Canonical: https://aliennews.co.il/en/articles/valensole-maurice-masse-two-figures-lavender-1965 Language: en datePublished: 2026-09-12 dateModified: 2026-09-12 One witness, a ground trace and a gendarmerie file September 12, 2026 **Documented** **Work type:** Archival preservation and analysis # Two figures crouched among the lavender. Maurice Masse said one of them paralysed him On the morning of July 1, 1965, farmer Maurice Masse heard a whistle in his lavender field near Valensole. He said he found a dark object on the ground with two small figures beside it, and that one pointed a device at him and prevented him from moving. The gendarmerie took his statements, photographed the site and measured a ground trace. No image records the object or figures and no one else witnessed the encounter itself. By Avi Moas and [Orion](https://aliennews.co.il/en/about#orion) Orion is an AI writing and research partner. Avi Moas is the responsible editor. ## At a glance **What is known:** The gendarmerie took statements from Maurice Masse, photographed the site and measured a ground trace. **The claim or interpretation:** Masse said he saw two figures beside an object in his lavender field and that one prevented him from moving. **What remains open:** There is no other witness or image of the encounter, and the ground trace does not identify what made it. ![Long rows of lavender in a field near Valensole in France](https://aliennews.co.il/valensole-lavender-field.webp) Archival location photograph. A lavender field near Valensole in 2011. This is not a record of the event or the precise field named by the witness. Photograph by Einaz80, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA 4.0. No content alteration was made to the file. ## The whistle at 5:45 Masse reached the field before sunrise to tend vines and lavender. According to the official record, at 5:45 he heard a whistle that drew his attention. A dark, matt object he did not recognise stood some distance away. He approached because he first thought people had entered his land. ## Two figures beside the plant In the detailed statement he gave later, Masse described two small figures crouched near a lavender plant. He said they stood under about one metre, with large bald heads, prominent ears, small mouths and narrow bodies inside dark clothing. This is Masse's testimony. No photograph or other witness allows the description to be checked. ## The device pointed at him Masse said he came to within about seven metres. One figure noticed him, turned and aimed a tube shaped device at him. He said he remained conscious and could see what followed, but could not move his body. Movement returned gradually after about fifteen minutes. No medical examination from that morning has been published. ## Departure toward Manosque He said the figures entered an object about the size of a small car, shaped like a rugby ball with a transparent upper section. Masse described six legs and a central support touching the ground. The official record summarises an observation lasting four to five minutes, followed by an angled departure and rapid disappearance toward Manosque. ## The village carried the story to police Masse did not immediately call the authorities. He spoke about the event the next day and word brought visitors to the field. The local gendarmerie learned of it only on the evening of July 2. Masse gave his first statement at 20:00, accompanied officers to the site about two hours later and supplied a further statement that night. ## The trace measured in the soil Officers recorded a star shaped depression in the wet soil with a cylindrical hole at its centre. The site report measured a hole eighteen centimetres wide and forty centimetres deep, with four shallow grooves forming a cross like pattern. Curious visitors had already trampled the area. The trace is documented, but its form alone cannot identify what made it. ## The detailed version came in August On August 18, Masse gave another statement containing many more details about the figures, the distance, the pointed device and the object's structure. The delay matters. It does not establish that the details were invented, but it requires a distinction between what was recorded the day after the event and what was added seven weeks later. ## The official file remains unexplained The French group for unidentified aerospace phenomena was created only in 1977 and therefore did not investigate the event in real time. It collected the gendarmerie material and work by later investigators, while noting that it did not publish a full investigation of its own. The database classifies Valensole as category D and describes it as an unidentified event of high strangeness. ## What the file establishes The record establishes that Masse reported an extraordinary story soon after the event and that officers saw and measured a ground trace. It does not establish that the reported object made the trace or identify the figures. A helicopter, agricultural equipment, misidentification and a deliberate story have all been proposed, but no vehicle, crew or reconstruction confidently explains the entire account. Valensole remains a documented case with limited physical evidence and a single witness. ## Sources and context The gendarmerie took a statement from Masse on July 2 and a more detailed statement on August 18. Officers visited the site, recorded measurements and photographed the ground trace. The case file and attached records are now preserved in the official database of the French space agency. No one other than Masse saw the figures or object. Visitors reached the field before the examination was complete and disturbed the site. There is no photograph of the event, sample with a complete chain of custody or identified vehicle that can be matched to the account. [The official Valensole case file held by the French space agency and its attached gendarmerie records](https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/fr/cas/1965-07-00050)[The official French Valensole case file](https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/fr/cas/1965-07-00050)[The first gendarmerie report from July 2, 1965](https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/sites/default/files/PV%20n%C2%B0445%20%281965309761%29.pdf)[The official document summary and classification](https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/sites/default/files/Synthese.pdf)[The lavender field photograph and reuse licence](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lavender_field_in_Valensole.jpg)[Back to all reports](https://aliennews.co.il/en#latest)[עברית](https://aliennews.co.il/articles/valensole-maurice-masse-two-figures-lavender-1965) ## Source references * [https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/fr/cas/1965-07-00050](https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/fr/cas/1965-07-00050) * [https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/sites/default/files/PV%20n%C2%B0445%20%281965309761%29.pdf](https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/sites/default/files/PV%20n%C2%B0445%20%281965309761%29.pdf) * [https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/sites/default/files/Synthese.pdf](https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/sites/default/files/Synthese.pdf) * [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lavender\_field\_in\_Valensole.jpg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lavender_field_in_Valensole.jpg)