An account in Pas-de-Calais, France

On September 24 at around 12:45 a.m., a witness observes in the sky a set of luminous phenomena in the form of white flashes bursting behind a large white cloud. These phenomena come from the South and the East, and the witness films these luminous flashes for 8 minutes with a "spy pen." No noise is heard. When the witness looks at his video, he is surprised to see glowing balls that he had not observed live. The witness's wife will observe the phenomenon, but only one testimony is collected. Lightning strike records show strong thunderstorm activity over Nord Pas-de-Calais in the middle of the night (see Météociel). The witness also confirms having had a storm after 2 a.m. The flashes observed behind the clouds come from this thunderstorm activity. The video, taken with a small "spy pen," does not show these luminous flashes, but fixed bright points. This type of camera is very insensitive in low light, which can explain that flashes of distant lightning behind the clouds were too dim to impress the sensor. The bright points that appear on the video are most likely fixed lights: street lamps or other. The witness did not see them with the naked eye. Since these spy cameras have no viewfinder, the witness cannot compare what he is filming and what he is seeing. GEIPAN classifies this case "A": observation of distant lightning before a storm. The lights filmed by the video seem to be urban lighting.