The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 16-Oct-54-Sainte-Foy-la-Grande.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
According to a catalog written by the C.F.R.U. published in the Ouranos ufology magazine, Nouvelle Série #9, in the fourth quarter of 1973, the Sud-Ouest regional newspaper for October 20, 1954, reported that on October 16, 1954, at 09:30 p.m. in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, one Mr. F. G. had seen for 3 to 4 seconds a reddish ball bigger than a star, leaving behind a long luminous trail, going from East to West.
The "skeptical" ufologists Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker added in 1979 that the newspaper also quoted the witness as having written to them: "I took the object for a meteor." What no one else thought useful to mention, even though Aimé Michel had pointed out in his 1958 book the meteor of that date and that hour.
[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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October 16, 1954 09:30 p.m. Ste-Foy-la-Grande HA V1
Witness: Mr. F. G. Reddish ball leaving behind a long luminous trail. Size: bigger than a star. Trajectory E. W. Duration 3 or 4 seconds.
S.O. Oct. 20, 54
[Ref. ufa1:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "UFOLOGIA":
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OCTOBER 16, 1954 9:30 p.m. Ste-Foy la Grande HA/V 1
Witness: Mr. F. G. Reddish ball leaving behind it a long luminous trail; size: bigger than a star. Traject.: E-W.
(S.O. October 20, 1954)
Note: "HA" stands for "High Altitude"; "V 1" means "bad observation", a report for which it is difficult to rule out a misinterpretation.
[Ref. fru1:] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:
The two authors indicate that in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande in the Gironde, on October 16, 1954 at 09:30 p.m., there was an observation of a reddish ball leaving a long luminous trail behind itself.
They indicate as source an article in the regional newspaper Sud-Ouest for October 20, 1954
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors note this case of October 16, 1954:
"Sainte-Foy-la-Grande - 33 - 09:30 p.m.: no investigation. "Sud-Ouest" information for October 20, 1954: "M.F.G. writes to us..." The article ends with "I mistook the object for a meteor." You don't say."
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. mju1:] MICHEL JEANTHEAU:
Indeed, on Saturday October 16, 1954, a celestial phenomenon, of the meteor style, was observed by M.F.G..., in Ste Foy-la-Grande, precisely, according to a Bordeaux daily; [...other cases...]
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Gironde in Ste Foy la Grande on October 16, 1954 at 21:30 hours there was an "Observation of a reddish ball leaving behind it a long luminous trail."
Luc Chastan indicates that the source is "Ovni, Premier dossier complet... by Figuet M./ Ruchon J.L. ** Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979".
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The meteor of October 16, 1954, at 09:30 p.m..
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, Gironde, night, red, ball, luminous, trail, anonymous
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | September 25, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | December 27, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Addition [lcn1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | December 24, 2018 | Addition [ous1], Summary. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | June 5, 2022 | Addition [ufa1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | July 13, 2022 | Addition [mju1]. |
