Close encounter of Cussac

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The testimony

Morning of August 29, 1967, at the village of Cussac, Cantal (282 inhabitants in 70 houses, deprived of television and radio, receiving only one local newspaper)

The commune is located on a plate, to 1045 m of altitude. The weather is beautiful (clear sky) but a little fresh (12 to 16 °C) with a light breeze blowing of the West. In 2 valleys, to 10 km of Cussac there is morning fog)

François (13 years old) and his sister Anne-Marie (9 years old), accompanied by their dog Médor are left since 8 a.m, to lead ten cows to approximately 800 m in the west of the village of Cussac.

While supervising the herd, they play cards, sitting behind the dry stone low wall leaned with the secondary road (to profit as well as possible of the morning sun).

Thus, they supervise the animals easily. However, towards 10h30, they must cease their game because the cows are about to cross a low wall which separate them from a grazing ground in which about thirty cows is belonging to a neighbor. François rises then to call his dog, so that he makes them return. By doing this, he sees on the other side of the road (behind a hedge) to approximately 80 m of him, 4 small beings, which he initially thinks of being children.

He climbs some stones in order to distinguish them better. He finds them strange: They are made of a "silky" black, without distinction of clothing or face. Their size varies between 1 m and 1,20 m. Two being are smaller than the others. Their arms are long and fine and their legs are short and fine. Their head seems to have normal proportions but the cranium and the chin seem more accentuated and all seem to carry a "beard".

François and Anne-Marie distinguish behind them,half hidden by the hedge, an extremely brilliant sphere, from 4 to 5 m of diameter (Anne-Marie will underestimate this distance with 2 to 2,50 m as all the distances that she evaluated).

This sphere is painful to look at, so much it sparks. Not any kind of entrance or door is visible.

François says : Oh, there are black children! Without turning back, his sister answers : You call them ?. He answers : Look at, looks at. then, he goes up on the contiguous low wall for a better seeing of "the black children".

His sister rises and observes in her turn. One of the "black children" is lowered and seems working on something on the ground. Two others are seen of the profile. The 4th, a little larger, holds a rectangular object reflecting the Sun located behind the witnesses (François compares it with a mirror) and agitates its hands seeming to make signs with his/her companions: the small beings seem to become aware to be observed.

The 1^st flies away at the vertical and plunges, head's first, in the top of the sphere. The 2^nd follows the same way and the 3^rd, after having been raised, makes it in the same way. The 4th (largest) rises but, before plunging in the sphere, goes down again to collect something (its "mirror" estimates François).

The sphere consequently starts to rise according to an helicoid trajectory (4 to 6 turns clockwise seen of lower part, of ray growing on 10/50/100 m, at a rate of 1 tour/s approximately) and the cows start to low.

The 4^th little being flies away again and catches up the sphere at the time when it already reached 15m height approximately. The children distinguish on this last as from the "webbed feet" whereas it is in the air.

Anne-Marie will notice also a "pointed nose". The sphere still describes some circles, always rising, while the light intensity that it irradiates strongly increases. Then, the noise which accompanied takeoff by the sphere disappears and this one moves away very quickly in direction from the North-West. At the same time, an odor of suffers (suffers it not having odor, perhaps rather SO2 or ozone) is spread and come to the children (the light wind of west corresponds to the configuration object->enfants). The cows start to low and to be agitated. 25 cows located in a pre neighbor, to approximately 300 m from there, also low and come to gather close of those of François and Anne-Marie.

The dog barks after the object and seems to want to follow it. The children do not see the object disappearing, because they are obliged to look after the cows, very agitated. The observation will have lasted 30 seconds.

The children hurry up to bring back the cows to the farm, 30 mn (2 H?) before the hour envisaged. 10 mn after the observation, a farmer sees them on the road returning with the cows, obviously in tears and in a state of shock. He also notices the agitation of the cows.

François (who has fragile eyes) cries during the fifteen minutes that will follow the appearance and every morning when he wakes up, during several days. His sister (who does not carry glasses), will not feel anything.

