Sighting in Rosheim, December 22, 1998

At around 6:05 p.m., a witness saw a large luminous shape in the night sky, which they likened to a "snake" made up of red and white discs. The whole thing moved silently, as one mass, tracing a loop across the sky. The sighting lasted about a minute. The witness described a starry sky. They gave their statement almost three weeks later, on a friend's advice. No other witness came forward.

At first, the witness thought of nightclub lights. They dismissed the idea after seeing photos of nightclub light beams in the following days, which looked nothing like what they had seen. They said they had never seen anything like it, apart from nightclub "lasers".

The case, originally classed D, was re-examined. GEIPAN considers it probable that the witness mistook the spots of light that ground-based projectors, such as discotheque lasers, cast on low clouds. The appearance and movement described match many cases explained since. The weather allowed such spots without visible rising beams, and a starry sky is still consistent with cloud over much of the sky. Projectors of the period could produce this pattern and movement. The photos the witness saw probably showed rising beams, which are not always visible. The testimony is fairly complete, with azimuth readings, but it is old. The apparent angular size and the height above the horizon are missing, and no on-site investigation looked for a venue with projectors on Christmas Eve. GEIPAN therefore classed the case B: probable laser observation.