Sighting in Le Port-Marly, June 27, 1993

At around 9:30 p.m., several witnesses were having a family meal on an outdoor terrace when they saw a multitude of very bright white points pass through a clear night sky. The points formed a mass with no distinct geometric shape, moving from north-north-east to south-south-west. Curious, some of them looked through binoculars, and one witness took two photographs, which are not in the case file held in the GEIPAN archives. The whole group moved silently. The witnesses reported watching it for between 10 and 15 minutes, until trees in the urban landscape hid the points. Some described acceleration or high speed as the lights vanished, but one of the three witnesses interviewed did not mention this.

Gendarmes visited the site shortly after the event. GEIPAN first classified the case D, then reexamined it. It considers that everything fits a group of balloons carried by the wind at altitude: a slow, straight path in the direction of the weak wind, a fairly long duration, colour and brightness like those of light-coloured or Mylar balloons lit by sunlight still present at altitude, and the look of a shapeless mass in which only the outer elements moved more. The impression of rapid flight was probably due to a drop in brightness. No trace of a balloon release was found, which is not decisive almost 25 years later. Five of the eight witnesses were not heard, and the photographs are missing. GEIPAN classified the case B: probable release of recreational Mylar balloons.