The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 12-oct-54-Plogastel-Saint-Germain.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The newspaper Le Télégramme de Brest for October 23, 1954, had reported that Michel Hénaff, from Plogastel-Saint-Germain, 29-year-old, mason, employee of Mr. Jean Jourdain, entrepreneur in Plogastel, was considered by his comrades and by his employer as an impeccable worker: competent, hardworking and sober. Mr. Jourdain, who was also the newspaper's distributor, held him in high esteem. Mr. Goaguer, school director at Plogastel, knew Michel Hénaff well because he once had him in his class, where he had been an intelligent pupil.
The newspaper indicated that in the kitchen of the farm of Kervil where they found Michel Hénaff, they had noticed, hanging on the wall, his certificate of studies diploma, rated "good".
Mr. Hénaff had told the newspaper what he had observed:
"I hadn't spoken about it except to my parents and a few comrades, but since you asked me, well, I don't mind."
So he told that on Tuesday, October 12, 1954, around 7:30 p.m., he went to visit relatives living on a farm next to his. The weather was bad, with a drizzle that precipitated nightfall. To cut short, he had left the main road and was walking across fields. Along a slope, he suddenly saw at his level, in the neighboring field and on the other side of the slope, the furthest from him, at about 60 meters, a reddish glow, partly masked by moor. He said:
"I thought of a person who was in the field with an electric lamp. It surprised me, but nothing more. I only noticed that if he had a lamp, it would light up brightly, and I continued on my way."
Arriving at the top of the field, intrigued all the same by this gleam, he looked back, and was amazed to see at 300 meters from him and about 40 meters above the ground, a luminous and glowing craft which moved away by taking height. He said:
"This machine was roughly in the shape of a swarm of bees with somewhat imprecise outlines."
"It was bright and flew very fast. In the middle part, I distinguished some kinds of wings which seemed to move. The shape of this craft was that which the little schoolgirl from Gouesnach, Annick Le Bris, sketched, whose photo I saw in the 'Telegram'."
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When asked by the reporter if he thought the "saucer" had left from the field, he replied:
"For me, there is no doubt about it. The glow was exactly what I saw in the field, barely a little stronger perhaps."
The saucer then took height and, in 5 or 10 seconds, disappeared at the sight of Mr. Hénaff while flying towards the east, that is to say in the direction of Quimper.
Asked about the approximate dimensions he would give to this machine, he said:
"About 1.50 m in height, he replied, and as much in diameter. As for the noise, I heard nothing."
He had felt a strange feeling at the sight of this spectacle:
"At the time, I was only stunned, but afterwards I was a little scared. If I had known, he said, I would have crossed the field and I would have approached a little, without going all the same too close."
The newspaper explained that the fields in which Mr. Hénaff was and the "flying saucer" were vast, flat pastures situated in a countryside far from deserted. The newspaper is therefore surprised that no one else saw the saucer, since the time was not very late. Asked about this, Michel Hénaff was not surprised and replied:
"I also wondered about that sometimes when reading the accounts of the appearance of these mysterious craft in the newspapers. But, now, I don't do it anymore. If I hadn't looked back at the end of the field, a little by chance, a little because the gleam I perceived intrigued me, I would have seen nothing, and I would never have suspected that I had just passed near a saucer, whose appearance in the sky did not last more than a few seconds. Nothing else could get my attention."
"I understand the attitude of others, you only believe what you see, and I, before, also reasoned like this. But, now, I do have to admit that there is something."
The newspaper explains that "full of common sense and wisdom", Michel Hénaff was not overly worried about what he had seen, thinking that one day the explanation for all these phenomena will be found.
In the ufological literature, only very brief summaries of the case would appear later, based on the article in Le Télégramme de Brest.
[Ref. nnm1:] NEWSPAPER "LE NOUVEAU NORD MARITIME":
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Paris, 25. -- Few saucers on this rainy Sunday, it should actually be pointed out that one of them, according to a hundred people including several peacekeepers, had only the aspect of a star moving above St-Etienne at an altitude of 2 to 300 meters. Another was just an "old saucer" observed on October 12. It is a young mason from Plogastel-St-Germain (Finistère), who witnessed this last phenomenon, but did not speak of it feariing one would scoff at him.
