Sighting in Mons, September 24, 2013

On an evening between 10 and 11 p.m., two people noticed a luminous phenomenon in the sky that kept moving about quickly. They later saw more of the same from the hamlet. Each time, no particular noise was heard, and the sightings lasted an hour or more. The gendarmes also saw the phenomenon themselves.

Based on the witness's description and the gendarmes' confirmation, the investigation concluded without any doubt that the light was a searchlight beam shining up from the ground. There was no nightclub in the direction of the sighting, but the gendarmes explained that this mountainous, very sparsely populated area often hosts informal parties (raves). The witness had taken a photograph showing a bright circle at the top of the frame. It does not show the phenomenon: it is an "orb", caused by the camera flash lighting up a speck of dust very close to the lens.

GEIPAN classified the case as B: a probable sighting of light animations. It did not try to trace the source of the searchlight, a search that is extremely difficult because such setups are temporary and often unauthorized.