An account in Gard, 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, which are now being re-examined, for the sole purpose 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 is one of the cases classified as "D" in 1988 by SEPRA and previously named LE VIGAN (30). During the night of December 17 to 18, 1988, around 2:45 AM, four witnesses traveling on the D113 in two vehicles observed a luminous object shaped like a double rectangle separated by a black line, seemingly blocking the road. This object was 7 to 8 meters above the ground in the axis of the road and moved backward as the cars advanced. The phenomenon was silent. This case is consistent (three witnesses), and the description of the observed UAP is precise. The sincerity and credibility of the witnesses have never been questioned. The described phenomenon presents many common characteristics (shape, size, color) with a perfectly known astronomical object: the Moon at setting. Furthermore, the Moon was indeed present in the area of the sky observed, while the witnesses do not mention it. It is not the visual perception of the witnesses that is in question, but the interpretation the witnesses make of their observation through their feelings (astonishment, fatigue, fear, night driving). In GEIPAN's current classification, this case of average strangeness is classified as UAP A, an observation linked to a misidentification with the Moon.