Sighting in Croignon, July 23, 2009

The witness was lying on a lounge chair around 11 p.m., watching for shooting stars, when a very bright ball appeared from behind a shed. It moved silently, rising and dropping in turns at about 2.5 m above the ground, then passed over the witness, who was still on the chair. It was white and pale yellow, about the size of a child's ball. It shone like a sun and gave off rays of light. It then vanished behind some trees.

This account was collected in July 2013, four years after the event. The witness did not mention a storm at the time of the sighting, but the day had been hot and there had been a thunderstorm that morning. The account was submitted to a lightning specialist (Laboratoire de la foudre), who unambiguously recognised ball lightning. Lightning strike records in Aquitaine were numerous that evening, which supports this reading. GEIPAN classified the case as A: observation of ball lightning.