The observation took place early on a Saturday evening, and both objects' apparent paths matched the wind direction. The investigation did not determine exactly where they had been released. GEIPAN classifies the case A: party balloons.