An account in Vend�e, France

Recent testimony (December 2014) of an old observation in August 1947 (the witness does not remember the day; the date of August 1st is arbitrary). The witness is leading his cows to the meadow when he sees, very high in the sky, a bright object moving from east to west at very high speed, stopping dead for 30 seconds before setting off again very fast and disappearing. This testimony was reported to GEIPAN in December 2014, more than 67 years after the facts. The witness's memory seems very precise, but experience shows that one must fear an alteration of the memory over time. The reported observation resembles a Transient Luminous Event (T.L.E.), that is, a phenomenon similar to ball lightning, possible in stormy weather (the observation is in August, often stormy), even if the sky is clear: the sudden stop and the high-speed departure are sometimes noted in this kind of phenomenon. On the other hand, the witness describes a phenomenon of cylindrical or parallelepiped shape, a priori incompatible with these phenomena, which are generally spherical. The age of the case, and the lack of knowledge of the exact date, prevent checks with the weather services. As a result, this case is classified "C" for lack of sufficiently precise information (dates, weather).