The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 20-Oct-54-Ham.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
On October 23, 1954, the national newspaper Paris-Presse mentioned without any details a sighting of a "flying saucer" in Ham, dated "yesterday" but among sightings essentially of October 20, 1954.
In the 1970s, Dr. Claude Poher, future leader of the official group of UFO research in France GEIPAN, had prepared a synthetic computer listing of observations from witnesses who were officials or cases having been a matter of official investigations.
He had noted an observation for October 20, 1954, at 9:30 pm, in Ham, in the Somme department, with 8 witnesses, having been officially investigated.
It was about a luminous or fluorescent object, round or circular, of several colors or changing colors, producing "flames", or "sparks", and moving at a speed between 1500 and 2500 km/h.
[Ref. ppe1:] NEWSPAPER "PARIS-PRESSE":
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VERY numerous witnesses, residents of the communes of the regions of Bray-sur-Seine, Lagny, Moret, Thomery declared to have seen, at nightfall, a strange phenomenon: an oval shaped object, of orange yellow color, measuring more than twenty meters, at 300 or 400 meters of altitude.
One of the witnesses, Mr. André L ..., weather specialist, who lives in Thomery, estimates that its speed was of bout 10,000 kilometers per hour.
"I am absolutely certain, because I know this question well, that it is neither an airplane nor a weather balloon," he said.
In Melun itself, several young girls coming out of an evening class, claim to have seen in the sky an almost similar machine which, after having stopped for ten minutes, would have risen very quickly in the sky.
Also, a luminous ball resembling a car headlight would have appeared, six times, to two industrialists from Melun who were traveling on the Melun-Rubelles national road. The appearance of this luminous source would have caused each time a very large flash illuminating the region.
Other "flying saucers" were seen yesterday. One near Luzy, the second on the RN 393, near Turquestein; the last ones finally near Ham, in Lorient and in Chevenon.
Near Altkirch, a motorist thought he had seen one too, but it was only the moon.
[Ref. cpr1:] CLAUDE POHER, UFO RESEARCH GROUP "GEPA":
In 1968-1969, before the official GEPAN ufology effort started, its future head Dr Claude Poher was a member of the unofficial GEPA ufology group, and gathered a computer coded listing of more than 700 UFO reports on which multiple factors statistical computation could be run. In the file were a number of 1954 French UFO reports, among those this one.
For readability, a decoded interpretation of the data is provided here under the original 80 character encoded string. Decoding was done according to the original indications, the code number and its generic meaning is given. Please not that the generic meaning of each code is a predefined category, not the real specific details of the case. For example, if the main witness' age was 33, the coding would result in a number "3" which corresponds to a category "Adult from 21 to 59 years."
| Original code: | 0642552010195421301JA8000310000012ZZZZ132480000000000000000000000000000000000000 |
| Location: | Ham (Somme) - France |
| Case number: | 0642 |
| Source code: | 55 |
| Nature of the source: | Reports from official French sources : Police, Gendarmerie, Army, Pilots |
| Day: | 20 |
| Month: | 10 |
| Year: | 54 |
| Hours: | 21 |
| Minutes: | 30 |
| Type of Time: | 1 = local time |
| Number of witnesses: | 8 = 8 |
| Main witness named: | 0 = name is not indicated |
| Main witness age: | 0 = no indication |
| Main witness occupation: | 0 = no indication |
| Official investigation: | 1 = an official investigation was made |
| Weather: | 0 = no indication |
| Duration: | 0 = no indication |
| Minimal distance witness - phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Method of observation: | 0 = no indication |
| Number of "objects" observed simultaneously: | 01 = 1 |
| Shape of the "object" (terminology of witness(es)): | 2 = round, circular, bowl |
| Dimensions of the phenomenon: | ZZZZ = no indication |
| Color of the observed phenomenon: | 13 = several colors, changing color |
| Luminosity of the phenomenon: | 2 = luminous, fluorescent |
| Lights or projectors on the phenomenon: | 4 = "flames", "sparks" |
| Moving speed of the phenomenon: | 8 = 1500 to 2500 km/h |
| Acceleration of the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Trajectory of the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Sounds perceived during observation: | 0 = no indication |
| Maximum angular height of observation (horizon = 0°): | 0 = no indication |
| Nature of the landing place: | 0 = no indication |
| Number of contact points with ground: | 0 = no indication |
| Traces of landing: | 0 = no indication |
| Observation of "occupants" | 0 = no indication |
| Height of the occupants observed: | 00 = no indication |
| Garment of the occupants: | 00 = no indication |
| Garment: | 0 = no indication |
| General behavior of "occupants": | 0 = no indication |
| Interaction of "occupants" with witness: | 0 = no indication |
| Head, hair: | 0 = no indication |
| Voice, breathing, chin: | 0 = no indication |
| Skin: | 0 = no indication |
| Eyes: | 0 = no indication |
| Mouth: | 0 = no indication |
| Various details: | 0 = no indication |
| Thermal effects: | 0 = no indication |
| Luminous effects: | 0 = no indication |
| Magnetic effect (or electromagnetic): | 0 = no indication |
| Odor perceived by witness: | 0 = no indication |
| Physiological effects on the witness(es): | 0 = no indication |
| Psychological effect on the witness(es): | 0 = no indication |
| Effects on animals: | 0 = no indication |
| Other effects reported: | 0 = no indication |
| Nebulosity: | 0 = no indication |
| Oscillations, emission of matter: | 0 = no indication |
| Spin, formation flight: | 0 = no indication |
| Immediate disappearance: | 0 = no indication |
| Halo surrounding the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Interaction witness / phenomenon (complement to the other rubrics): | 0 = no indication |
| Drawing or photo: | 0 = no indication |
| Structural details observed: | 0 = no indication |
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates in his database that in the Somme in Ham on October 20, 1954 at 21:30 hours, "Eight witnesses observed a round object with changing colors emitting showers of sparks and flying at a speed estimated from 1500 to 2500 km/h."
The source is indicated as "Les Universons by Poher Claude ** http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/universons/".
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 16 October 1954 at 21:30, in Ham, France, "Nocturnal lights were reported on a road."
The source is indicated as "Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002".
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This database recorded this case twice:
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541019 | 19.10.1954 | Ham | France | NL | ||||||
| 19541020 | 20.10.1954 | Ham | France | 21.30 |
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The description fits a meteor.
There is at least one other almost identical observation of what would be this meteor at the same time in Arras in the Pas-de-Calais department, 60 km in the North-Northwest of Ham.
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(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Ham, Somme, official, duration, multiple, bowl, luminous, flames, color, fast
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | December 6, 2004 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 24, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1], [uda1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | March 6, 2017 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | April 19, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | August 23, 2019 | Explanations changed, were "Probable meteor." |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | January 3, 2020 | Addition [ppe1]. In the Summary, addition of the paragraph "On October 23, 1954..." |
