SAINT-PRYVE-SAINT-MESMIN (45) 09.03.2025

Shortly after midnight on March 8–9, 2025, a woman at home in Saint-Pryvé-Saint-Mesmin looked north and saw ten to twelve white lights moving silently east to west along a straight, steady path. She watched for about fifteen minutes and took two photographs. GEIPAN rated the available evidence good despite a single witness, because both photographs could be analysed. Investigators considered luminous balloons: the Saturday-night timing, white colour, wind-aligned motion and regular path supported that explanation. The witness said the objects were equal in size, whereas the photographs showed differences. Analysis attributed these to motion during exposure, also explaining a twofold difference between images. Assuming windborne objects, investigators estimated a distance of 400–500 metres and dimensions of about 1–1.4 metres, either diameter if spherical or height if vertically oval. Local wind could have been weaker than weather-station readings, changing those estimates. Large helium balloons up to ninety centimetres in diameter were found to exist and could be released or lost. A search did not identify a specific local celebration; a private release remained possible. GEIPAN classified the case B: probable luminous balloons.