The 1954 French flap:

Burned stone, grass burned under the saucer of Doncourt-Village

NANCY, October 13 ("France-soir" news brief). - At about 1:30 a.m., yesterday morning, when everything was asleep in Doncourt-Village (the Meurthe-et-Moselle), an abnormal whistling sound awoke the inhabitants of a farm, out in the country. Worried, the farmers went at the window and saw a flat object, "three times as big as a setting sun", they said, posed at the edge of the woods nearby. Soon the object rose with great speed to the vertical and disappeared. At the place indicated by the farmers, the gendarmes found that the stones had been burned and had taken on a brick-red color on a circumference of 1 m. 50. The earth, everywhere else soaked by rain, was, within this circumference, reduced to ashes on a depth of three centimeters.

A luminous machine observed in Cameroon by credible witnesses

YAOUNDE (Cameroon), Oct. 12 ("France-soir" news brief). - An enormous illuminated disk was observed Sunday in Yaoundé by a group of trustworty people: Colonel Cauvin, director of the health and prophylaxis services of Cameroon; Dr. Menn, chief medical officer of the hospital; MM. Dumont, Director of the Security Services; Poileux, Councilor of the Territorial Assembly; Moreau, administrator and deputy mayor of Yaoundé. It was the dog of the house who, by barking, attracted the occupants. Under the disc hung a sort of oscillating cylinder. The machine, after a few seconds, disappeared quickly towards the east.

AN ORANGE DISC emitting bright lights was observed in Champagne-sur-Seine (the Seine-et-Marne) by M. T ..., a seasonal worker in Machault, who took pictures. A butcher at Seine-Port saw at Savigny-le-Temple a similar machine, as well as in Meaux, Mr. Lefranc, a bank clerk in Paris.

AN INCANDESCENT BARREL, two meters high, was seen in a pasture by two young girls from Heimersdorf (Haut-Rhin). The craft rose and disappeared quickly.

Pygmy and fearful Martians

in the Tarn and in Westphalia

THE Martians are familiar, talkative and daring when they are alone. If they are in a troop they become fearful. It's strange, but that's how it is.

Mr. Jean-Pierre Mitto, engineer in Briatexte (the Tarn) was driving home the other night by car with two of his cousins when he saw two small figures running away before him on the road. He braked backwards and saw in a meadow a "saucer" in the shape of a hemisphere towards which the two figures were running at full speed. The craft was, he says, about 6 meters in diameter; it flew away as soon as the "Martians" - who, he estimated, were the size of a child aged 10 to 12 - had resumed their place on board.

The four mysterious characters that Mr. Hoge, a film operator, saw in Westphalia the same evening were about this size: 1 m. 20 or so. On returning home, Mr. Hoge had seen a blue light in a field, 60 meters from the road. He thought it was a crashed plane. Then he noticed that the light came from an object having the shape of a cigar. Four men, in rubber coveralls, were working under the machine.

After ten minutes, they climbed back into their cigar which, taking off, took the shape of a saucer which "projected a dazzling light".

The cinema operator did not have his camera with him, but he has very good eyes since at 60 meters and at night he could distinguish that "his" Martians had "very developed torsos, a big head and small and lean lower limbs."

He admitted he was scared. More courageous, a colonial teacher, Mr. Martin, lent his pen to two Martian women whom he met, he said, on the island of Oléron. It is true that they were "lovely". And they measured 1 m. 70. Perhaps they came from Venus? They traced "incomprehensible" hieroglyphs on his notebook. But it's already a lot that they know how to use a pen...

Iridescent cigars and fireballs have been reported in the Pyrénées-Orientales, Aveyron and Puy-de-Dôme.

In Meaux, Fontainebleau and Nandy, discs of illuminated soccer balls shape were seen flying across the sky. A roadmender even saw - he was coming out of a cafe - a flying liter!

