CARENTAN-LES-MARAIS (50) 12.09.2024

At 01:35 on 12 September 2024, a witness at home in Carentan-les-Marais (50) saw unusual light movements very low in the night sky. A bright stationary white light appeared twice in succession. A fainter point then moved towards it. As the lights seemed to meet, the brighter one suddenly shot away at tremendous speed and disappeared in less than 2 seconds. About 5 seconds after the scene ended, an airliner passed in the same direction, slightly higher. GEIPAN assessed the evidential strength as weak, with only 1 account and no photographs or videos from that date. The images analysed in the investigation report instead came from a 12 November 2024 observation that the witness considered similar to the September event. GEIPAN defines evidential strength as the quantity of reliable, objectively supported information collected for an account. Because the phenomenon had a low angular elevation, it could have involved reflections on a tree, pole or building, or directly on the witness's window. Available information did not allow further analysis of these possibilities. GEIPAN classified the case C: unidentified for lack of data.