Sighting in Payns, May 19, 2012
Aube, Grand Est, France
Sighting on May 19, 2012 in Payns (Aube, France). GEIPAN identified the phenomenon with certainty: it was a sky lantern (class A).
What happened
At around 11:20 pm, several members of the same family saw hundreds of lights cross the sky above their property, together with shapes that frightened them. No sound was heard while the lights passed over.
The Gendarmerie carried out a local inquiry and found that about 100 Chinese lanterns had been released during a wedding a few hundred metres from the witnesses. The GEIPAN checked that the phenomenon was consistent with the local wind, then confirmed the Gendarmerie's findings. The case is classified A: it was a release of Thai lanterns. According to the investigation, surprise and fear strongly shaped how the witnesses interpreted this large-scale phenomenon.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- May 19, 2012
- Location
- Payns · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- A
- Explanation
- Sky lanterns
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2012-05-08253
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.