No Martien at the Dubois hospital

The rumor spread in Paris last night that a "Martian", escaped from a flying saucer, and wounded, had was admitted to the Dubois hospital, rue du faubourg Saint-Denis. The hospital management, assailed by phone calls, asks us to indicate that this is a stupid rumor and naturally without any foundation.

Flying Saucers

(Continued from the front page)

IN THE PARIS REGION

An orange disk emitting bright lights was observed in Champagne-sur-Seine (Seine-et-Marne) by Mr. T..., a seasonal worker in Machault, who took photographs.

A butcher from Seine-Port saw a similar object in Savigny-le-Temple, as did Mr. Lefranc, a bank employee in Paris, in Meaux.

IN CAMEROON

YAOUNDE. (Cameroon) - A large illuminated disk was observed on Sunday in Yaoundé by a group of credible individuals: Colonel Canuvin, director of hygiene and prophylaxis services in Cameroon; Dr. Menn, chief physician at the hospital; Mr. Dumont, head of security services; Mr. Poileux, advisor to the Territorial Assembly; and Mr. Moreau, administrator and deputy mayor of Yaoundé. It was the house dog, barking, that drew the occupants outside. Hanging beneath the disk was a kind of oscillating cylinder. After a few seconds, the craft disappeared rapidly toward the East.

THE OPINION OF A SCIENTIST

The scientific community is following this news with interest.

The automotive engineer, Mr. Grégoire, shared his opinion with one of our Parisian colleagues:

"The only explanation that seems logical to me to account for certain phenomena observed by reliable witnesses, radar, and photographs, is that they are of planetary origin.

"The general mistake made by nearly everyone studying flying saucers is trying to equate planetary life with earthly life.

"In the current state of our knowledge, nothing can be affirmed. Although I am a believer, I consider it rather arrogant for a prophet to say that God made man in His image. And it is childish imagination to insist that beings living on other worlds must in some way resemble us. On the contrary, it is far more likely that more advanced thinking beings have completely different appearances.

"Everything suggests that many physical laws on other planets may differ from ours.

"You see, we mustn't be too proud. We know very little, and scientific progress will teach us more every day - and show us that anything is possible."

THE SAUCER BALLET
continues in the skies of France

AND THE WITNESSES MULTIPLY, CLAIMING TO HAVE SEEN BARRELS, DISCS, AND VARIOUS SPHERES

The celestial beings are appearing more and more, in forms that, while varied, are hardly new. Near Mulhouse, it was a barrel that appeared to the Pracht sisters:

In Meaux, Mr. Jules Lefranc saw a small luminous soccer ball.

Near Fontainebleau, it was a full orange moon that was reported.

In Seine-Port, near Melun, two butchers saw two luminous discs.

In Pont-de-Salars (Aveyron), another disc made an appearance.

In Bompas (Pyrénées-Orientales), a cigar-shaped object two meters long was seen in a street, surrounded by iridescent lights.

In Elliant (Finistère), Mr. Couarch, a farm worker, is less certain: he saw an object in the sky but could not identify its shape.

In Riom, two police officers saw a cigar-shaped object that gave rise to three red fireballs.

In Moncourt (Meurthe-et-Moselle), some farmers saw a glow through their shutters.

On the island of Oléron, a colonial schoolteacher, Mr. Martin, was lucky enough to see - the first in the world - "two pretty Martian women, 1.70 meters tall, wearing boots, gloves, and leather helmets."

In Briatexte (Tarn), finally, Mr. Mitto saw a red disc take off.

And none of these "revelations" contributes anything new to the case file.

An Easter bell that got the date wrong

Acquigny, near Louviers, was visited by a "bell" seen by a craftsman and his apprentice (at 3 a.m.) near a railway line.

At the upper part of the craft, sparks with greenish reflections were escaping. When a night-wandering farmworker joined the two observers, the "bell" leapt into the air, emitting an orange glow.

Thirty kilometers away, in Hémezis [sic], a large red-painted object frightened two children. When they returned with their father, nothing unusual remained.

