F-01Supported in source
What the official record supports
GEIPAN publishes distinct classifications for identified, probably identified, insufficiently documented, and unidentified-after-investigation cases.
Published by Vastward
Official record / Source-led archive
How does France separate identified, data-poor, and unresolved cases?
The categories expose a method: lack of data is not the same as a well-investigated unknown.
Editorial disclosure
Vastward connects public archives across countries while preserving each institution's evidence standard and historical context.
01
30-second briefing
Start with what the primary record actually says.
The categories expose a method: lack of data is not the same as a well-investigated unknown.
Reading rule
An official record establishes what was documented. It does not automatically validate every interpretation or claim contained around it.
02
Evidence ledger
Trace every finding back to the record.
F-02Data limitation
Where the evidence stops
Percentages change as new cases arrive and old files are re-evaluated, and categories should not be compared directly with unrelated systems.
03
Conclusion boundary
Know exactly where the evidence stops.
What the primary record establishes
- GEIPAN publishes distinct classifications for identified, probably identified, insufficiently documented, and unidentified-after-investigation cases.
What it does not establish
- Percentages change as new cases arrive and old files are re-evaluated, and categories should not be compared directly with unrelated systems.
04
Method and limits
How this case was assembled.
This chapter follows official records outside one national system. It compares what each archive preserved, what its investigators could test, and what remains inaccessible or incomplete.
- 01
Use the responsible national archive or scientific agency as the primary source.
- 02
Keep local terminology and classification rules attached to the institution that used them.
- 03
Compare systems without pretending that their categories measure exactly the same thing.
Methodological caution
Official records preserve provenance, observations, assessments, and testimony at different evidence levels. Later data may revise how the same record is understood.
05
Historical thread
Follow the record as it changes.
- 1977-present
A vocabulary becomes an operating rule
GEIPAN's public database applies classification labels that communicate both outcome and evidence quality.
Official source ↗
06
Vastward interpretation
Stay curious without outrunning the evidence.
Independent editorial layer
The notes below are Vastward’s interpretation. They are not statements written by the source agency or witnesses.
The most valuable category may be the one that admits missing data. It stops ignorance from being mistaken for anomaly.
Every unresolved label should say whether the problem is the phenomenon or the quality of the record.
- Archive provenance
- The traceable path showing which institution created, held, transferred, and published a record.
- Classification system
- The local rules an organization uses to describe whether a report is identified, insufficiently documented, or unresolved.
07
Source index