The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 24-oct-54-Les-Egots.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The affair appears for the first time as a newspaper report by H. Meilland, reported from Rive-de-Gier, in the regional newspaper La Dépêche-La Liberté, of Saint-Etienne, France, on page 3 for October 28, 1954.
The journalist indicates that "last Sunday", thus on October 24, 1954, around 5:30 p.m., Janine Séon, a 10-year-old girl, had according to her statements seen a "flying dumpster" with windows and a red Martian with bull's-eye, who had spoken to her.
The journalist explains that one had taken care not to spread the news; which only reached him "yesterday", therefore on October 27, 1954, "thanks to the kindness of Mr. Pierre Bonjour, aviator, that these stories fascinate." The journalist went that day around noon to this village before climbing a rocky path which led him to the farm where the young Janine lived, at a place called "Les Egots", commune of "Sainte-Catherine" - more precisely Sainte-Catherine-sous-Riverie - in the Rhône department.
There was a wooded hillside Dominating the rare farms in the area, surmounted by a high cross, "the Croix du Chatelard", and it was there that the girl had her encounter. She told the journalist:
"I was in my field, busy 'turning' my cows, when I saw in the sky, an all-white, oval-shaped "thing" going down. The hillside hid it from my sight and I directed myself towards it."
She says the craft looked like a dumpster, but larger, with windows. She approached it, two dogs followed her, but arrived near the "cigar", the dogs ran away without barking, something they usually do when they see hunters.
A man whom she had not seen immediately, who was leaning against a bundle, then approached her as if to prevent her from going towards the apparatus. She said he was dressed in red, but in clothes that looked like iron. He walked with stiff legs - she showed this walk to the journalist - and mades sharp gestures. He had big hair and a hairy face, he was slightly taller than the girl, estimated to be around 1.40m tall. Janine said:
"What scared me were his big eyes which were... like those of an ox! He spoke to me in a low-tone voice, but I didn't understand. Then he showed something green that he was holding flat in his hand, walked over to me again, touched my shoulder and he climbed back into his craft. He opened a door that was at the end of the cigar, the device spun around and then went straight up into the sky."
"It didn't make more noise than a sewing machine. When it got to a certain height, I thought I saw flames coming out of the craft, I saw blue, red and green colors, and then nothing..."
She had then rushed home; her aunt told the journalist about Janine's return:
"Janine came running and we realized that something unusual had happened. She was quite pale and couldn't explain herself. She was all 'revolutionized'!..."
"So we put her to bed after serving her, and the next day we didn't send her to school."
The journalist, wondering if the child's words could be believed, explains that he tried to trick her by changing the story, but "not once did we succeeded in catching her. These statements, made calmly, agree in every way with those she has already made to her parents."
The affair entered the ufological literature only in 1969, by Jacques Vallée, writing a summary of which just said that the source is "personal":
"October 24, 1954, 5:30 p.m. Les Egots (France):"
"A child saw a man come out of a strange device. His clothes were red and looked like iron. He walked with straight legs, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were as big as a cow's."
As usual, the summary was copied without new information until nowadays by many authors, in books, ufology magazines, then websites.
In Garreau and Lavier's 1974 book "Face aux Extraterrestres", the pilot's red clothes which until now had "the appearance of iron" now have "the appearance of fire".
In 1979 however, the two "debunkers" Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker in their book "La Grande Peur Martienne" supposed to explain all the French wave of 1954, claim to have explained the affair.
Like everyone else, they take up the brief summary in Jacques Vallée's catalog, pointing out in a sarcastic tone that there is a lack of rigor in Vallée's work since, the case being referenced as "from a personal source" and that in addition there are many localities of the name of Sainte-Catherine, and that therefore the place indicated by Vallée would put "almost" all the researchers in the impossibility of counter-investigating "such a case." They pride themselves on having "stepped over these pitfalls" in "a few weeks" and found that the place is actually "Les Egauts" and not "Les Egots", near Sainte Catherine-sous-Riverie.
They then indicate that in this village, one remembers very well the "swagger put on by the children of the village" and that "the mother of one of the little girls" gave it to them "with a smile." They say they wonder if she was laughing "at the gullibility of ufologists" or at an amusing memory.
