On July 1, 1965 in Valensole, Basses Alpes, France, farmer Maurice Masse was inspecting his field of lavender when he heard a whistling sound, then noticed an egg-shaped object with six thin legs and a central pedestal standing nearby. A classic close encounter case from France. At the same time, he also saw two "small boys," humanoid-looking beings less than four feet tall, dressed in grayish-green one-piece coveralls.On July 1, 1965, near Valensole, France, a farmer named Maurice Masse noticed something unusual in his lavender field. It was around 5:45 a.m., as Masse was smoking himself a cigarette before starting his tractor, when he was suddenly startled by a whistling noise. At the time, he was positioned next to a 7-foot-tall rubble pile at the edge of a vineyard, so he had to step out from around this to view the source of the sound. It was then that he saw something shaped rather like a rugby ball and about the size of a Dauphine automobile, resting on four legs some 200 feet away in his lavender field. Close to the curious looking object were two figures resembling “boys of about eight years.” More curious than afraid, Masse approached and when he got within approx. 15-20 feet of the figures, they became aware of his presence and stood up. Masse described the beings as less than 4 feet tall, as dressed in gray-green overalls with smooth, bald, pumpkinlike heads, large slanted eyes, and with little holes for their mouths. They made grunting sounds between them, although their mouths did not change appearance, and Masse was not sure where on their bodies the noise was coming from.One of the beings pointed a pencil-like object at Masse, whereupon he found that he could no longer move. Then the being placed the object into a small case or holster on its left side, and then the two beings moved with great agility toward the UFO, which they entered through a sliding door. Then with a whistling noise the UFO lifted off the ground and within seconds had disappeared in a westerly direction. After about 20 minutes, Masse had regained full control of his body again.Marks from the apparent craft remained visible on the ground. Three days after the incident, Masse suffered a great loss of energy. He slept 12 to 14 hours on the first day, and then the next day he slept nearly 24 hours. It was several weeks before he was able to resume his normal sleep routine.A number of investigators who had interviewed Masse (including the distinguished Professor Jacques Vallee) concluded that he wasn’t telling the whole story. Though he hinted that there had been some sort of communication between himself and the beings, he never revealed the particulars to investigators. He told Vallee that one was best off not sharing such encounters with anyone, even family. “One always says too much,” he added.**********On 1 July 1965, in the early hours of the morning, French farmer Maurice Masse at Valensole was attracted to the sight of a landed object in his lavender field by a strange high-pitched sound.The object was shaped like an egg with a cupola on top and was approximately fifteen feet wide. It was standing on six legs in a manner reminiscent of a spider, according to the witness. The door of the object was open and within it Masse could see two seats.Near the object were what Masse took to be two young boys apparently taking lavender plants; they turned out to be entities from the object about four feet tall and clad in green "ski suits". When they noticed Masse approaching, one of them levelled a rod towards him which immobilised him.On further examination the entities appeared to have large bald heads, big slanting eyes, pronounced chins and small lipless mouths; in fact, very much the description given by many American witnesses. They made guttural sounds.This style of entity is often recounted by Americans under hypnosis in most fearful terms but Masse's conscious recall remembers them as good-natured and bringing a sense of peace to him. It is interesting that many American cases involving these entities combine fear with a great longing to be with the creatures, whether or not that emotion is "engineered".While Masse was still immobilised, the entities returned to their craft and took off, with the landing legs retracting. It was some considerable time before Masse was able to move. Four days after the event occurred he fell into a deep sleep and members of his family fought to wake him up, believing that otherwise he would have slept for a very extended period. Usually Masse slept only five or six hours a night but for months after the event he needed at least twelve hours sleep.The most remarkable of the ground traces was that no lavender plants would grow at the landing site for ten years!**********The following account is drawn from a series of articles which originally appeared in the English Flying Saucer review (1965a b,c.)Valensole is a small village in the south-east of France, near to Nice. A significant event occurred there on July 1, 1965. In the month of June, Maurice Masse, a World War Two resistance fighter, and a trustworthy farmer according to local police; together with his father had noticed someone had been picking their lavender plants. At 5.45 a.m. Masse was standing by a tractor smoking a cigarette. The tractor was parked by a mound of pebbles and rakings, close to a small vineyard, in the lavender field.A whistling sound came to his attention which he thought was a helicopter. However, upon looking around the mound he saw an unusual object. It was shaped like a rugby football and the size of a car. It stood on a number of legs, stated to have been 6 in number by Bowen (1974:246) and 4 by Vallee (1990:108). There was a central pivot stuck into the ground beneath it. Masse noted what he first took to be two children, about aged eight years, close by the object apparently inspecting a lavender plant.Masse thought at first, from an initial distance of 60m, that these were the people who had been taking his plants. He decided to approach quietly through the vineyard. However, when he got closer he realised the figures were not children but unusual beings. He left the vineyard and walked though the low height lavender field.At about 5m distance from the object, one of the beings turned and pointed a pencil-like object towards him and Masse was frozen, unable to move. Vallee (1988:27) reports that masse could still breath and feel his heart beat present.The beings were described as follows. They were some 120cm tall and wore close fitting, grey-green clothes, but no head covering. Their heads were pumpkin-like, with high fleshy cheeks. The eyes were large and Vallee (1988:26) adds that Masse told him that the eyes con- veyed human expressions. These eyes slanted away around the sides of the face. The mouth was merely a slit or hole, without noticeable lips. Their chins were very pointed. Vallee (1988:26) adds their hands were small and nor- mal. Grumbling sounds came from their middles.Masse has consistently refused to disclose what - if anything - happened between him and the beings.After a while the beings re-entered their object. Vallee (1988:27) notes the door closed “like