Fresnay-le-Comte 1979, reddish glow above a forest

Summary

In October 1979, a motorist and her passengers spotted a reddish luminous object above a forest in Fresnay-le-Comte (Eure-et-Loir). Bright but not blinding, the object changed shape before silently vanishing after about 15 to 20 seconds. Initially deemed low-strangeness, GEIPAN later revisited the case with modern tools and concluded it was the rising Sun, its light filtered through moving clouds. Weather conditions and the witnesses' surprise prevented them from recognizing it. The current classification is PAN A — a confusion with a known astronomical phenomenon.