Le Banel, FR being encounter — May 2, 1976

At approximately 9:15 p.m. on 2 May 1976, Dominique Menuge was driving through the Bois de Rappes between Matton and L'Étang du Banel in the Ardennes. At a crossroads, his headlights reportedly illuminated roughly fifty small figures standing to his left. They were motionless and apparently doing nothing. The HUMCAT entry describes them as slightly under four feet tall, green, stocky in the torso and equipped with unusually long, thin arms. Their hands and feet appeared webbed. Their heads seemed covered by masks or helmets with large, round red features that reflected the headlights like eyes. Any clothing was too close-fitting to distinguish clearly. Frightened, Menuge turned his car around; during the manoeuvre he noticed another figure on the opposite roadside, only three or four yards away. The Carignan gendarmerie reportedly examined the site a week later without finding traces. HUMCAT credits investigator M. Spingler and cites Flying Saucer Review 22/6, which drew on Lumières dans la Nuit 160. Catalogues disagree on Menuge's age, giving 21 or 31; the encounter sequence is more consistently preserved. No craft, boarding, communication or independently established origin appears in the recovered account.