Luminous dot over Barbâtre beach attributed to a flying lantern

Summary

On 1 May 2008, a fisherman on a beach in Barbâtre saw a white luminous dot moving slowly across the sky. It appeared to come from the Île d'Yeu and headed east before disappearing into the clouds. The sighting's characteristics match those of a Thai lantern carried by the wind. The date and time are consistent with that explanation, and investigators suggested it could have been launched from a boat. The northward deviation was attributed to the coastal effect on low-altitude wind flow.