UNKNOWN "OBJECTS"
cross our sky

and nothing prevents them from coming from another world

The question is now posed: unknown objects cross our sky. They astonish, intrigue, sometimes worry. It's not yet a matter of concern, but it is a subject of conversation.

- Do you believe in it or not?

- In what?

- Flying saucers...

- Well... Uh...

The question will be resolved, soon, later or never... But it exists. These extraordinary phenomena manifesting in our sky and multiplying pose an entertaining or distressing enigma.

Mirage? Hallucination? Lights from another world? People wonder. Hypotheses are exchanged, but none are convincing, given on one hand the allure of dreams and on the other the materialist good faith that tries to clear away the mystery.

But the fact remains.

Dozens of people, each day, declare - under oath if required - that they have seen, with their own eyes, what is undeniably seen: these mysterious crafts. These good souls would swear on it. Unless a hoax is revealed when a good "pandore" (a slang term for policeman) steps in, there's a series of testimonies that must be taken into account.

The "armed peace"

Consistent testimonies? Oh no... Infinitely varied.

The "craft" is always luminous. Day and night. It is most often strangely silent. But sometimes it "whistles." It is small in size - just a few meters in width or diameter. But it takes on the aerodynamic and varied forms of a saucer, cigar, or barrel.

"Ad libitum" [sic]...

It is capricious in its maneuvers. Sometimes fixed like the moon. Fast as lightning. It shoots upward vertically, descends like a falling leaf, as if piloted by aeronauts who know all the secrets of joystick flight.

Aeronauts? They have been seen. In the North and in Corrèze, notably. Very small or very tall. Odd-looking or normally built. Dressed like ordinary men or covered in a kind of diving suit. In short, men or characters straight out of a comic book.

"Ad libitum," again...

But always peaceful. Even fearful. As soon as someone approaches or tries to be friendly - fraternize - poof! they return to their shiny craft and disappear with three rotations of the saucer...

Fearful and wary. Peaceful, but ready to use secret and all-powerful defensive weapons. In one case, "the one in the North," "THEY" used a "paralyzing ray," the famous "green ray" that left a curious crossing guard stunned.

"Si vis pacem, para bellum..."

These beings know the pink pages of the Larousse by heart. They don't wish harm on poor Earthlings, but, like us, they've learned the advantage of armed peace. And the "green ray" is worrying if one wishes to make (friendly) contact.

The "Martians" grow bolder

Where do they come from? Pardon: where would they come from? In Europe, in France, people readily talk of "Martians." In America, in the United States, they prefer to speak of "Venusians."

No doubt that, on the other side of the Atlantic, people vaguely dream of a new Marilyn Monroe or a second Jane Russell, who would be a hit in Chicago burlesques and on Broadway stages.

We're not there yet. Miss Venus won't be competing in the next "Miss Universe" elections, and the Martian team won't be breaking world records at the Melbourne Olympics.

No, we're not there yet. But everything is happening, truthfully, as if the inhabitants of another planet were multiplying their "reconnaissance flights" toward Earth.

It was first talked about in 1947 in America. Everyone knows the U.S. prides itself on always being on the cutting edge of progress... Back then, the craft flew in squadrons at high altitude.

They grew bolder, the craft.

They performed impressive low-altitude flybys, which left rural populations bewildered. Then they dared, here and there, to attempt furtive landings.

Witnesses multiplied. The first were only greeted with serious headshakes, like those in Marseille when the "madman's house" was built. One has the right to be skeptical - reserved - about the future.

The interplanetary race

And when more witnesses came forward, credible ones, one wondered what to believe.

For now, all hypotheses are still valid. But the one based on the existence of another inhabited planet gains ground every day.

Why not?

Who says there isn't, "elsewhere," a land where the Creator God placed men? These men, with nothing against the idea, could be from an "era" more advanced than us poor little Earthlings. It wouldn't be outrageous if they weren't "in our image and likeness," as the Bible says.

