Sighting in Les Sauvages, October 28, 2020

At about 7 p.m., the witness saw a white, ball-shaped glow on the clouds. It stayed still. A narrow but very distinct beam of light extended from it down to the ground, into a cow pasture. The sighting lasted around five minutes, then the phenomenon vanished abruptly, like a flash. There was only one witness and no photo or video, so under GEIPAN criteria the consistency of the testimony was rated as medium.

The investigation concluded that the witness had probably seen the light from a searchlight hitting the cloud layer. The circular shape, the white colour, the lack of movement and the absence of any noise all fit this explanation. A cloud layer at an altitude of about 1,600 metres was confirmed, and this kind of confusion mostly occurs under low, uniform cloud such as stratocumulus or nimbostratus. The beam could have been visible thanks to water droplets suspended in the air, but this could not be shown, since weather data gave excellent horizontal visibility.

Nightclubs were closed at the time because of Covid-19 restrictions. It was plausible that the nearest club had been running a temporary test of a searchlight (skyrose), but this could not be confirmed. The strangeness the witness felt came from the beam seeming to start at the phenomenon and head toward the ground, whereas a searchlight sends its beam up from the ground to the clouds. The case was classified B: probable reflection of searchlight light on clouds.