The 1954 French flap:

THE "MARTIANS" ON HOLIDAYS (CONTINUED)

A "SAUCER" WITH THREE FEET IN THE JURA, AND A "CIGAR"
with rear light in the Nivernais

IT is true, as the disciples of the "Christ of Montfavet" [*] assure, that the flying saucers are a divine manifestation, we saw enough, yesterday in the sky of France, to "halo" all the apostles of this Messiah postman. And enough cigars for Mr. Churchill's consumption in a fortnight.

The most sensational story is the one told by little Raymond Romand, a 12-year-old boy, whose parents are farmers in Prémanon, in the Jura. The other night he saw a flying saucer in the middle of the farmyard. It was eight o'clock in the evening; the child had gone out hearing the dog barking furiously. The saucer was there, two meters high. He threw stones at it, approached. At that moment, it started to move and the blow lifted him from the ground. Terrorized, he fled. Her sister, little Jeanine (9), claims to have also seen the saucer from the window.

"I saw ghosts," she said to her schoolmates the next day.

The two children swear they had never heard of flying saucers.

The "thing" was on three feet," said Raymond.

He wanted to show the gendarmes the traces that the three feet had left on the court ground. Unfortunately, the rain had wiped them out...

In Foussinargues, near Bessèges, in the Gard, two people claim that they saw in a meadow "a bright, sharp red luminous machine, surrounded of vertical rods". Near Mulhouse, a cigar wandered in the sky, followed by a "litter" of twelve cigarillos.

The son of the rural guard of Langeron, in the Nivernais, saw only one cigar. It had a "rear light". Which seems to indicate that the Martians have an air force.

Two thousand residents of Pau saw, yesterday afternoon, a cigar and two saucers, one white, the other green. They were a little disappointed when they learned in the evening that the cigar was a jet plane and the two saucers were children's balloons...

[...]

"All that I can say, it is that it had a tail... So did Mrs. Chatelin (Pic. 1) summarize her testimony.

Mrs. Chatelin is 60 years old; she is employed with the factories of André shoes, a job which does not predispose to imaginative disorder. And yet, she too, saw a flying saucer.

I live in Norville (S. and O), she says; I was returning from a union meeting. In the sky, above the castle, I saw a moon twice larger than the real moon. Moreover, it had a tail. I pinched myself to make sure that I did not dream: the machine had a kind of sudden start. Then it emitted flames and disappeared...

Mrs. Vasseur, who lives 25, Sénart street, in Montgeron, did not see anything. But her son Marcel, who is sixteen years old, suddenly shouted:

- Mum, he said, there's a fire...

Mrs Vasseur rushed towards the window of the dining room:

- It was, she specified, less [...]

"All I can say is, it had a tail." Thus Mme Chatelin (photo 1) sumed up her testimony. Mme. Chatelin, 60 years old, is employed at the André shoe factory, not a trade which predisposes one to excessive imagination. Nonetheless, she saw a flying saucer.

"I live in Norville (Seine-et-Oise) she says; "I was returning home from a union meeting. In the sky above the château I saw a moon twice as big as the real one. Besides, it had a tail. I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. The machine did a sort of somersault. Then it shot out flames and disappeared."

Mme Vasseur, who lives at 25 Senart street, Montgeron, saw nothing. But her son, Marcel, 16, suddenly cried our "Mama, there's fire." Mme Vasseur ran to the dining room window. "It was lower than the stars", she states, "and smaller than the moon. But it was round and white. The object remained motionless, then it descended to rooftop level. Through field glasses, I could see that it had green and red lights (as if in "The war of The Worlds.")

These two observations (Mme Chatelin and Mme Vasseur) occurred on the same day: September 22, 1954, at 7:35 PM.