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The 1954 French flap:

The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.

September 20, 1954, Saint-Père-en-Retz, Loire-Atlantique:

Reference for this case: 20-sep-54-Saint-Père-En-Retz.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Reports:

[Ref. aml1:] AIME MICHEL:

According to the French ufologist Aime Michel, on September 20, 1954, at Saint-Père-En-Retz, close to the mouth of the river Loire, in the department of Loire Atlantique, a mysterious explosion is heard in the area, causing windows to tremble in the nearby villages. People went out of their homes and looked for the cause of the noise, but the sky was empty and nothing was seen.

A few minutes later, white flakes of a creamy consistency and transitory aspect fell on the countryside. Aimé Michel indicates that his nearest correspondent in the area, engineer Durivault, who lives in Nantes at 35 kilometers of Saint-Father-in-Retz, forwarded a very intriguing report on this phenomenon to him.

Aimé Michel notes that as of this period of 1954, people started to be willing to see flying saucers everywhere after the phenomenon had been publicized in the press. He noted that three cases of the same day have been explained, two by a plane and the third by a meteor. When reading this case report it appears clearly that he considers it explained by a commonplace cause, however he does not precisely specify which explanation he has thought of.

[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:

[Ref. fle1:] FERNAND LAGARDE:

French ufologist François Lagarde lists this case in a listing of French cases of observations with "angels hair" within an article about this phenomenon:

[Ref. hdt1:] "HENRI DURRANT":

In a chapter about the "angel hair" phenomenon, Henri Durrant evoked the article of the magazine "Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), Volume XII, nr 99, p. F.G.H.," in which Mr. F. Lagarde published "on this topic an excellent article of synthesis" and where appears the theory of the threads of migratory spiders was developped. He quotes:

"One of the spectacular manifestations of our MOCs [Mysterious Celestial Objects], which never ceases to intrigue the observers, is the drop of white filaments, said to be melting; which one observes at the passage of some of these craft. They sometimes fall in considerable mass. clinging to trees, roofs, telegraph wires, fences, or spreading on clothes or on the ground, questions arise both about their nature and about the process of their appearance."

Cases are cited as examples, including these four French 1954 cases:

"Sepember 20, 1954, in Saint-Père-du-Retz (Loire-Atl.) [sic]"
"October 13, 1954 in Graulhet (Tarn)"
"October 14, 1954, in Méral (Mayenne)"
"October 18, 1954 in Vienne (Isère)"

[Ref. gep1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "GEPO":

[Ref. lgs1] LOREN GROSS:

[Ref. hct1:] HERVE CLERGOT:

[Ref. goe1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:

The Belgian ufologist indicates that in 1954, on September 20 in France in " Saint-Pèr-du-Retz (the Loire Atl.)", "There was an explosion making the windows shake. One did not see an object in the sky but soon there was a fall of white flakes, of a consistent, transitory matter, which completely sublimated."

The source is indicated as "Henry DURRANT: 'Le dossier des OVNI' - Laffont 1973 - p. 149."

[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:

Luc Chastan indicates that in the Loire Atlantique in St Père en Retz on September 20, 1954, at an unknown hour, "In the evening, a mysterious explosion suddenly resounded. The windows shake. People go outside, nothing is visible. A few minutes later kinds of white flakes fall sublimating when one touches them."

The source is indicated as "M.O.C. by Michel Aimé ** Arthaud 1958".

[Ref. uba1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":

This database recorded this case three times:

Explanations:

Contrarily to the source indication in [goe1] thre is no mention of this case in "Le Dossier des O.V.N.I." by "Henri Durrant" on p149.

I submit that the bang was cause by the sonic boom of a passing jet, The mysterious flakes which dissolve themselves in my opinion are caused by the fuel remnants ejection of the passing plane.

Keywords:

(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)

September 20, 1954, Saint-Père-En-Retz, Loire Atlantique, jet, airplane, flakes, explained, multiple, bang, boom, sonic boom, explosion

Sources:

[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.

• [aml1] "Mystérieux Objets Célestes", book by Aimé Michel, Arthaud publisher, France, 1958.
• [aml1] "Flying Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery", book by Aimé Michel, English version of "Mystérieux Objets Célestes", S.G. Phillips publisher, USA, page 64, 1958.
• [aml1] "Mystérieux Objets Célestes", book by Aimé Michel, Seghers publisher, France, pp 86-87, 1977.
• [gqy1] "Observations 1954", monograph by Guy Quincy, France - Algeria, private publication, page 6, the 1950's.
• [fle1] Article with listing by Fernand Lagarde, ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #99, pp F-G-H, April 1969.
• [hdt1] "Les Dossiers des O.V.N.I.S.", book by Henri Durrant, Robert Laffont publisher, France, page 149, 1973.
• [gep1] "Catalogue mondial des observations - Fichier OVNI GEPO Pasqualini 1954, list, in the ufology bulletin GEPO Informations, ufology group GEPO, France, #16, page 14, April / May/ June 1979.
• [lgs1] "UFOs: A History - 1954 - September", monography by Loren E. Gross, USA, page 30, 1991.
• [hct1] "Les dépôts laissés par les ovnis", article by Hervé Clergot, in the ufology bulletin UFO Log, Didier Charnay editor, France, #6, January 1999.
• [goe1] "Chronologie OVNI, web page by Godelieve Van Overmeire, Belgique, circa 1999, at users.skynet.be/sky84985/asept54.htm
• [lcn1] Base OVNI France, website by Luc Chastan, France, circa 2005, at baseovnifrance.free.fr/listgen.php?typlist=2&page=27&numobs=2302
• [uba1] Online database UFO-Datenbank, Germany, found in 2016, at ufodatenbank.de

Document history:

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This page was last updated on July 4, 2022.