Ceint-d'Eau schoolchildren near Figeac — September 27, 1954

On September 27, 1954, at approximately 8:40 a.m., three children aged ten, eight and a half, and five were travelling to school near Ceint-d'Eau, east of Figeac. Their teacher notified the gendarmerie that evening. The children were questioned separately the following morning, producing substantially different statements rather than a single consistent group account. The oldest girl described a bareheaded man about 1.2–1.3 metres tall in a red coverall and a roughly metre-wide crate in a neighbouring meadow. A gunshot frightened the children away. She said she later saw the man join the crate and depart through the air at noon. The younger girl described a much smaller figure carrying a smaller box and placed the departure in the morning; she saw nothing at noon. Her agreement that the clothes were red depended on what the older girl had told her. The youngest child said he had seen nothing. Investigators found no traces or independent corroboration and recorded differences from press accounts. GEIPAN classifies the case C because the information is insufficient and contradictory. The archival report's heading has a conflicting July date, while its body and GEIPAN use September. Later allegations of a hoax and retrospective confirmation remain disputed. This historical record and UFO-39499 refer to the same reported event, not separate corroboration. Its distinct plate labels the oldest child's version and does not turn the plain box into a technologically detailed spacecraft.