The 1954 French flap:

FLYING SAUCERS
CONTINUE THEIR ROUND
IN THE OISE AND ELSEWHERE

IT IS, in our region, in Noyon, Morenval, and Mesnil-en-Thelle, and elsewhere in the country, in the regions of Bray-sur-Seine, Lagny, Moret, Thoméry, Melun and La Rochelle, that "saucers," "cigars," "discs" and other flying craft — with and without "Martians" — have been reported over the last 24 hours.

In Noyon it was young people and several other trustworthy persons who claimed to have seen on Tuesday evening, around 9 p.m., "a mysterious luminous craft, shaped like a cigar tapered at both ends and quite resembling the profile of a saucer."

The craft, which according to the witnesses was "of variable, brilliant, and indefinable color," was said to be making vertical oscillations above the village of Vauchelles.

The phenomenon, the witnesses concluded, could be observed for half an hour, then the saucer appeared to dive toward the ground and disappeared behind the hills of Porquericourt.

Other witnesses

On Tuesday evening, Mr. Baquet, a schoolteacher in the hamlet of Morenval, and Letombe, his neighbor, took advantage of the moonlight to go wild boar hunting.

Walking together, rifles on their shoulders, they reached around 9:30 p.m. a cornfield at a place called "la pointe de Blérancourt," on the edge of the Tracy-le-Mont–Blérancourt road.

Suddenly, Mr. Letombe, looking up, saw a luminous craft in the shape of an "elongated spheroid" moving horizontally in the sky at a dizzying speed. Drawing Mr. Baquet’s attention, the two hunters were able to follow for about ten seconds the course of the craft which, without the slightest noise, continued its path from east to west until disappearing on the horizon.

The same phenomenon was reportedly also seen at about the same time by residents of Attichy and of Carlepont.

For their part, Mr. René Didelet, a technical agent with the S.N.C.F., and Omer Van de Sompaele, a farmer living in Mesnil-en-Thelle, declared that they had seen "towards the south, a red sphere the size of a fist, moving horizontally at a dizzying speed, leaving behind it a glowing trail."

Very many witnesses living in the communes of the regions of Bray-sur-Seine, Lagny, Moret, Thomery, also declared that they had seen, at nightfall, a strange phenomenon: an oval-shaped craft, orange-yellow in color, measuring more than 20 meters, at 300 or 400 meters altitude.

The craft remained motionless for a certain time and then disappeared at a dizzying speed.

One of the witnesses, Mr. André L..., a meteorological specialist living in Thomery, estimated that the speed of the craft was on the order of 10,000 kilometers per hour.

Mr. L... specified:

"I am absolutely certain, because I know this subject well, that it was neither a plane nor a weather balloon."

In Melun itself, several young girls leaving an evening class claimed to have seen in the sky a craft quite similar, which, after remaining motionless for about ten minutes, suddenly rose very rapidly into the sky.

A luminous ball

Meanwhile, a luminous ball resembling a car headlight reportedly appeared six times to two businessmen from Melun who were driving on the Melun–Rubelles national road. The appearance of this light source reportedly produced each time a very wide flash illuminating the region.

For their part, several riders from an equestrian center in La Rochelle claimed to have seen a figure running away from their grounds.

"He was strange, they said, it could only have been a Martian."

Strange ailments

Finally, a motorist from Cherbonnières was driving on the Souzou road, near La Rochelle, with his 3-year-old son, when he felt tingling all over his body, similar to electric shocks that increased as his car advanced. The child, who felt the same discomfort, began to cry. Soon the car engine stopped, and the headlights went out. At the same moment, a bright glow was seen, shifting from bright red to orange. Blinded, the motorist could nevertheless make out a craft hovering motionless in the sky for a few moments, then soon disappearing. Immediately afterward, the driver was able to restart his car engine.

Numerous discs, saucers, and flying cigars were also reported yesterday in the skies of Italy. Several people declared that they had seen these craft maneuvering over Milan, while inhabitants of Perugia, Bologna, and other localities in the north of the peninsula also claimed to have seen incursions of discs or flying cigars.