Close encounter of Cussac
Encyclopedia
The Close encounter of Cussac is the name given to an event which happened to a young brother and sister in Cussac, Cantal
, France
in August 1967. They reported a UFO sighting and encounter
with alien beings.
of Cussac, Cantal
, to lead ten cows approximately 800 m to the west of the village. The sky was clear but it was a little cold (12 to 16 °C) and a light breeze blew in from the West. There was fog in two valleys 10 km from Cussac.
While supervising the herd, they played cards until 10:30 AM, when their cows tried to cross a low wall that separated them from a neighbour's grazing ground. François rose to order his dog to call them back. In doing this, François noticed 4 small beings across the road, behind a hedge, approximately 80m from him. He initially thought that they were children. François climbed some stones in order to distinguish them better and found them very strange. They were made of a 'silky' black, without any distinctive faces or clothing. Their sizes varied between 1m and 1.2m, with two of the beings smaller than the others. All had long, fine limbs and normally proportioned heads, although their craniums and chins seemed more accentuated than humans' and they seemed to have 'beards.'
Anne Marie, who still believed that these beings were children, called out, "Do you all want to come play with us?" In response, all four beings dove behind a hedge. At this point, the children climbed on top of a small wall and were able to distinguish an extremely brilliant sphere behind the 'black children' which was between 4 and 5 m in diameter (although Anne-Marie would later estimate this distance as between 2 and 2.5m). The sphere sparked so much that it was painful to look at.
As François and Anne-Marie watched, one of the 'black children" was lowered from the sphere and seemed to begin work on something on the ground. They saw two others in profile, and the fourth—who was the biggest of the group—holding a rectangular, mirror-like object reflecting the sun and agitating its hands as if it were making signs with its companions.
Three of the 'children' then flew away at the vertical and plunged, head first, into the top of the sphere. The fourth followed suit but, before plunging into the sphere, returned to the ground, seemingly to collect something (its "mirror" according to François).
The sphere then began to rise in a helicoid
trajectory
, and again the fourth being flew away from the spaceship before catching up again about 15m in the air. At this point the children noticed that the being had webbed feet. Anne-Marie also noticed that the being had a "pointed nose".
The sphere continued to ascend in circles, giving off more and more light. Then, a noise which had accompanied the takeoff of the sphere disappeared, and the spaceship moved away very quickly towards the North-West. At the same time, the children noticed a sulforous
odor. Soon, both the cows that the children were tending to and those in the neighbouring field had become agitated and gathered closely together. The dog barked after the object and seemed to want to follow it.
François and Anne-Marie did not see the object disappearing, because they were obliged to look after the cows, which had become more and more agitated.
Their observation lasted around thirty seconds, after which point the children hurried to bring the cows back to their farm.
After the children's father, who was also the mayor
of Cussac, saw Médor the dog arrive followed by his shocked children, he decided to call the gendarmes of Saint Flour, a town 19 km from Cussac. The mayor knew these policemen well, as they handled all road accidents around the commune.
The gendarmes arrived at 4 PM. They noticed the sulforous odor that the children had described as well as a slightly yellowed grass trace 4 to 5 meters, behind the hedge (which would begin to disappear after the first day). They collected testimonies, and informed their superiors by radio.
The children remained shocked following the incident, and Anne-Marie did not manage to sleep during the two days that followed. François cried during the fifteen minutes that followed the appearance and every morning when waking up for several days.
which was published in the issue of Space Phenomenon of June 1968.
UFO association Lumières dans la Nuit also carries out a survey with members of the South of France.
In 1977, Luc Bourdin, investigator for "Lumières" met Francois, then at the college of Clermont
, and remade a complete enquiry on the case. He learns that a sentence allotted to Anne-Marie in newspapers (Will you come to play with us?) was a pure journalistic fabrication, as François and Anne-Marie quickly realized that the beings they were watching were not children. François also confirmed that he did not see any 'feet' which would have supported the spaceship, although his sister made such a claim.
Cussac, Cantal
Cussac is a commune in the Cantal department in the Auvergne region in south-central France.-History:On August 29, 1967, two young siblings claimed to have been the witnesses of a close encounter with a UFO and its occupants; the incident is now known as the close encounter of...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in August 1967. They reported a UFO sighting and encounter
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 was started by astronomer and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek, and was first suggested in his 1972 book The UFO Experience: A Scientific...
with alien beings.
