The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 22-Sep-54-Rueil-Malmaison.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In his 1966 version of his book on the French wave of 1954, ufologist Aimé Michel indicated that on September 22, 1954, at 08:30 p.m., Mrs. Louet, living in Rueil-Malmaison, on the slopes of Mount Valerian, some kilometers west of Paris, was in front of her window, when she suddenly saw coming from the south, a small luminous ball that quickly got closer by getting bigger and apparently gaining altitude.
The small ball reached the cloud ceiling just above Mount Valérien, sank into it and disappeared.
In 1979, the "skeptical" ufologists Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker indicated that in Rueil-Malmaison on September 22, 1954, at 8:30 p.m., a small, fast, high-altitude luminous ball was observed; which was probably a big meteorite since the description was "identical" to a case in Dôle that day in which the witness told them to have seen at 08:30 p.m. a fleeting glow that crossed the sky.
In the 1990s, the US ufologist Loren Gross noted the case in the same way as Aimé Michel but gave sources from the time: the national newspaper France-Soir for September 24, 1954, and the national newspaper Le Parisien Libéré for October 1, 1954.
[Ref. aml1:] AIME MICHEL:
Aimé Michel reports that on September 22, 1954, at 08:30 p.m., Mrs. Louet, living in Rueil-Malmaison, on the slopes of the mount Valérien, a few kilometers in the west of Paris, was in front of her window.
She suddenly saw appearing, coming from the south, a small luminous ball which quickly approached while growing bigger and also, apparently, while taking altitude.
The small ball reached the cloudy ceiling about above mount Valérien went into the cloud and disappeared.
Mrs. Louet evaluated as two minutes approximately the duration of the phenomenon. She saw the small ball appearing in the southern sector at the time when, approximately 60 kilometers more in the south, Mrs. Gamundi looked at the small balls coming out of the great mass of clouds and to disperse in all the directions.
[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:
|
September 22 [1954]
07:30 p.m.: Saint-Chéron/Breuillet (Seine-et-Oise)
07:30 p.m.: Arpajon (Seine-et-Oise)
08:00 p.m.: Saint-Fargeau/Ponthierry (Seine-et-Marne): sphère des nuées
08:30 p.m.: Rueil-Malmaison/Rebais/Sénart (S.et Oise): luminous ball
08:30 p.m.: Paris 7°(Seine): disque lumineux
? (same h?): Chailly-en-Bière (Seine-et-Marne)/Nationale 7,N. of Fontainebleau (S.et-Marne: clouds sphere + 7 or 8 small lumin. "balls."
[Ref. gep1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "GEPO":
| 22 09 54 (20) | Rueil 75 Paris | 100V3 | ? |
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors indicate that in Rueil-Malmaison on September 22, 1954, at 08:30 p.m., a small fast luminous ball at high altitude was observed.
They say that one can seriously think that it was large a meteorite since the description is "identical" to a case in Dôle the same day in which the witness had told them to have seen at 08:30 p.m. a fast fugitive gleam which crossed the sky.
[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:
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Paris region. September 22nd.
Mont-Valerian, France. Time: 8:20 p.m.(a few miles west of Paris) Through a window a Mme. Lauet living in the Paris suburb of Mont-Valerien beheld a small glowing ball approach and then fly up into a solid layer of cloud. This took place at 8:20 p.m. on the 22nd. Was this "ball" one of round objects "launched" by the big UFO seen earlier 35 miles to the south? 103.
[...]
102. Paris, France, France-Soir, 24 September 54. Also: Paris, France, Parisian-Libere, 1 October 54.
103. Ibid.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":
3812: 1954/09/22 20:20 1 2:12:40 E 48:52:20 N 3333 WEU FRN PRS 5:6
Mt.VALERIEN,PARIS,FR:1 OBS:SML GLOWING BALL NEARS:RISES ^/CLOUDS:/PARIS SOIR
Ref#138 GROSS,L.:UFOs a HISTORY-1954/10 bks Book # 3 Page 43 : RESIDENT'L
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Haut de Seine at Rueil Malmaison on September 22, 1954, at 20:30 "A woman residing on the slopes of the Valérien Mount observes from her window and coming from the south a small luminous ball which above the Valérien mount goes into the clouds."
Luc Chastan indicates that the source is "M.O.C. by Michel Aimé ** Arthaud 1958".
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19540922 | 22.09.1954 | Mont Valerien | France | 08.20 p.m. | NL |
|
Barthel and Brucker thought of a meteor based on a geographically distant case.
There had been many others in the same area as these, but not at the right hour.
The thing had gone up (this could obviously be an illusion) then probably got closer (it grew bigger) then got lost in a cloud layer. It could have been a meteor, or even a plane.
The observation that Barthel and Brucker cite as "identical" was hardly so: here we have a red ball with no trail mentioned, in the other case we have a bright green glow with a trail, and then a "shape spherical" which departed in the direction it had come from.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Rueil-Malmaison, Hauts-de-Seine, night, clouds, ball, luminous
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | December 12, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 17, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Addition [lcn1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | February 6, 2017 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | August 29, 2019 | Additions [lgs1], [lhh1], Summary. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | March 13, 2021 | Addition [gqy1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | March 27, 2022 | Addition [gep1]. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
