The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 17-18-Oct-54-Rollot.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The local weekly newspaper Journal du Santerre, of Montdidier, in the Somme department, for October 22, 1954, evoked that on October 17, 1954, their own people observed with the binocular a luminous dot and roughly to the West, on "Sunday and Monday" - thus October 17 and18, 1954. They told:
"We have noticed this flickering which gives the impression of movement."
"But the dot with the binocular does not have the appearance of a globe but rather of the spark caused by an electric arc. We did not have the patience to witness its disappearance, but we noticed his absence an hour later. Seen again the next day somewhat out of place on the horizon, we think we are locating this point very far above the sea."
[Ref. jds1:] NEWSPAPER "JOURNAL DU SANTERRE":
To the already imposing number of more or less malignant fevers known to date, the Faculty will have to add that of the flying saucers. This is what one would be tempted to believe on the municipal level given the nervous tension that currently reigns in our town. Every day at nightfall, all of our fellow citizens scan the sky for mysterious craft.
It must be said that at the origin of this "fever", there is a serious event noted by reliable witnesses. Last Saturday, around 8:30 p.m., a bright spot was observed far west and very high in the sky. This point, which sometimes turned red, sometimes green, disappeared suddenly and at great speed, leaving behind a few sparks. Since that time, we have seen many other phenomena of the same kind. We ourselves observed with the binocular a similar luminous point and roughly in the same direction, Sunday and Monday. We have noticed this flickering which gives the impression of movement.
But the dot with the binocular does not have the appearance of a globe but rather of the spark caused by an electric arc. We did not have the patience to witness its disappearance, but we noticed his absence an hour later. Seen again the next day somewhat out of place on the horizon, we think we are locating this point very far above the sea. But since that day we have seen in Rollot a number of saucers with cup and spoon and even the Forrest warden won by the fever was doing a tour of his land the other evening in order to find out whether Martians had chosen our friendly and welcoming town to spend their weekend.
This very strongly suggests an astronomical misinterpretation caused by a star.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Rollot, Somme, journalist, binocular, scintillating, luminous, duration
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Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
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1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 11, 2020 | First published. |