Réunion Island Cornfield Landing — Antoine Séverin

In February 1975, a driver named Antoine Séverin was traveling on a rural road in the mountains of Réunion Island when he became aware of a persistent electronic sound — a high-pitched, pulsating hum that he could not attribute to his vehicle or anything on the roadside. He slowed and eventually stopped his car when the sound seemed to intensify and localize to a cornfield adjacent to the road.

Walking toward the source of the sound, Séverin entered the field and found a large domed craft resting on the ground, surrounded by a faint luminous haze. He described it as perhaps twelve meters in diameter, metallic, with a smooth surface showing no obvious propulsion vents or structural seams. More alarming, three small figures were visible near the craft — described as roughly one meter tall, humanoid in proportion, with large heads and wearing tight-fitting suits. The beings appeared to be conducting some activity at the edge of the cornfield.

When the beings noticed Séverin, they immediately stopped what they were doing and moved toward the craft. They entered through a door or hatch in the craft's side, and within seconds of the last figure entering, the craft began to rise. The pulsating hum increased in frequency and pitch as the craft ascended, then suddenly cut off as the craft departed at high speed. Séverin watched it until it disappeared from view.

Investigators from the French gendarmerie who followed up on Séverin's report found a circular impression in the cornfield consistent with a large, heavy object having rested there — the cornstalks were compressed flat in a circular pattern of the approximate diameter Séverin had described. Soil samples showed unusual characteristics that were documented in the official investigation file.

Réunion Island had already generated one significant close encounter report in 1968 (the Luce Fontaine case) and would produce additional reports through the 1970s and 1980s, establishing a pattern that French UAP researchers found statistically anomalous for a small island. GEPAN, France's government UAP investigation body, considered the island an area of special interest and compiled a dossier covering multiple incidents. Séverin's report was among those included in GEPAN's archival collection.