An account in Landes, France

In the night of May 5, 1983, between 2:00 and 2:15 a.m., a motorist noticed a glow on the front right window of his vehicle: this glow, moving up and down and in all directions, intrigued the driver, who nevertheless continued on his way. Very quickly, the witness saw this glow again, which made an arc and then came toward him onto his vehicle. Seized with fear and in a panic, he stalled and stopped on the right shoulder of the road; the witness then noted that the car radio was jammed and heard a loud cracking sound. The light then rose to the right and disappeared in the direction of Pau. The witness describes a bluish, ovoid luminous phenomenon, 4 to 5 meters in length, moving rapidly but without noise and without a trail. Although during the first observation the motorist passed a truck driver who probably saw the phenomenon, only one testimony was collected. The witness describes a clear night with a well-cleared, normally starry sky, but also indicates that it was heavy weather with a slight south wind. This observation case, initially classified as D, was the subject of a new study, and the testimony was sent to the Lightning Research Laboratory in Cantal. The indications given by the witness now lead to the following hypothesis: this motorist probably encountered a ball lightning phenomenon. The loud cracking sound heard by the witness is one of the characteristics of ball lightning or a leader trace. Moreover, even if the dimensions given by the witness seem exaggerated at first glance, dimensions of 10 to 15 meters in diameter have already been observed for this type of phenomenon. This case is classified as B: probable observation of a ball lightning phenomenon.