Sightings8 Jan 1981Trans-en-Provence, France

Trans-en-Provence ground-trace case

Name: Trans-en-Provence ground-trace case
Start: 1981-01-08
Location: Trans-en-Provence, France

Trans-en-Provence, the village near which the 1981 landing trace was reported Tredok, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A man near Trans-en-Provence in southern France told gendarmes a craft had landed briefly on his property and left marks on the ground. Gendarmes took samples, and GEPAN analyzed the soil and plants in a 1983 technical note. It remains one of France's most discussed cases.

Evidence

Significance

Sources

OfficialNote technique no. 16: Enquete 81/01, Analyse d'une trace (opens in a new tab)CNES GEPAN / 1983-03-01
OfficialFrench Army correspondence with CNES on the 8 January 1981 observation near Trans-en-Provence (opens in a new tab)French Ministry of Defence (hosted by CNES GEIPAN) / 1981
PressAux origines du Geipan, l'organisme francais dedie a l'etude des ovnis (opens in a new tab)Slate.fr / 2025-09-21

How sources are chosen and tiered

29 Dec 1980Sightings

Cash-Landrum incident

Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and Landrum's grandson said a fiery object hovered over their road near Houston and was then escorted by more than 20 helicopters, and later blamed illnesses on it. Their lawsuit against the U.S. was dismissed in 1986 after agencies said they had no such aircraft.

Evidence

Significance

Dec 1981Sightings

Hessdalen lights wave

Residents of Norway's Hessdalen valley began reporting strange lights in December 1981, up to about 20 a week into 1984. Project Hessdalen ran an instrumented field study in 1984, and Ostfold University College set up an automatic measuring station in 1998. Their cause is still debated.

Evidence

Significance

31 Dec 1978Sightings

Kaikoura lights, New Zealand

A TV crew aboard a Safe Air Argosy cargo flight filmed lights off the Kaikoura coast, with returns reported on Wellington radar and the plane's own radar. An Air Force inquiry concluded natural but unusual phenomena; UN-post files released in 2021 show DSIR scientists left them unidentified.

Evidence

Significance

21 Oct 1978Sightings

Frederick Valentich disappearance

Pilot Frederick Valentich, 20, radioed Melbourne Flight Service that a large unidentified object was hovering over his Cessna 182 above Bass Strait, then the transmission ended. Neither he nor the plane was found; the Department of Transport report said the cause was not determined.

Evidence

Significance