Sighting in Hulluch, June 28, 1988

During the night, two witnesses, a man and his wife, saw luminous balls appear one after another in an overcast sky, starting at 10:20 p.m. The balls moved rapidly in every direction without a sound, as if performing aerobatics or a ballet. Later, one of the two witnesses made out a large object shaped like an ogive, a greyish mass from which four flashing white beams extended. It stayed still for about thirty seconds, then vanished abruptly at 2:10 a.m. Only these two testimonies were collected.

The description may have seemed strange when the case was first analysed in 1988. With the experience gained since, GEIPAN now considers that it matches advertising searchlights whose light is reflected in the sky. The beams are barely visible here: the witnesses mainly saw the points of impact on the screen formed by the clouds. The circular or ogive shape depends on the viewing angle. The large back-and-forth movements, the varied patterns and the pauses fit the sweeping and rotating capabilities of such devices, and the whitish, non-dazzling light is also typical. A low cloud cover was confirmed, and the witnesses noticed partial beams or rays that switched off and on beneath the phenomena. These projectors became common in the 1980s.

As the sighting took place on a Tuesday evening, a nightclub is unlikely, except perhaps for tests. It may instead have been a one-off event in Lens, a few kilometres away, or its surroundings. Almost thirty years later, further investigation is difficult, and the presence of the searchlights could not be established. However, the very close visual match, which resembles nothing else, and the consistent weather conditions are enough to make the hypothesis probable. GEIPAN therefore classified the case as B: probable observation of lasers or a "skytracer".