Sighting in Labatut, May 5, 1983

During the night, between 2:00 and 2:15 a.m., a motorist driving along noticed a glow on the front right window of the vehicle. It moved up and down and in every direction, which intrigued the driver, who nonetheless kept going. Shortly afterwards the light appeared again, traced an arc, and then came to a position in front of the car, facing the driver. Frightened, the witness stalled the car and pulled over onto the right-hand verge. The radio was jammed and the witness heard a loud crack. The light then rose off to the right and disappeared in the direction of Pau.

The witness described an ovoid, bluish luminous phenomenon 4 to 5 metres long that moved quickly, silently and without leaving a trail. The night was clear, with a cloudless, normally starry sky; the air was heavy, with a light southerly wind. During the first sighting the driver had passed a lorry driver who probably saw the phenomenon too, but only one testimony was collected.

The case was first classified D, then studied again, and the testimony was sent to the lightning research laboratory in the Cantal. The hypothesis now put forward is that the witness probably encountered ball lightning: a loud crack is characteristic of ball lightning or of a leader (initiating streamer), and although the stated size seems exaggerated at first glance, diameters of 10 to 15 metres have already been observed for this kind of phenomenon. GEIPAN classified the case B.