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

Brief

At approximately 4:00 AM on 4 September 1989, a 68-year-old retired commercial director in Bertre, Tarn, was awakened by intense light through open shutters and walked to within centimeters of a 10m x 10m luminous square in an adjacent alfalfa field, then observed a faceted, gas-bottle-shaped object roughly 2.5m x 3m hovering silently above his roof ridge for about 30 seconds before it extinguished without a sound. SEPRA investigators led by Jean-Jacques Velasco arrived on-site 12 September and documented approximately 25 m² of discolored round tiles, physically lifted tiles, blackened moss, and several centimeters of structural subsidence confirmed by the building's roofer; the suspect tiles were removed for laboratory analysis via thermo-luminescence and spectrometry. The case was classified D1 (unexplained) by GEIPAN. Velasco's on-record remark — 'Pour une fois qu'il y a des traces' — signaled that physical evidence of this quality was unusual across the full French UAP catalog.

Metadata

Agency

GEIPAN / CNES

Release

2007-03-22

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

7 pages

Classification

D1 (GEIPAN: inexpliqué — unexplained)

Programs

GEIPAN, SEPRA, CNES

Tags

top/gyroscope shape, faceted luminous object, ground light projection, physical traces, roof tile discoloration, roof subsidence, visual observation only, SEPRA investigation, Bertre Tarn France, 1989, GEIPAN D1

Key points

• Incident time: approximately 4:00–4:30 AM, 4 September 1989, Bertre, Tarn, France (~50 km from Toulouse).p.4
• Single witness: a 68-year-old retired commercial director of a large industrial-diamond firm, described by investigators and press as credible and grounded.p.4
• Witness observed a luminous square approximately 10m x 10m in the alfalfa field below the house, its perimeter centimeters from his feet, illuminated brighter than full daylight.p.4
• Object above the roof: roughly 2.5m x 3m, described as a gas bottle covered in dazzling facets, stationary for approximately 30 seconds; no sound detected at any point.p.4
• Witness reported no heat from the light source despite its intensity, yet declined to enter the luminous square.p.4
• Physical traces: approximately 25 m² of round roof tiles changed color as if burned; some were physically lifted from their seating; moss on the affected zone blackened.p.7
• The affected roof section had subsided by several centimeters — confirmed independently by the roofer who had recently restored the building; suspect tiles were taken for laboratory analysis.p.7
• SEPRA's Jean-Jacques Velasco led on-site investigation from 12 September 1989; planned analytical methods included thermo-luminescence and spectrometry with an estimated six-month timeline to results.p.4
• The house had previously been occupied by a senior French police official responsible for the security of former Iranian Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar in France.p.4
• Approximately two months before the incident, the witness's 3-year-old mare Uriana broke a new fence while grazing in the same alfalfa field and was found 3 km away the following day.p.7

Most interesting

• Velasco's off-the-cuff remark — 'Pour une fois qu'il y a des traces' (For once, there are traces) — was reported verbatim by multiple outlets and implies physical evidence of this quality was rare across the full catalog of French UAP investigations.
• The investigation included helicopter overflights to photograph the entire sector meter by meter, an unusually intensive aerial survey for a single-witness ground observation.
• Approximately two months before the main event, the witness's mare Uriana broke a brand-new fence and was found 3 km away the next morning after grazing overnight in the same alfalfa field where the luminous square later appeared.
• A neighboring farmer independently told the witness he had observed a strange glow in the sky on nights preceding 4 September 1989.
• A uranium deposit had recently been discovered in a hill near the house; the witness flagged the proximity as a possible connection while explicitly framing it as hypothesis.
• The previous occupant of the house was a senior French police official who had overseen security for former Iranian Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar — a fact the witness mentioned without drawing a direct causal claim.
• The case generated a sidebar in at least one newspaper explaining CNES/SEPRA's satellite re-entry monitoring mandate, suggesting editors used the Bertre event as a hook to contextualize the agency's broader UAP role for a general readership.