Valensole UFO incident
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🛸 Case
Contents 5
| Type | Case |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Valensole, Maurice Masse |
The Valensole UFO incident is the report by Maurice Masse, a lavender farmer in Valensole, southern France, that on the morning of 1 July 1965 he saw a small egg-shaped craft land in his field and met two small occupants. GEIPAN, the French space agency's office for studying unidentified aerospace phenomena, lists the case as unexplained.[1][2]
The encounter
Masse, then 41, reported the encounter to the gendarmerie the next day. According to the gendarmes' summary, he said he had seen a "flying saucer" about the size of a Renault Dauphine car, shaped like a rugby ball, with two occupants. One, about a metre tall and heavily built, wearing a one-piece suit, briefly stepped out before the craft vanished at great speed.[2] On 18 August he added further details: he had come within about seven metres of the craft, seen the two beings crouching by a lavender plant, and been unable to move for several minutes after one pointed an object at him.[1][2]
Masse rejected the idea that he had seen a helicopter. He told the newspaper Le Provençal that the craft looked like a giant spider with six legs and a central pivot, had no rotor or blades, and took off with a muffled sound unlike any aircraft. He also said he had never called it a flying saucer.[2]
Traces
Gendarmes inspected the site on 2 and 3 July and recorded a cylindrical hole about 18 centimetres across and 40 centimetres deep at the centre of four shallow grooves forming a rough cross. No radioactivity was found. Soil from the site was later reported to contain an unusually high level of calcium, and lavender is said not to have grown there again until 1975.[2] Masse is reported to have suffered from excessive sleepiness for several months afterwards.[2]
Explanations
Several ordinary explanations have been suggested.[2]
- A military helicopter. On 4 July 1965 military sources told the press that the object was probably an Alouette helicopter. Army light aviation units were taking part in exercises nearby that week. Researcher Dominique Caudron later argued that Masse's description fitted an Alouette II.
- Farm equipment. Caudron also suggested the marks might have come from a liquid-fertiliser tank used by a neighbouring farmer.
- A comic story. Ufologist Raoul Robé suggested Masse's story was inspired by "Passagers de soucoupes volantes", a comic published in 1950 and republished in 1960. Psychologist Gilles Fernandez thought this unlikely, given the differences between the two.
French ufologists of the time, on the other hand, concluded that Masse's field had received an unusual and apparently extraterrestrial visit.[2]
Legacy
Masse died in 2004. A French feature film, Valensole 1965, directed by Dominique Filhol, was released in July 2025 and dealt with the story and what Masse went through after he made it public.[2]
References
- UFO sightings in France — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Rencontre de Valensole — Wikipédia (in French) · fr.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 31 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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