Sighting in Royan, June 11, 2014

At around 7:45 pm, a motorist driving alone was surprised to see a white object, which they described as "fairly large", low in the sky and in line with the road, toward the east or southeast. The witness compared its shape to a flying saucer that was flat on the underside. They kept driving and lost sight of it behind trees. A few kilometres further on, they spotted it again as a tiny dot in the sky. No other testimony was collected.

Several hypotheses were examined, including a mistaken sighting of the Moon rising. The weather was fine, the phenomenon was very low on the horizon and kept receding from the witness, and the time was close to that of the sighting. The Moon, at an azimuth of 116°, was also visible in line with the road at the roundabout where the witness first noticed the phenomenon. However, no direction was given for the last phase of the observation, so this hypothesis could not be formally confirmed.

GEIPAN rated the case as moderately strange and of low consistency (a single witness, no photo, a late report). The problem lies not in the witness's visual perception but in how they interpreted what they saw, shaped by their reaction (astonishment, excitement, observing while driving). The case is classified C, for lack of detail.