She will be the only one to speaking about 3 or 4 right crutches seen whereas the sphere was still on the ground.

The mayor of Cussac, which is also the father of the children, sees arriving Médor the dog, then his shocked children (order of arrival described as unusual). He decides to call the gendarmes of Saint Flour,situated at 19 km from there. The mayor knows them well. It is them who tackles with the road accidents and other problems.

The gendarmes arrive at 4 p.m.. They notice the odor and a slightly yellowed grass trace, from 4 to 5 meters, behind the hedge (the contrast weakens little by little from the 1st day) They collect testimonys, and inform their hierarchy by radio. However not any trace of the report/ratio will be found. Anne-Marie does not manage to sleep the two days that follow. The children will remain shocked nearly one week.

The inquirie

Joel Mesnard with Claude Pavy begin an investigation for the GEIPAN. It is published in the number of Space Phenomenon of June 1968.

Ufologic association Lumières Dans La Nuit also carries out a survey with members of the South of France.

In 1977, Luc Bourdin, investigator of LDLN meet Francois, then studying with the faculty of Clermont, and remake a complete counter-enquiry on the case. It learns that a sentence allotted to Anne-Marie (You come to play with us?) is a journalistic pure fabrication, the witnesses awaring quickly that they did not have business with other children. François confirms moreover not to have seen "feet" on which the sphere would have rested. Only his/her sister with evoked this detail.

Skeptical analysis

Put aside the strange odor felt after the supposed event, as well as the slightly yellowed grass, the case suffers from the absence of true scientific evidences.
As it is almost always the case in these (very rare) supposed close encounters of the 3rd type, the witnesses are not numerous. Moreover, the place of the case is very isolated.

Elements in favour of the credibility of testimony

Since this morning of August 29, 1967 (40 years in 2007), both brother and sister never have contradicted their testimonys. Taking into account the mediatization of this business, with the disadvantages that that can cause in a small commune where everything is known very quickly, this simple observation crédibilize their testimonys. Also, their good faith is recognized (their fright while returning to the village as their state of shock the days which followed were observed by many inhabitants)

In their declaration to the Gendarmerie, François and Anne-Marie evoke a noise of whistle accompanying the takeoff of the sphere. However, a rural policeman which did not attend the scene, but who lived in the vicinity will declare, a posteriori, to have also heard this noise.

Visual documents

References

Articles dans la presse locale [signalé par Gamard sans plus de détails]
Emissions de radio (signalé par Gamard sans plus de détails)
XXXXXXXX père, communication à radio Luxembourg, 30 août 1967 [< Gamard]
"Les martiens ont-ils atterri ?", La Montagne, 1er septembre 1967, p.3 (détails du cas de Cussac) [< Maillot]
Paris Jour, 2-3 septembre 1967 (à trouver, signalé par Gamard)
LDLN n° 90, septembre-octobre 1967, p. 6.
The APRO Bulletin, sept-oct 1967 p. 8.
Figuet, M. et Ruchon, Louis
Mesnard, J. et Pavy, Claude, "Rencontre "diabolique" sur le plateau de Cussac", Phénomènes Spatiaux n° 16, juin 1968, pp. 27-31, traduit "Encounters with 'devils'", FSR vol 14, n° 5, septembre-octobre 1968, p. 7-9.
Hebdo (Toulouse), 12 octobre 1968 [à trouver, signalé par MSV et par Gamard]
Vallée, J. Chroniques des apparitions extraterrestres, Paris, Denoël, 1972, p. 420.
Bulletin UFOIC n° 21, décembre 1968 (signalé par Ensia, 1974)
Rapport International UFO Bureau mai-juin 1969 (signalé par Ensia, 1974)
"Les petits êtres de Cussac", in Lagarde (dir.), Mystérieuses soucoupes volantes, Paris, éditions Albatros, 1973, p. 127-132.
Bourret, J.-C. La Nouvelle vague des soucoupes volantes, Paris, France-Empire, 1974, p. 136-138.
Garreau, C. et Lavier, Raymond, Face aux extra-terrestres, Paris, Jean-Pierre Delarge, 1975, p. 192-194.
Creighton, G., LDLN n° 145, mai 1975
Lorenzen, C. et J. Encounters with UFO Occupants, New York, Berkeley Medallion Book, 1976, p. 162 (ressemblance avec un autre cas sud américain), 224.
Delval, Jean-Pierre, 1976
Perrin, R. Jack, Le Mystère des OVNI, Paris, Pygmalion, 1976, p. 20-28 (reprend l’article de Phénomènes spatiaux).
Durrant, H. Premières enquêtes sur les humanoïdes extraterrestres, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1977, p. 41-47 [reprend le texte paru dans MSV]
Rapport au Conseil scientifique du GEPAN, Tome 4, CNES/CT/GEPAN 140, Juin 1978 - signé par 19 personnes.

