Case file · Close encounter
Claude Vorilhon's encounter (Raëlism)
On 13 December 1973, sports journalist Claude Vorilhon said he met a small extraterrestrial at the Puy de Lassolas crater near Clermont-Ferrand, who dictated messages to him.
1973 CE · 45.73, 2.99 · status: claim
The account
Renamed 'Raël', he founded the Raëlian Movement, which teaches that humanity was created by scientists from another planet (the Elohim). It later drew attention for its 2002 claim of a cloned baby, never substantiated.
The sceptical view
There is no evidence for the meeting beyond Vorilhon's own account; the cloning claim was never verified.
Connections in the atlas
- Raël (Claude Vorilhon) and the Raëlian Movement: Asked Israel for land in Jerusalem for an embassy and landin