1968: Michelin man seen by farmer on Réunion Island

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THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTING REPORT

Date: July 31, 1968

Sighting Time: 9.00 a.m.

Day/Night: Day

Location: Réunion Island (Indian Ocean), France

Urban or Rural: -Rural

Entity Type: 2 Michelin men

Entity Description: small, about 90 centimetres in height, enveloped from head to feet in a sort of one-piece overall a bit like the suit worn by the ‘Michelin man”.

Hynek Classification: CE-III (Close Encounter III) Close observation with animate beings associated with the object.

Vallee Classification: Type – I (a,c)

Duration:

No. of Object(s): Single

Height & Speed:

Size of Object(s): diameter of 4 or 5 metres and was about 2 1/2 metres measured through from top to bottom.

Distance to Object(s): 25 metres

Shape of Object(s): Oval

Color of Object(s): The extremities of it were dark blue, the centre part lighter, more transparent rather like the windscreen of a [Peugeot] 404

Number of Witnesses: Single

Source: Magonia #917, LDLN 96; Local police, FSR Vol. 15 # 1

Summary/Description: Mr. Luce Fontaine, age 31, a farmer on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, was picking some grass for his rabbits when he saw an object 5 meters in diameter, standing on a “glass foot” like a goblet. It was only 25 meters away. It was dark blue and through the window could be seen two small individuals, only 3 feet tall, dressed from head to foot in bulky coveralls, something like the Michelin “tire man.” There was a brilliant flash of light and a few seconds later nothing was to be seen. 

Full Report

This sketch is reproduced from the drawing made on the spot by the artist Gerard Piednoir of the Journal de Vile de la Reunion, in collaboration with the witness Mr. Fontaine himself. (credit: FSR)

“CONTACT CASUALTY ON REUNION”:

This article is taken from the November 1968 issue of the French journal Lumieres dans la Nuit. Translation by Gordon Creighton.

A SIGHTING of capital importance took place on the Island of Reunion [which is situated in the Indian Ocean between Mauritius and Madagascar] on the plain known as La Plaine des Cafres. The date of the sighting was July 31, 1968, and the time, 9.00 a.m.

The witness, M. Luce Fontaine, is aged 31, a farmer, married, with a family, his wife being a teacher. Everybody is in agreement in considering him a serious, hardworking man, who is completely worthy of trust.

He says: “I was at [the] kilometre 21 [mark], in a small clearing in the middle of a forest of acacia trees, that morning, and I was bending down and picking some grass for my rabbits when I suddenly saw a sort of oval-shaped cabin in the clearing. It was 25 metres from me, and as though suspended at a height of four or five metres from the ground. The extremities of it were dark blue, the centre part lighter, more transparent rather like the windscreen of a [Peugeot] 404. Above and below it had what looked like two glass feet of shining metal.

“In the centre of the cabin were two individuals with their backs towards me. The one on the left turned right round and so faced me. He was standing, small, about 90 centimetres in height, enveloped from head to feet in a sort of one-piece overall a bit like the suit worn by the ‘Michelin man”. The one on the right simply turned his head round towards me, but all the same I had time to catch a glimpse of his face, which was partly masked by a sort of helmet.

“Then both turned their backs to me, and there was a flash, as strong as the electric arc of a welding machine. Everything went white around me. A powerful heat was given off and then as it were a sort of blast of wind, and a few seconds later there was nothing there any more.

“Then [ approached the spot over which the object had been. There were no marks. The object had a diameter of 4 or 5 metres and was about 2 1/2 metres measured through from top to bottom. It was of a bluish colour, with white on the upper and lower parts.

‘”I told my wife all about it, and then the Gendarmerie, and everyone at once believed me.”

Such was the first piece of testimony given by M. Fontaine, and next day the enquiry began. He then explained more precisely to the investigators that, seen “face-on”, the machine, egg-shaped in appearance, looked in fact like two whitish saucers, shining like aluminium, placed face to face.

[A Gendarmerie enquiry was conducted, in which they found a certain degree of radioactivity in a radius of from 5-6 metres from the presumed scene of the near-landing, and also even on the clothing worn that day by M. Fontaine. (…) [And] it seems that Luce Fontaine had suffered some effects from exposure to radiation…]