Sighting in Laon, May 20, 2021

During the night of 19 to 20 May 2021, a witness was looking at the sky and noticed a light that had been flickering for a few minutes. It seemed easier to make out with the naked eye than through their mobile phone, but they started filming anyway. A few seconds into the recording, something bright appeared beneath a small glow. It did not move in a straight line: it changed direction in sudden, very rapid jerks, paused briefly, and then shot off to the left so fast that the witness could not follow it with the phone.

The witness sent the video to the GEIPAN. They were the only person to report the phenomenon. The case was rated as moderately strange and of good consistency, since it rested on a single witness and a video. In the footage the phenomenon is blurred while the background stays relatively sharp, which indicates that it was very close to the witness. Its characteristics, including the changes of trajectory, match the flight of a nocturnal bird or insect lit for a few seconds by a street lamp. The GEIPAN classified the case B: probable observation of a bird or an insect.