Sighting in Valras-Plage, August 16, 2015

A witness was with friends when, between 12:40 and 12:45 a.m., they noticed three white lights in the sky, spaced at equal distances and forming a perfect triangle. The group moved slowly and silently, then vanished all at once. Between the lights, the witness thought they could make out a very thin black triangle. The friends did not have time to see the phenomenon, and no other testimony was collected. The movement was toward the west.

According to GEIPAN, the dark triangle may result from a perceptual illusion known as an illusory contour or shape illusion. If the lights were being carried by the wind, their path seems hard to reconcile with the west wind recorded at Béziers, but the sighting was very short and a local sea breeze is always possible on the coast. The investigators considered luminous balloons (LED balloons or Thai lanterns), which are often released during celebrations; the sighting took place on the evening of 15 August, in a busy tourist area. The wind data can neither confirm nor rule out this explanation. Since the observation was very brief and some of those present noticed nothing, the case has little consistency. GEIPAN classified it C, for lack of information and corroboration.