The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 14-Oct-54-Hurecourt.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In 1956, the pioneer ufologists Aimé Michel and Charles Garreau mentioned among the many observations of October 16, 1954, an observation in Hurecourt which according to him would have taken place at the same time as another which would have taken place at 9:30 p.m. Michel indicated that the Air Force had explained the sightings as meteor sightings, but he, taking the hours given by the witnesses as precise to the minute, did not want to admit it, believing that these hours allowed to calculate a speed much too slow for a meteor.
In his 1958 book "Mystérieux Objets Célestes" ("Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery") on the French wave of 1954, the pioneering ufologist Aimé Michel reported that on October 16, 1954, at about 09:30 p.m., in Hurecourt in Haute-Saône, "While the guests of a wedding were having a great time at the ball, one of them, on leaving, saw the phenomenon, coming back hastily, he called his friends, and all the wedding party, married in the lead, had time to go out and contemplate the luminous craft which was advancing at a brisk pace and in a straight line from one horizon to the other."
At the bottom of the page, Michel stated that he was quoting from the 1956 book "Alerte dans le Ciel" by ufologist Charles Garreau, page 150.
He then indicated that since the phenomenon had been seen from many places in France, there was an investigation of the "saucers commission" of the French Air Force; which concluded that it was a "slow meteor".
Aimé Michel's ufologist friend, Charles Garreau, reportedly deepened the investigation and found that the slow meteor had to be really slow because according to his averages based on the very numerous testimonies it would have taken nearly 10 minutes to travel 500 kilometers. This is why Aimé Michel considered the explanation by a "slow meteor" as relatively suspect.
He was wrong about that. (Charles Garreau's gross mistake was to believe that the hours of observations given were accurate to the minute.)
[Ref. aml7:] AIME MICHEL:
[... other cases...]
But simultaneously [as in Dijon on October 16, 1954] people saw it at Hurecourt in Haute Saone, that is to say at a point several dozen miles to the right of the trajectory outlined by the preceding sightings, and even at Metz and Plappeville, some 100 miles to the right. Instead of talking of disks, the witnesses evoked a very elongated form.
[... other cases...]
The French Air Force Inquiry Commission, after studying the case [of the October 16, 1954 sightings in the night], concluded that the object was a "slow meteor." The Commission did not take into account the change of direction of the last Paris sighting. To the several witnesses who saw the UFO halt in the sky, the Commission answered: "Optical Illusion," and since this time differentials reported suggested a meteor traveling at an impossibly slow speed (2400 miles per hour), the Commission supposed that the witnesses' watches had broken.
[... other cases...]
[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:
|
October 16 [1954]
09:30 p.m. (approximately): Center-East and East of France, Orly (Seine), Metz (Moselle), Montmirey (Jura), Hurecourt (Hte.Saône), Mailly-la-Ville (8 km 500 SSW. Vermenton--Yonne), Moulin? (Allier),: big luminous ball with a tail (slow meteor, speed=3.000 km/h?)
[Ref. aml1:] AIME MICHEL:
Aimé Michel reports that on October 16, 1954, around 9:30 p.m., in Hurecourt in the Haute-Saône, "While the guests of a wedding were having a great time at the ball, one of them, on leaving, saw the phenomenon, coming back hastily, he called his friends, and all the wedding party, married in the lead, had time to go out and contemplate the luminous craft which was advancing at a brisk pace and in a straight line from one horizon to the other."
At the bottom of the page, Michel states that he quotes the book "Alerte dans le Ciel" by ufologist Charles Garreau, page 150.
The phenomenon having been seen from many places in France, there was an investigation by the Air Force "Saucers Commission" which concluded that it was a "slow meteor".
Aimé Michel's ufologist friend, Charles Garreau, deepened the investigation and found that the slow meteor had to be really slow because according to his averages based on the many testimonies he would have taken nearly 10 minutes to travel 500 kilometers. This is why Aimé Michel considers the explanation by a "slow meteor" as relatively suspect.
Aimé Michel also 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. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Haute Saone in Hurecourt on October 16, 1954 at 21:30 hours "Whereas the guests of a wedding were partying at the ball, one of them, coming out, saw a phenomenon. Returning precipitately in, he called his friends. And all the wedding, the newwed at the head, had the time to come out and contemplate the luminous craft which advanced at sharp pace and in straight line from one horizon to the other."
The source is said to be my website: "Les OVNI vus de près by Gross Patrick ** http://ufologie.net" [The old URL of my home page.].
[Ref. lcn1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 16 October 1954 in Hurecourt, France, "An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One object was observed by seven witnesses."
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541016 | 16.10.1954 | Hurecourt | France | NL |
|
The meteor of October 16, 1954, at 09:30 p.m.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Hurecourt, Haute-Saône, multiple, meteor, object, luminous, fast
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | December 26, 2004 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | December 27, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1], [uda1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | March 2, 2017 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | November 26, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | February 24, 2021 | Additions [aml7], [gqy1]. In the Summary, addition of the paragrap "In 1956, the pioneer ufologists Aimé Michel and Charles Garreau..." |
