ufo - UFOS at close sight: the 1954 French flap, October 13, Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône

Reference for this case: 13-Oct-54-Arles.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

The regional newspaper Le Provençal for October 15, 1954, reported via their press correspondent in Arles, that a group of inhabitants of this city living at the end of the avenue Sadi-Carnot, near the canal from Arles to Bouc, had seen "Wednesday evening", so on October 13, 1954, around 7 p.m., an object move in the sky.

According to statements made to the newspaper, in particular by Mrs. Paul Forbaud and her son Adrien, a kind of luminous ball was quite high in the sky towards Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. This ball began to spin before slowly descending on the horizon.

This descent lasted several minutes as observers had time to get binoculars to better observe the phenomenon.

The binoculars then revealed an ovoid shaped object, the upper part appearing dark red in color, while the lower part was paler, vaguely yellowish.

Reports:

An red and yellow AERIAL OVOID observed on Arles

Arles (C.P.).

Arles also had its "unidentified object" - not to call it flying saucer.

A group of residents of Arles living in the end of the Sadi-Carnot avenue, near the channel of Arles to Bouc, witnessed, indeed, Wednesday evening, around 7 p.m., the maneuvers of an object in the sky.

According to the statements which were made to us, in particular by Mrs. Paul Forbaud and her son Adrien, a kind of luminous ball was rather high in the sky in direction of Sainte-Maries-de-la-Mer. This ball started to whirl before going down slowly on the horizon.

This descent lasted several minutes since the observers had time to go get a binocular in order to better observe the phenomenon.

The binoculars made it possible to see an object of ovoid form then, the higher part appearing of dark red color, whereas the lower part was paler, vaguely yellowish.

Mrs. Forbaud specified to us that she had already observed, three weeks ago, a kind of disc placed vertically and emitting yellow, green and red gleams.

THE MAYOR OF BASTIDONNE (VAUCLUSE) SAW "ONE"

Pertuis (C.P.).

A luminous disc, of lengthened form, a thickness of 1 meter approximately, was clearly seen in the area of Pertuis yesterday afternoon, and particularly in La Bastidonne.

Mr. Francis Jausserand, mayor of this village, came in person to describe the phenomenon to us:

"It was 6 p.m. when I returned from harvesting grapes. A very shining disc moving horizontally between the hills of Myrargues and Luberon, leaving a sharp reddish trail, stopped almost above the village of La Bastidonne and stayed motionless during about twenty seconds, then, without any noise nor trace, disappeared at a vertiginous speed, vertically."

This testimony of the mayor of Bastidonne was confirmed to us by other people who observed the luminous object from different places, the details and the schedule perfectly coinciding.

LUMINOUS SPHERE IN THE SKY OF THE LOW ALPS

Volonne (C.P.).

Yesterday at the end of the afternoon, residents of Volonne occupied gathering the grapes, saw a large reddish ball whirling on itself at a very fast pace.

In addition, hundreds of people working at the Pechiney factory of Saint-Auban, saw around 18 hours a brilliant sphere moving at a very high pace; it appeared flanked of two large pipes on the side.

FLYING CIGAR IN THE MALLEMORT SKY

Mallemort (C.P.).

Yesterday evening around 18 hours, three people worthy of faith saw a flying cigar. It was motionless above the mounts of Luberon, in direction of Mérindol.

It resembled a long spindle of color aluminum. It was motionless in the sky.

A few minutes afterwards, it disappeared at very high speed, leaving a luminous trail behind it.

These three people: Green Marcel, Armenico Paul and Espagnet Francois, are serious people and this confirms the statements of several others, which would have seen flying saucers since a few days in the sky of Mallemort.

"A ball, from which came out a red and green flame" in the sky of Avignon

Avignon (C.P.).

Yesterday, around 06:10 p.m., a plasterer-painter from Avignon, working for the services of the historic buildings, Mr. Blanc, returned from his work on a scooter. He had one of his comrades on his vehicle.

Arriving in street J.-H. Fabre, he saw moving towards the North-East an object difficult to identify pass above his head.

A few moments later, he told us: "I saw a ball passing at low altitude, silently, at a speed which seemed, as much as I could appreciate for lack of reference mark for the distances, about four times that of a jet. The ball released a kind of flame, spindle-shaped, of green and red color, long about twice its diameter."

The two authors indicate that in Arles, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, on October 13, 1954 at 07:00 p.m., several witnesses observed a red and yellow ovoid object in the sky.

Luc Chastan indicates that in the Bouches du Rhône with Arles on October 13, 1954 at 19:00 hours, several witnesses observe a red and yellow ovoid object in the sky.

Luc Chastan indicates that the source is "Ovni, Premier dossier complet... par Figuet M./ Ruchon J.L. ** Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979".

The website indicates that on 13 October 1954 at 19:00 in Arles, France, an unidentified object was sighted by three witnesses, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation.

Explanations:

The witnesses, at least Mrs. Forbaud and her son, were in Arles, at the end of the avenue Sadi-Carnot which is near the channel from Arles to Bouc, while the phenomenon would have been above Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer.

This gives a fairly precise direction, between 211 ° and 213 ° (approximately Southwest):

It is stated that it was October 13, 1954 "around 7 p.m."; this makes it possible to check possible causes of astronomical misinterpretations.

There are at least two to consider. At first, at 7 p.m., Mars, at 178° 49', elevation of 22° 33'; bit this is a little high for a descent shortly, it set only at 11:29 p.m.. And Mars, quite "orange" colored, is not very likely to produce colors plays.

But there is also Venus, which at 7 p.m. is at 233 ° 20' and the low elevation of 0° 37'.

It seems likely that the witnesses saw the "thing" a little before 7 p.m., and lost sight of it at 7 p.m., and that it was Venus.

Keywords:

Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, multiple, object, red, yellow, ovoid, oval, Sadi-Carnot, Adrien Forbaud, Mrs. Forbaud, rotation, slow, duration, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, binocular

Case Nr.	New case Nr.	Investigator	Date of observation	Zip	Place of observation	Country of observation	Hour of observation	Classification	Comments	Identification
19541003			03.10.1954		Arles	France		NL
19541013			13.10.1954		Arles	France	19.00	NL

Version:	Created/Changed by:	Date:	Change Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	May 8, 2005	First published.
1.0	Patrick Gross	December 29, 2008	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1], [uda1].
1.1	Patrick Gross	June 26, 2010	Addition [lpl1].
1.2	Patrick Gross	February 23, 2017	Addition [ubk1].
1.3	Patrick Gross	July 23, 2019	Addition of the Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet."

The 1954 French flap:

October 13, 1954, Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône: