The Close Encounter Of Yvon Vildier – Another UFO Incident With Physical Evidence

The close encounter of Yvon Vildier in France in the summer of 1975 is perhaps not one of the most dramatic but it is certainly discreetly one of the most credible, not least as it is one that resulted in the discovery of physical evidence at the alleged landing site. Moreover, the sighting was witnessed by at least two other people from different locations in the region.

Although the case is little known today, at the time, it gained considerable traction in the country, with even the local mayor issuing a public statement about the incident in support of the witnesses. The events remain largely a mystery today, but it shares many details that are found in other similar close encounter cases both previously and after.

Although several online platforms have explored this sighting in the Internet Age, the first extensive report appeared in the June/July 1975 edition of the French UFO magazine Lumieres Dans La Nuit.

A “Strange Machine” Hovering Near The House!

According to the account, at around 7 pm on January 5th, 1975, 12-year-old Yvon Vildier was at home with his parents in a rural region of Normandy at the base of the Cherbourg Peninsula watching television when for no particular reason; he decided to go outside into the backyard to get some fresh air. It was already dark so he switched on the outside light before venturing from the house. Just as he was about to step outside, though, he noticed a “strange machine” hovering or resting in a field near the property, approximately 400 to 500 feet away.

Vildier stated that initially, from the doorway of the house, he could “only see a dome pierced by a bright yellow porthole” with the “remainder of the machine being hidden by a hedge!” He continued that he was “very scared” as he watched the object, even more so when it rose into the air only a few seconds later. As it began to ascend, it rotated. It eventually came to a stop around 500 feet in the air.

From this angle, Vildier could see “the complete shape of the craft!” He noted that the craft was made of three or four separate sections and that “the section that made up the part under the aforementioned dome had five portholes” around the sides. He further stated that the object “seemed to be the shape of a bowl” that was around three feet wide and around a foot and a half high. The craft got wider and wider so that it was around 50 feet wide at the highest section, just below the dome.

He could also make out that the craft was a distinct oval shape and, while it was luminous, it was a dull brown-grey color. Most intriguing, despite its size and apparent advancement, it remained absolutely silent throughout the encounter, which he estimated lasted no more than 30 seconds. Moreover, he felt no heat or other affects from the craft, despite being (relatively speaking) so close to it.

Then, the object simply “shot off” into the air, continuing to rotate as it climbed higher and higher with great speed. Within a matter of seconds, it had disappeared from Vildier’s sight, the family’s barn blocking any remaining view he might have had. He did recall, though, that just before it shot into the air, he saw “two hatches” that “opened like aircraft undercarriage,” which allowed the legs it had been resting on to retract into the open hatches.

He called out to his parents, but they didn’t hear him. As soon as the object was gone, he turned and rushed back inside the house to inform them of what he had just seen.

A Legitimate, Credible Witness

As we might imagine, his parents, while not disbelieving him, were a little apprehensive about his account. However, he insisted that he had seen exactly what he said he had. When he was later questioned by UFO investigators, they purposely asked questions in an attempt to mislead him and to reveal himself to be a hoaxer. However, he stuck to the same version of events throughout, convincing both investigators and his parents of his sincerity.

After being questioned by various people quite literally dozens of times, he eventually offered that he didn’t “know of any further details to provide you with beyond the description” he had already given. He also stated that he was “interested in things related to science” and was “particularly attracted to mysterious flying objects!” However, despite this interest, he had little technical knowledge of such things.

As well as Yvon, his father, a 50-year-old forestry worker, was also interviewed by investigators. Although he hadn’t seen the object himself, he confirmed that what his son had said was accurate and that when he returned inside the house after viewing the craft, “he was traumatized” and “could not say a word (because) he was so frightened!” His father elaborated that before his son even entered the room, he heard him “scream several times!” He eventually calmed down enough to tell them what he had seen, telling them he had just witnessed a “flying saucer!”

His father responded by suggesting that he “must have been seeing things,” but Yvon was adamant about what he had seen. The following morning, the family discovered apparent evidence that, at the very least, something strange had taken place the previous evening.

“Suspicious Traces On The Ground!”

As soon as daylight broke the next day, Yvon’s mother ventured out to the spot where her son had claimed to have seen the strange object. To her amazement, she discovered “suspicious traces on the ground.” Later that afternoon, Yvon’s father and Yvon went to examine the traces for themselves. They appeared like fuel or oil and had a similar aroma. Upon examining the substance, there was no longer any doubt in his mind that his son was telling the absolute truth about what he had seen the previous night. He continued that Yvon “does not read science fiction novels or anything like that” and that he wasn’t prone to making things up.

