The 1954 French flap:

Reduced activity
on the frontline
of the "Saucers"

For the first time in a long time, yesterday we did not have to report any appearance of strange objects in the sky of Picardy. Would the "Martians" get tired of observing our world or would the "Earthlings" finally get used to the spooky visions that are widely spread onto them?

The mail that we received in the past twenty-four hours hardly brings any new evidence, except that of some Amiens residents who would have distinguished "something" in the sky, yesterday, around 2 p.m., above the Cathedral.

In Monsboubert, the day before yesterday evening, around 8:40 p.m., Mr. Paul Coulombel, farmer, ex-pilot of civil aviation and Mr. Fernand Poirel, country gardener, were able to contemplate a kind of "luminous ball followed by a trail of multicolored sparks". which moved from South-West to North-East.

We also received confirmation of a phenomenon of natural appearance which we ourselves witnessed, last Monday, around 9 p.m. Residents of Eramecourt and of Ercheu, saw, indeed, like us, and also two teachers from Amiens, a blinding fireball that violently lit up the night sky for a few too brief seconds.

Other readers, whom we thank here, share with us their personal opinions on astronomical problems in general and the hypotheses - sometimes categorical - that they believe they should draw from maneuvers of unknown or indeterminate craft.

We will take the liberty of giving them advice. That of remaining cautiously, for the time being, in dubitation, and conforming, in this, to the attitude adopted, by the most distinguished experts of this time.

Is it not, moreover, the mark of real scientists, this perpetual uncertainty born of the relative smallness of science acquired in the face of the immense unknown of unsolved problems?

Let's be wise and not anticipate. Above all, let us be careful of random speculations, in one direction as in the other and limit ourselves to recording what we believe to see, while waiting for the revelation which will manifest (maybe) one day or another.

The daily saucer

Mr. Paul Coulombel, a former civilian aviation pilot, now a farmer in Mons-Boubert, followed the moves of a luminous ball coming from the SW and heading to the NE.

Residents of Eramecourt and Ercheu, as well two teachers from Amiens were blinded by a disc which suddenly lit up the sky at around 9 p.m.

Saucers
above the Bay
of the Somme

The column of the flying saucers is enriched with new serious testimonies. This is how we have just learned that some evening, around 8:15 p.m. 15, Mr. Michel Leroux, farmer in Le Crotoy, visiting two of his workers, MM. Raoul and Michel Chivot, living near the farm, found them with their "noses in the air."

With them, he was able to observe for 45 minutes a ball-shaped craft, orange-fire color. Mr. Leroux had time to go get binoculars with which he observed the craft which had the shape of an inverted plate and which, at certain times, moved very quickly, while at others it stabilized. It was flying above the sea, between the Pointe du Hourdel and that of Saint-Quentin-en-Tourmont.

Another much more distant saucer was reportedly seen over the sea, but could only be followed by the "witnesses" for five minutes.

Also, another evening, around 8:40 p.m., an orange ball was observed for a few moments in Monboubert, still near the Bay of Somme, by several people from the locality, including Mr. Paul Coulombel, farmer, and Mr. Fernand Poirel, country guard.

SAUCERS (continued)

Near St-Dié

A "Martian" comes out of a saucer, speaks Russian to a worker, and threatens him with a revolver...

EPINAL, October 23 (dispatch "France-soir"). -- A worker at a construction materials company, Mr. Ujvari, 40 years old, residing in Saint-Rémy, near Saint-Dié, and a former legionnaire, encountered the other night at the edge of a forest an individual dressed in a jumpsuit and wearing a motorcyclist’s helmet, standing next to a craft 2 to 3 meters in diameter shaped like two saucers placed together.

The worker, originally from Czechoslovakia, spoke to the man and was surprised to hear him respond in Russian.

But the "Martian" wasn’t in the mood for conversation. Brandishing a revolver, he escorted the worker away. A few minutes later, Mr. Ujvari heard a whistling sound and saw the craft rise almost vertically into the sky.

Martian invasion...
imaginary in Anzin

VALENCIENNES, October 23 (A.F.P.). -- The "War of the Worlds" did not happen in Anzin, where many people believed one evening in a Martian invasion.

It was around 10 p.m. when some strollers on Avenue Anatole-France saw lights in the sky. A frightened person raised the alarm with the police station, while firefighters on duty in a cinema rushed out at the cries of the witnesses.

The saucers moved faster and faster, flying in a wild pattern, causing great anxiety among passersby, who expected them to land. One firefighter even prevented drivers from using their headlights.

Ten minutes later, it was realized that the lights were reflections on glass insulators atop a high-voltage power line tower.

A GIANT BALL OF FIRE stopped in Criteuil (Charente) the car of Mr. Filloneau, a mason. The witness, who felt a strong gust of wind, found that his batteries were drained and his headlight bulbs burned out.

A GLOWING STOVEPIPE was seen by the rural constable of Montboubert, near Abbeville, Mr. Fernand Poiré.

A LIT CIGAR, which then split into three, was seen by many people in Schleswig (Germany).

The hairy "Martian" of Loctudy (Finistère) was a trained goat!

BREST, October 23 (dispatch "France-soir"). -- The mystery of the hairy Martian of Loctudy (Finistère) has finally been solved. The bakery worker who, in the middle of the night, was followed from the bakery courtyard to the oven room by a being with a hairy face and huge eyes has recovered from the shock - along with the residents of the town. The Martian turned out to be nothing more than a trained goat, belonging to a passing circus, which had wandered into the baker’s yard.