Red ball and road departure at Moreuil in 1984

Summary

A driver returning exhausted from a night shift saw a red ball appear above his car near Moreuil. A beam of light blinded him and forced him off the road. He left the vehicle and walked toward the ball until it vanished, then took shelter in a nearby field with a farmer. The farmer saw nothing unusual but noted that the rising sun often looks like a red ball from that spot. Investigators concluded that extreme fatigue combined with the glare of sunrise produced an optical illusion that explained both the driver's perception and his erratic behavior.