Sighting in Ancenis, October 9, 2018

At around 9 p.m., two people travelling in the same car were driving at night on the A11 motorway between Ancenis and Nantes. Their attention was suddenly caught by one or two very bright lights moving across the clear sky from left to right. The sighting lasted only a few seconds, and the two witnesses wondered what they had just seen.

The investigation considered the case fairly solid, while noting its limits. The two direct witnesses were friends and therefore not independent, their reconstruction was subjective and incomplete, with an imprecise time and imprecise locations, and no photo or video was available. The strangeness was rated rather low, since only one hypothesis was considered. The bright appearance, the very high apparent speed and the very short duration strongly suggest a bolide (a bright meteor). However, no bolide could be linked to this sighting, despite the monitoring networks currently in operation. The hypothesis is therefore probable but not certain, and GEIPAN classified the case as B.