The case was therefore listed as "Hoax" in Michel Figuet's Francat catalog - but still remained "unexplained" in many others.
In 1989, the "Lumières Dans La Nuit Investigation Group about 1954", in the ufology magazine of the same name, gave new information: whereas Barthel and Brucker were talking about swaggering put on by the children of the village, it turns out that "young Jeanine" had been dead for 6 years during the LDLN investigation. Her adoptive mother, Mrs. S., does not talk about a hoax at all, and had never seen or heard of Barthel and Brucker; therefore the story of her "smile" is an invention. They also confirm that the spelling of the locality is indeed "Les Egots" and not "Les Egauts" as affirmed by Barthel and Brucker, who with this pseudo error accused Jacques Vallée of deliberate imprecision.
In 1977, with his book "Le dossier 1954 et l'Imposture Rationaliste" ("The 1954 dossier and the Rationalist Imposture"), author Jean Sider returns to the investigation of Barthel and Brucker, and discusses this case. He explains that Barthel and Brucker claim to have "verified" the case but just used Vallée's summary as a source; he explains that Barthel and Brucker castigate Vallée for his lack of precision on the location, but themselves claim that the locality spells "Les Égauts" whereas it really spells "Les Egots": they blame the researchers about mistakes they make themselves. On the lack of a source at Vallée, Sider says that Vallée told him in early 1991 that he had only respected the anonymity requested by his informant.
Sider notes that the "difficulties" in finding the village alleged by Barthel and Brucker are imaginary since there is only one "Sainte-Catherine" in the Rhône department.
He explains that the "schemers" Barthel and Brucker assured: "One remember very well in this locality the swagger put on by the children of the village. The mother of one of the kids told us about it with a smile."
He explains that "distinguishing a smile by telephone is a matter of extrasensory perception!", and that Joël Mesnard and Roger Chéreau investigated separately on site, one in 1989, the other in 1990, and they were able to ensure the following:
Janine Séon was the adopted daughter of Mrs. Séon, who still resided in the village. Janine married and followed her husband to Belleville-sur-Saône where she died of a heart attack in 1983.
Janine Séon was the only witness, so there was no "swagger put on by the children of the village."
Janine's mother, Mrs. Séon, had confirmed the incident, specifying that Janine was upset by what she had seen and, as an adult, still maintained the version of events she had given in 1954.
Finally, Mrs. Séon had certified that Barthel and Brucker had never contacted her.
Jean Sider was the first to provide the primary source for the incident, the one at the beginning of this summary, La Dépêche-La Liberté for October 28, 1954.
In 2018, the "skeptical" ufologist Dominique Caudron, evaluating the stories of "Hairy Martians" from the French wave of 1954 in particular, published his file consisting of Jean Sider's primary source, and from most of the various later Vallée-based sources.
He found a resident of Sainte-Catherine-sous-Riverie with a good knowledge of the localities of the region, who confirmed to him the existence of "Les Egots"; which is just behind the campsite, in coming from the village, below the Croix du Chatelard.
Analyzing the case, he explains that it is certainly not a hoax, but a misinterpretation caused by a helicopter and its pilot; which he believes to be a Sikorski S 51, like the one seen by Eliane Bertiaux, in Villers-le-Tilleul: he explains that some Sikorsy S 51 had been transferred in 1954, to the Base school 725, at Le Bourget du Lac, to be used for training student pilots, and that there are only 100 kms between Sainte-Catherine and that base.
The description "white object (or may be of a dull metallic sheen)", like a dumpster, but larger, with windows, evokes the helicopter, he says; the "bull's-eyes" evoke glasses.
He explains that the noise described as that of a sewing machine - so a priori not very powerful - can be explained by thermal gradient effects, and one should agree that the sewing machines of the time were much louder than later machines.
For the "fire aspect" of the pilot's outfit which has become "iron aspect", Dominique Caudron thinks that there may have been a typo in the original newspaper between the words "fire" and "iron" ("feu" and "fer"), "fire" corresponding better to the red color of the outfit. He thinks that Garreau may have thought about that since, as a journalist, he had experience with "typos."