He had seen, in the evening, a kind of luminous swarm, 1.50 meters in diameter, animated in its central part by fins, rising from a field 60 meters from where it was.
Rome, 25. -- The testimonies collected for more than a month concerning the "flying saucers" and flying "cigars" seen in the sky of the peninsula, were the topic of a press release from from the Italian Ministry of Air Forces.
"So far, the statement said, radar sets did not detect any such device, with the exception of planes and sounding balloons, the characteristics of which are known."
"Special instructions were given to the heads of the detection stations to intensify surveillance during the twilight and night hours during which, according to witnesses, the "flying disks" were seen, the press release added.
"As for the documentation on the flying "disks" that the Italian Air Army possesses, it is only, specifies the press release, some testimonies emanating from officers who would have seen these apparatuses above the Tyrrhenian coast, moving in a south-north direction, at a speed greater than 2,000 km per hour."
[Ref. nll1:] NEWSPAPER "NORD LITTORAL":
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Mulhouse, October 23.
Consumers of a Wittenheim coffee shop saw last night around 11 p.m. at about 300 meters of alltitude, a circular craft rapidly rotating on itself and moving at a moderate pace. The night was very clear and the witnesses noted that the craft was animated by a horizontal rotation movement which gave it the appearance of a saucer, and that it also revolved around a central nucleus, then evoking a shape like a cigar.
After ten minutes of moves, the apparatus whose outer edges had passed successively from red to brown, then to bright red, and whose glowing central nucleus surrounded itself with sparks, quickly disappeared.
XXX
Furthermore, few saucers on this rainy Sunday, it is even said that one of them, according to a hundred people including several peacekeepers had only the appearance of a star moving above St-Etienne at an altitude of 2 to 300 meters. Another was just an "old saucer" observed on October 12. It was a young mason from Plogastel St-Germain (Finistère) who witnessed this last phenomenon, but did not speak of it fearing that one would scoff at him.
He had seen, in the evening, a kind of luminous swarm, 1.50 m. in diameter, animated in its central part by fins raising from a field 50 meters from where he was.
[Ref. gps1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "GEPSI":
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Groupe d'Etude des Phénomènes Spatiaux Inexpliqués [Unexplained Space Phenomena Study Group]
A.S.B.L.
1901 LAW- OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF OCTOBER 6, 1983
HEADQUARTERS [] RUE DE SIAM - 29200 BREST
OBJECT: STUDY OF THE UFO PHENOMENON BY ALL
LEGAL MEANS WHICH MAY PROVE NECESSARY
(INVESTIGATIONS AND COUNTER-INVESTIGATIONS
TO THE VARIOUS SOURCES, COLLECT AND ANA-
LYSIS OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, ETC.)
Type of testimony: LN
Date: October 12, 1954
Time: 07:30 P.M.
Location: PLOGASTEL-SAINT-GERMAIN
Number of witness: 1
Investigation:
Identification:
Case summary: IN A VAST PASTURE IN PLOGASTEL-SAINT-GERMAIN, A YOUNG MASON CLAIMS TO HAVE SEEN A SAUCER TAKING OFF
The machine had 1 m. 50 of height, and the same diameter, flew without noise and has the shape of a "swarm of bees."
In any flying saucer case, it is appropriate, before studying the testimony itself, to mention the personality of the witness. The value of the one depends indeed on the other, so much can be the imagination and dream in this matter. Michel Hénaff, of Plogastel-Saint-Germain, is a solid boy of 29 year old, mason of profession, that the strange spectacle of which he was the witness will not prevent from getting married in a few days. Employee by Mr. Jean Jordan, contractor in Plogastel, he is considered by his comrades and his employer an irreproachable workman: competent, hard-working and sober. Mr. Jordan, who is also our agent holds him in high esteem.
"What Michel says," he said yesterday evening, "must be taken seriously. As for Mr. Goaguer, principal in Plogastel, he knows to Michel Hénaff well because he had him formerly in his class, where this one revealed as an intelligent pupil. In the kitchen of the farm of Kervil where we found Michel Hénaff, we noticed, hung on the wall, his diploma of certificate of studies, being marked with the "bien" mention which testifies to the qualities of the pupil who obtained it.
.../...
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Michel Hénaff did not refuse to describe for us what he saw.
