An account in Dordogne, France

GEIPAN continues to publish all of its archives on its public website www.geipan.fr. Among its publications are old cases classified at the time (A, B, C, or D) that are now being re-examined, with the sole aim of being more relevant in the conclusions. Thanks to new technical means (software) and the investigation experience acquired over all these recent years, this re-examination sometimes leads to new remarks or even a change of classification explained in an investigation note. This observation case, previously classified D and named VERGT (24) 1988, is part of a set of cases recently re-examined. On December 1, 1988, at around 8:20 a.m., a witness, accompanied by his dog, was walking on the road near his home. He saw at 60 meters an intense light greater than that of arc welding. The witness describes a round shape of blue-violet color fading, in rectilinear S-N movement, silent and at very high speed. During the observation of 3 or 4 seconds, the witness felt the effects of pressure and received an electric discharge. The dog fled toward the home, no longer responding to its master's orders. The witness made two statements to the gendarmerie, one on the day of the observation, the other 10 days later. The elements of the first statement as well as those noted on site allow the hypothesis of an electrical phenomenon to be formulated because: - the luminous ball was observed in the immediate vicinity of the crossing of two power lines and a transformer. - the electric ball follows a movement aligned with one of the power lines. - a sudden and brief voltage drop was observed by local residents during the time of the observation. - the witness felt an effect of pressure, and of electric discharge. A glow ball may perhaps be produced by an ionization of the air and suspended molecules in the presence of an intense electric field (here a priori resulting from a malfunction). (The glow of a neon tube works with a gas ionized by an electric field.) This kind of phenomenon that follows power lines has already been observed, particularly following a storm (see the video). The first analysis in 1988 had not provided an explanation because it had taken into account the witness's second statement, which mentioned several balls, and a location of the phenomenon in the field and much farther from the road and the crossing of the power lines. Today we prefer to retain the first statement made on the very same day, while the following one may have been influenced (including without the witness's knowledge) by the many contacts or solicitations of the witness by neighbors and media. Knowledge since then of cases of glows along power lines also strengthens the hypothesis. GEIPAN classifies the case as B: observation of an electrical and plasma phenomenon.