An account in Vienne, France

GEIPAN was contacted by telephone on 24 August 2009, about an observation of several balls of light seen the night before last (during the night of 22 to 23 September 2009). Recontacted a month later to obtain the Terrestrial Questionnaire relating to this observation, the witness withdrew, having in the meantime discovered that it was Thai lanterns. However, he took the opportunity to report a strange phenomenon observed by his 7-year-old son on Thursday 24 September 2009 at around 7 p.m. A questionnaire and a drawing by fax were sent to GEIPAN in October 2009. That evening, the child, playing in the garden, had his attention drawn by the noise of an aircraft coming from the southwest. The child was then intrigued by an opaque white parallelepiped-shaped object behind the aircraft. The object tilted to pass under the aircraft, then fell sharply before stabilizing below a high-voltage power line. It then moved toward the neighbor's TV antenna (10 m away), rose at very high speed, stopped abruptly, and went back up vertically to disappear into the sky. During the observation, which lasted between 20 and 30 seconds, the sky was clear and cloudless. No other testimony was reported to GEIPAN. A wind averaging 17 km/h was blowing from the north-northeast. The object, shaped like an opaque white parallelepiped, appeared at altitude to the southwest of the observation site, that is, against the wind. It fell sharply, stabilized at rooftop height, moved silently under the high-voltage line, still against the wind, before going back up vertically and disappearing into the sky. No usual hypothesis can account for these criteria. This case results from the testimony of a 7-year-old child, indirect testimony because it was reported by his father. GEIPAN did not at the time consider it advisable to pursue the testimony of a child of that age. Sincerity is not particularly in question, but a child of that age can be more easily influenced, including unconsciously, by discussions or situations in his immediate environment, an influence that could lead to exaggerating or over-interpreting observed elements that may have been ordinary to begin with. Note that the father had already made a first report to GEIPAN a month earlier; that other observation had quickly found an explanation (Thai lanterns) but could have created in the child this factor of influence or concern related to the possible strangeness of the sky. Consequently, GEIPAN classifies the case as C: lack of reliable information.