Sainte-Soulle, FR being encounter — April 1972

A motorist near Sainte-Soulle, Charente-Maritime, reported a close observation during April 1972, probably in the third week, from about 10 p.m. He described a luminous clearing beside the road and a very flat oval object with a small dome, apparently standing on four supports. The witness said that his headlights went out, his car would not restart, and his ability to move and speak diminished during an interval estimated at forty-five minutes. A thin dark figure then ran from the bordering woods, jumped onto the object's rim, and appeared to enter near the dome. The object reportedly rose and departed toward Marans, after which the car lights returned. Dominique Béziat's report in Lumières dans la Nuit 158 was based partly on an intermediary. It describes later ground marks, including three support-like impressions despite the witness's four-leg description, and subsequent memory difficulties. Those reports should remain distinct from a demonstrated mechanism. The image reconstructs the roadside observation rather than an inferred abduction or medical event.