Sighting in Saint-Hilaire, October 4, 1981

At about 2:30 in the morning, a couple driving through a crossroads saw flashes of light at ground level in a field. They then made out three red lights, still close to the ground, which seemed to be heading toward them. Frightened, the two witnesses left the spot quickly. They had heard no noise.

The gendarmerie was alerted only a few days later and went to the site, where it found no traces. Only one statement was recorded, in early November. Rumour had spread before a GEPAN correspondent stepped in and the gendarmes took the statement, so the witnesses had not come forward spontaneously.

GEIPAN classified the case C: unusable, because it goes beyond GEIPAN's competence alone. Nothing rules out that a phenomenon described on the ground arrived and left by ground, and the lack of any trace proves nothing either way. As an analysis, a vehicle could account for the lights: a farm machine with one headlight at the front and three red lights at the back, or several motorbikes ridden by third parties returning from a party. The changes in colour and arrangement of the lights could come from the vehicle's orientation, and the impression of approach from a simple rise in brightness. However, farm work at that hour on a Sunday seems unlikely, and the landowner was never questioned. The file is of poor quality: a single statement, identical descriptions that may point to collusion, no description of how the phenomenon vanished, and no angular size measurements.