The Trans-en-Provence UFO Landing, 1981

Event overview

Event details

At 5 p.m. on January 8, 1981, Renato Nicolai (Renato Nicolai), a 52-year-old farmer, was working in his own field in Trans-en-Provence, in southern France, when he heard a faint whistling sound. Looking up, he saw a disc-shaped craft hovering about 2 meters above the ground. The craft was round, about 2.5 meters in diameter and about 1.8 meters high, lead gray in color, with four circular protrusions underneath.

The craft stayed on the ground for about 40 seconds, then climbed away at extreme speed. When Nicolai walked over, he found a circular burn mark and a depression about 2 meters across. He notified the local police at once.

Scientific investigation:The case was investigated in depth by GEPAN, the official French UFO research body (later renamed GEIPAN and placed under CNES, the French National Centre for Space Studies). The investigation included:

• Soil and vegetation samples were collected for laboratory analysis
• Calcium levels in the soil were found to be abnormally high
• Chlorophyll in the alfalfa leaves was found to have dropped by 30-50%
• The ground traces matched the witness’s description closely
• Weather phenomena, military aircraft, and a hoax were ruled out

In its official report, GEPAN classified the event as a “Type D” case—that is, “an unexplained case of high strangeness with reliable evidence.” It is one of the physical-trace UFO cases formally acknowledged by the French government, and it remains one of the most important physical-evidence cases in UFO research.

Source references

• Official GEPAN/GEIPAN investigation report (French National Centre for Space Studies)
• CNES archives: Cas de Trans-en-Provence
• “UFOs and the National Security State” – Richard Dolan