The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 1-Jun-54-Saint-Rémy.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The regional newspaper Le Provençal reported on page 1, for June 4, 1954, that in the evening of June 1, Mrs. Thoret, passing Thiers Street and heading to the town hall, had seen in the sky "a craft", "sparkling and gilded", "which moved like a top and made it noiselessly."
The paper noted Mrs. Thoret was used to watching planes operating at high altitude because her husband, aviation commander, promoter of gliding with a one-ton plane, propellers rigged, trained on the northern flank of the Alpilles or in the Alps, and thus she could not have made a misinterpretation.
Ufologist Jimmy Guieu on his side commented on the case in his 1956 book: on June 1, 1954, at the end of the day under a blue sky, Mrs. Marthe Thoret, teacher and wife of a friend of Guieu, went down the Thiers street, at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in the Bouches-du-Rhône, when she suddenly saw a strange object, a sort of top, thinned on both sides, which was closely framed by two trees protruding from the horizontal roof of the town hall.
The object was golden yellow and intensely luminous, but neither dazzling nor blinding and showing no radiation, and it appeared to twist in the air along a trajectory that was horizontal relative to the angle of vision of 45°.
The sighting was very fast and Mrs. Thoret barely had time to note these details, as the object flew away rapidly to the north.
Guieu said that two people in Cavillargues had also witnessed this, giving reports that were consistent with that of Ms. Thoret.
[Ref. lpl1:] NEWSPAPER "LE PROVENCAL":
Saint-Rémy de Provence.
In the evening of June 1, Mrs. Thoret, passing in the street Thiers and going towards the town hall, saw in the sky a machine which moved like a spinning top and did it without noise. It was shiny and was gilded. Mrs. Thoret had too often the occasion to see planes evolving in high altitude whereas her husband, the commander of aviation, the promoter of the gliding with planes of a ton, fixed propellers, was practicing on the northern side of Alpilles or in the Alps, to make a mistake.
Her observation must be linked to that done by two of our readers of Cavillargues who saw a machine slipping by without noise into the sky, the same day, about at the same hour and in an identical direction.
[Ref. jgu1:] JIMMY GUIEU:
Jimmy Guieu indicates that on June 1, 1954 at the end of the day under a blue sky, Marthe Thoret, professor and wife of a friend of the author, was going down the Thiers street, in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in the department of the Bouches du Rhône, when suddenly she saw a strange object, a kind of spinning top thinned on the two edges, which was narrowly framed by two plane trees above the horizontal roof of the town hall.
The observation was very brief and the woman had hardly time to note these details before the object fled quickly towards the North.
The object, of yellow gold color and intensely luminous but neither dazzling, nor blinding and emitting no rays, appeared to screw its way in the air on a horizontal trajectory (angle of vision: 45°).
Two people in Cavillargues were also witnesses and their statements were concordant with the report by Mrs. Thoret.
[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:
June 1° [1954]
08:45 p.m.: Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (B. du RH.): spinning top
[Ref. gep1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "GEPO":
01 06 54 (20) | St Rémy de Provence | SN | 105C2 | 13 |
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Bouches du Rhone in St Rémy de Provence on June 1, 1954 at 20:45 hours, "The sky was very blue in this end of day, one of the longest of the year. The witness, a woman, descended the Thiers street, in Saint-Rémy, when suddenly, narrowly framed by two plane trees exceeding the horizontal roof of the town hall, she saw a strange object, a kind of spinning top thinned on the two edges. The appearance was very fast had the time to note these details before the craft fled fast in the direction of the North. This 'object', of yellow color but, intensely luminous but not dazzling, nor blinding and deprived of any radiation, appeared bore its was in the air on an horizontal trajectory (angle of vision: 45°)."
The source is given as "Black-out sur les Soucoupes volantes by Guieu Jimmy ** Fleuve Noir 1956 omnium 1977".
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 1 June 1954 at 20:45 in St Remy.Provence, France, "An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One object was observed by three witnesses (Thoret)."
The source is indicated as "Guieu, Jimmy, Flying Saucers Come from Another World, Citadel, New York, 1956".
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This database recorded the case twice:
Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
19540601 | 01.06.1954 | St Remy | France | 20.45 | ||||||
19540601 | 01.06.1954 | St. Remy Provence | France | NL |
Possible extraterrestial craft.
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in 45 km Southeast of Cavillargues; so the two other witnesses may not have seen the same object.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, daylight, spinning top, object, fast, yellow, golden, shiny, Marthe Thoret
[----] 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 19, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Addition [lcn1]. |
1.1 | Patrick Gross | March 19, 2010 | Addition [uda1]. |
1.2 | Patrick Gross | December 4, 2016 | Addition [uda1]. |
1.3 | Patrick Gross | June 13, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
1.4 | Patrick Gross | February 19, 2021 | Addition [gqy1]. |
1.5 | Patrick Gross | 26 avril 2022 | Addition [gep1]. |