Sighting in Civrac-de-Blaye, December 23, 2024

At around 8:30 pm, the witness stepped out of the kitchen to call their dog, which was barking loudly and would not come in, unlike the other dogs, who were already indoors. Looking up, the witness saw two red shapes moving slowly toward them across the sky. One stopped above a field, while the other drifted gently away and later came back toward it. The two shapes then stayed still and silent.

The witness eventually calmed the dog, then switched off the outdoor lights to take two photographs. At that moment the second shape moved away, followed by the first. The two came closer together, merged, and quickly vanished from the sky. It was cold and no stars were visible. The witness was deeply affected by the experience.

GEIPAN rated the testimony's consistency as medium, since there was only one witness. The two photos supplied were not the originals and lacked technical data, so image analysis could not be completed, and the witness, when contacted again, did not provide the original files. Of four hypotheses examined, only one held up well: sky lanterns. The round shape and red color fit, although observers more often describe such lanterns as orange. Their movements match the light wind, and the length of the sighting matches a lantern's lifespan. The date, close to Christmas Eve, makes a trial release plausible. The merging may only have been apparent, with the two lanterns lined up along the same line of sight, and their disappearance coincided with a stronger air current. GEIPAN classified the case as B: probable observation of sky lanterns.