Sighting in Bacqueville, January 4, 1994

Late in the evening, a witness who was watching television noticed a yellowish light growing larger in the sky and looked out of the window. The phenomenon was cone-shaped, with multicoloured horizontal bands, and it was spinning on itself. The witness placed it below the cloud layer, to the north-west, above a château, and fairly close. It moved away, then came back as a yellow ball before growing larger again. Panicking, the witness went to bed without waking their spouse. Three to four minutes later, they heard noise outside and saw regular flashes. Their dog was frightened, and the witness felt muscle contractions in the legs and lower back. They remained deeply shaken and contacted the gendarmerie the next day. One villager saw a light moving across the sky at the same time but paid no attention, assuming it was an aircraft.

The investigation noted that there was no information on duration, elevation, movement or apparent size, and the witness did not see the phenomenon disappear. The witness's severe stress lowers the reliability of the account; the flashes seen from bed may have been a visual illusion, and the dog's reaction may have come from sensing its owner's fear or from movements outside. Two explanations were considered. A skytracer was checked by the gendarmerie, which found no fireworks display or laser show that evening. An aircraft from Rouen Vallée de Seine airport, 14 km away in the same direction and partly hidden by cloud, remains possible, but several decisive details are missing to confirm or rule it out. No hypothesis exceeds 50% probability, and the weakness of the testimony prevents any conclusion: GEIPAN classified the case as C, insufficient data.