the front part of a wooden file cabinet. “ The beings were apparently visible looking at him from inside the object, while the legs whirled and retracted. The central pivot made a thumping noise. Then the object lifted offand floated silently away.At 20m distance from the landing spot the object simply vanished fromview. Masse, according to Vallee (1988 :27), says: “One moment the thing was there and the next moment it was not there anymore.”It took some 20 minutes forthe paralysis to wear off. After that Masse went back to Valensole. The proprietor of the cafe des Sports questioned him after being alarmed by Masse’s appearance. Masse told him part of what had happened, and the police were informed.The Digne Gendarmerie, lead by a Captain Valet, were called in to investigate.The traces:At the time traces were found at the spot where the object had rested. These consisted of a flat imprint just over 1m in diameter. In the centre, where the central support had been, was a cylindrical hole some 30cm deep and some 15cm diameter. From the hole radiated four flat grooves, making an x shape. Each of the grooves was 2m long and 25cm deep. The soil here was of a near-liquid consistency despite the fact that it had not rained for some time.That evening Masse and his 18 year old daughter went back to the site . The soil surrounding the central trace was as hard as cement compared to the surrounding soil which crumbled when held.After a period of time, a 3 m diameter circular area in the middle of rows of lavender plants died, with only a few weeds continuing to grow. Around the perimeter a num- ber of lavender Plants were stunted and withered looking.The calcium content of the soil, taken from the site, was much higher then in soil taken from other areas of the field (Phenomenes Spatiaux 1966:26)Masse reploughed the landing site and replanted, but these plants also died.After effects:Vallee (1988:27) reports that for several weeks after the event, Masse was overcome with drowsiness and found it difficult to stay awake for more then four hours at a time.Aime Michel visited Masse on Aug 8,1965, and at the end of the interview showed Masse a drawing of the Socorro object which Masse took to be his object.Michel reported that Masse appeared anxious, nervous and distressed at interview. Masse said of the beings: “They were good” and they did not wish to do us any harm.”**********This case, which Jacques Vallee described as, "the best-authenticated close encounter incident in continental Europe", includes not only hard traces, botanical data and physiological data, but detailed descriptions of beings associated with the UFO. It came to be known as ‘The Valensole Case’. Not only is it one of the most thoroughly investigated close encounters on record, but examination by French government agencies began on the day of the event.Our final case, which Jacques Vallee described as, "the best-authenticated close encounter incident in continental Europe", includes not only hard traces, botanical data and physiological data, but detailed descriptions of beings associated with the UFO. It came to be known as ‘The Valensole Case’. Not only is it one of the most thoroughly investigated close encounters on record, but examination by French government agencies began on the day of the event.During early morning of 1 July 1965, Maurice Masse, a French lavender farmer, was working in his field in the village of Valensole, near the lower Alps, when he suddenly noticed an object that had landed in his lavender field. At first glance from a distance, he thought that it was a helicopter or some sort of experimental prototype, but as he approached closer to the object, he saw that it was oval shaped and rested on six curved legs and some type of central pivot. Through an opening in the craft he thought that he could see two back-to-back seats. Suddenly he saw two beings, less than four feet [1.2 metres] tall, wearing grey-blue-green suits but without any type of breathing devices. One of them pointed a small tube at the farmer, which immediately paralyzed him. Although lying on the ground, he remained fully conscious, noting that as they looked at him, with what he later described as ‘concerned expressions’, they made strange gurgling sounds from deep within their throats as they communicated with one another. Masse saw that the two beings had large hairless heads, smooth white skin, large eyes that slanted away, pointed chins and small mouths without lips. After their brief dialogue, they entered the craft through a sliding panel and the object took off, leaving a deep crater and an area of moisture that later became as hard as concrete.After about twenty minutes Masse was able to move his arms and legs, but four days after the incident he collapsed and his sleep pattern was dramatically altered for several months. Rather than his usual five or six hour sleep break, he was sleeping for periods of twelve hours or more and his wife and father noted distinct behavioural changes. Masse was a former Resistance fighter, an astute farmer and regarded as ‘absolutely trustworthy’ by police investigators. Lieutenant-Colonel Valnet, Maitre Chautard, leading the gendarmerie and the Mayor of Valensole, in fact everyone who investigated the case, concluded that Maurice Masse was telling the truth.Investigators found that the ground where the craft had landed was soaked with moisture, although no rain had fallen. Geometrically spaced indentations covered the area and the plants were affected by the proximity of the phenomenon, appearing to decay in direct proportion to their distance from the central column of the craft. The calcium content of the soil at the landing site was found to be much higher than in samples taken from other areas in the field.Famous UFO writer and researcher Dr Jacques Vallee, returning to the scene of the incident in 1979 and meeting with Maurice Masse and two of his close friends, makes a number of interesting observations. He notes that Masse was reluctant to give all the details of his experience to investigators as well as to his own family at the time, including the fact that he believed that some type of silent communication took place between himself and the beings. From the beginning he wanted to minimise the impact of the experience, not wanting publicity, amongst other reasons. Like many experiencers of this phenomenon, he had changed in many ways as a result of the experience, including the belief that some form of contact, once established, continued in subtle forms. Vallee concludes, "Throughout these discussions with Mr Masse I had the feeling that I was in the presence of a very intelligent man, capable of deep emotions and rational thought. He is also quite humble; he has declined to appear on a television documentary with a nationally known journalist.... I had brought with me a photograph of similar traces left after another case. Mr Masse looked at me with a mixture of amazement and relief that someone else was aware of these particular marks. He told us that he sometimes found them in his field; that’s how he knows that ‘they’ have come back. He always erases the traces immediately." -