The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 16-August-54-Gerardmer.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
François Diolez, of the Eastern France ufology group CNEGU, compiled in 1984 a catalogue of cases from the Vosges, with the assistance of François Lagarde.
The catalogue indicates that on Monday, August 16, 1954 at 03:30 local time, Pierre D., brother of Jean D., a local ufologist deceased in 1964, made a sighting reported in notes of Jean D. taken a few days after the sighting, and a testimony of Jean D. collected on 09/24/83 by Claude Fleurance.
Extracts of the notes by J.D. are given as:
"I was going outside to go to my workplace at 03:30 a.m. when at the time I was going to close the door a luminous phenomenon in the sky froze me on the spot. A luminous silvery white round drawing on the blue of the size of the quarter of the full moon approximately was in the sky opposite above the forest... This object did not change place but whirled on itself anticlockwise... The sky was entirely covered with clouds (3.000 meters) no wind, the invisible moon was hidden in the west by the clouds... Not one star visible... Another luminous point in the East was flickering, 2 to 3 times larger than the biggest star... The larger saucer was still there... it shone, turned [rotated] but I dis not see its contours clearly... not a perfectly round disc... was slightly tilted. No noise..."
"I then saw it jump towards the south, it disappeared in this jump behind the forest... No particular trail. No change of color. In a duration of some 20 seconds it returned to the same place, remained there again rotating on itself... Like firework..."
"At this time I noticed a rigid luminous trail straing from the top center of it and 1.5 the lenght of the apparent diameter of the disc... A paler luminous beam... a little less broad than the smallest half-diameter of the slightly elliptic disc. This beam was regular on all its length... It remained some 20 seconds then all of a sudden I did not see it any more..."
Complements collected by Claude Fleurance in interview with J.D. indicate that the altitude of the phenomenon could not be defined, that the witness seemed to have been impressed by his sighting without having noted any abnormal secondary phenomenon, neither physical nor material, and that a copy of the testimony with sketch had been forarded by J.D. to "Ouranos" on January 10, 1955, but that this letter had not been answered and that no other investigation had carried out.
The author of the catalogue notes that it is a sighting with details, maneuvers, disappearance on the spot and return, as well as a luminous beam, that the witness was very well known and esteemed and was, like J.D., interested by the UFO phenomenon.
[Ref. lbs1:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "LA LIGNE BLEUE SURVOLEE?":
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12°) CASE Nr F/98/88540816 (01)
GERARDMER - MONDAY AUGUST 16, 1954
03:30 a.m. local time.
Witness: Mr. Pierre D... Brother of Mr. Jean D... (deceased in 1964)
Sources: Notes of Mr. Jean D... at the time and testimony of Mr. Jean D... collected on 09/24/83 by Claude FLEURANCE.
Report of the facts collected and noted by J.D... a few days after the sighting (excerpt):
"I was going out to go to my work place at 3:30 a.m. when, as I was closing the door, a luminous phenomenon in the sky froze me on the steps. A luminous circle of silvery white verging on the blue of the size of the quarter of the full moon approximately was in the sky in front above the forest... This object did not move but whirled on itself in an anti-clockwise direction.. Sky entirely covered with clouds (3,000 m) no wind, invisible moon hidden in the west by the clouds... No visible star... Another luminous dot in the east twinkling, 2 to 3 times bigger than the most beautiful star... The big saucer was still there... It shone, turned but I didn't clearly see its contours... Not a perfectly round disc... It was slightly tilted... No noise...
I then saw it leap to the south, it disappeared in this leap behind the forest... No particular trail. No color change. After some 20 s it returned to the same place, remained on the spot again turning on itself... Like a firework...
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... At this moment I noticed a rigid luminous trail starting from the center above it and long one to one and a half times the apparent diameter of the disc... Lighter ray of light ... a little less wide than the smallest radius of the slightly elliptical disc. This ray was regular along its entire length... It remained for about twenty seconds, then suddenly I no longer saw it...".
Additional information gathered by Claude FLEURANCE during his interview with J.D...:
Comments: An observation with details, moves, disappearance on the spot and return as well as luminous ray. The witness was well known and esteemed. He was also interested in the phenomenon in the same way as Jean D...
[Ref. lbs2:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "LA LIGNE BLEUE SURVOLEE?":
|
| Num. | DATE | PLACE | TIME | SHORT DESCRIPTION | 1234 | SOURCES | EXPLANATIONS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08/16/1954 | GERARDMER | 03:30 a.m. | Luminous silvery blue round of apparent size equal to the quarter of the full moon. Fixed in the sky, it seemed to spin. Totally overcast sky. Sudden disappearance to the south then return approx. 20" later. No noise. Luminous ray above. Another dot of light observed elsewhere. | ...X | Archive J. D. |
[Ref. fdz1:] FRANCOIS DIOLEZ:
F. Diolez, of the Eastern France ufology group CNEGU, compiled in 1984 a catalogue of cases from the Vosges, with the assistance of François Lagarde.
The catalogue indicates that on Monday, August 16, 1954 at 03:30 local time, Pierre D., brother of Jean D., a local ufologist deceased in 1964, made a sighting reported in notes of Jean D. taken a few days after the sighting, and a testimony of Jean D. collected on 09/24/83 by Claude Fleurance.
Extracts of the notes by J.D. are given as:
"I was going outside to go to my workplace at 03:30 a.m. when at the time I was going to close the door a luminous phenomenon in the sky froze me on the spot. A luminous silvery white round drawing on the blue of the size of the quarter of the full moon approximately was in the sky opposite above the forest... This object did not change place but whirled on itself anticlockwise... The sky was entirely covered with clouds (3.000 meters) no wind, the invisible moon was hidden in the west by the clouds... Not one star visible... Another luminous point in the East was flickering, 2 to 3 times larger than the biggest star... The larger saucer was still there... it shone, turned [rotated] but I dis not see its contours clearly... not a perfectly round disc... was slightly tilted. No noise..."
"I then saw it jump towards the south, it disappeared in this jump behind the forest... No particular trail. No change of color. In a duration of some 20 seconds it returned to the same place, remained there again rotating on itself... Like firework..."
"At this time I noticed a rigid luminous trail straing from the top center of it and 1.5 the lenght of the apparent diameter of the disc... A paler luminous beam... a little less broad than the smallest half-diameter of the slightly elliptic disc. This beam was regular on all its length... It remained some 20 seconds then all of a sudden I did not see it any more..."
Complements collected by Claude Fleurance in interview with J.D. indicate that the altitude of the phenomenon could not be defined, that the witness seemed to have been impressed by his sighting without having noted any abnormal secondary phenomenon, neither physical nor material, and that a copy of the testimony with sketch had been forarded by J.D. to "Ouranos" on January 10, 1955, but that this letter had not been answered and that no other investigation had carried out.
The author of the catalogue notes that it is a sighting with details, maneuvers, disappearance on the spot and return, as well as a luminous beam, that the witness was very well known and esteemed and was, like J.D., interested by the UFO phenomenon.
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 16 August 1954 at 03:30 in Gerardmer, France, "Nocturnal lights were reported."
The source is indicated as "Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073)".
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19540816 | 16.08.1954 | Gerardmer | France |
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This is unidentified to me, and might have been an extraterrestrial craft.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Gerardmer, Vosges, night, unique, maneuvers, beam, stationary, fast, luminous, silver, white, blue, duration, round, elliptical, rotation, clouds, saucer, shining, luminous
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | October 17, 2007 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 18, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | March 20, 2010 | Addition [uda1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | November 20, 2016 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | September 8, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | June 9, 2022 | Addition [lbs1], [lbs2]. |