He thinks that if Barthel and Brucker talked of a joke by several children, it is probably that, by questioning not Mrs. Séon herself, it is quite possible that the answer given to them was about another case, a children's hoax inspired by Janine's story, precisely, since it wouldn't be the only time a real sighting generated a hoax a few days later. Thus the first observation of a saucer landing, on September 7, was followed on the 8th, by a hoax which was inspired by it. As Janine's story received little coverage outside the local newspaper, it is likely, he explains, that the hoax did not get any coverage, especially if it was fanned out before a journalist arrived. It is therefore quite possible that Barthel and Brucker had not invented anything, but had failed to verify that what they heard was indeed about the Janine Séon case.
[Ref. lle1:] "LA DEPECHE-LIBERTE" NEWSPAPER:
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IN SAINTE-CATHERINE-SUR-RIVERIE
RIVE-DE-GIER. -- More and more, the number of people having seen or claiming to have seen interplanetary machines is increasing. Those hasten to proclaim it as soon as it happens. However, in the countryside, it seems that one is less prolix, one is wary and hesitates to spread the news. This is how last Sunday, October 24, around 07:30 P.M., a ten year old young girl, Janine Séon, living in a farm at the locality "Les Egots", community of Sainte-Catherine (the Rhone), returned precipitately to her parents, after having seen and heard speak ... the occupant of a flying cigar.
The news, which one had taken care not to spread, reached us only yesterday, and thanks to the kindness of Mr. Pierre Bonjour, aviator, which these stories fascinate - we understand that - we reached, around 12 hours, this nice village before climbing a rocky path which was to lead us to the farm inhabited by young Janine.
Dominating the rare farms of the area, a wooded slope surmounted by a high cross: the Cross of Chatelard. It is there that the young girl saw landing and fly away the mysterious machine and its no les mysterious occupant...
At the farm, we find only one young and sympathetic lady, the aunt of young Janine, the latter being at the school of the village. It is her who was the first to tell us the return of the child, Sunday evening, after this vision which had upset her.
"Janine arrives running and we understood that it had just occurred something out of the ordinary. She was very pale and did not manage to explain herself. She was all "revolutionized"!...
"Then, we put her to bed after having purged her, and the following day, we did not send her to school. "
We then knocked at the school where the teacher, Miss Lombardin, welcomes us very pleasantly. Young Janine lunches accompanied by the teacher and two other pupils who, like her, live too far away from the school to return to the farm for lunch.
We try, while referring us to the declarations of the aunt of the child, to change the version and to mislead Janine. Not once did we succeed in catching her at fault. These statements made calmly, agree in all points with those which she already told to her parents.
"I was in my field, occupied making my cows "turn", when I saw in the sky, a very white "thing", of oval shape, which went down. The slope masks it from my sight and I moved towards it."
And the child told us that she then saw an apparatus resembling a bucket, though larger, with window panes. She approached it when, suddenly, a man who was resting on a fagot and whom she had not seen up to now, approached as if he wanted to prevent her from going towards the apparatus.
This man was dressed in red, but his clothing looked like if they were in iron. He walked with stiff legs - Janine mimics his walk for us - and was making gestures. He had long hair and a hairy face. He was slightly taller than her and it can be estimated that he was about 1 meter 40 tall.
"What frightened me, were the large eyes which were... like those of oxens! He spoke to me with a low voice, but I did not understand. Then it showed me something green that he held flat in his hand, approached me again, touched me the shoulder and went up in his apparatus. He opened a door which was in one end of the cigar, the apparatus rotated then it went straight up in the sky.
"It did not make more noise than a sewing machine. Arrived at a certain height, it seemed to me that I saw like flames come out of the apparatus, I saw blue, red and green colors, and then nothing anymore..."
When young Janine moved towards the apparatus, her two dogs followed her, but arrived near the cigar, they run away without even barking. However usually they bark when they see hunters.
Another young girl who was by there, but which could not see the apparatus, was to state to have seen the cows and the dogs, in the field of a neighbor.
Which credit can be granted to young Janine's account? Isn't it the product of a rich imagination? Didn't she make this story up to gain a certain importance?
Miss Lombardin, Janine's teacher, questioned, is convinced that the young girl told the truth.
