Close encounter in a lavender field at Valensole (1965)

Summary

On 1 July 1965 at 5:45 a.m., a farmer in Valensole was working in his lavender field when he heard an unusual whistling sound. Approaching the source, he found a dark object resting on the ground. For several minutes he watched two figures climb quickly into the craft, which then took off toward Manosque. Left behind were star-shaped imprints with a cylindrical hole at their centre, pressed into damp earth. Over the following days the soil hardened to a cement-like consistency.

The news spread rapidly, drawing onlookers and gendarmes who conducted several inspections of the site. There were no other direct witnesses and no evidence beyond the ground traces. GEIPAN classified the case as D — a strange phenomenon with no conventional explanation.