What's the deal with the floating white lanterns that show up at night..

Those laterns are poes, you can only kill them while in wolf form using the wolf sense where you usually are allowed to see the invisible insects and ghosts.

These lanterns are actully ghosts called "poes" you can only attack them as a wolf and you must have senses on. If you got to a gold man in the castle town then he'll ask you to get "poe souls" these are just dead poes!You can't attack them as a human so either kill them as a wolf or run past them.

P.S you can trust me on twilight princes I've completed it

Well those things are called poes. You need to kill them for this guy later on in the game. The way to kill them is to go in wolf from, use your senses, and attak him with A or B. When you attack him twice he will fall on the ground the L-target him And press A to kill him. Thats oyur answer. Your welcome.

They're Poes, you cannot attack them unless you are in Wolf Form with the senses up. Just avoid them for the time being as they will drain your health rapidly.

They are poes. To defeat them, go in to wolf form and put up your senses. Lock on and wait until it floats within attack range then jump at it. Do this twice and the poe will be floored. Finish it (A) to defeat it.

Those floating white lanterns are actually Poes - if you're a Wolf, turn on your Senses to see them and defeat them to get their Souls.

Poe's are the creatures that hold lanterns and there are two different types in LoZ:TP. I will tell you them now;

Imp Poes
In Twilight Princess, the majority of the Poes that Jovani sold his soul to were Poe Imps. Poe Imps are smaller versions of Poes, and can only be seen as floating blue lanterns while Link is human. In order to see their bodies, Link must transform into Wolf Link and use his senses. When seen as Wolf Link, they are bright bluish-white, they carry their lanterns with their feet and they wield large scythes that they use to attack you. Many Imp Poes are difficult to find and a scattered throughout Hyrule, making it difficult to collect all 60 souls. There are 56 Poe Imps in the game. To kill and retreive an Imp Poes soul, Link must transform to his wolf form to see it, and then attack it twice to knock it down. After this, he can "finish" it by ripping out it's soul, otherwise it will simply get back up and fight.

Poes
In an event similar to that in the Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time, four Poes (the only regular Poes in the game) steal the flames that open a door in the Arbiter's Grounds dungeon. These Poes are larger than Imp Poes, and wear cloaks. After being killed, the cloak remains on the floor (despite being ghosts, they have a scent that Wolf Link can track). The fourth Poe you fight has the ability to make three clones of himself- an ability no other Poe has. They will circle around Link, and one will eventually start to shine brighter than the other three signaling he is the real one. Poes do not attack with a scythe, but they attack you with their lanterns. To destroy and take a Poes soul you must wait until it starts glowing then attack it. After a few times of this, the Poe will fall on the floor and you will have to 'finish' it.
Hope this is enough information for you. ;)

Zelda_Fan