Preamble: August 29, 1967 in Cussac, France, two children saw a sphere-shaped UFO, 2 meters in diameter, and "four little devils" on the ground. One of the humanoid beings was bending over, apparently busy with something on the ground, and another held a mirror-like object. They were observed to levitate before quickly entering the UFO and flying away. The UFO was said to make a soft whistling sound and smelled of sulphur.
Incident: On the Contal plateau in a setting of pastures divided by little stone walls and curtains of trees, a tiny village stands on a hill—Cussac, 20 km. east-south-cast of St.-Flour. It is 10.30 a.m. on August 29, 1967. In a meadow beside Route D.57 ten or so cows are grazing in the care of Francois Delpeuch and his sister Anne-Marie accompanied by their little dog Medor. The weather is fine, the sky is clear, and a light wind is blowing from the west.
As the cows make a move to cross the low wall, Francois gets up to bring them back, turns round and sees, on the other side of the road, what he takes at first to be four children. They are behind a hedge 40 metres or so away. He climbs on top of a few stones the better to see these children whom he does not recognize. Francois and Anne-Marie make out, near the strangers, a large sphere half hidden by the hedge. It is very brilliant and shines so much it is painful to look at.
One of the little beings is bending over and seems to be busy with the soil, while another, holding in one hand an object which reflects the sun (which Francois likened to a mirror), is waving his hands, apparently making signs to his companions.
Francois then called out, "Have you come to play with us?" At this moment the small beings, who did not seem to be interested in the children, became aware that they were under observation. The first one took off vertically and then plunged head first through the top of the sphere. The second followed in the same way, and the third, after getting up, did likewise. The fourth also got up, but before diving into the machine, came down again and seemed to pick up something from ihe ground (his mirror, Francois thinks). Then he took off again and caught up with the sphere which during this time had begun to rise in a small spiral, and was already 15 or so metres up in the air. He then disappeared inside like the rest. When climbing, the sphere made a soft, fairly piercing whistling noise, mingled with the sound of a breeze which neither of the children felt.
The sphere then made several more circles, climbing all the while, and in doing so the intensity of the light given off by it increased considerably. Then the sound stopped and the sphere flew off at full speed to the north-west. At the same time, a smell of sulphur began to spread, reaching the children. The cows started lowing and gathered near to those of Francois and Anne-Marie.
The dog Medor barked at the object and wanted to follow it. The children did not see the object disappear, as they had to look after the cows, which were very upset, and which they drove home half an hour earlier than usual.
Details of the object are scanty. It was a perfect sphere, about 2 metres in diameter, of a very brilliant luminous silver colour, and dazzling. Francois, who wears spectacles and so must have sensitive eyes, experienced running eyes for a quarter of an hour after seeing the object, and every morning on waking for several days afterwards. His sister, who does not wear glasses, felt nothing.
No details were noticed on the sphere itself; it was perfectly smooth, without marking or visible opening. The little beings seemed to pass through the wall of the sphere. The only detail noticed, and one of the points of difference in the children's stories, was by Anne-Marie. She says she saw beneath the machine a landing gear consisting of three or four straight legs, equipped with round "shoes" 10 cm. in diameter. They were no longer visible beneath the machine in flight. Anne-Marie did not sec them retract into the machine. One minute they were there, the moment after, they were there no longer. It may be thought that, as the machine rose and the intensity of the light increased to a point where it was unbearable, the visible details of the object would have been swamped by this dazzling light, which would explain why Francois, with his sensitive eyes, could not see the legs at the point of take-off, since at that instance the machine was very luminous.
The smell of sulphur spread as the machine began to climb in a spiral or, more precisely, helical course. The light west wind was blowing from the object towards the children. The cows started to low as soon as the machine moved off. It may be noted that in sufficient concentration, ozone has a smell which could be confused with that of sulphur (i.e. of sulphurous gas) and that a smell of ozone has already been noticed in a number of UFO landings.
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| Artist Michael Buhler's impression of the Cussac encounter. |
Details of the small beings are more numerous and interesting. They were 1-1-20 metres tall, not all of the same height. Nos. I and 2 (see sketch) were the smallest, and the tallest was No. 4, the one with a "mirror" in his hand. They were "completely black", but with a shiny look which Francois compared to that of silk. The children could not be certain whether the color was that of the beings' skin, or of some sort of protective suit, for there was no visible dividing line between any possible clothing and the heads of the beings, which were bare. If there was a protective suit of some kind, it was perfectly fitted.
The limb proportions were not completely in accordance with the norms of our species. The arms were somewhat too long and thin (see sketches). The children could not distinguish anything which might serve as hands. The legs were short and thin. The head seemed of normal proportions relative to the body, but the cranium was pointed and the chin equally was very much accentuated. The nose also was pointed, and here was a second point of difference in their stories...
Although they did not appear to wear any apparatus on their backs, the beings flew with great ease and speed...
We then went to Cussac where we found little Anne-Marie with her mother and her younger brother, Andre, and were very well received. We questioned Anne-Marie for nearly an hour. There were two of us and we asked questions in turn, in a continuous stream, reverting from time to time to the same questions but differently formulated, in an effort to try to make the child contradict herself. She is a timid little girl, bui she never once did so. After this interrogation she took us off to find her brother Francois who was working in the fields with his other brother Raymond. We walked back with Francois to his parents' home, interrogating him as we had done his sister. He too never contradicted himself. Again, when questioning them together, both at home and at the scene of the incident, and asking them ever more specific questions, we never saw any conniving looks pass between them. They never seemed embarrassed by our questions; either they had seen the detail asked for, or they had not. For example, Francois told us: "From the first day, Anne-Marie has said she saw legs beneath the object, but I didn't see any, so I can't tell you anything!" On this point, incidentally, he thinks she mistook the branches of the hedge for "legs".
All the above only strengthen the feeling, which we had had throughout the inquiry, that we were confronted by a passionately believed and deeply serious case, whose significance and importance we could not overemphasize. - Joel Mesnard and Claude Pavy
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| Artist's impression of the Cussac UFO and occupants, by Joël Mesnard, published in "Phénomènes Spatiaux" n°16 |
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| Claude Pavy of GEPAN (the offical French UFO study program) in 1967, with the two children at the site of the encounter. |
Witness 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 commune 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. - Report of Gendarmerie Nationale
Sources:
FSR - Sept/Oct 1968
www.ufoevidence.org
GEPAN
alienresearch.wikia.com
www.lexpress.fr
APRO - Sept/Oct 1967
UFOIC - Dec 1968
Patrick Huyghes - "Field Guide of Extraterrestrials" - 1996
www.postmodern-research-foundation.com
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| Francois Delpeuch and his sister Anne-Marie (faces pixeled out) |
