Sighting in Le Grand-Village-Plage, October 30, 2013

Between about 6:50 pm and 8:30 pm, three witnesses noticed a red light in the sky. It appeared and then seemed to hang motionless above a nearby forest. It went out, came back later, still fixed in place, and finally faded away like a halogen lamp. Two of the witnesses gave accounts. One of them also described orange spheres visible for a few minutes.

These details point to Thai lanterns, although the case has some unusual features. It was not a Saturday night, but it was Halloween, which could have been an occasion for a release. The objects seemed stationary: when questioned by phone, the witness had been looking north-west, meaning with their back to a light south-easterly wind (according to the weather record from the Île d'Oléron). An object carried along by that wind would have drifted slowly away from them and so looked motionless. Finally, a second object appeared in the same spot fifteen minutes later; as is often the case, several lanterns may have been released one after another and followed exactly the same path.

GEIPAN classified the case as B: probable sighting of Thai lanterns.