The 1954 French flap:

[...]

IS IT THE "MARTIAN TRICK"? A FLAME PASSES AND THE TRUCK IS STOPPED

Tuesday, October 19, Mr. Jean Payrard, conveyor at the Grangette house, wholesale grocer, in St-Didier-in-Velay (the Haute-Loire), came to make deliveries with at Bourg-Argentai when towards 08:45, on the road before arriving at St Didier, between the villages of Furnace and Robert, he saw a flame of approximately a meter passing in front of his truck. His engine stopped short as well as his lighting. He went down from his cabin and did not find anything abnormal with his vehicle. A little later his lighting restarted for a short duration. Four to five minutes afterwards, the engine and lighting resumed their normal operation. The same adventure arrived, some days ago, one morning to a milk conveyor of Jonzieux (the Loire).

[...]

FOLLOW-UP INVESTIGATION of the observation of 11.10.54 - Case 232 from the J. VALLEE Catalogue

(Investigator: P. BERLIER)

Location: JONGIEUX. Main witness: Mr. Baptiste JOURDY, who lives in a small hamlet near JONGIEUX, at the Ferme de l'Aubépine.

The Facts: It all begins with the observation of a truck driver from St. DIDIER EN VELAY, Mr. Jean PEYRARD, who lives in the town of MONTFAUCON. He too experienced, like the milkman from JONGIEUX, a strange adventure that night near St. FERREOL d'AUROURE. The road there is straight and clear. Suddenly, the engine and headlights stopped... "I hit the brakes hard. And that's when I saw something like a ball of fire. It came from the left across a field, in full view, leaving a fiery trail that crossed the road and disappeared 30 meters farther away into another field, on the right. Then the engine started humming again and the headlights came back on. I was stunned for a moment, and, I admit, I didn't dare go down into the field where the ball had appeared. There had been no glow in the sky beforehand."

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Let's extend the trajectory of observation No. 1 (NW-SE) and we arrive at JONGIEUX - observation No. 2.

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Toward the end of the night of October 10 to 11, 1954, Baptiste JOURDY, age 30, was driving through the mountains of the LOIRE south of ST. ETIENNE with the truck he used daily to collect milk in the region. Around 4 a.m., the night was still dark, the sky overcast and low, and only the headlights pierced the darkness of the deserted countryside. Suddenly, at 4:15 a.m., as he approached the hamlet of FONTFREDE, the engine stalled and the headlights went out.

Instinctively, the driver braked, put the truck in neutral, and got out, convinced that a battery wire had come loose. But as soon as he set foot on the ground, he saw above him, beneath the clouds, a fairly large, multicolored luminous sphere moving toward GUIZAY in a plume of blue and pink light, moving perpendicularly to the road (SW-NE). He watched it for about half a minute to a minute, and as he recovered from his astonishment, he noticed that his headlights had come back on. He climbed back into his truck, turned the starter, and drove off normally with his load.

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Mr. JOURDY confirmed that the object was moving away toward GUIZAY.

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Observation No. 3 at ST. ETIENNE: people saw a multicolored luminous object above the mountain of GUIZAY moving away rapidly.

15 other observations in FRANCE during the night.

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VALLEE CASE 232 - continued.

The LOCATIONS:

Obs. No. 1: Road from St. FERREOL D'AUROURE, between ROBERT and LA CABANE DES MAS, 15 km SW of St. ETIENNE, district of ST. DIDIER EN VELAY, Haute-Loire.

Obs. No. 2: D.22 at the junction with the road to CHAMBON-FEUGEROLLES (D.72), near the hamlet of FONTFREDE, altitude 939 m, commune and district of ST. GENEST-MALIFAUX, arrondissement of ST. ETIENNE, 10 km south of ST. ETIENNE, Loire.

Obs. No. 3: CHAVANELLE Market, ST. ETIENNE, Loire.

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ORTHOTENY

FONTFREDE is located at the intersection of two lines:

FORAY: FONTFREDE - RIOM - ERBRAY
FOCMA: FONTFREDE - CLAMECY - MEAUX
Obs. 1 and 3 form a new line:
MOGUY - FONTFREDE - ST. FERREOL - GUIZAY

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FAULTS: ST. ETIENNE lies on a 30 km fault line that begins at the foot of the GUIZAY.

APPENDIX:

Map of the locations
Photo montage of Observation No. 3

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

A. MICHEL - A Propos des Soucoupes Volantes, p. 196.
J. VALLEE - Les Phénomènes Insolites de l'Espace, pp. 266, 297, 280.
L.D.N. - Contact No. 101 bis, p. 5, case 232.
La Tribune, Le Progrès
Personal sources.

4213: 1954/10/19 20:50 4 4:16:20 E 45:18:00 N 3333 WEU FRN HLR 6:6

St.DIDIER-en-VELAY,FR:'FLAME' BUZZES TRUCK:MOTOR+LITES OUT:AOK AFTER:/LDLN#321

Ref#217 Jean SIDER: Le DOSSIER 1954 (2 vol.) Page No. 115: ROAD+RAILS

October 19

1954 - At 8:45 p.m a flaming object buzzed a truck driving in St. Didier-en-Velay, Haute-Loire, France causing the engine and headlights to die. They functioned again after the object departed. (Source: Jean Sider, Dossier 1954 et l'Imposture Rationaliste, p. 115).

*Oct. 19, 1954 - At 8:45 p.m a flaming object buzzed a truck driving in St. Didier-en-Velay, Haute-Loire, France causing the engine and headlights to die. They functioned again after the object departed. (Source: Jean Sider, Dossier 1954 et l'Imposture Rationaliste, p. 115).