UFO landing in Trans-en-Provence, France, January 8, 1981

*** the French subtitles are unfortunately poorly automatically generated into English ***
The case began on 8 January 1981, at 5 pm. Renato Nicolaï, a 55-year-old farmer, heard a strange whistling sound while performing agricultural work on his property. He then saw a saucer-shaped object about 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) in diameter land about 50 m (160 ft) away at a lower elevation.

According to the witness, "The device had the shape of two saucers, one inverted on top of the other. It must have measured about 1.5 metres in height. It was the color of lead. This device had a ridge all the way around its circumference. Under the machine I saw two kinds of pieces as it was lifting off. They could be reactors or feet. There were also two other circles which looked like trapdoors. The two reactors, or feet, extended about 20 cm (8 in) below the body of the machine."

Nicolaï claimed the object took off almost immediately, rising above the treeline and departing to the northeast. It left burn marks on the ground where it had supposedly sat.

The local gendarmerie were notified of the event the following day by Nicolaï directly on the advice of his neighbor's wife, Mrs. Morin. The gendarmerie proceeded to interview Nicolaï, take photos of the scene, and collect soil and plant samples from the field. The case was later sent to GEIPAN—or GEPAN (Groupe d'Étude des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés) as it was known at that time—for review.

Analysis of evidence:
GEPAN analysis noted that the ground had been compressed by a mechanical pressure of about 4 or 5 tons, and heated to between 300 and 600 °C (572 and 1,112 °F). Trace amounts of phosphate and zinc were found in the sample material, and analysis of resident alfalfa near the landing site showed chlorophyll levels between 30% and 50% lower than expected.
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