The “Dr. X” Encounter And The 1960s French UFO Invasion

The bizarre sighting of a witness known only as “Dr. X” in the Aixen Provence of south-east France in November 1968 was not only one of many sightings in the French skies in the late-1960s, but it proved to result in a miraculous cure of sorts to an injury he was suffering from at the time. It was also a sighting that seemed to have a bizarre, shared effect on both the witness and his young son. Due to the amount of detail recorded by the anonymous doctor, the sighting remains one of the most intriguing in French UFO history.

We have written before of the 1965 alien encounter of Maurice Masse, which was not merely a sighting, but one which left physical evidence of its presence. Just over a year later, beginning in 1967, several UFO sightings were reported throughout France. The incident involving Dr. X was seemingly the last of this wave.

Strange Lightning

In the early hours of the 2^nd November 1968, Dr. X could hear the calls of his young son from his bedroom. ^[1] He wasn’t upset, rather he was responding to something he could see or hear. Outside of the isolated villa in which they lived, a storm raged. Looking over at his wife and realizing she was fast asleep, he rose from the bed and steadily made his way to their son’s room. This task wasn’t at all easy, as the doctor was suffering from the effects of a leg injury. While chopping wood for the fires in the home, he had slipped with the ax and administered a particularly nasty wound on himself.

When he had negotiated the corridor and entered his son’s bedroom, he found him standing in his cot pointing towards the window. Every now and then, bright flashes from outside would bathe the room in a temporary glow. He assumed they were lightning bolts, although they filled him with an anxious feeling. The doctor began to walk towards the young boy when he felt a “rumbling” over and around the house. He believed, at the time, that a huge gust of wind had simply unleashed itself over the property.

He settled his son a little, and then placed him back inside his cot. Turning to leave the room, he began to wonder about the “lighting” and the gust of wind. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt the need to explore outside. Just to confirm in his own mind that what he had seen was merely the result of an electrical storm.

He went to one of the windows at the front of the property and looked out into the night. He couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

Taking The Electricity “Out Of The Air!”

In the night sky, were two identical, glowing saucer-shaped objects. Each object looked to be made of two “superimposed” parts. The upper section glowed an intensely bright silver, while the bottom part was a “deep sunset red”. From underneath each object, a column of light periodically shone downwards. Not able to fully see the scene as it unfolded, the doctor grabbed his coat and notepad and made his way to the front door of the home.

As he stood in the grounds of his property, he could clearly see a strange “lightning bolt” passing between the objects. Realizing this must be the source of the flashes, he remained where he was, attempting to sketch what he was seeing. He would state later to investigators, “It seemed to me that the two objects were sucking in the atmospheric electricity and that I could see it entering through their antennae and then exploding between the two objects. The whole thing producing one single glow of light”. Strangely, despite the intense brightness of the flashes, they made no noise whatsoever. The objects themselves, however, would resonate with an electrically charged humming sound.

Standing underneath this fascinating scene, the doctor began to scribble notes and sketches of anything he thought might be relevant. It is from his quick thinking to record the event that the incident is as rich in detail as it is.

A Miraculous Incident

He was still scribbling away in his notepad when the two objects began to move and merge together as one. It was identical to the two objects in the sky a moment ago, only a lot closer, only yards from the property. As the doctor continued to look on in both awe and fear, he could see “something moving” in the bottom red section. A bright light also shone downwards again from the object’s underside.

Suddenly, it moved towards him at speed, tilting slightly as it did so. Within seconds, it was directly overhead, its light fully enveloping him. Just as fear was about to explode inside him, the light was gone, as was the craft. The doctor would later claim to have heard a “bang” sound and felt that the craft had “dematerialized”. A small cloud of smoke-like fog was all that remained which itself disappeared soon after. A strange silver string appeared to hang in the air in front of him as if attached to an invisible balloon. It would then shoot directly upwards at speed.