The testimony
On the morning of August 29, 1967, at 8:00 AM, François (13 years old), his sister Anne-Marie (9), and their dog Médor left the French communeCommunes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
of Cussac, Cantal
Cussac, Cantal
Cussac is a commune in the Cantal department in the Auvergne region in south-central France.-History:On August 29, 1967, two young siblings claimed to have been the witnesses of a close encounter with a UFO and its occupants; the incident is now known as the close encounter of...
, to lead ten cows approximately 800 m to the west of the village. The sky was clear but it was a little cold (12 to 16 °C) and a light breeze blew in from the West. There was fog in two valleys 10 km from Cussac.
While supervising the herd, they played cards until 10:30 AM, when their cows tried to cross a low wall that separated them from a neighbour's grazing ground. François rose to order his dog to call them back. In doing this, François noticed 4 small beings across the road, behind a hedge, approximately 80m from him. He initially thought that they were children. François climbed some stones in order to distinguish them better and found them very strange. They were made of a 'silky' black, without any distinctive faces or clothing. Their sizes varied between 1m and 1.2m, with two of the beings smaller than the others. All had long, fine limbs and normally proportioned heads, although their craniums and chins seemed more accentuated than humans' and they seemed to have 'beards.'
Anne Marie, who still believed that these beings were children, called out, "Do you all want to come play with us?" In response, all four beings dove behind a hedge. At this point, the children climbed on top of a small wall and were able to distinguish an extremely brilliant sphere behind the 'black children' which was between 4 and 5 m in diameter (although Anne-Marie would later estimate this distance as between 2 and 2.5m). The sphere sparked so much that it was painful to look at.
As François and Anne-Marie watched, one of the 'black children" was lowered from the sphere and seemed to begin work on something on the ground. They saw two others in profile, and the fourth—who was the biggest of the group—holding a rectangular, mirror-like object reflecting the sun and agitating its hands as if it were making signs with its companions.
Three of the 'children' then flew away at the vertical and plunged, head first, into the top of the sphere. The fourth followed suit but, before plunging into the sphere, returned to the ground, seemingly to collect something (its "mirror" according to François).
The sphere then began to rise in a helicoid
Helicoid
The helicoid, after the plane and the catenoid, is the third minimal surface to be known. It was first discovered by Jean Baptiste Meusnier in 1776. Its name derives from its similarity to the helix: for every point on the helicoid there is a helix contained in the helicoid which passes through...
trajectory
Trajectory
A trajectory is the path that a moving object follows through space as a function of time. The object might be a projectile or a satellite, for example. It thus includes the meaning of orbit—the path of a planet, an asteroid or a comet as it travels around a central mass...
, and again the fourth being flew away from the spaceship before catching up again about 15m in the air. At this point the children noticed that the being had webbed feet. Anne-Marie also noticed that the being had a "pointed nose".
The sphere continued to ascend in circles, giving off more and more light. Then, a noise which had accompanied the takeoff of the sphere disappeared, and the spaceship moved away very quickly towards the North-West. At the same time, the children noticed a sulforous
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
odor. Soon, both the cows that the children were tending to and those in the neighbouring field had become agitated and gathered closely together. The dog barked after the object and seemed to want to follow it.
François and Anne-Marie did not see the object disappearing, because they were obliged to look after the cows, which had become more and more agitated.
Their observation lasted around thirty seconds, after which point the children hurried to bring the cows back to their farm.
After the children's father, who was also the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Cussac, saw Médor the dog arrive followed by his shocked children, he decided to call the gendarmes of Saint Flour, a town 19 km from Cussac. The mayor knew these policemen well, as they handled all road accidents around the commune.
The gendarmes arrived at 4 PM. They noticed the sulforous odor that the children had described as well as a slightly yellowed grass trace 4 to 5 meters, behind the hedge (which would begin to disappear after the first day). They collected testimonies, and informed their superiors by radio.
The children remained shocked following the incident, and Anne-Marie did not manage to sleep during the two days that followed. François cried during the fifteen minutes that followed the appearance and every morning when waking up for several days.