America and Russia are preparing rockets "for the moon." They may have already been beaten in the interplanetary race. It might not be Earth that achieves contact with Mars or Venus, but rather Mars or Venus that achieves contact with Earth sooner than we think.

Fiction, all of this?

Maybe. Time will tell.

But the "natural" hypotheses considered are increasingly insufficient.

Meteorological phenomena, electrical effects, weather balloon incidents, collective hallucinations, ramblings of village "simpletons" - none of this really holds attention anymore.

The saucers "exist"...

At least for those who now claim to have seen them. And just read the now-daily column in the press dedicated to the topic to see that they are becoming more numerous.

Two "dream" Martian women

QUIMPER. -- Mr. Corentin Couarch, 38, residing in the village of Elliant (Finistère), a farm worker, saw in the sky at 200 meters altitude a luminous craft, the shape and size of which he could not determine.

TOULOUSE. -- In the night from Saturday to Sunday, a baker from Bompas (Pyrénées-Orientales), Mr. Sebelli, saw, parked in a street of the village, a cigar-shaped object about two meters long, surrounded by iridescent lights. Mr. Sebelli woke neighbors who witnessed the craft's quick departure.

RIOM. -- Policemen Roger Thévenin and Albert Daury, while on patrol, saw a cigar-shaped craft. Three red fireballs detached from it and briefly lit up part of the sky.

LA ROCHELLE. -- A colonial schoolteacher, on leave on Oléron Island, Mr. Martin, claims to have encountered two beautiful Martian women on the island, about 1.70 m tall, wearing boots, gloves, and leather helmets. The two Martian women took Mr. Martin's pen and drew incomprehensible signs in his notebook while trying to communicate. Mr. Martin reportedly kept this manuscript safely.

Cigar in Melun

MELUN. -- Mr. Jules Lefranc, a bank employee living in Paris, saw in the sky near François de Tessan Stadium in Meaux, for about three minutes, a brightly lit object from the inside that he said resembled a small football. The craft vanished, leaving a luminous trail behind.

Residents of Trilport reportedly saw an identical stationary craft.

MELUN. -- Mr. Demarcy, a butcher in Seine-Port, and a friend, while driving in Nandy, claimed to have seen a luminous disc flying at about 300 meters altitude.

ALBI. -- A driver from Briatexte (Tarn), Mr. Jean-Pierre Mitto, a technical agent, said he encountered passengers of a flying saucer at dusk on National Road No. 631.

"Returning from Toulouse with two relatives," he said, "I suddenly saw in my headlights two little figures crossing the road, just meters from my car. I stopped immediately, and to our great astonishment, we then saw a large red disc - about six meters in diameter - take off vertically from a nearby field. The craft disappeared in a few seconds."

Scorched stones

NANCY. -- Residents of a farm in Moncourt (Meurthe-et-Moselle) were alarmed by an unusual whistling sound outside. Through the shutters, they saw a blinding light fixed on a hillside, which disappeared soon after by rising vertically. Investigations in the indicated area uncovered intensely scorched marks on a dirt road. Samples of stones and soil were collected for expert analysis.

The Gazette de Lausanne published this "special dispatch" yesterday:

(Dpa). -- Mr. Hoge, a film operator in Muenster, Westphalia, claimed to have observed, during the night from Saturday to Sunday, for about ten minutes, a flying cigar that had landed in a field about sixty meters away. On Sunday, Mr. Hoge told a Dpa agency representative: "I was returning home after the evening's last show when, near Rinkerode in the Muenster district, I saw a bluish light in a field beside the road. I approached and saw a cigar-shaped object, surrounded by a bluish light, hovering a meter and a half above the ground. Around it were four living beings about 1.20 m tall. They wore clothes that looked like rubber, but made no noise. I watched the flying object and these beings for ten minutes, from about sixty meters away. I didn't have the courage to get closer. Suddenly, the beings, with thick bodies and oversized heads on spindly legs, climbed into their craft using a kind of ladder. The cigar tilted sideways, turned diagonally in a flash, and took off. Within a few meters, it had already taken the shape of luminous discs."

