Luminous mass near Luçon identified as the Moon

Summary

At around 2:05 a.m. on February 8, 1976, a driver and passengers spotted a luminous shape near Luçon in Vendée, which they described as two stacked hollow saucers about 20 metres across. The object hung motionless at treetop height before rising silently. The witnesses stopped to watch for two to three minutes, then continued toward Les Sables-d'Olonne, tracking it until it disappeared to the west. The gendarmerie found no physical traces or electrical disturbances in the area.

Despite the coherent and detailed testimony, GEIPAN investigators concluded that the witnesses had been looking at the Moon without recognising it, influenced by fear, fatigue and a predisposition to believe in UFO phenomena. The case was classified PAN A — a misidentified known astronomical object.