GEIPAN Case 2014-08-08968 — ZONZA (2A) 28.08.2014

Brief

At approximately 05:00 on August 28, 2014, a lone civilian witness at a campsite near Sainte-Lucie de Porto-Vecchio, Corsica observed a large, silent, dark circular mass — with 4 to 8 luminous points arranged in a ring at its center — moving slowly in a straight line from Conca toward Sardinia for roughly ten minutes. The mass was preceded and followed by rows of smaller dark, possibly triangular groups. GEIPAN investigators systematically ruled out meteorite showers, satellite re-entry (including the Feng Yun decay that day, which had the wrong time and trajectory), aircraft (no radar return, airport closed), clouds, a disco light projector, and ophthalmic migraine — rating all hypotheses 'very low' or 'null.' The case was formally classified D1: unexplained, with consistency score 0.7 and strangeness score 0.6.

Metadata

Agency

GEIPAN / CNES

Release

2007-03-22

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

7 pages

Classification

UNCLASSIFIED (D1 — unexplained)

Programs

GEIPAN

Tags

dark circular mass, silent, formation flight, lights in center, possible triangular sub-objects, visual only, Corsica, 2014, D1-unexplained

Key points

• Observation occurred at approximately 05:00 on August 28, 2014, at Camping Le California near Sainte-Lucie de Porto-Vecchio, Corsica; the witness was crossing the campsite courtyard when he looked up and first saw the phenomenon.p.1
• The principal object was described as a large dark circular mass with a lighter periphery and a ring of 4 to 8 luminous points at its center, moving silently and slowly in a straight line from Conca toward Sardinia.p.1
• Two rows of smaller dark groups — possibly composed of triangular objects — preceded the main mass, with one or two additional groups trailing behind it, all moving at identical speed.p.3
• Military radars detected no aerial activity in the zone at the time of the observation; the only civil airport (Figari) was closed between 00:00 and 06:30.p.2
• The Feng Yun satellite re-entered the atmosphere on that same date, but investigators confirmed via Space Track data that the time and direction of travel were incompatible with the witness account.p.2
• A second unidentified camper was briefly seen by the witness also observing the phenomenon; this person was never located for corroboration.p.3
• All six hypotheses evaluated — meteorite shower, satellite re-entry, clouds, light animations, aircraft, and ophthalmic migraine — were rated 'very low' or 'null' probability by the investigator.p.6
• GEIPAN assigned D1 classification: unexplained, consistency score 0.7, strangeness score 0.6 (medium to high).p.7
• The witness initially attributed the sighting to military activity linked to the Syria/Iraq situation and the nearby SOLENZARA base, and only filed a gendarmerie report at the urging of friends.p.3
• Precise GPS coordinates of the observation site were recorded: 41.6639 / 9.38077.p.4

Verbatim

• Le 28 aout 2014 vers 5h du matin, un témoin, traversant une cour au milieu d'un camping observe le lent et silencieux passage d'une masse importante ronde et noire contenant en son centre des points lumineux, précédée et suivie par des rangées alignées de groupes de masses sombres beaucoup plus petites.

  p.1

• Les radars militaires n'ont pas relevé d'activité aérienne à cette heure-là dans cette zone.

  p.2

• Un énorme cercle noir se détachant dans le ciel très clair ; la périphérie du cercle était plus claire et au centre du cercle se trouvait plusieurs lumières qui formaient un cercle également ; il ne peut dire le nombre (entre 4 et 8).

  p.3

• Il est affirmatif sur la vitesse très lente de déplacement ; tout se déplaçait à la même allure.

  p.3

• Il est affirmatif sur la couleur noire de l'ensemble qui se détachait sur le ciel très clair et étoilé.

  p.3

• En premier lieu nous pouvons dire que le témoin entendu semble crédible, il paraît digne de foi ; il s'agit d'une personne d'un naturel très calme.

  p.5

• Aucune explication plausible n'a été trouvée à ce jour.

  p.6

Most interesting

• The witness returned to sleep after the observation and reported not being disturbed by it — he assumed he had seen military hardware tied to the Middle East conflicts and only came forward after friends urged him to report it.
• The Feng Yun satellite re-entered the atmosphere on the very same day as the sighting, creating a genuine investigative lead that was eliminated only after checking Space Track decay and flyby data for time and trajectory.
• The ophthalmic migraine hypothesis was raised because the ring-of-lights description closely matches the visual aura of a classic scotoma, but was dismissed partly because a second camper appeared independently to witness the same event.
• Sky conditions were nearly ideal for observation: 1/8 cloud cover, 4-knot NE wind, no artificial lighting in the campsite, and full pre-dawn darkness — sunrise was not until 06:40.
• The SOLENZARA military base could not be contacted by investigators, reportedly due to operational mobilization related to Syria and Iraq, leaving the military hypothesis unresolved through that channel — though radar data showed no activity.
• The gendarmerie found no other unusual sighting reports for the entire month of August 2014 across all stations in the area, making this case a standalone event.