"I had not spoken about it around me except for my parents and to some comrades, but since you me ask, well, I will do it."
A GLEAM IN A FIELD
"On Tuesday October 12, at about 07:30 P.M, Michel Hénaff went to his parents who live in a farm next to his. The weather was bad. A drizzle fell which rushed the fall of the night. To cross short, he had left the main road and went through the fields. Skirting a slope, he saw suddenly at his height, in the nearby field on the other side of the slope, the most distant from him (within 60 meters approximately), a reddish gleam, partly by masked by the moor.
- I thought, he said, of a person who was in the field with a flashlight. This astonished me, but not that much. I merely thought that if he had a lamp, this lit quite brightly, and I continued my walk.
AT 40 MEETERS OF THE GROUND
It is while arriving at the top of the field that Michel Hénaff, intrigued all the same by this gleam, turned to look back.
He was totally amazed: within 300 meters of him and at 40 meters approximately above ground-level, he saw a luminous reddish machine move away while taking height, of which he can give a precise description.
- this machine had quite the shape of a swarm of bees with somehow vague contours.
"it was luminous and flew very quickly. In its median part, I distinguished some sort of wings which seemed to move. The shape of this machine was that which the young schoolgirl of Gouesnach, Annick Le Bris, sketched, of which I saw the photograph in "Le Télégramme."
- According to you, this saucer had just left the field?
- For me, there is no doubt about that. The gleam was exactly that which I saw in the field, hardly a little stronger perhaps. The saucer then took height and, in 5 or 10 seconds, disappeared from the sight of Mr. Hénaff while flying towards the east, i.e. to the direction of Quimper.
We asked Mr. Hénaff which dimensions he roughly allotted to this machine.
- 1 m 50 of height approximately, he answered, and as much in diameter. As for noise, I did not hear anything.
The witness felt a strange feeling at the sight of this spectacle.
- On the blow, I was only amazed, but after I was a little afraid. If I had known, he says, I would have crossed the field and I would have approached a little, without going too near all the same.
The fields in which Mr. Hénaff and the flying saucer were are vast pastures, very flat, located in a countryside which is far from being deserted. This is why one can be astonished that other people did not see the saucer, for the hour was not very advanced: our question on this subject does not astonish Michel Hénaff.
.../...
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- I wondered myself about that when I sometimes read the accounts of appearance of these mysterious machines in the newspapers. But, now, I do not do it any more. If I had not turned back myself at the end of the field, quite by chance, a little because the seen gleam intrigued me, I would not have seen anything, and would never had suspected that I had just passed close to a saucer, of which the appearance in the sky lasted only a few seconds. Nothing else could have drawn my attention.
Michel Hénaff hardly speaks about what he saw and does not seek to convince anybody.
I understand the attitude of the others, he says; one believes only what one sees, and myself, previously, I reasoned like this also. But, now, I am all the same obliged to recognize that there is something.
This boy full with common sense and wisdom dos not worry too much, thinking that we will have the explanation of all these phenomena some day.
For the moment, he has other concerns, and since he will wed soon, we will take the opportunity to present our compliments and our best wishes to him.
References: P l 25/10/54
[Ref. gab1:] UFOLOGY GROUP G.A.B.R.I.E.L.:
Ufology group G.A.B.R.I.E.L. wrote that on October 12, 1954, in Plougastel, in Finistère, when the evening came, a young mason observed a kind of luminous swarm of 1.50 meters of diameter, "animated in its central part by many ailerons." The object rose from a field at a distance of 60 meters of the witness.
The group notes that the observation was completely unknown to ufologist Aimé Michel and that it is perhaps still unknown. They announce that this observation place is aligned with other observations places which are aligned according to Aimé Michel, including that of La Rochelle and that of Vielmur-sur-Agout.
The group cites as source an article by J. Giraud in the newspaper "Centre Matin" in 1954.
[Ref. ldl1:] MAGAZINE D'UFOLOGIE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
The magazine lists the case at October 12, 1954, 19:30, in Plogastel-Saint-Germain in Finistère, indicating that Michel Hénaff, mason, 29 year old who passed along a field suddenly saw rising in the sky as if it had just taken off, a spherical object of 1 m 50 of diameter approximately.
The magazine indicate that its source is the newspaper "Le Télégramme de Brest" for 25.10.54 in page 3.
