The 1954 French flap:

Cigars, saucers... and pots

We reported in yesterday's issue the phenomenon witnessed the day before, Thursday, at 06:10 p.m., on the road from Battenheim to the Ile Napoleon, by an industry executive from Mulhouse, his wife and their little daughter.

They had seen, rushing in straight line in the sky and disappearing in the direction of Switzerland, an elongated object, emitting a bright light. The appearance lasted about two seconds.

As might have been be expected, the mysterious craft was seen by other witnesses, who told us yesterday about their observations.

The first witness, a professor in Mulhouse, was riding a motorcycle on the road of Sierentz. He arrived at the exit of Habsheim, when he saw a thing of a shape difficult to define, especially remarkable by the intense green light that emanated from it, and the trail, also green, it left behind. The object dove straight towards Germany, where it disappeared.

"I first thought of a plane crashing down to the ground. But how to reconcile this hypothesis with the light and the green trail? No reflection by clouds was possible. The sky was already dark, but where the stars were not yet visible, was in fact entirely clear..."

Such are the explanations provided to us by this witness, entirely trustworthy.

It is also at 06:10 p.m. that two millers of Altkirch, who were returning from Colmar where their congress was held witnessed a similar phenomenon. They drove by car between Eguisheim and Hattstatt to return home, and coincidentally they were talking about flying saucers, when suddenly they saw passing in the sky in front of them, a few kilometers away they estimated, a strange object. It was not a saucer or a cigar, but a machine which had substantially the shape of a soup tureen. It was a fiery red and disappeared towards the Rhine at a prodigious speed.

It was by reading in "L'Alsace" the news that we published yesterday, that the two men decided to tell their adventures to our Altkirch newsroom.

OCTOBER 14, 1954.-

HABSHEIM. - (68)

Time: 06:15 p.m.

An object was seen by a teacher who was riding his motorbike towards SIERENTZ just after HABSHEIM.

It was green and left behind a green trail. It disappeared towards GERMANY and SWITZERLAND.

"L'ALSACE"

Cigars, saucers... and pots

We reported in yesterday's issue the phenomenon witnessed the day before, Thursday, at 06:10 p.m., on the road from Battenheim to the Ile Napoleon, by an industry executive from Mulhouse, his wife and their little daughter.

They had seen, rishing straight line in the sky and disappearing in the direction of Switzerland, an elongated object, emitting a bright light. The appearance lasted about two seconds.

As might have been be expected, the mysterious craft was seen by other witnesses, who told us yesterday about their observations.

The first witness, a professor in Mulhouse, was riding a motorcycle on the road of Sierentz. He arrived at the exit of Habsheim, when he saw a thing of a shape difficult to define, especially remarkable by the intense green light that emanated from it, and the trail, also green, it left behind. The object dove straight towards Germany, where it disappeared.

"I first thought of a plane crashing down to the ground. But how to reconcile this hypothesis with the light and the green trail? No reflection by clouds was possible. The sky was already dark, but where the stars were not yet visible, was in fact entirely clear..."

Such are the explanations provided to us by this witness, entirely trustworthy.

It is also at 06:10 p.m. that two millers of Altkirch, who were returning from Colmar where their congress was held witnessed a similar phenomenon. They drove by car between Eguisheim and Hattstatt to return home, and coincidentally they were talking about flying saucers, when suddenly they saw passing in the sky in front of them, a few kilometers away they estimated, a strange object. It was not a saucer or a cigar, but a machine which had substantially the shape of a soup tureen. It was a fiery red and disappeared towards the Rhine at a prodigious speed.

It was by reading in "L'Alsace" the news that we published yesterday, that the two men decided to tell their adventures to our Altkirch newsroom.