Sighting in Bussang, August 5, 2017

After leaving an evening at the theatre at about 10:45 pm on a Saturday in August, the witnesses noticed three red-orange spheres in the sky. They seemed to lie in the direction of a mountain overlooking the area, the "Tête des neufs Bois". The spheres floated in the air and moved slowly, toward the east as the witnesses saw it. No sound could be heard. Intrigued, the witnesses watched for about two minutes, after which the spheres disappeared. One of the spheres looked larger than the other two. Only one witness account was collected.

GEIPAN rated the case's strangeness as very low: the witnesses were merely intrigued. August is a favourable period, and the municipality offers many activities during the summer season. Sky lanterns have been part of them for some years now, and the mandatory declarations are rarely made. The number of spheres, their slow advance after a period of apparent stillness, the fact that it was a Saturday night, the light wind (which accounts for the impression of stillness or very slow movement), the direction of travel and the one larger sphere all fit this hypothesis. GEIPAN classified the case as A: sighting of Thai lanterns.