The 1954 French flap:

"SAUCERS"... EVERYWHERE!

PARIS. -- Several people have seen, on the bridge of Saint-Laurent-les-Mâcon, above the Saone, a disc which disappeared after a short moment. New fact: this disc was not shining but dark.

A workman, Mr. Magnier, and truck-drivers, saw a luminous ball which crossed the sky at high speed in Montluçon.

In Tourriers, at 17 km of Angouleme, about thirty people saw in the night of the 8th to the 9th a "kind of cigar" which remained motionless at forty meters above national road N 10 during about twenty minutes. The machine which was equipped with two winglets then decided to leave at a speed of approximately 250 to 300 km-H.

Mrs. Lebert, guardian of the castle of Pont-Chapelle, in La Ferté-Mace (the Orne), observed in the afternoon a mysterious machine in the sky. This machine which resembled a rocket, rose silently vertically leaving a light white trail behind. It could be observed during several seconds then disappeared quickly. A woman and children remaining in the suburbs of the locality were also witnesses of the phenomenon.

Mr. Christian Couette, son of a plumber of Tesse-la-Madeleine, rode a bicycle in direction of Ranes, when, close to the pond to Landes-Forêt, on the commune of Beauvain, was exceeded by a strange luminous machine which, at a high speed, shaved the top of the trees. The machine approximately 4 meters in diameter had the shape of a ball of fire convex on the top. It was to be observed during ten seconds.

"MUSHROOM" IN THE SKY OF CAMEROUN

YAOUNDE. -- Several people worthy of faith state they witnessed one of these phenomena which one calls "flying saucer".

They are colonel Cauvin, director of the service of Hygiene and Disease Prevention of Cameroun, Doctor Menu, head doctor of the Yaoundé hospital, Misters Dumont, director of the services of safety of Cameroun, Poilleux, adviser of the territorial assembly of Cameroun, Moreau, administrator, assistant mayor of Yaoundé and their wives.

All these people, gathered at the head doctor of the hospital, prepared to go to the movies, when they were intrigued by the attitude of the dog of the house who, suddenly started to grunt and roughcasting its hair. Thinking that foreigners prowled near his residence, Dr. Menu went outside and saw in the sky, a brilliant object. He immediately called his guests who all, then, stated to have seen, almost at the vertical of the plate where the hospital is located, an enormous violently illuminated disc, motionless at an altitude of approximately 600 meters.

This "appearance" lasted fifteen seconds. The machine had very exactly the shape of a mushroom i.e. a very illuminated disc, whose people present could not evaluate the diameter exactly under which a cylinder a length equal to the diameter of the hat and also very illuminated swung very slightly.

Suddenly, the "saucer" took the direction of the east and its volume seemed to decrease at eye sight. Then it was immobilized during a few seconds before taking altitude quickly and disappearing.

IN LEBANON

BEIRUT. -- The newspaper "L'Orient" reports a statement by Mr. Max Favell, representative of a German firm in Beirut, who claims to have seen Saturday around 10:15 p.m. (loc.) at the seaside, a motionless machine in the sky which emitted a whitish light.

Mr. Favell specified that the machine which was within a few meters of the ground landed for a few seconds then took off vertically while rotating to soon disappear in the sky. The witness did not notice any trace on the ground at the place of the landing of the machine.

Following the publication of this declaration, a journalist, Mr. Abdelkarim revealed that he had also seen the same day, but towards 7 p.m., a kind of ball of red color moving in the sky and coming from the north. Mr. Abdelkarim fearing that little credit would be granted to his "vision" had not revealed it to anyone.

"DISC" ABOVE MARSEILLES?

One of our readers residing in Saint-Anthony reports he saw, Sunday evening, a brilliant object in the shape of a disc above the sea, between 11 p.m. and midnight.

Suddenly, "the machine" started at very high speed in direction of the South-west.

...a new testimony to be poured into the "unidentified machines" file.