An account in Pas-de-Calais, France

On December 4, 2011, GEIPAN received by email a Terrestrial Questionnaire (TQ) from a witness to an observation of an orange saucer-shaped light on the night of Saturday September 24 to Sunday September 25, 2011. Since the witness contacted us nearly four months after the facts, filing a report with the Gendarmerie was no longer possible. The observation lasted between 10 and 15 minutes, and took place in the presence of another witness at first, then of three other people who were able to see the end of the observation as the object moved away. None of the other witnesses, however, submitted a testimony to GEIPAN. Although the Thai lantern hypothesis is favored, the usual indicators supporting this hypothesis are not strong enough: the wind direction is imprecise, and the description of the moving away leaves doubt about its interpretation. The helicopter, probably taking off from the hospital, only drew the witness's attention to the sky. Slightly strange, and not very consistent (only one witness, not very precise testimony), this case is classified as "C" due to lack of information or other testimonies.