Sighting in Valensole, July 1, 1965

At about 5:45 a.m., the witness was in their lavender field when a whistling sound caught their attention. Moving closer, they found a dark, matte craft, unknown to them, resting on the ground. For four to five minutes the witness watched two figures, who then went back into the craft very quickly. The craft took off, climbed away at an angle and soon disappeared in the direction of Manosque.

About ten minutes later, the witness found marks where the craft had been: a star shape with a cylindrical hole in the middle, in waterlogged soil. They returned in the evening, around 8:30 p.m., with their daughter, and the ground had become "hard as cement". The next day the witness talked about the event and many curious people came to see the marks, which were trampled.

The local gendarmerie learned of the event through rumour at around 7:30 p.m. and questioned the witness at 8 p.m., then went to the site with them around 10 p.m. The witness was questioned again late that evening for further details. The next day another brigade drew up an official report on the site and the marks, with measurements and photographs. In August the witness gave a very detailed additional statement. No other testimony was gathered, and the gendarmerie found no other evidence around the site.

The GEPAN did not exist at the time. Its successors took an interest in the case without publishing an in-depth investigation, since a new inquiry was thought unlikely to yield much given the time elapsed and the work already done by the gendarmerie and several investigators. Because of its strangeness, the case is classed D: observation of an unknown craft with a close encounter and ground traces, an unidentified phenomenon.