Sighting in Montluel, May 14, 2022

At around 3:10 a.m., a lone witness was standing on the balcony of their apartment. Looking south, they saw an object cross from west to east over about 8 seconds. It was rectangular and dark anthracite grey, with no lights and no trail, and it moved silently. At arm's length it looked about 20 by 40 mm. It emerged from behind a hill to the south-west, at 15° elevation, followed a straight, level path, then vanished behind another hill to the south-east at the same apparent height. The witness described two striking features: the clouds seemed to distort as the object passed, as they do around a black hole, and a faint white halo surrounded it.

The witness completed the technical questionnaire three days after the sighting. The field investigation took place 13 months later, and the information gathered was very complete and reliable. No photo or video exists. Calculations, which allow for the witness overestimating the apparent size, show that the object was at least 15 metres long and moving at no less than 130 km/h.

The witness considered several explanations: a natural phenomenon, a stealth military aircraft, an airship, a swarm of insects, a low cloud or a mental projection. None fits what they saw. An aircraft is unlikely, because the object looked too different from a plane or drone, and neither radar nor the CAPCODA maps recorded any aircraft. The investigator also looked at two other possibilities. A waking dream was judged improbable, since the witness kept a shifted schedule and did not doze during their night hours. Negative retinal afterimage from screens and rectangular windows was ruled out: the witness had followed the same routine for months without seeing anything like it, saw nothing while walking through the dark to the balcony, and the cloud distortion cannot be explained by an optical illusion. With no known phenomenon accounting for the sighting, and the testimony judged consistent, the GEIPAN classified the case D: unidentified after investigation.