"Never, she told us, did Janine invent any stories. She is a very positive pupil, who learns well - she's the sixth in the class - and we can only praise her. She is not the kind to have invented such a story and, personally, I believe in the truthfulness of her account ..."
And we left Sainte-Catherine, leaving the young Janine to her schoolgirl's homework...
H. MEILLAND.
[Ref. jve1:] JACQUES VALLEE:
305
Oct. 24, 1954, 05:30 P.M., Les Egots (France).
Near Sainte Catherine, a child saw a man emerge from a strange craft. He was "dressed in red, his clothes looked like iron. He walked with his legs stiff, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were large, like those of the cows." (Personal).
[Ref. jve2:] JACQUES VALLEE:
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305) October 24, 1954, 05:30 p.m., Les Egots (France), near Sainte-Catherine:
A child saw a man come out of a strange craft. "His clothes were red and had the appearance of iron. He walked with straight legs, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were as large as a cow's" (Persona).
[Ref. jve3:] JACQUES VALLEE:
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October 24, 1954, 05:30 p.m.. Les Egots (France) near Sainte-Catherine:
Near Sainte Catherine, a child saw a man emerge from a strange craft. He was "dressed in red, his clothes looked like iron. He walked with his legs stiff, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were large, like those of the cows." (Personal).
[Ref. ioi1:] "INFO-OVNI" MAGAZINE:
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10/24/1954 les Egots, near Sainte Catherine.
a child saw a "man" come out of a strange machine. His clothes were red and had the appearance of iron. He walked with stiff legs. He had a hairy face and long hair, his eyes were as big as those of a cow. (Vallée catalogue case Nr 305)
[Ref. gal1:] CHARLES GARREAU ET RAYMOND LAVIER:
The two ufologists report in their book on the case of Les-Egots-Sainte-Catherine in the Rhone, of October 24, 1954, at about 05:30 P.M., indicating as sources #305 of the Vallée catalogue.
Noting that the information is spares, they indicate that a child stated to have seen a being leaving a strange machine: "Its clothing was red and had the aspect of fire. It went with stiff legs. It had a hairy face. Its eyes were as large as those of a cow."
[Ref. b1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors first reproduce the short summary of Jacques Vallée's catalogue. They then point out on a sarcastic tone that there is a lack of care in the work of Jacques Vallée since the case being already referenced by him as of "his personal source" and that in addition there exists many locality of the name of Sainte-Catherine, and that thus the location "Les Egots close o Sainte-Catherine" indicated by Vallée would put almost all the researchers in impossibility to counter-investigate "such a case."
The two authors then state that they "overcame these obstacles" within a few weeks time and found out that the place is actually "Les Egauts" and not "Les Egots", close to Sainte-Catherine-Sous-Riverie.
They indicate that in this village, one remembers very well "the joke played by the children of the village" and that "the mother of one of the girl" has "specified this again" to them "with a smile." The two authors wonder whether she "was laughing at the credulity of the ufologists" or at a funny remembrance.
[Ref. prn1:] PETER ROGERSON - "INTCAT":
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484 24 October 1954 1730 hrs
LES EGOTS (FRANCE ) Near Ste. Catherine a child saw a man emerge from a strange craft. He was "dressed in red - his clothes looked like iron. He walked vith his legs stiff and had long hair and hairy face. His eyes were large like those of the cows. (M305)
[Ref. agd1:] ALAIN GAMARD:
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| Case # | Date | Time | Locality | Department | Witness(es) name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 066 | 24/10/1954 | 17.30 | Les Egots. | 69 | --- |
[Ref. gab1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "G.A.B.R.I.E.L.":
A N H type "Martians"
10/05/1954 Loctudy (Finistère)
Around 4 a.m., Mr. Paul Lucas, a bakery worker, was in the bakery when he saw in the courtyard of the bakery a circular craft 2.50 to 3m in diameter near which a 1.20m tall being was standing, who approached the witness and touched his shoulder while uttering incomprehensible words... He had an oval face covered with dark hair and huge eyes... (J. Giraud; "Centre Matin" of 10/07/54)
A hairy "Martian"! The whole of France burst out laughing! The only brake on this hilarity was that Mr. Lucas did not long remain the only witness to have observed such a being. Similar apparitions multiplied. These "Martians" belonged to type A N (humanoids and small) but they had a new characteristic: hair! Hence the "H". They were observed on:
10/05/1954 in Mertrud (Haute Marne) ... "The 1.20m being seemed dressed in a coat covered with hair..."
