Sighting in Annemasse, January 22, 2022

One morning, two people were outdoors in a building's courtyard when they noticed two black objects moving together across the sky. The objects stayed close to each other and moved silently. Only one of the two witnesses gave an account to the investigation, which also had photos and a video available.

The witness had first thought of paragliders, and the direction of observation faced a site that is very popular with paragliding pilots. The local club said that flights, though rare, were possible at that time, but it could neither confirm nor rule out their presence. This lead therefore went nowhere.

A second hypothesis, two balloons, fitted what was seen better. Both components were rounded, and black is a possible colour for such balloons. The observation took place on a Saturday, so a child could plausibly have lost them. The objects spun around and passed under one another, behaviour typical of two balloons tied together, probably by the string used to hold them, which would be invisible at that distance. Below 200 m altitude the wind was variable through 360° and estimated as nil to very weak, which explains the overall drift, first from left to right and then back again.

The case showed moderate strangeness and good consistency. The GEIPAN classified it as A: observation of two novelty balloons tied together, tossed about by a very weak, variable wind.