An account in Haute-Marne, France

On August 17, 2016, GEIPAN received a questionnaire about an observation made in 2012. On June 4, 2012, around 3 a.m., a witness observed through the bay window of his living room an orange luminous phenomenon shaped like a column, which he located in the direction of the Fourches hill in the town of Langres. After fifteen seconds, the phenomenon went out suddenly, but the witness then saw two yellow luminous balls moving around the site of the first observation. These two luminous balls also went out suddenly. The next day, the witness went to the presumed site of the observation but found no burnt grass or trampled ground. Only one testimony was collected. This observation of a phenomenon on the ground at 3 a.m., on a hill located 2 km away, is not strange insofar as the witness himself describes it as a possible campfire or flame and mentions the fact that the nearby chapel can host scouts. It could also be agricultural machinery surrounded by people carrying lamps. The fact that, the next day, the witness noticed no trace of burnt grass or trampling at the presumed site cannot rule out all of the previous hypotheses. The same witness made the same kind of observation in 2016 (ground lights moving around a central light), on the same hill (a few dozen meters apart), also an observation of low strangeness and probably of the same origin. Consequently, GEIPAN classifies the case as B: ground lights of the vehicle or campfire type and people with flashlights.