France entity encounter — 1949-02-17

Alain Bérard’s alleged French farm encounter is dated February 17, 1949, but neither an identifiable locality nor a contemporary witness statement has been recovered. Patrick Gross traces the story to Peter Kolosimo’s 1958 magazine writing, subsequently repeated by Jacques Vallée. The often-cited magazine page is erroneous; the source history is less secure than the catalogue entry suggests. According to that story, Bérard saw a green flash and a large object near his farm at night. Leaving his sleeping wife inside, he took a rifle into the courtyard. Three figures with short, heavy legs approached from a dark mass; they appeared to have no heads. He reportedly fired three times. The figures paused, retreated into the darkness, and the object departed with another green flash. No injury or recovered material is documented. Kolosimo supplied no checkable witness provenance. Gross considers invention possible, without establishing a confession or independent investigation. This is an unverified published narrative rather than a confirmed shooting encounter. The labelled plate includes the farmer, three headless silhouettes and the complete dark object. Their clothing, scale and the farm layout are illustrative; no detailed alien anatomy or mechanical design is recoverable.