[Ref. ldl2:] DOCUFO, FROM UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
| LOCATION: | PLOGASTEL |
|---|---|
| DATE: | 1954/10/12 |
| TIME: | 12:30 [sic] |
| TYPE: | T3 |
| DURATION: | |
| OBJECT(S): | One spherical object |
| FORME | Sphère |
| COLOR: | |
| FLIGHTPATH: | |
| MISCELLANEOUS: | Diameter 1,50m |
| ENTITY(S): | |
| EFFECT(S) ENVIRONNEMENT WITNESS(ES): | |
| WEATHER: | |
| WITNESSES: | M. Michel HENAFF (mason, aged 29) |
| SOURCES: | LNLN 319 p 17 |
| FACTS: | A spherical object rises above a field as if it had just taken off. |
[Ref. jsr1:] JEAN SIDER:
French ufologist and author Jean Sider learned in an article from the newspaper Le Télégramme, of Brest, published on October 23, 1954 on page 3, that on October 12, 1954, at 07:30 p.m., in Plogastel-Saint-Germain, in the department of Finistère, Michel Hénaff, a mason of 29 years old who passed along a field, suddenly saw rising in the sky, as if it had just taken off, a spherical object of approximately 1m50 of diameter.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":
4081: 1954/10/12 19:30 1 4:17:00 W 47:58:20 N 3333 WEU FRN FNS 7:6
PLOGASTEL-St.GERMAINE,FR:1 OBS:1.5M SPHERE RISES/FIELD:NFD:/r217p104
Ref#194 LUMIERES dans la NUIT.(LDLN France) Issue No. 319 : FARMLANDS
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Finistère in Plogastel St Germain on October 12, 1954 at 19:30 hours, "the witness went to his parents living in a farm neighbor of his. Weather was bad. It fell a drizzle which fell the night. To cross short, he had left the main road and went through fields. Skirting a slope, he suddenly saw at his height, in the close field and the other side of the slope, most distant from him, (within 60 meters approximately), a reddish gleam, masked partly by the moor."
" - i thought, he said, of someone who was in the field with a flashlight. That astonished me, but not much. I noticed only that if he had a lamp, it lit quite well, and I continued my way."
"It is when arrived at the top of the field that the witness, intrigued all the same by this gleam, looked back. He was literally amazed: within 300 meters of him and 40 meters approximately above ground-level, he saw to move away while taking height a luminous and reddish craft, of which he can give a precise description."
" - this craft had approximately the shape of a swarm of bees with fuzzy contours. It was luminous and flew very quickly. In the middle part, I distinguished kinds of wings which seemed to move. To me, there is no doubt. The gleam was exactly the one I had seen in the field, hardly a little stronger perhaps."
"The object then took height and, in 5 or 10 seconds, disappeared from the sight of the witness while flying towards the east, i.e. in direction of Quimper.According to the latter the object was 1 m 50 approximately in height and as much in diameter, moving without noise. The fields in which the witness and the object were are large rather flat pastures located in a country which is far from being deserted. "
The source is indicated to be my website at "http://ufologie.net" - the old URL of the home page of my website.
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 12 October 1954 at 19:30 in Plogastel-St Germaine, France, "1.5m diameter sphere rises from field." And: "An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One sphere, about 5 feet across, was observed by one witness on a farm for over one minute."
The source is indicated as "Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002."
[Ref. voi1:] "ARCHIVES VIGIE OVNI 29":
Plogastel-St-Germain ( 29 710 ), 12 October 1954, 19 h 30 ...
Testimony nr. FR 29 710 1954 10 12 19 30
Available documents:
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Possible extraterrestrial visitors.
The "least worst" trivial explanation, besides the idea that it would be entirely invented, would be a helicopter; but the mentioned silence, and the red color of the light, hardly plead in this direction.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Plogastel-Saint-Germain, Finistère, Michel Hénaff, mason, field, object, sphere, red, swarm, silent, wings, winglets, take off, fast
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | October 24, 2004 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 11, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1], [uda1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | February 7, 2017 | Addition [voi1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | September 12, 2019 | Addition [lhh1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | December 30, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | February 26, 2020 | Addition [nnm1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | April 11, 2020 | Addition [nll1]. |