The inquiry
Joel Mesnard and Claude Pavy began an investigation for the GEIPANGEIPAN
GEIPAN , formerly known as GEPAN and SEPRA , is a unit of the French Space Agency CNES whose brief is to investigate unidentified aerospace phenomena and make its findings available to the public....
which was published in the issue of Space Phenomenon of June 1968.
UFO association Lumières dans la Nuit also carries out a survey with members of the South of France.
In 1977, Luc Bourdin, investigator for "Lumières" met Francois, then at the college of Clermont
Lycée Louis-le-Grand
The Lycée Louis-le-Grand is a public secondary school located in Paris, widely regarded as one of the most rigorous in France. Formerly known as the Collège de Clermont, it was named in king Louis XIV of France's honor after he visited the school and offered his patronage.It offers both a...
, and remade a complete enquiry on the case. He learns that a sentence allotted to Anne-Marie in newspapers (Will you come to play with us?) was a pure journalistic fabrication, as François and Anne-Marie quickly realized that the beings they were watching were not children. François also confirmed that he did not see any 'feet' which would have supported the spaceship, although his sister made such a claim.
Skeptical analysis
- Besides the strange odor smelled after the supposed event and the slightly yellowed grass, there is no scientific evidence to support this sighting.
- There were only two witnesses, who were in a very isolated place, who saw the beings and their ship.
Elements in favour of the credibility of testimony
- Since this morning of August 29, 1967, neither brother nor sister have ever contradicted their testimonies.
- The children's fright upon returning to their village was said to appear completely genuine by the people of Cussac.
- In their declaration to the Gendarmerie, François and Anne-Marie spoke of a whistling noise that accompanied the takeoff of the sphere. After the fact, a rural policeman who did not attend the scene but who lived in the vicinity would say that he also heard the noise.
Further reading (in chronological order)
- Joël Mesnard et Claude Pavy, « Rencontre "diabolique" sur le plateau de Cussac », dans Phénomènes Spatiaux, n° 16, juin 1968, pp. 27-31, traduit « Encounters with "devils" », dans FSR, vol 14, n° 5, septembre-octobre 1968, p. 7-9.
- Hebdo (Toulouse), 12 octobre 1968.
- Jacques ValléeJacques ValléeJacques Fabrice Vallée is a venture capitalist, computer scientist, author, ufologist and former astronomer currently residing in San Francisco, California....
, Chroniques des apparitions extraterrestres, Paris, Denoël, 1972, p. 420. - Bulletin UFOIC, n° 21, décembre 1968.
- Rapport International UFO Bureau, mai-juin 1969.
- « Les petits êtres de Cussac », dans Fernand Lagarde (dir.), Mystérieuses soucoupes volantes, Paris, Éditions Albatros, 1973, p. 127-132.
- Communication à radio Luxembourg, 30 août 1967.
- « Les martiens ont-ils atterri ? », dans La Montagne, 1 septembre 1967, p. 3 (détails du cas de Cussac)
- Paris Jour, 2-3 septembre 1967.
- Lumière Dans La Nuit (LDLN), n° 90, septembre-octobre 1967, p. 6.
- The APRO Bulletin, sept-oct 1967, p. 8.
- Pierre Ensia, « Les humanoïdes », dans Horizon du Fantastique, n° 25 bis (spécial 2), 1974, p. 57-59 (il signale également deux publications en anglais sur le cas, dans le Bulletin UFOIC et par l'International UFO Bureau).
- Jean-Claude Bourret, La Nouvelle vague des soucoupes volantes, Paris, France-Empire, 1974, p. 136-138.
- Charles Garreau et Raymond Lavier, Face aux extra-terrestres, Paris, Jean-Pierre Delarge, 1975, p. 192-194.
- Gordon Creighton, dans Lumière Dans La Nuit (LDLN), n° 145, mai 1975.
- Coral E. et Jim Lorenzen, Encounters with UFO Occupants, New York, Berkeley Medallion Book, 1976, p. 162 (ils soulignent ressemblance avec un autre cas sud américain).
- Pierre Delval avec la collaboration de la commission OURANOS, Le Grand livre des Objets volants non identifiés, Éditions De Vecchi, 1976.
- R. Jack Perrin (pseudonyme de Roger-Paul Perrinjaquet), Le Mystère des OVNI, Paris, Pygmalion, 1976, p. 20-28 (reprend l’article de Phénomènes spatiaux).
