Sighting in Saint-Martin-de-Seignanx, December 24, 2012

At about 9:45 p.m., a family watched between six and eight glowing points move silently across the sky for around five minutes. Their color ranged from red to orange-yellow. They appeared one after another at regular intervals and seemed to follow each other at an even distance. All of them climbed along an upward path, and some went out abruptly. One of the witnesses filmed the scene.

GEIPAN concluded that the sighting matched a release of Thai lanterns: the colors, shapes, type of trajectory and the extinction in flight, explained by the burner running out of fuel, all fit. The fast south-to-north drift agrees with the fairly strong south wind recorded at Biarritz. The first two objects, however, moved from east to west, but that direction was relayed second-hand rather than given by the witness directly, so it lacked the care that goes into a questionnaire or formal statement; moreover, wind can be unstable near the ocean. Finally, the evening of December 24 is a likely time for a festive release. GEIPAN therefore classified the case as B: probably Thai lanterns.