The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 16-Oct-54-Arpheuilles-Saint-Priest.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The newspaper Centre-Matin for October 21, 1954, apparently reported an observation of October 16, 1954, at 09::30 p.m. in Arpheuilles-Saint-Priest:
"Mr. Jean Civade of [or de] Montrobert saw pass from east to west an elongated luminous craft the size of a big star. The apparatus was throwinf sparks around and left a trail of orange light in its wake. Altitude estimated at less than 1000 m speed between 2500 and 3000 km / h."
The following day, the same newspaper reportedly added that Misters Louis Bourdeau, Albert Bizet, and four other members of the Bourdeau family had seen a luminous disc shape.
Mr. Bizet, who at the time was riding a moped, stalled when the object appeared, and after its disappearance, his moped returned to normal operation.
It should be noted that this case said to be of "Arpheuilles-Saint-Priest" was mixed with those in "Domérat", the two places being cited, and the "Boudeau" name being spelled "Bourdeau" in other sources.
[Ref. aml1:] AIME MICHEL:
Aimé Michel wrote about the October 16, 1954, 09:30 p.m. meteor:
THE TEST OF THE METEOR. October 16, as if it was purposely, a splendid meteor crossed the north of France towards 09:30 p.m.. It was observed on a score of departments by thousands of people, from the Allier to Lorraine and from the Swiss border to Paris. Naturally many witnesses believed to have seen a Flying Saucer and said so. The newspapers printed "Flying Saucer in Orly", or "in Montididier", or "in Metz." But once again the description made by all these weak brains appeared of a remarkable honesty.
[...]
The innumerable gathered testimonys show indeed that even when the witnesses called "Flying saucer" the observed object, their description is identical on 200.000 square kilometres where the visible phenomenon was visible: an "orange ball followed by a trail", a "large luminous ball with a tail", a "flying egg followed by a trail", a "bottle's bottom with a trail of thirty times its diameter", etc. The same phenomenon is uniformly described.
[...]
[Ref. ous1:] "OURANOS" UFOLOGY MAGAZINE:
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10/16/1954 Arpheuilles Saint-Priest (09:30 p.m.).
Mr. Jean Civade of [or de] Montrobert saw pass from east to west an elongated luminous craft the size of a big star. The apparatus was throwinf sparks around and left a trail of orange light in its wake. Altitude estimated at less than 1000 m speed between 2500 and 3000 km / h. (Centre matin for 10/21/1954).
[Ref. ldl1:] "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT" UFOLOGY MAGAZINE:
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October 16 (Centre Matin for 10/21) Arpheuilles-Saint-Priest 09:30 p.m..
Mr. Jean Civade, of Montrobert, saw pass from E to 0 a luminous elongated craft the size of a big star. It threw sparks around it, leaving in his wake an orange luminous trail.
[Ref. ioi1:] "INFO-OVNI" UFOLOGY MAGAZINE:
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019 10/16/1954 09:30 p.m. Arpheuilles-St-Priest (Monrobert)
Witness - Mr. Civade
The witness saw pass from E. to W. at high alt. and at high speed, a luminous elongated craft the size of a big star leaving behind an orange luminous wake (Centre Matin for 10/21/54)
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors note this case of October 16, 1954:
"Arpheuilles-Saint-Priest - 03 - 098:30 p.m.: investigation. Obvious description of a fireball, confirmed by "Centre-Matin of October 21 which will be delirious the next day on the case of Domérat."
Further in their book, they claim that "the few serious investigators" who had admitted the fact that it was a meteor which had generated this type of observations were the technicians of the scientific office of the Air Force.
[Ref. ldl2:] "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT" UFOLOGY MAGAZINE:
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16. Arpheuilles Saint-Priest (Allier), on October 16, 1954.
B&B version: Obvious description of a meeor confirmed by Centre-Matin for October 21 (p. 203). LDLN version: Centre-Matin for October 21 tells of a "cigar" seen by the witness below 1 000 m.
[Ref. jsr1:] JEAN SIDER:
21 - Cases of Arpheuilles-St: Priest, Allier.
Page 203, they [Barthel and Brucker [bbr1]] write about this case:
"Investigation. Obvious description of a bolide, confirmed by Centre-Matin of October 21, which will be delirious the next day about the case of Domérat".
Here is now the "confirmation" of the "bolide" as it appeared in Centre-Matin of October 21, page 3: "Since the beginning of the week, we received many testimonials touching the passage of a "flying cigar" in the sky of Bourbonnais... Just yesterday, a reader wrote to us to confirm the story of our many correspondents. It is Mr. Jean Sivade, farmer in Montrobert, commune of Arpheuilles-Saint-Priest ... According to this witness, the "flying cigar" seemed to be moving at an altitude of less than 1000 meters and at a speed of 2,500 to 3,000 kilometers per hour."
A bolide with a distinguished shape, and this at less than a thousand meters of altitude? Ridiculous! Note that B & B do not say they met the witness or spoke with him on the phone, yet his name is on the acknowledgment list! As they refer to the newspaper version, this means that Mr. Sivade was never contacted.
In this case, the report by Centre-Matin is absolutely not a "confirmation of the bolide", but quite the contrary: a disconfirmation!
Firther on in his book, Jean Sider expains that he discovered this case in the newspaper Centre-Matin for October 22, 1954:
On October 16, 1954, at 09:30 P.M., in Arpheuilles-St.Priest, in the Allier, Mr. Louis Bourdeau, Mr. Albert Bizet and four other members of the Bourdeau family observe a luminous discoïd shape.
Mr. Bizet who was riding his motorcycle of mobylette type, experiences a failure of his machine at the time from the appearance of the object. After the disappearance of the phenomenon, his motorcycle functions normally again.
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Allier in Arpheuilles St Priest on October 16, 1954 at 21:30 hours, "Six witnesses observe a luminous discoid shape. One of them who rode at this time there on a Mobylette, breaks down at the time of the appearance of the object. After the disappearance of the phenomenon, his Mobylette functions normally again."
The source is indicated to be my website as: "Les OVNI vus de près by Gross Patrick ** http://ufologie.net" (this is the old URL of its home page).
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The October 16, 1954, 09:30 p.m. meteor.
Barthel and Brucker [bbr1] just like LDLN [ldl2] have some dubious comments. It is true that the newspaper does not seem to "confirm" that it was a meteor, as Barthel and Brucker say, but it was a metero indeed, everyone including LDLN should have known. LDLN seems to give credit to "cigar" and "1000 m", but one must be naive to believe that one can give the attitude of a phenomenon that one does not recognize such as a meteor, and naive to take "cigar" at face-value.
Surprisingly, only Jean Sider [jsr1] seems to have read the newspaper Centre-Matin for October 22, 1954, since he mentions the failure of the motorcycle of one of the witnesses. But I would not see this as a "proof" that it would not have been a meteor: the machine may have stalled because of a false maneuver of the witness suprized to see a "flying saucer" and there is nothing mysterious that the moped could be restarted after that.
It should be noted that this case said to be of "Arpheuilles-Saint-Priest" was mixed with those in "Domérat", the two places being cited, and the "Boudeau" name being spelled "Bourdeau" in other sources.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Arpheuilles-Saint-Priest, Allier, multiple, Louis Bourdeau, Albert Bizet, object, disc, luminous, motorcycle, engine, failure, craft, elongated, star, sparks, trail, orange, high, fast
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | October 22, 2004 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | December 26, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Addition [lcn1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | December 22, 2018 | Additions [ous1], [ldl1], [ioi1], [ldl2], Summary. Explanations changed, were "The October 16, 1954, 09:30 p.m. meteor." |
