Nancy / L'Amarante case

The reported observation

An object above the garden

The witness, identified as Monsieur Henri in the published study, initially thought he saw an aircraft approaching from the south-east. As the appearance changed, he described an oval object above the lawn. He estimated its diameter at approximately 1.5 metres, its thickness at 0.8 metres and its height above the ground at about one metre. He said that he approached to approximately half a metre and looked at it from several positions. These dimensions were visual estimates. The investigators explicitly noted that he had made no direct measurement and that the proportions of his drawings differed from their written dimensions. Sections II and V.4–7, scan pp. 5 and 21–29.

His comparison with polished beryllium described the lower surface’s appearance. It does not identify a recovered material or establish density. The blue-green upper part was harder for him to describe, and the report reproduces his uncertainty over its texture and whether its apparent effect came from inside or outside. He reported no sound, perceived heat or other bodily sensation from the object. Those statements describe his experience; they supply no instrumental survey of emissions. Sections V.8–11, scan pp. 32–35.

Duration and attempted photography

Henri insisted that he had consulted his watch and that the stationary phase lasted twenty minutes. The reproduced police statement places the appearance at about 12:35, the telex gives departure at about 12:56, and the later reconstruction refers to 12:33. GEPAN acknowledged differences between those clock entries. The record therefore supports his report of a prolonged observation of about twenty minutes, without fixing an exact continuous interval. Sections II and V.3, scan pp. 5–6 and 20.

He said that he went upstairs to retrieve a loaded camera but could not release its shutter. In the same-day statement he added that the camera had previously malfunctioned. No photograph of the object resulted. The account provides no basis for assigning the failure to electromagnetic interference. His departure from the garden also interrupts any claim that he watched the object continuously throughout the reported period. Section II, scan p. 5.

Reporting and investigation

A same-day statement and a later site visit

Henri told his wife about the experience at approximately 17:00. The couple went to the gendarmerie at about 18:00. On returning home, they noticed wilted flowers; the witness associated them with the earlier observation. The gendarmerie collected plants the following morning and sent a telex dated 22 October. GEPAN records receiving the information on 23 October, deciding to intervene on 27 October and visiting the site on 29 October. Sections I–III and V.11, scan pp. 4–8 and 35.

The published study contains the police statement within GEPAN’s report. Its several discussions of the observation draw on that statement, recorded interviews and a supplementary questionnaire. The wife’s response concerned her reaction to the account; she had been absent during the object observation and was also absent during the GEPAN visit. Her involvement in reporting and inspecting the plants should be distinguished from witnessing the object. Sections II and VI, scan pp. 5–6, 36 and 46.

A reconstructed position

Investigators mapped the garden and used Henri’s account to place an approximate silhouette within it. The resulting centre served as the reference for subsequent grass sampling. Its precision on a diagram comes from the reconstruction; it does not constitute an independently recorded object position. Section V.7 and figure 11, scan pp. 29 and 53.

By the visit, the garden had changed. Henri said that he had removed the amaranths and hollyhocks two days earlier and shortened the grass since the observation. The later site photographs and plans therefore require comparison with the earlier gendarmerie photographs and the specimen history. These changes restrict reconstruction of the original plant arrangement. They do not by themselves establish a motive for removing the flowers. Section IV.2, scan pp. 15–16.

Plant samples and laboratory findings

Collection and preservation

The gendarmerie described wilted flower heads, dehydrated leaves and a change towards brown colouring. GEPAN later collected fifteen grass specimens along four axes, using the reconstructed centre, together with other vegetation. The two batches followed different preservation histories: the earlier specimens were refrigerated at approximately 4–5°C, while the later batch was transported with liquid nitrogen. The report says the collection was subsequently placed in a freezer at −30°C. Section VII, scan pp. 48–54.

An internal date discrepancy affects the analysed comparison. The collection section dates specimens 23 and 25 to 27 October. The laboratory section describes specimens 22 and 23 as originating in the 22 October collection, with specimen 23 conditioned on 27 October. Original collection and custody forms would be needed to determine whether the disagreement concerns collection, labelling or subsequent packaging. Sections VII.1 and IX.1, scan pp. 50 and 64.

What the biochemical comparison established

Researchers Abravanel and Just at the University Paul Sabatier’s plant-physiology centre analysed specimen 22, described as wilted, and specimen 23, used for comparison. They reported water contents of 40% and 80% respectively and expressed subsequent results relative to dry matter. Some differences in metabolites and amino acids were present. Their interpretation considered maturation, nitrogen availability and biological stress, alongside preservation effects. There was no measurement of the plants before the reported encounter. Section IX.1–2, scan pp. 64–70.

The authors cautioned that refrigeration followed by freezing did not adequately arrest enzymatic activity. They also considered environmental variables, including the preceding day’s reported sub-zero temperature and mist. Their final statement was that, with the specimens as preserved, plant biochemistry could not explain the difference in appearance. GEPAN’s concluding section likewise says that no conclusion could be drawn from those analyses. The laboratory results cannot establish an unusual energy source or a causal link to the object report. Section IX.3 and X, scan pp. 70–72.

Grass movement and the electric-field proposal

Henri said that grass directly beneath the object briefly stood upright as it departed and then returned to its previous position. This transient movement was not observed by investigators. Physicist Chauzy proposed comparing it with laboratory observations of grass subjected to a strong vertical electric field. The note describes charge emission at the tips of blades, known as corona discharge, as a condition for the mechanical response. Section VIII.4, scan pp. 62–63.

The proposed minimum of 30 kilovolts per metre applied to grass approximately fifteen centimetres high in the laboratory comparison. It was not a reading taken in Henri’s garden. Chauzy limited the hypothesised intense field to departure, partly because Henri reported no effect when standing close to the stationary object. Estimates of a stronger field at the flowers depended on the reconstructed geometry. Chauzy expressly declined to attribute the amaranths’ drying to such a discharge. A demonstrated laboratory response leaves the occurrence and strength of a field at this event to be established separately. Scan p. 63.

Radar and later explanations

The radar enquiry

GEPAN says that the air-defence operations centre supplied radar-video traces for the sector between 12:33 and 12:55. The report describes no notable anomaly and treats approximately five intermittent, unconfirmed plots as routine radar behaviour. These returns were not classified as a track of the garden object. The published description does not establish detection coverage for a small object close to the ground. Section VIII.3, scan p. 62.

A foil balloon supported by vegetation

Éric Maillot’s November 2018 paper proposes a foil balloon resting on tall vegetation before rising again. He reports access to original interview recordings and clearer photographs showing the garden before plants were removed. Those materials led him to reconsider whether vegetation could have supported a lightweight object near the reported position. Maillot, sections II–VI, pp. 2–6.

His paper compares balloon appearance with the testimony and proposes warming and air movement as the departure mechanism. It includes an expressly approximate simulation with a balloon inserted into a garden photograph. The insertion illustrates his proposal rather than depict a photographed object. No particular balloon, release or experimentally reproduced flight is identified. Maillot acknowledges that the proposed balloon does not explain the reported grass response. Sections VI–XI, pp. 6–11.

The earlier critical chapter in Les OVNI du CNES questions the investigation’s reliance on witness credibility and offers perceptual explanations. Those proposals were made retrospectively without a case-specific clinical examination. They warrant methodological consideration; the published material does not establish a medical diagnosis. Chapter 15, pp. 2–7.

Chronology

• 21 October 1982: Henri reports a prolonged garden observation around midday, speaks to his wife at about 17:00 and gives a statement at approximately 18:00. Wilted flowers are noticed that evening.
• 22 October 1982: The gendarmerie sends its telex and begins plant collection.
• 23 October 1982: GEPAN records receiving the report.
• 27 October 1982: GEPAN decides to investigate. The collection section assigns a further plant collection to this date; Henri later says that flowers were removed two days before the visit.
• 29 October 1982: GEPAN interviews Henri, reconstructs the observation and collects additional vegetation.
• 30 October 1982: The report records placing the specimens in a freezer in Toulouse. Investigation and sampling chronology, sections III and VII.
• 21 March 1983: GEPAN dates Note technique n°17. Its cover and final section use differing investigation identifiers; the observation date remains 21 October 1982. Cover.
• November 2018: Maillot signs his illustrated foil-balloon reconstruction. Its publication and retrospective argument remain separate from the 1982 reporting. Paper, p. 11.

Open questions

Further research

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