This is a list of alleged sightings of unidentified flying objects or UFOs in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

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*815,

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

s, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The Carolingian archbishop,

Agobard Agobard of Lyon (–840) was a Spanish-born priest and archbishop of Lyon, during the Carolingian Renaissance. The author of multiple treatises, ranging in subject matter from the iconoclast controversy to Spanish Adoptionism to critiques of th ...

of Lyons, described in his ''De Grandine et Tonitruis'' ("On Hail and Thunder") of a "certain region called Magonia from whence come ships in the clouds", and how he prevented the stoning death of "three men and a woman who said they had fallen from these same ships."

1952

October 17, 1952,

Oloron-Sainte-Marie Oloron-Sainte-Marie (; oc, Auloron e Senta Maria; eu, Oloroe-Donamaria) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine (before 2015: Aquitaine), southwestern France. History The town was founded by the ...

. Many people saw a cigar-shaped UFO accompanied by 30 disc-shaped objects. These smaller UFOs dropped a white siliceous cotton which covered tree branches and roofs. Some French skeptics thought that the UFOs were an optical phenomenon caused by the refraction of the sun's rays and the siliceous cotton was caused by a migration of field

spiders Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species di ...

1954

* September 10, 1954, Quarouble, Nord. A railway worker witnessed two small beings boarding a UFO and flying into the sky. Strange things happened in the region in the following days. The case received notable media attention.

1965

* July 1, 1965,

Valensole Valensole (; Occitan: ''Valençòla'') is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the southeastern Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France. Its inhabitants are called Valensolais (masculine) and Valensolaises (feminine). The ...

, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. An alleged UFO sighting and

close encounter In ufology, a close encounter is an event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object. This terminology and the system of classification behind it were first suggested in astronomer and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek's 1972 book ''T ...

''()'' by farmer Maurice Masse. According to Masse, he encountered two small beings near a spherical vehicle that had landed in a nearby field. Masse claims that he was paralyzed when one of the beings pointed a tube-like object towards him. Masse said he watched the beings looking at plants and making grunting sounds until they returned to the vehicle and flew away. According to his wife, Masse said he received some kind of communication from the beings, considered his encounter "a spiritual experience", and looked upon the site as "hallowed ground" that "should be kept in his family forever". UFOlogists consider Masse's claims significant and cite "landing gear impressions" found in the soil. *September 1965. Fort-de-France,

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...

. In late September 1965, at the harbour at Fort-de-France at 9:15 p.m., several hundred witnesses saw a ball or disk of light in the sky. It moved slowly from west to east and then looped around, leaving a glowing trail. The last part of its trajectory was observed through binoculars. It disappeared at 9:50 p.m. Reported by Michel Figuet, first ''timonier'' (helmsman) of the French fleet of the Mediterranean.Estimates of Optical Power Output in Six Cases of Unexplained Aerial Objects
by Jacques F. Vallée

1967

* August 29, 1967, Cussac,

Cantal Cantal (; oc, Cantal or ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, with its prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour (the episcopal see) and Mauriac; its residents are known as Cantalians (fren ...

. Two young children, a brother and sister, declare to have been the witnesses of a meeting with a UFO and their occupants.

1976

*November 5, 1976. Rives /

Voreppe Voreppe () is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. It is part of the Grenoble urban unit (agglomeration).Isère. Dr. S., a French physicist, saw a "luminous disk moving in the sky" while driving home near Voreppe towards Grenoble. It was "was brighter than the full moon" and slightly flattened. Due to its movement between mountains, it is possible to estimate its distance between . This is GEPAN Case No. 76305443. The same phenomenon was seen by several people on a straight line over from Clermont-Ferrand to Grenoble. From this, it is possible to estimate that it was moving at an altitude of .

1978

*June 19, 1978.

Gujan-Mestras Gujan-Mestras (; oc, Gujan e Mestràs) is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France. It is twinned with Santa María de Cayón, Spain Population Geography Gujan-Mestras is located in the southern part of the Arcachon bay. I ...

, Gironde. Several people witnessed a UAP which trigged off the city lights of Gujan-Mestras. The case was investigated by the local police and by GEPAN.

1981

* January 8, 1981,

Trans-en-Provence Trans-en-Provence (; Provençal: ''Tranç'') is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Trans-en-Provence is famous among the ufologists as the site of an alleged UFO incident called th ...

Var Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

. The Trans-en-Provence Case is considered by UFOlogists to be one of the rare cases where a UFO left material traces. Critics say it was a joke, and the traces were tyres.

1982

* October 21, 1982, Nancy, France. At 12:30 a.m. an ovoid object descended into a garden and hovered above the ground. After 20 minutes the object took off silently into the sky. The witness, a biologist, reported that when the UFO rose up, the grass under it stood up straight. In the afternoon, the witness noted that two amaranth plants located near the UFO had withered leaves. The witness called the Gendarmerie, which made an inspection in the garden and took some samples of the amaranth plants. The analysis of the samples made by

GEPAN GEIPAN (an acronym for ''Groupe d'Études et d'Informations sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés'', or unidentified aerospace phenomenon research and information group). (), its name since September 2005. (The group was formerly know ...

found that the plants had been dehydrated, but there was no evidence of radiation.Note technique du Gepan –Enquete 86/06 -“L’amarante”
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References

External links

CNES - UFO Data

MUFON - Last 20 UFO Sightings and Pictures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ufo Sightings In France

Historical events in France

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