File 145 · 8 January 1981
Trans-en-Provence landing
Trans-en-Provence, Var, France
Opened 9/4/2026
Ledger illustration of the file — not a photograph of the object. Ledger illustration of the report. Provençal terrace country. — Night Ledger illustration of the file
Standing
Unidentified
On the public record, and still open. A claim, paper, or film — not a finding that it was ours, and not a finding that it was not.
What was claimed
A farmer reported a landed disc that left a ring on the ground. GEPAN/CNES took samples.
What is on the record
GEIPAN’s file is among the best-documented land-trace cases in a government program. Laboratory notes exist. It is not a recovered craft. Still carried as a serious physical-trace case.
Renato Nicolai said a lead-colored disk with a ridge and four openings came down on a terrace above his house, sat briefly, and rose with a whistle. He called the gendarmerie the same day. Investigators found two concentric circles in the ground. GEPAN/CNES had the soil and plants analysed: compaction, heating, and chlorophyll changes were reported in the official note.
Critics have questioned Nicolai’s later interviews and the uniqueness of the soil chemistry. The French space agency’s own paper is why the case is taught. A garden, a ring, and a laboratory sheet.
Could this have been ours?
The known sky, that night.
Satellites were already up. The station was not. Starlink was not.
Always
Aircraft, balloons, meteors
Landing lights, flares, lanterns, reentries, fireballs. They are on the known sky. They do not close a file by themselves — they are what a serious look has to hold the claim against.
Orbit · Space — the desks for lights that are already named.
Sources
Paper on this file
Official or public documents that belong with this case — not a verdict.
July 1999
COMETA report
COMETA (independent, former French officials) · France
A French association of former auditors of the Institute of Advanced National Defence Studies published a report taking UFO evidence seriously, including a possible extraterrestrial hypothesis.
Public from 2007
GEIPAN — CNES unidentified aerospace case files
CNES / GEIPAN · France
France’s official civilian UFO desk at CNES publishes its case files, methods, and a residue of unexplained reports.
Related files
Same craft, same place, same years. A neighbor in the catalogue — not a conclusion.
Same craft · Same place · Same year · January 8, 1981
Trans-en-Provence Landing Trace
Trans-en-Provence · France
Unidentified
A farmer witnessed a metallic disc-shaped object land in his field, leaving physical traces. Gendarmes and French space agency (GEPAN) investigated with soil and plant samples analyzed in multiple labs showing anomalous effects.
Same craft · Same place · Same year · January 8, 1981
Trans-en-Provence Case
Trans-en-Provence · France
Unidentified
Retired farmer Renato Nicolaï observed a lead-colored saucer-shaped craft land briefly in a field near his property, then lift off and depart. Physical traces including compressed and scorched soil and affected vegetation were documented and analyzed by GEPAN laboratories, showing biochemical changes inconsistent with known causes. One of the best-investigated physical trace cases by the French go
Same craft · 14 August 2026
Car-sized object over Shagawa Lake, Ely
Ely, Minnesota · United States
Unidentified
An adult and three children at Semers Beach independently described a car-sized object with two round lights over the lake.
Same craft · August 6, 2026, evening
Disk shoots across sky leaving trail, photographed
Poway, California · USA
Unidentified
While photographing an unusual storm, the witness and family saw a disk zoom across the sky at hypersonic speed with no sound. The long-exposure photo captured the metallic disk with a visible trail and possible greenish cloud/wormhole above it.
Same craft · May 2026 (circulated September 2026)
Glowing disc over a bowling-alley lot, Argentina
Argentina · Argentina
Unidentified
Young people outside a bowling alley later found a luminous disc in their night video; Argentine researchers circulated the clip in September.
Same craft · January 21, 2015
GIMBAL
Off the East Coast (Atlantic Ocean) · United States
Unidentified
U.S. Navy F/A-18 ATFLIR footage showing a rotating unidentified object tracked during operations from the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Cockpit audio captures pilot reactions to the object's apparent rotation and flight characteristics.