Franck Fontaine

In November 1979, Franck Fontaine was allegedly abducted by extraterrestrials somewhere north of Paris — sparking widespread media hysteria.

“On November 26, 1979, two rather panicked young men, Jean-Pierre Prévost and Salomon N’Diaye, told the Cergy-Pontoise police that a man named Franck Fontaine had disappeared after an encounter with a luminous orb. According to them, as the three friends were loading their car around 4:30 a.m. to head to the Giros market, they saw a glowing trail above the Cergy-Pontoise power station. Franck then decided to drive closer while Salomon and Jean-Pierre grabbed their camera to capture the unique moment. The rest is recounted by Jean-Pierre Prévost in a television reenactment broadcast in 1980. In it, the young man describes three or four small spheres circling the car. The spheres eventually merged into a kind of luminous cigar, which supposedly took Franck with it.”

“But then, eight days later, Franck Fontaine reappeared. The police learned from the radio that the young man was back home, safe and sound. According to him, he had woken up in a cabbage field at the exact spot where he had vanished, unaware that he had been gone for eight days. The radio that broke the news had received an anonymous call. Salomon N’Diaye later admitted that the call came from him, justifying the odd act by saying he wanted to find his friend before the police got involved.”

Why I Dismiss This Case

I didn’t have to dig very deep before stumbling across problems. From the start, the three friends contradicted each other several times. Later, the main individual involved refused to take a polygraph or other tests, claiming he was “too tired.”

He also refused to undergo hypnosis to help with his amnesia. Yet he said: “I don’t remember anything unless the State guarantees that I won’t be locked up.” A strange answer, but understandable if you consider the media bombshell this story set off across the country.

In 1983, Jean-Pierre Prévost cracked and admitted the whole thing was fake. He later told Le Parisien Libéré, in the July 7, 1983 edition, that “the Cergy-Pontoise affair is bogus from start to finish. I’m the only one responsible. I organized everything, planned everything. I can prove it. Franck Fontaine spent the eight days of his disappearance in a friend’s apartment in Pontoise; I took him there and I brought him back.”

Jean-Pierre Prévost was therefore the mastermind behind this fabrication, and he had waited until the 3-year statute of limitations expired before confessing, so he wouldn’t have to worry about legal consequences.

Source for the full article: Vice.com