Sighting in Pau, July 12, 2017

The witness was attending a show held for the passing of the Tour de France, on a square in the town centre. People nearby were looking up at the cloudy sky and pointing in a direction, which drew the witness's attention. They then saw several flat, luminous shapes pass over the roof of the chamber of commerce before losing sight of them.

The witness then walked to a nearby boulevard, from where they watched other points of light moving across the sky: some followed a straight path, while others changed direction. No sound was heard. The witness took several photos of the phenomenon, along with daytime photos to show where the observation took place.

Only one account was collected. According to the GEIPAN, a sighting made in the middle of a town on a festive evening, with other people watching the phenomenon too, would hardly have been truly strange without being reported by others. Given this context, the most likely explanation was a release of novelty balloons during the busy, festive evening. With no other report of anything strange, the GEIPAN did not carry the investigation further and classified the case as B: probable sighting of novelty balloons.