Sighting in Berck, October 7, 2010

The account reached the GEIPAN in 2019 and concerned an observation made in October 2010. At about 10:45 pm, the witness was on a beach with a friend when an immense triangle appeared in the cloudy sky, with a white light marking each corner. It came from the horizon over the sea (to the west), headed toward the two people and passed over them without a sound. Taken by surprise, they did not think to photograph or film it. The sighting was brief: the object continued inland and the witness lost sight of it.

Only one account was collected. The date, initially vague, could be reconstructed with good confidence from details the witness provided. The GEIPAN rated the strangeness as high but the consistency as rather low, since the testimony is single and was given late. That delay makes it impossible to check air traffic at the Berck-sur-Mer aerodrome, even though some elements point to a possible mistake with a light aircraft coming in to land. It is also impossible to gauge how much the witness may have been influenced: over the years they often discussed the event with the other witness and did a lot of online research, comparing the sighting with famous cases such as Phoenix (Arizona) and Golfech (82). It is also surprising that nobody else reported such a bright, very large object passing over a populated town.

Under the GEIPAN method, high strangeness requires high consistency before a case can be classified. The case was therefore rated C, insufficient data, for lack of reliable information.