27 August 1976 00:30
Briare, France
Many sightings of yellow rectangle and red balls of light. Couple and wife's mother took picture of red sphere when a bright light lit meadow, saw several figures running with lights. Later most ill, one death.
A witness later died. One red sphere, around 500 feet away, was observed by three witnesses in a yard.
In July and August, there had been a number of previous UFO-like sightings (luminous objects at night) in this very small hamlet, the most notable being on August 10, when 7 or 8 witnesses observed a large vertical yellow-luminous rectangle in the air, apparently a few hundred yards away. About 4 more luminous squares appeared in its lower part, like lighted windows in a building; then, turning orange then red, it gradually faded away, terminating in a very powerful flash of light. The next day a ground trace (a 10 ft square of crushed stubble, with imprints in the earth at its corners) was found on a field over which the appearance might have been; those who approached this marking too closely soon suffered a painful sensation of "heavy legs." Thereafter, moving red luminous balls were repeatedly seen by night, and noises were heard at night and even (in the adjacent wood) "howling" and loud metallic noises by day. A woman, who had seen both the luminous rectangle and, on several occasions the red spheres, had borrowed a camera to photograph them. About 0030A, a red sphere was seen approaching by the woman and two other witnesses who were outside at the time. When it had got "fairly close," the witness took two exposures form some seconds, and the witnesses could see there several silhouetted figures running, or walking very fast, and carrying in their hands powerful lights, like torches. They seemed to be of normal stature. Then darkness returned. In the weeks that followed, nearly all the witnesses of UFOs at this place fell ill (of various ailments) and one died.
Hynek rating: CE3: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Entity reports)
Vallee rating: CE5: CE4 which results in permanent psychological injuries or death.
Vallee reliability rating: 143: Report attributed to a known source of unknown or uncalibrated reliability; site visit by a skilled analyst; natural explanation requires major alteration of several parameters.
Other sightings in this areaGoogle map of this location.
Sources:
- 40 - 821
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