Sighting in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, July 28, 2008

At around 8:30 pm, a witness walking a dog noticed, to the north-north-west and above the fence of a tennis court, a large, stretched, orange cloud with a black outline. It was completely motionless and no noise was heard. The witness then saw a sort of blue flame above the cloud. The cloud slowly came closer, passed between the village hall and the witness, then moved toward a field while turning into an electric ball, which the witness compared to a "giant sea urchin" with electric spikes. Still with no particular noise, the phenomenon moved away toward a hill.

The witness ran home to take a photograph, could not immediately find their phone, then went back to the spot. The ball was still above the hill, with two black objects moving away from it. After 2 to 3 seconds of observation, the sphere went down behind the hill and disappeared. That same evening the witness returned to the site and smelled a strong odor "like burnt electrical circuits". They felt tingling in the eyes that evening, then in the following days irritated eyes, a sensation of heat and insomnia, and remained shocked and stressed. No other testimony was collected.

In 2012, GEIPAN experts offered no explanation. Parts of the account suggest ball lightning, a hypothesis presented at a scientific symposium in 2015, where some scientists saw clear characteristics of this phenomenon, the physiological effects leaning that way. However, an observation lasting 10 minutes is very long for this type of phenomenon, and no stormy activity could be linked to the event. The strangeness is strong, the consistency moderate (a single witness, no photo, no precise position). GEIPAN classified the case C, for lack of reliable information.