The 1954 French flap:

DISCS, BALLS AND FLYING CIGARS

... and even Martians and Martians girls

Three red fireballs

Riom, 12. -- During the night from Sunday to Monday, the peacekeepers Roger Thévenin and Albert Daury, of Riom's urban corps, who were doing a round, saw in the sky a cigar-shaped craft which went from South to North. Three balls of red light detached from it and illuminated for a few moments part of the sky. The cigar was metallic in appearance, similar to duralumin.

A brightly lit balloon

Melun, 12. -- Mr. Jules Lefranc, a bank employee living in Paris, saw in the sky, near the François de Tessart stadium in Meaux, for about three minutes, an object brightly lit from the inside which, he stated, had the shape of a small soccer ball. The object disappeared, leaving behind, said the witness, a luminous trail the size of a stove pipe.

Residents of Trilport reportedly saw an identical stationary apparatus.

A landing

Limoges, 12. -- In Saillat-sur-Vienne, Sunday evening at dusk, Mr. Roger Gayout, transporter at Limoges, his wife and relatives saw in the sky a very brilliant mysterious machine which, after having moved for a few minutes, seemed to land a few kilometers further.

A blinding glow

Nancy, 12. -- In the night from Sunday to Monday, inhabitants of a farm located a few hundred meters from the village de Moncours (Meurthe-et-Moselle), were stirred by an abnormal whistling sound, through the shutters they distinguished a blinding glow which seemed fixed on the side of a hill and which disappeared shortly after while rising vertically. In the afternoon, research undertaken towards the place indicated by the witnesses revealed traces of intense calcination on a dirt road. Stone and earth samples were taken to be submitted to experts.

A luminous disc

Melun, 12. -- Mr. Demarcy, a butcher at Seine-Port, and one of his friends, who were traveling by car in Nandy, said they saw a luminous disc moving at an altitude of around 800 meters. The two butchers got out of their car and followed the move of the craft for about a minute.

A flaming craft

Mulhouse, 12. -- Having seen a light in a pasture on Sunday evening, two young girls from Heimersdorf, Anny and Roselyne Pracht, 22 and 18 years old, approached thinking it was a fire lit by a shepherd. They then saw, they claim, a machine about 2 meters high. At their approach, the barrel-shaped object, turned to glowing red, rose in the air and disappeared on the horizon. The same phenomenon was seen by two other people.

At an altitude of 200 meters

Quimper, 12. -- Mr. Corentin Couarch, 38 years old, living in the village of Elliant (Finistère), agricultural worker, saw in the sky, at 200 meters above sea level, a luminous craft whose shape and size he could not specify. He said that in fright he had turned off the lantern of his bicycle so as not to attract attention and moved away quickly. At 1 km, he said, he looked back and saw the light stopped at ground level.

"Cigars" in the Midi

Toulouse, 12. -- In the night from Saturday to Sunday, a baker from Bompas (Pyrénées-Orientales), Mr. Sebelli, saw, posed in a street in this village, a cigar-shaped object about two meters in length, surrounded by iridescent lights.

Mr. Sebelli woke up neighbors who witnessed the rapid departure of the apparatus.

Also, three young hunters saw moving yesterday above Gaillac (Aveyron), at a high altitude, an object in the shape of a cigar which described in the sky a series of large "S". Each maneuver was accompanied by a noise comparable to a jet of pressurized steam. The craft suddenly disappeared towards the North.

Finally, in Pont de Salars (Aveyron), a person saw last night u the sky, towards the sunset location, a disc surrunded of a large luminous circle with an unbearable brightness. Descended slowly toward the horizon, the disc disappeared at breakneck speed.

An orange glow

Melun, 12. -- A resident of Fontainebleau said he saw above Machault, a circular craft emitting a fairly bright glow, orange in color. The disc, which was about the diameter of a full moon, was moving at a fairly slow pace, crossing the sky horizontally.

Two pretty Martians!

La Rochelle, 12. -- A colonial teacher, currently on leave on the island of Oléron, Mr. Martin, claims to have met on the island of Oléron two pretty Martian women measuring approximately 1 m. 70, in boots, gloves and leather helmets. The two Martians took hold of Mr. Martin's pen and traced incomprehensible signs on his notebook, while trying to make themselves understood. Mr. Martin is said to have taken great care of this manuscript.

A saucer makes a forced landing in Westphalia

The "Martians" (broad shouldered) repair on the spot and take back the air

Munster, 12. -- Mr. Hoge, a film operator, was near Münster (Westphalia) when he saw in a field four "men" in rubber suits who were busy under an object in the shape of cigar. Mr. Hoge watched them work for ten minutes, without approaching, and, finally, the four men entered by a sort of ladder into the cigar which, after taking off, took the form of a saucer projecting a dazzling light.

The four "men" whose height was about 1.20 m. had, according to Mr. Hoge, a rather large torso, a head proportionally too large for their body and slender legs.

A "Martian" in a cassock calls out to 3 children

Three children from Pournoy-la-Chétive, near Verny (Moselle) claim that they saw a saucer and its passenger. They told their story to their parents, repeated it to the teacher, and confirmed it to the Mayor. All three were roller-skating on Friday afternoon near the cemetery. There was Gilbert Calba, 12 years old; Daniel Hirsch, 9, and his brother Jean-Pierre, 5.

"At around [?]:30, said Gilbert, we saw a luminous and round machine landing, about 2.30 meters in diameter. The craft landed very close to us. It had yellow and white stripes and landed on three feet.