10/09/1954 in Pournoy la Chétive (Moselle) ... "The 1.20m being had a hairy head and big eyes..."
10/09/1954 in Lavoux (Vienne) ... "The being measured 1.50m, he was housed in a diving suit, his legs didn't have heels and his head looked like a tuft of hair with glowing eyes..."
10/12/1954 Montluçon (Allier) ... "A being covered with hair or wearing a long coat of hair..."
14/10/1954 Lewarde (Nord) ... "A small being with large oblique eyes and a body covered with furs..."
24/10/1954 Les Egots (?)... "A man with long hair and a hairy face whose eyes were as large as those of a cow..."
Seven appearances of "Hairy Martians" in twenty days, it was a bit too much for the fact to be considered only as a hallucination or a drunken rambling... Especially since similar beings had been observed in Caerphilly (Wales) in 1909 on May 18 to be quite precise. A fact is therefore certain, the "Martian" of the A N H type exists, but a difficulty arises: in half of the cases, it is the face which is hairy; in the other half, it is the whole body which seems to be covered in fur... A question therefore arises: is it natural hairiness (hair, beard, bristles...) or is it some equipment (diving suit, spacesuit, balaclava, etc.)? The answer cannot yet be provided. We believe that the hairiness observed on the faces is natural and that the one observed on the bodies is artificial (outfit). Otherwise, and in the latter case, it would be necessary to assume that the "Hairy Martians" are naked!
[Ref. tbw1:] TED BLOECHER AND DAVID WEBB:
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54-94 Oct. 24. 1954 1730 Les Egots. France Type B
A child saw a man emerge from a strange craft. He was "dressed in red, his clothes looked like iron. He walked with his legs stiff, had long hair & a hairy face. His eyes were large, like cows'."
Investigator:
Source: Vallee, Magonia, pp. 237f.
[Ref. fru1:] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:
The two authors indicate that on October 24, 1954, at 07:30 p.m. in Sainte-Catherine in the Rhone, at the location Les Egots, a child observed a strange machine and a being in red clothing having the aspect of iron. The being walked with stiff legs, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were as large as those of a cow.
They indicate Vallée, Garreau and Lavier, as sources.
[Ref. mft1:] MICHEL FIGUET:
This ufologist noted:
| CAS Nr | CLASSIFICATION | DATE | HEURE | LIEU | CODE POSTAL | CREDIBILITE SOURCE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 254 | CE3 | 24 10 1954 | 17.30 Sainte-Catherine-sous-Riverie "Les Egots" | 69116 C8 | E (hoax) B-B p.79 |
[Ref. pls1:] PIER LUIGI SANI:
This Italian ufologist wrote an article to refute the claims by ufologists Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker in their book "La Grande Peur Martienne" on the French wave of 1954, and provides examples of what he denounces as fraudulent or unjustified explanations they gave for cases, such as:
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4. The Case at Les Egots
A boy says he saw a hairy dwarf dressed in red and with eyes as big as the eyes of a cow. Re-investigation by B. and B.:
They fail to trace the witness, but "a local woman" declares it was a piece of nonsense.
[Ref. cnu1:] GROUPE D'UFOLOGIE CNEGU:
CNEGU noted among "FRANCAT solved cases":
10/24/54 Ste Catherine (69)
[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
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6. "Les Egots" Sainte Catherine (Rhône), on October 24, 1954. B&B Version: ... tall-tale elaborated by the children of the village. The mother of one of the girls told this us again with a smile. (p. 79). LDLN version: The witness, "little Jeanine" has died 6 years ago during the LDLN investigation. However, her adoptive mother, Mrs. S., does not speak at all of a hoax. Moreover, she has never seen an investigator, nor received a phone call from them, and therefore the story of her "smile" is an invention of B&B. Note that we confirm the spelling: "Les Egots" instead of "Les Egauts", pseudo error that allowed Barthel and Brucker to accuse Jacques Vallée of deliberate imprecision. What qualifier should be used to describe their attitude?