FSR n° 68

Ensia, Pierre, "Les humanoïdes", Horizon du Fantastique n° 25 bis (spécial 2), 1974, p. 57-59 (Ensia signale deux publications en anglais sur le cas, dans le Bulletin UFOIC et par l’International UFO Bureau).
Info OVNI Spécial, catalogue Auvergne, juillet 1978, p. 34-35
Figuet, M. et Ruchon, Jean-Louis, Ovni : le premier dossier complet des rencontres rapprochées en France, Nice, Alain Lefeuvre, 1978, p. 285-287.
L’Autre Monde, n° hors série "OVNI : hypothèses extraterrestres", p. 30-32.
Eric Zurcher, Les apparitions d’humanoïdes, Nice, Alain Lefeuvre, 1979, p. 313.
Bourret, J.-C. et Claeys, Patrick, Témoignages OVNI, Paris, Editions Atelier 786, p. 46-50.
Pinvindic, T. "Synthèse de la rencontre avec JF XXXXXXXX, témoin de l’observation de Cussac, Clermont-Ferrand le 21 juillet 1983", Communication personnelle, 11 pages.
Gamard, Alain, A 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)
Pinvindic, T. "Des témoins pour une 'légende' : un cas d’apparition d’ovni", Communications n° 52, octobre 1990, p. 311-335.
Pinvindic, T. "Un grand classique qui a la vie dure", In Pinvindic (ed), Ovni, vers une anthropologie d’un mythe contemporain, Ed. Heimdal, Paris, 1993, pp. 199-209.
"Un cas célèbre : Quatre petits êtres et une sphère lumineuse à Cussac en 1967", Limousin Magazine n° 368, mai 1994.
Bourret, J.-C. et Velasco, J.-J. , Ovnis, la science avance, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1995, p. 112-123.
"Ovnis au Planétarium" Lyon Capitale du 7 décembre 1995 (Cussac au centre du débat) [cité par Maillot]
Lagrange, P. Science & Vie Junior n° 77, janvier 1996 p. 84.
Lagrange, P. et al, La Nuit Extra-Terrestre, Canal+, 1997, p. 41.
Bourret, J.-C. Ovnis : 1999, le contact ?, Paris, Michel Lafon, 1997, p. 53-57.
Huyghes, Patrick et Stacy, Dennis, Field Guide of Extraterrestrials,
Maillot, E. "Les ufologues et l'ovni de cussac - 30 ans dans un cul-de-sac !", Cercle Zététique, 1996
Le cas de Cussac, 29 Août 1967... UFOmania n° 22, Décembre 1998
Maillot, E. Article sur Cussac, CNEGU
Delmon, Alain, Les cas solides : Cussac, 1967, RR3, France, 2003
Poher, C. "Retour sur le cas de Cussac", 2004
Gutierez, G. "Cussac - 29 août 1967", Ovniland, 2004
Gutierez, G. "Cussac : le dossier interne du GEPAN enfin publié !", Ovniland, 2 mars 2005
Maillot, E. "Retour aux sources du cas de Cussac grâce à une enquête méconnue", Les Mystères de l'Est n°10, CNEGU

External links

The website of GEIPAN (the official French Institute of ufo's) : [1]
Recent article in the french diary Le Figaro : [2]
Recent article of the weekly magazine L'Express : [3]