"Soon a man came out, holding an electric lamp in his hand.

"He was very small (about 1.20 m), had large eyes, a hairy face and wore a sort of black cassock like the priest. The man came to speak to us in incomprehensible language and we fled, frightened.

"We looked back a little further. The very bright object rose very high and very quickly in the sky."

This story is partially confirmed by another resident of Pournoy-la-Chétive, Robert Maguin, 16, who said he also saw around the same time a mysterious machine, but he was not close enough to distinguish the details.

A motorist meets two "Martians"

Albi, 12. -- A motorist from Briatexte (Tarn), Mr. Jean-Pierre Mitto, technical agent in a company currently exhibiting at the "Household Arts" of Toulouse, claims to have met, at nightfall, on the National Road Nr 631, the passengers of a flying saucer.

"Coming back from Toulouse, in the company of two relatives, he said, I suddenly distinguished in the beam of my headlights two little characters who crossed the road, barely a few meters from my car. I stopped immediately and, to our great astonishment, we then saw flying away from a neighboring meadow a large red disc with a diameter of six meters. Climbing vertically, the craft disappeared in the sky in a few seconds."

FOR THREE HOURS IN METZ
military specialists
observed
50 meters diameter globe

During the Metz fair-exhibition, the army stand installed a radar device and a powerful projector for visitors; which works non-stop after dark. Sunday, around 8:10 p.m., the projector spotted, in its beam, the presence of a motionless globe in the sky: "It looked like a Christmas tree ball," said the head of the radar station, Commander Cotel, who was soon surrounded by fifteen military specialists.

It was first believed that it was a sounding balloon, then all kinds of assumptions were made. The servants of the projector, at first incredulous, cleaned the windows then even changed the coals of the device. But immediately when turned on again, the projector found the luminous globe whose altitude was evaluated at more than 10,000 meters. This globe had a diameter of 50 meters and remained visible for three hours. It was impossible, on radar, to detect the mysterious craft, since it was not sensitive to metallic waves. Finally, at 11:00 p.m., the strange globe moved east and disappeared. The General Governor of Metz asked Commander Cottel for a full report.

SYMPATHETIC
"MARTIANS GIRLS"

Near Albi, a technical agent from a company exhibiting in the Household Arts of Toulouse, Mr. Jean-Pierre Mitto, returned to his home at the end of the working day. Suddenly, he saw in the beam of his headlights, and the two parents who accompanied him also affirm it, little figures crossing the road. He stopped immediately and saw a large red disc with a diameter of about six meters rising vertically from a neighboring meadow.

A colonial teacher on leave on the island of Oléron does not hesitate to associate his name with an incredible adventure. Mr. Martin was walking on the island when he encountered pretty "Martian" girls, measuring about 1.70 m., booted, gloved and with leather helmets. The two "Martians" grabbed Mr. Martin's pen and traced incomprehensible signs on his notebook, trying to make themselves understood.

The teacher keeps the manuscript preciously.

At Riom, peacekeepers who were doing a round saw in the sky a cigar going up to the north. Three fireballs detached themselves and lit up part of the sky for a few moments. Similar phenomena were seen in Bompas, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, in Quimper (Finistère), in Limoges, in Fontainebleau, in Melun and Mulhouse while in Moncourt (Meurthe-et-Moselle) the inhabitants of a farm were dazzled by a blinding light passing through their shutters. The light disappeared vertically.

October 11 [, 1954]

[... other cases...]

? [=unknown hour]: Saillat-sur-Vienne(Haute-Vienne):circ. craft with dome

[... other cases...]

[... other cases...]

October 11, 1954: Saillat-sur-Vienne (5 km ISL in the N of Rochechouart--Haute-Vienne):(lumin.sph. on the ground)

[... other cases...]

229

Oct. 10, 1954, nightfall, Saillat-sur-Vienne (France).

Roger Gayout and family saw a very bright object come very close to the ground.

(56; M 162) (Le Figaro, 13 oct 1954).

[...] Saillat, in the Haute-Vienne, was the location of a landing on October 11, 1954.

4053: 1954/10/10 20:00 7 0:49:40 E 45:52:20 N 3332 WEU FRN HVN 6:9

SAILLAT-SUR-VIENNE,FR:FAMILY SEES V-BRIGHT OBJ COME CLOSE/GROUND at NIGHTFALL

Ref# 30 FIGEUT[sic]&RUCHON: OVNI: Le 1er Dossier Page No. 145 : FARMLANDS

Saillat sur Vienne (France).

10/10/1954 nightfall

Roger Gayout and family saw a very bright object come very close to the ground.

1954 - In the evening at Saillat-sur-Vienne, Haute-Vienne, France Mssr. Roger Gayout and his family saw a very bright object come very close to the ground. (Sources: Aime Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 162; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia: A Century of Landings, p. 223-224, case 229).

*Oct. 10, 1954 - At Saillat-sur-Vienne, France Mssr. Roger Gayout and his family saw a very bright object come very close to the ground just after dark. (Sources: Aime Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 162; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia: A Century of Landings, p. 223-224, case # 229).

October 10 1954. Nightfall.

SAILLAT-SUR-VIENNE (HAUTE VIENNE : FRANCE)

Roger Gayout and his family saw a very bright object come very close to the ground.

Vallee Case 229 citing Figaro 13 October 1954.