Sighting in Feignies, November 6, 1981

At around 7:45 pm, the witness noticed a very bright light in a field behind their home, close to an electricity pole. It stayed visible for about an hour. When it went out, the witness made out a vertical cigar shape surrounded by various colours. These lights then went off in turn, revealing a metallic-grey object shaped like a rugby ball, which swayed from side to side for four to five seconds before straightening up again. The witness then saw an orange corridor in the sky starting from where the object had been, along with white traces. No sound was heard. The witness had already seen luminous phenomena near their home the week before. The gendarmerie was only informed ten days later, and no other witness was found.

The GEIPAN re-examined this case, originally classed D. The witness had lived there for only two months and was probably unfamiliar with local farming practices. The sighting took place at the height of the sugar beet lifting season, with beet fields in the direction of view. The GEIPAN concluded that the witness very probably saw one or more farm machines, fitted with floodlights, collecting piles of beets along a farm track about 400-450 m away. The duration, the back-and-forth movements, the impression of an object on the ground and the orange corridor (a floodlight pointed at the sky in damp air) all fit this explanation. The lack of noise can be explained by the glass, the television being on and the distance. Two details, taken from a private investigation that was left out of the conclusion, fit less well: the multicoloured rays, possibly caused by condensation on the glass, and the object passing in front of the pole, which was poorly supported. The testimony is of mediocre consistency but sufficient, so the case is classed A.