Distant lightning mistaken for a UFO at Beauvoir-sur-Niort

Summary

Around 2:30 a.m. on 26 February 1978, several people in Beauvoir-sur-Niort (Deux-Sèvres) saw a bright silvery shape that vanished suddenly after a luminous flash, all in total silence. That same night, gendarmerie patrols recorded flashes from distant storms. The witnesses are believed to have confused lightning or a storm-related atmospheric phenomenon with something unusual. No physical evidence or additional testimonies were found.