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coin, un coteau boisé surmonté d'une haute croix: la croix du Chatelard. C'est là que la fillette vit atterrir et s'envoler le mystérieux engin et son non moins étrange occupant...
[... illisible...] sympathique, la tante de la petite Janine, cette dernièRe étant à l'école du village. C'est elle qui devait la première nous conter le retour de l'enfant, dimanche soir, après cette vision qui l'avait bouleversée.
"Janine arriva en courant et nous comprîmes qu'il venait de se passe quelque chose de peu ordinaire. Elle était toute pâle et ne parvenait pas à s'expliquer. Elle était toute "révolutionnée"!...
"Alors, nous l'avons mise au lit après l'avoir purgée et, le lendemain, nous ne l'avons pas envoée à l'école."
Nous frappons ensuite à l'école où [... partie manquante...]
[...] le champ d'un voisin.
Quel crédit peut-on apporter au récit de la petite Janine? N'est-il pas le fruit d'une imagination fertile [...illisible...] te histoire de toutes pièces pour se donner une certaine importance?
Mlle Lombardin, l'institutrice de Janine, questionnée, est persuadée [...]
Un extrait de l'excellent article de H. Meilland, dans "La Dépêche - La Liberté", de Saint-Etienne, du 28 octobre 1954.
[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:
October 24th. Les Egots, France. (5:30 p.m.)
A child told authorities she saw a "being" step out of a landed saucer. She said that the "man," or whatever, was: "...dressed in reddish clothes that looked like iron. He walked with his legs stiff and had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were large like those of the cows." 198.
[Ref. jsr1:] JEAN SIDER:
16 - Case of Ste-Catherine, Rhône.
Page 78, referring again to Jacques Vallée, B & B [Barthel and Brucker, [bbr1]] evoke the case of the locality Les Égots, near Ste-Catherine, Rhône. There, they redundantly claim to have checked, criticizing Vallée for its lack of precision, because if we are to believe them this locality would spell "Les Égauts" and the full name of the village would be Ste-Catherine-sous-Riverie: "We thank Jacques Vallée for the extreme rigor of his work which makes it impossible for almost all the researchers to counter-investigate such a case, because moreover, being indicated: personal source, no cross-checking is possible." 12
In fact, Vallée was only respecting the anonymity requested by his informant, according to what he told me verbally in early 1991.
This "discovery" is interesting for two reasons. Indeed:
1°) - It proves that, when they really checked the names of the places, they made a point of pointing out the insufficiency of the previous investigations; which corroborates what I brought to the reader's attention on the same kind of deficiency noted at B & B in the cases mentioned above. In other words, they blame the researchers for mistakes they make themselves, which is quite funny!
2°) - It shows that they did not check the sources of the information; which would have prevented them from accusing Vallée of a blunder that cannot be attributed to him, because he only repeated what was reported in the Parisian press, which took over an AFP dispatch which, once is not customary, respected the real names. Here is the local version of La Dépêche-La Liberté for October 28, 1954, page 3: "Last Sunday, October 24, around 5:30 p.m., a ten-year-old girl, Janine Séon, living on a farm at a place called Les Égots, commune of Sainte-Catherine (Rhône), rushed back to his parents after seeing and hearing about the occupant of a flying cigar" (See in chapter 6, CE3 #91 which reveals details hitherto unknown).
In addition, the Dictionnaire des Communes [Dictionary of Municipalities] of 1963, Albin Michel, page 1023, indicates Sainte-Catherine with nothing more to the name, the only locality to bear this name in the Rhône! Same observation in the brochure of the Post Office, Zip Codea, 1995 edition, page 204...
That being said, this is what our schemers write on page 79: "We remember very well in this locality the swagger mounted by the children of the village. The mother of one of the girls told us with a smile. ... "
The proof of this fallacious assertion will be given in the lines which follow. First of all, distinguishing a smile over the phone is a matter of extrasensory perception! Then, Joël Mesnard and Roger Chéreau investigated separately on the spot, one in 1989, the other in 1990, and they were able to ascertain the following:
- Janine Séon was the adopted daughter of Mrs. Séon, the latter still residing in the village. She had married and had followed her husband to Belleville-sur-Saône where she died in 1983 of a heart attack while she was in the car.
