Cergy-Pontoise abduction claim, later admitted hoax

When
Buildings around the prefecture plaza in Cergy-Pontoise, France
Cergy-Pontoise, the new town near Paris where the 1979 abduction claim, later admitted a hoax, began Alvar Lavague, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Friends of Franck Fontaine, 19, told police he vanished from a car near Paris after a UFO appeared; he reappeared a week later. France's GEPAN found nothing of value. In 1983 friend Jean-Pierre Prevost told a reporter he had staged it and hidden Fontaine in an apartment.

Sources

  1. PressDisappearance of a young man at Cergy-Pontoise (scan and transcription) (opens in a new tab)Sud Ouest, copy hosted by ufologie.patrickgross.org / 1979-11-27
  2. OtherCergy-Pontoise Hoax (Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology) (opens in a new tab)Gale, via Encyclopedia.com

How sources are chosen and tiered

Where it fits

See it on the timelineMore in Close encounters