The article below was published in the daily newspaper La Croix, France, page 1, on September 16, 1954.
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Mr. Haffner, professor of astronomy at the University of Hamburg and section chief at the Hamburg-Bergedorf Observatory, states that all flying saucers observed up to now can be classified into four groups:
1. Hallucinations;
2. Optical illusions that even deceive the camera lens. The so-called photographs of flying saucers are reflections often seen when taking pictures against the light;
3. Weather balloons.
4. Unknown flying objects.
All objects in the fourth category, Mr. Haffner states, can be explained by what is known about balls of fire produced by lightning. This phenomenon occurs rarely and only two or three photographs exist of it.
The majority of balls of fire produced by lightning are observed at altitudes of less than 200 meters and have diameters ranging from 20 to 100 centimeters. However, a larger amount of energy is released when lightning occurs at high altitude, and naturally, the higher the balls of fire, the larger they are. Some have been observed to measure 260 meters in diameter at an altitude of 10 kilometers. Professor Haffner adds that due to their rotation, balls of fire are often flattened. Now, descriptions of flying saucers often refer to disc- or cigar-shaped objects and specify that the objects were spinning on themselves.
Fireballs often emit very bright light rays, which also corresponds to reports from people who say they have seen saucers.
It is reported from Helsinki that several people claimed to have seen, during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, a flying saucer in the suburbs of the Finnish capital.
The strange object, circular in shape, was moving at an altitude of about 800 meters.
It emitted an intense light, leaving in its wake a long reddish tail about three times the diameter of the saucer.
The strange vision [probably a meteor] was visible for 7 seconds.
