Sighting in Chemilla, December 19, 1977

At about 2 a.m., a motorist driving along the D109 noticed a luminous phenomenon in the sky. It was ball-shaped with a flat top, gave off a whitish glow and seemed to hang motionless above a valley. The witness, who had a dog with them that reacted to the phenomenon, headed in that direction and saw that the light was moving at a moderate pace toward the west. They followed it for about thirty minutes without ever catching up. The gendarmerie collected no other testimony about it.

This case, formerly known as Arinthod, had been rated C for lack of information and was later re-examined. It is considered fairly consistent: the description is precise, and the witness's sincerity and credibility were never questioned. However, the phenomenon shares many features (duration, shape, size, colour) with the setting Moon, which was indeed in the part of the sky the witness was looking at, although they did not mention it. According to GEIPAN, the problem lies not in the witness's perception but in their interpretation, influenced by tiredness and night driving. The case, of medium strangeness, is now classified A: a misidentification of the gibbous Moon.