By: Marcus Lowth

An encounter in the French highlands one morning in the summer of 1967 not only drew the attention of UFO investigators but, for a time, the national French media. Although the two witnesses were only children, something that many skeptics would point to as reason to doubt their claims, each would tell the same story again and again with no variation. Indeed, over the years that followed, they would leave many UFO researchers who spoke with them directly in no doubt whatsoever as to their authenticity.

A depiction of a Cussac UFO incident

Furthermore, the two children, along with their other siblings were well-known and well-liked in the town where they lived. Further still, their father was the serving mayor of Cussac at the time of the sighting. So convinced was he of the authenticity of the children’s accounts that he immediately contacted the police, regardless of the adverse publicity it might generate. Such action from someone in such a potentially precarious public position is perhaps a testament to how genuine he believed the encounter to be.

As we will look at later, several other similar sightings occurred in France around the same time as the Cussac incident. All with similar details of strange figures dressed in black or dark clothing, and/or of strange glowing spheres in the skies overhead.

Early Morning On The Cussac Plateau

It was around 8 am on the bright, sunny morning of 29th August 1967 on the Cantal Plateau in the French commune of Cussac. 13-year-old Francois and his 9-year-old sister, Anne-Marie, along with the family dog, Medor, were herding ten cows across the open land for the morning. It was a warm, clear day, but due to their elevation, a fog hugged the ground for a time. And the wind, when it blew, was biting.

To pass the time the siblings would play cards and talk, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the family herd. At around 10:30 am, Francois noticed several of the cows attempting to cross a low wall that led into a neighbor’s land. He quickly got up, issuing commands to Medor to round up the herd and bring them back from the wall.

As he was doing this, however, he noticed four small figures in an adjacent field. He believed they were children, although his sight was obscured by a hedge at the edge of the field. He climbed on to some large stones in order to see over the hedge and get a better look. When he did, though, he became even more puzzled as to who these mystery “children” were. They all adorned strange, black clothing which had a “silken look” to them. Bizarrely, and a little unnerving for him, he couldn’t make out any type of facial features at all. He would estimate they stood at around three feet tall, although two of them were distinctly smaller than that. He would describe their heads as normal size, although their limbs were longer than normal.

As he continued to watch the group he noticed them picking up “samples” from the ground.

Floating Into The Sphere

Although Francois was now certain these strange creatures were not children, Anne-Marie, possibly due to her younger age, still very much did. So much so that she suddenly called out, “Do you want to play with us?” As soon as the question was fired across, the four creatures, now realizing they were being watched, dove behind the nearby hedge and took cover.

Next to the mysterious group was a shining “brilliant sphere” now visible to the to two onlookers. The brightness of this orb was such that neither Francois or Anne-Marie could look at it directly for very long.

Then, much to their astonishment, one of the strange figures jumped into the air, maintaining its height as if it had an invisible rocket-booster on its back. It hovered over the glowing sphere and then went head first into it and disappeared. Another figure quickly followed suit, as did a third.

Then, the lone remaining figure, with the sphere now beginning to rise from the ground, appeared to concentrate on the ground as if picking something up. Francois noticed it appeared to be a mirror-like device that he had seen it holding earlier. With the shining object in its hand, the fourth figure caught up to the sphere, which now moved in a spiral motion, and dove into it as the other three had.

As the glowing globe continued to rise, now around fifty-feet from the ground, a soft “whistling noise” emanated from it. At the same time, a strong smell of Sulphur hit both of their nostrils. Medor barked anxiously and the herd was increasingly unsettled.

Sketch by Joel Mensard

Official Reports And Media Attention

The two children were torn between the need to round up the agitated cattle, and watching the glowing sphere, now increasing in speed as it moved away from them into the sky. Within thirty seconds it had vanished from their sight.

The two children quickly rounded up the cattle and returned them to the family farm. Their father, the Mayor of Cussac, immediately noticed the agitated state of Medor and the herd. As well as the apparent shock and confusion of his children. They would tell him of the “devils” who floated away in the glowing sphere. In response, he would contact the local police, who he incidentally knew and got on with very well. They would arrive at around 4 pm, several hours after the encounter earlier that morning.

They would, with the children and their father, go to the scene of the sighting. The smell of Sulphur was still strong. There was also a yellowed patch of grass near the hedge where the children claimed to have seen the group. It measured around fifteen feet across.

The police would record the incident with their superiors. It would ultimately appear in the local, and then national French newspapers. It is, however, still unexplained.

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