An account in Haut-Rhin, France

On June 26, 2016, around midnight to 12:15 a.m., a witness observed from their window facing West the passage in the sky of a luminous point of red/orange color. This point advanced silently at low speed in a northwest direction, then was hidden by trees. The observation lasted between 1 and 2 minutes. Only one testimony was collected in this municipality. The gendarmerie investigation indicates another observation of the passage of about thirty points the same evening in the same time slot at Nanteuil-la-Forêt (51), very far from the observation location: this confirms the activity of releasing lanterns during this summer period in different places in France. The witness's observation is characteristic of observing the passage of a Thai lantern, both in color, shape, and type of trajectory. The witness, who is looking West, describes a movement toward the north, rather slow ("It was advancing at low speed," "about 1 to 2 minutes before this light moved to the right"). This is compatible with the wind measured 3 km away at Hohrod (68) (see the Infoclimat record), of northern origin and at 3 km/h. The occurrence on a weekend night, favorable to festive events, reinforces this hypothesis. Releasing many lanterns at night is spectacular but very costly: the use of a single lantern also remains very common, particularly by private individuals. Private parties are hard to detect because those who release lanterns do not always declare themselves to the authorities (town hall, prefecture). Consequently, GEIPAN classifies the case as B: observation of the passage of a Thai lantern.