The doctor checked his watch seeing it was just after 4 am. He had been outside around ten minutes. He quickly gathered his thoughts and went inside to wake his wife. As he excitedly told her of his encounter, she would suddenly notice he was no longer limping. Amazed, the doctor examined his leg. It was as good as new. The deep cut – in which he had damaged a vein – was completely healed.

Over the next few months, both he and his son would experience a strange triangular rash on their torsos. No explanation has ever surfaced for this, but it is not a stretch to think it is connected to each of their close proximities to the strange craft.

Sighting Off The Coast Of Le Brusc

Around six months earlier in April 1968, three fishermen would witness an oval-shaped “thing” appear out of nowhere in the fishing port of Le Brusc. The small boat was quite a distance out to sea at the time of the sighting. It was early evening, dark, but not yet night. As the boat made its way over the waters, a break in the clouds revealed an oval object hanging in the sky. It shined so brightly that the crew would later liken it to a mirror.

As the cloud moved over it the craft was temporarily hidden from sight. However, each time it cleared, the huge craft remained. It began to change color slightly, going from a bright white to a delicate pink.

The glowing craft began to move away from the boat after fifteen minutes. It would remain in sight for around ten more minutes, occasionally stopping for a moment before eventually disappearing over the horizon. Like many other UFO sightings, the crew claimed the strange craft was completely silent. The sighting remains unexplained.

Many French UFO Sightings In 1967

Throughout 1967 several UFO sightings are on record in France. Six glowing orange spheres were witnessed over Aveyron in January. Like the Dr. X sighting, all looked identical, and a white column of light would shine down from their underside. The witness would claim to see a “humanoid figure” standing inside. Furthermore, the light would ensnare him in its glow for several moments where he would claim the occupants spoke to him telepathically.

In the same month, over the Pyrenees came a similar sighting. The main witness – an unnamed farmer – claimed to see a “shell-shaped object” lift off from his land. As it moved upwards it appeared to be a “ball of light”. The farmer jumped in his car and promptly gave chase. He would get to within 150 yards of the object when his car engine suddenly died. It was then he would notice the huge “saucer-shaped” craft descending towards him.

It stopped around sixty-feet from the ground. He could see on the top-side of the craft were two “cupolas”. In each of these a helmeted, humanoid figure sat. Each was wearing what appeared to be green overalls.

He realized he was paralyzed temporarily as he felt a sudden “wave of heat” pass over him from above. A whistling sound filled the air as the UFO began to glow intensely. It then shot off directly upwards. As it did, he was able to move, and the power came back to his vehicle.

Although the exact dates are now lost, a farmer in Seine et Marne in early-1967 would awake one evening to see a “disc-shaped” craft hovering over one of his -farmhouses. He could also see several figures moving about inside a “transparent dome” on the top of the object.

UFO Lands In Garden!

On 5^th February 1967, in Sauvigny-les-Bois L’Yonne, 49-year-old Louis Monin would witness a “luminous yellow object” while stood outside his house. It was just before 10 pm and the strange craft was heading in his direction, passing over the cemetery as it did so. He would call to his granddaughter, Marie Solange, so she would see it also. She did.

As it came closer, they could see the object was a cigar-shape. It also changed color several times going from yellow to an orange-red shade. Even more bizarre, it would land right in the front garden of Monin’s house.

It stood at around sixty-feet long and twenty-feet high. As it touched down, small jets of flames would shoot downwards towards the ground. A “crackling” noise also filled the air, similar to small fireworks. A small humanoid then emerged from the craft.

Both Monin and his granddaughter rushed inside to call his wife. By the time the three had returned to the garden, however, the humanoid was no longer there. The craft was now a “red ball”, glowing brightly. The three watched amazed at the sight before them. Then, without warning, the red orb would shoot vertically into the night sky. Like many of the other sightings during this time, there is no explanation for the incident.

There have been several such UFO waves over France. The video below looks at what might make this part of the world so special to such visitors.