WHATNOTS IN THE SKY

Cigar, barrel, balloon
flying by day and night

And for the first time, two (pretty) Martian women...

Soon we won't know where to look if this keeps up. Discs, saucers, cigars, barrels, pots, balloons (!), everything is starting to fly. Pity the pilots, their job is going to get harder navigating through such a mess... if we are to believe these new "witnesses":

FROM RIOM. -- During the night, peace officers Roger Thévenin and Albert Daury of the Riom urban police, while on patrol, saw in the sky a cigar-shaped craft moving from south to north. Three red fireballs (a real fireworks show!) detached from it and lit up part of the sky for a few moments. The cigar appeared metallic, resembling duralumin.

No word on whether they managed to issue a citation for disturbing the peace.

FROM MELUN. -- Mr. Jules Lefranc, a bank employee from Paris, saw in the sky near the François-de-Tessart stadium in Meaux, for about three minutes, an object brightly lit from within which, he said, was shaped like a small football. The craft disappeared, leaving behind, according to the witness, a glowing trail the size of a stove pipe.

Residents of Trilport reportedly saw a similar stationary object.

The stadium... a ball... Come to think of it, maybe they play football on Mars too.

FROM LA ROCHELLE. -- A colonial schoolteacher currently on leave on the island of Oléron, Mr. Martin, claims to have encountered on the island two pretty Martian women about 1.70 m tall, wearing boots, gloves, and leather helmets. The two Martians grabbed Mr. Martin's pen and drew incomprehensible symbols in his notebook while trying to communicate. Mr. Martin reportedly kept this manuscript carefully.

Lucky guy, that teacher. Instant fame. Imagine, seeing the first Martian women... and pretty ones, no less.

FROM ALBI. -- A motorist from Briatexte (Tarn), Mr. Jean-Pierre Mitto, a technical agent for a company currently exhibiting at the "Household Arts" fair in Toulouse, said he encountered passengers of a flying saucer at nightfall on National Route No. 631.

(Continued on page 6).

FLYING SAUCERS

A motorist said he saw two "little people" cross the road and then fly aboard their craft ...

ALBI, October 12. -- A car driver from Briatexte (Tarn), M. Jean-Pierre Mitto, technical agent in a company currently exposing at the "Household Arts" of Toulouse, said he met in the dark, on the national road No. 631, the passengers of a flying saucer.

"Returning to Toulouse, with two parents, he said, I suddenly distinguished in the beam of my headlights, two little people who crossed the road, a few meters away from my car. I stopped immediately and, to our amazement, we then saw from a nearby meadow a large red disk with a diameter of 6 meters, fly away, rising vertically. The craft disappeared into the sky in a few seconds".

OTHER DISCS, BALLS AND CIGARS

MULHOUSE. -- Having seen this evening a light in a pasture, two young girls of Heimersdorf, Anny and Roselyne Pracht aged 22 and 18, came closer thinking it was a fire lit by a shepherd. Then they saw, they claim, a craft of a height of about 2 meters. At their approach, the barrel-shaped craft turned to a glowing red, rose into the air and disappeared over the horizon. The same phenomenon was observed by two other people.

MELUN. -- Mr. Jules Lefranc, bank employee, Paris resident, saw in the sky, near the François - de - Tessart stadium in Meaux, for about three minutes, an object brightly lit from the inside that, he said, was shaped like a small soccer ball. This craft disappeared while leaving behind, the witness said, a luminous trail of the size of a stovepipe.

Residents of Trilport reportedly saw an identical craft motionless.

MELUN. -- A resident of Fontainebleau stated he saw

(4) Continued on the last page

October 11 [, 1954]

[... other cases...]

? [=unknown hour]: Meaux(Seine-et-Marne):lumin.sph.

[... other cases...]

11 October 1954: Meaux, le-de-France, France

An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One object was observed by one witness for over three minutes.

Hynek rating: NL

Vallee rating: FB1