Sighting in Comines, September 28, 1984

Between 8:30 and 8:50 pm, five witnesses noticed a slowly moving orange glow in the sky. It was about the size and shape of a rugby ball. During the observation it split into two oval parts, and the way it changed puzzled the witnesses.

GEIPAN reexamined the case, which the GEPAN had classed "D" in 1984, as part of the republication of its archives. It could draw on new software tools and on the investigative experience gained since then. The duration of the observation, the shape, the size and the color described all match those of the Moon as it sets. The Moon was indeed present in the part of the sky that was observed, yet the witnesses did not mention it.

According to the investigation, the witnesses' visual perception was not at fault. What led them astray was how they interpreted what they saw, influenced by how they felt: surprise, tiredness, and the fact that it was night. The case, of medium strangeness, is now classed A: the Moon was mistaken for something else.