On 1 July 1965, in the early hours of the morning, French farmer Maurice Masse at Valensole was attracted to the sight of a landed object in his lavender field by a strange high-pitched sound.

The object was shaped like an egg with a cupola on top and was approximately fifteen feet wide. It was standing on six legs in a manner reminiscent of a spider, according to the witness. The door of the object was open and within it Masse could see two seats.

Near the object were what Masse took to be two young boys apparently taking lavender plants; they turned out to be entities from the object about four feet tall and clad in green "ski suits". When they noticed Masse approaching, one of them levelled a rod towards him which immobilised him.

On further examination the entities appeared to have large bald heads, big slanting eyes, pronounced chins and small lipless mouths; in fact, very much the description given by many American witnesses. They made guttural sounds.

This style of entity is often recounted by Americans under hypnosis in most fearful terms but Masse's conscious recall remembers them as good-natured and bringing a sense of peace to him. It is interesting that many American cases involving these entities combine fear with a great longing to be with the creatures, whether or not that emotion is "engineered".

While Masse was still immobilised, the entities returned to their craft and took off, with the landing legs retracting. It was some considerable time before Masse was able to move. Four days after the event occurred he fell into a deep sleep and members of his family fought to wake him up, believing that otherwise he would have slept for a very extended period. Usually Masse slept only five or six hours a night but for months after the event he needed at least twelve hours sleep.

The most remarkable of the ground traces was that no lavender plants would grow at the landing site for ten years!