Unbeknown to the Vildier family at the time, was that another witness from the western side of the town (the Vildiers lived on the east side) had also seen something strange on the night in question. The witness in question – Madame LeClair – lived around 700 feet from the Vildiers. LeClair claimed that at around 6:55 pm, she stepped outside her house in order to get water. As she was doing so, she noticed a “fairly intense light resembling a sunset!” She elaborated that the light reminded her of “a fire because of its color,” but as she didn’t hear any noise coming from it, she paid little attention, and after around a minute, she went back inside. It was only later that she realized that the light couldn’t have been the sun – not just because of the time but because there was a light rain falling at the time, and the day had been overcast for the majority.

There was also another witness – Madame Risha – who lived just under a mile from the Vildiers’ home. She claimed it was a little after 7 pm, and she was leaving her stables on her way back to the main house when she noticed “an intense rather whitish light which lit up a large part of the sky!” Much like LeClair, however, she paid little attention to it and made her way back to the house. And also, much like LeClair, it was only later, when she heard Yvon Vildier’s account, that she reassessed what she had seen.

Traces In The Shape Of A”U”

Ultimately, the three witnesses were all regarded as reliable, honest, and credible, with even the local mayor weighing in with their thoughts, stating that “the three people who told you they had seen a luminous phenomenon are trustworthy people, and their word cannot be doubted!”

The investigation into just what had been seen continued. They too noted the substance left behind by the alleged object. The actual landing site was a field that was around 300 feet from the Vildier’s house, near to a communal footpath or lane. The traces were discovered around 60 feet from the gate to the field which was clear from the trees that surrounded it, and, as such, made an ideal landing location.

Of the traces, investigators noted that they “formed the basis of a slightly curved letter U, its outline being followed by a blackish oily streak” that was around a centimeter wide. There was also a strong smell of “petrol or something similar” and the proposed landing location, something which further indicated that the substance was related to fuel or propulsion. Perhaps strangest of all, though, was a single, strange footprint that was “slightly rounded” and around 30 centimeters deep.

Investigators also discovered three holes that were “arranged in an irregular triangle” in the center of the U-shaped oil slick. These holes were all similar in size, shape, and depth, and there appeared to be some kind of “black coloring” around each one. Investigators didn’t, however, find any evidence of burn or scorch marks, and when the soil was tested, there appeared to have been no chemical change or other reactions to whatever might have landed there.

Explanations Put Forward That Don’t Hold Water!

The weather on the night of the incident was checked to see if there had been any electrical storms anywhere in the area. There wasn’t, meaning the chances that Yvon had seen some kind of freak weather phenomenon could be dismissed. Investigators also examined the records of the nearby small airport to see if any aircraft had taken off or landed at around the time of the sighting on the night in question. There were, however, no aircraft movements anywhere near the time window of the sighting.

When investigators spoke with local residents on a door-to-door basis, they discovered that none of them had noticed any kind of interference or static with the televisions or radios on the night of the sighting. Moreover, aside from Yvon and the other two witnesses, no one noticed anything strange taking place, remaining blissfully unaware in their own respective worlds.

Although they had explored and examined the case from multiple different angles and perspectives, investigators were unable to offer any kind of satisfactory explanation for the bizarre events of that January evening. The case, though, remains of interest to UFO enthusiasts and investigators, and still has many interesting details to discuss.

A Mysterious Encounter That Remains Unexplained!

Ultimately, it will like never be truly established just what Yvon Vildier witnessed that evening that cold January evening in 1975. Whether the young boy witnessed a vehicle from another world or whether he happened upon a top-secret military aircraft remains a talking point today almost half a century later.

The description of the object, however, as well as how it moved, matches multiple other such accounts from across the years and around the world. Perhaps more remarkable of all, though, is the physical evidence left behind. There are multiple cases on record of a landed UFO leaving behind a thick, black, oily substance on the ground, with some such cases even having paralyzing or numbing effects on those who come into contact with it (interestingly or not, several of these cases have taken place in France also).

As much as what was seen that evening in January 1975, we might ask just what the reason for the craft being in the first place might have been. Was this some kind of reconnaissance mission? Or perhaps the intelligence involved was looking to extract something from the land. Once more, such questions remain unanswered, at least for now.

The short video below looks at this fascinating case a little further.