GEIPAN Case 1989-09-01666 — « LES TUILES » BERTRE (81) 04.09.1989

Brief

At approximately 04:30 on 4 September 1989, a 68-year-old retired man in Bertre (Tarn, France) was awakened by an intense light penetrating his half-closed shutters. He went outside, observed a powerful beam illuminating the alfalfa field below his house, then turned to find the source: a luminous, bottle-shaped phenomenon hovering above his roof, which extinguished seconds later. Gendarmerie investigators documented 'traces de tuiles chauffées' on the roof, and SEPRA mounted a full on-site inquiry — including helicopter deployment and physical sample collection — under media pressure that complicated procedures. The provisional conclusion rules out helicopter, moon, and balloon explanations, leaving intentional fabrication or an unexplained phenomenon as the only remaining hypotheses, resolution pending laboratory analysis of collected samples.

Metadata

Agency

GEIPAN / CNES

Release

2007-03-22

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

2 pages

Classification

D1 (GEIPAN phenomenological classification — unexplained; publicly released)

Programs

SEPRA, GEIPAN, GEPAN

Tags

stationary light, bottle shape, physical trace, heated tiles, luminous beam, rural France, 1989, single witness, GEIPAN D1

Key points

• Observation time and location: 04:30, 4 September 1989, Bertre (Puylaurens, Tarn 81), France; investigation conducted 12 September 1989.p.1
• The witness, a 68-year-old retired former Commercial Director, described the object as a luminous, gas-bottle-shaped phenomenon stationary above his roof that extinguished within seconds.p.1
• Gendarmerie recorded physical traces described as 'traces de tuiles chauffées' (heated roof tiles) on the witness's roof.p.1
• The witness is colorblind but investigators assessed his vision as otherwise correct and his account as internally coherent across multiple retellings.p.1
• SEPRA deployed a helicopter and collected physical samples — including moss on tiles and intact tiles — under difficult conditions.p.1
• National and regional press presence disrupted the on-site investigation.p.2
• Provisional conclusion explicitly excludes helicopter, moon, and balloon as explanations; the two remaining hypotheses are intentional fabrication or an unexplained phenomenon.p.2
• Resolution of the case was explicitly contingent on laboratory analysis of physical and biological samples collected at the site.p.2

Verbatim

• un faisceau lumineux intense éclaire le champ en contre-bas

  p.1

• observe la présence au-dessus de sa maison d'un phénomène lumineux en forme de bouteille à gaz qui s'éteint quelques secondes après

  p.1

• traces de tuiles chauffées

  p.1

• son récit présente globalement une bonne cohérence dans l'enchaînement des diverses phases d'observation

  p.1

• le SEPRA a procédé à une enquête complète sur les lieux en employant des moyens lourds (hélicoptère) et en réalisant des prélèvements dans des conditions difficiles (échantillons mousse sur les tuiles, tuiles, etc.)

  p.1

• L'assimilation du phénomène observé à la présence d'un hélicoptère, de la lune ou d'un ballon paraît exclue aujourd'hui, reste deux hypothèses : l'affabulation intentionnelle ou le phénomène inexpliqué mais seule l'analyse des échantillons physiques et biologiques prélevés sur le site permettra de lever les doutes.

  p.2

Most interesting

• SEPRA deployed a helicopter to collect roof samples — an unusually resource-intensive physical-trace investigation for a single-witness UAP report.
• The gendarmerie's notation of 'heated roof tiles' constitutes a rare contemporaneous official physical-trace record, independent of the witness's account.
• The witness's colorblindness was noted but investigators explicitly did not treat it as a credibility disqualifier, distinguishing color perception from overall observational reliability.
• The witness's primary concern during the investigation was not the phenomenon itself but the practical damage: the heated tiles had caused significant roof leaks requiring buckets in the attic.
• The description blurb (not in extractable page text) references the object as 'en forme de toupie à multiples,' differing from the page-1 'bouteille à gaz' characterization — suggesting the shape description may have evolved or varied across document sections.
• National and regional press had already arrived at the site before or during the SEPRA inquiry, contaminating the physical-trace environment and investigative conditions.
• The case received GEIPAN classification D1, meaning unexplained, issued under the GEPAN/SEPRA lineage that predates the current GEIPAN branding — one of France's longest-running official UAP investigation units.