- Henry Durrant, Premières enquêtes sur les humanoïdes extraterrestres, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1977, p. 41-47 [reprend le texte paru dans MSV]
- Info OVNI, spécial, catalogue Auvergne, juillet 1978, p. 34-35.
- Rapport au Conseil scientifique du GEPAN, t. 4, CNES/CT/GEPAN, 140, juin 1978 - signé par 19 personnes. FSR, n° 68.
- Michel Figuet et Jean-Louis Ruchon, OVNI. Premier dossier complet des rencontres rapprochées en France, Nice, Alain Lefeuvre éditeur, 1979.
- Éric Zurcher, Les apparitions d’humanoïdes, Nice, Éditions A. Lefeuvre, 1979, p. 313.
- Jean-Claude Bourret (dessins de Patrick Claeys), Témoignages OVNI, Paris, Éditions Atelier 786, 1981, p. 46-50.
- Thierry Pinvidic, « Synthèse de la rencontre avec JF XXXXXXXX, témoin de l'observation de Cussac, Clermont-Ferrand le 21 juillet 1983 » (communication personnelle, 11 pages).
- Alain Gamard, « À propos de la « Synthèse de la rencontre avec JF XXXXXXXX, témoin de l'observation de Cussac, Clermont-Ferrand le 21 juillet 1983 », 20 décembre 1983 (communication personnelle)
- Thierry Pinvidic, « Des témoins pour une "légende" : un cas d'apparition d'ovni », dans Communications, n° 52, octobre 1990, p. 311-335.
- Thierry Pinvidic, « Un grand classique qui a la vie dure », dans Thiery Pinvindic (éd.), OVNI: vers une anthropologie d'un mythe contemporain, Éditions Heimdal, Paris, 1993, pp. 199-209.
- « Un cas célèbre : Quatre petits êtres et une sphère lumineuse à Cussac en 1967 », dans Limousin Magazine, n° 368, mai 1994.
- Jean-Claude Bourret et Jean-Jacques Velasco, Ovnis, la science avance, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1995, p. 112-123.
- « Ovnis au Planétarium », dans Lyon Capitale du 7 décembre 1995 (Cussac au centre du débat).
- Patrick Huyghes, Field Guide of Extraterrestrials , New York, Avon Books, 1996.
- Éric Maillot, « Les ufologues et l'ovni de cussac - 30 ans dans un cul-de-sac ! », dans la revue du Cercle Zététique, 1996.
- Pierre LagrangePierre LagrangePierre Lagrange is a Belgian hedge fund manager and co-founder of GLG Partners.Lagrange was born Belgium and now resides with his family in London and Hampshire...
, Science & Vie JuniorScience & Vie JuniorScience & Vie Junior is a French magazine. It is published by Mondadori France.- History :It was made in France between May to December 1988 but the first of the magazines was made the 20 January 1989. Now the magazine is monthly. The magazine is a spin-off of Science & Vie made for teenagers...
, n° 77, janvier 1996 p. 84. - Pierre Lagrange (et al.), Sont-ils parmi nous ? La nuit extraterrestre, préface de Michel Royer, Paris, Gallimard, 1997, p. 41.
- Jean-Claude Bourret, Ovnis : 1999, le contact ?, Paris, Michel Lafon, 1997, p. 53-57.
- « Le cas de Cussac, 29 août 1967... », dans UFOmania, n° 22, Décembre 1998.
- Alain Delmon, Les cas solides : Cussac, 1967, RR3, France, 2003.
- Éric Maillot, « Cussac », Comité nord-est des groupes ufologiques (CNEGU), le 29 août 2004.
- Claude PoherClaude PoherClaude Poher Born in 1935, in Brittany, France, parent of Alain Poher who was President of the French Senate for a quarter century.Engineer in space research. Engineer in electronics...
, « Retour sur le cas de Cussac », 2004. - Grégory Gutierez, « Cussac - 29 août 1967 », Ovniland, 2004.
- Grégory Gutierez, « Cussac : le dossier interne du GEPAN enfin publié ! », Ovniland, 2 mars 2005.
- Éric Maillot, « Retour aux sources du cas de Cussac grâce à une enquête méconnue », dans Les Mystères de l'Est, n°10, CNEGU.
- L'Autre Monde, n° hors série, « OVNI : hypothèses extraterrestres », p. 30-32.