- Janine Séon was the only witness. She made her observation while she was alone, busy tending the cows on the farm.
- Mrs. Séon confirmed the incident, specifying that Janine was upset by what she had seen and, as an adult, she always maintained the version of the facts that she reported in 1954.
- Finally, last but not least, Mrs. Séon certified that she had never been contacted by anyone since the event, until the arrival of the investigators mentioned above! 13
In witness whereof I can absolutely guarantee the reader that B & B again fooled their readers, because they let believe that there were several children, that it was a hoax, and that they met the mother of one of the girls, all these people left in total anonymity, following to one of their (bad) habits...
Jean Sider also published a copy of the article La Dépêche-La Liberté for October 28, 1954 - he was the first to do so.
Further in his book, the author includes the case in his catalog:
91- October 24, 5:30 p.m., Sainte-Catherine, Rhône.
Miss Janine Séon, 10 years old.
The little girl's story told the journalists who came to question her, who tried unsuccessfully to catch her in default of contradiction:
"I was in my field, busy "touring" my cows, when I saw in the sky, an all-white "thing" coming down. The hillside hid it from my sight and I walked over. towards it. I then saw that it was an apparatus which looked like a dumpster, although larger, with windows. As I approached it a man whom I had not seen so far and who was leaning to a bundle, walked towards me as if to prevent me from going towards the craft. He was dressed in red, but his clothes looked like fire. He walked with stiff legs and gestured. He had big hair, and a hairy face. He was slightly taller than me, and he must have been about four feet tall. What scared me were his big eyes which were like those of an ox! He spoke to me in a low voice, but I didn't understand. Then he showed me something green that he was holding in his hand, touched me on the shoulder and he climbed back into his craft. He opened a door that was closed at the end of the "cigar". The craft spun around and then climbed straight up into the sky. It made no more noise than a sewing machine. When it got to a certain height, I thought I saw flames coming out of the craft, because I saw blue, red and green colors, and then nothing..."
When the girl walked towards the craft, her two dogs followed her, but when they came near the "cigar" they ran away without even barking. However, usually they do so when they see hunters. Ms. Lombardin, Janine's teacher, is convinced that her pupil is telling the truth. She told us this:
"Janine has never made up stories. She is a very positive student, who learns well - she is sixth in class - and we only have to congratulate ourselves about her. She could not have invented such a story and, personally, I believe in the veracity of her story."
At the farm where the child lives, at a place called Les Égots, we met Janine's aunt, a young and sympathetic lady. She told us about the return of the little girl on Sunday evening, after this vision that had upset her:
"Janine comes running and we realize that something unusual had happened. She was quite pale and did not seem able to explain herself. She was all "revolutionized"!... So we put her to bed after serving her and the next day we didn't send her to school."
Note that the incident occurred on a wooded hillside surmounted by a high cross: la Croix du Chatelard.
Local source: La Dépêche-La Liberté, St. Étienne, October 28, 1954, p. 3 (D.O. 69).
Note: If the reader refers to the version contained in Figuet's catalog (p. 197), which only repeated that of Vallée (case nr 305), he will note that the incident is found reduced to very little such as it allowed Barthel and Brucker to give themselves a ball (see Chapter 1, case nr 16, where I denounce their abuses). This "summary" of Vallée is due to the lightness of the press agency, the dispatch of which was repeated in certain Parisian newspapers, amputated of its main elements. I am also convinced that the most famous researchers, including the oldest, have always ignored that the occupant of the UFO had touched the girl on the shoulder and that he had shown her a green object (*). Just like many other details, in particular those concerning the craft, in the form of a dumpster and provided with windows, whereas Figuet, relying on Vallée, speaks of "a strange apparatus (no details)", to repeat the exact terms of his quote! Just as few ufologists know that Janine Séon saw the object land and then take off, information also withheld at the base (The press agency, the Parisian newspapers, then Vallée).
Thus it is proven that very many elements of description concerning a certain quantity of important observations of this wave completely escaped the researchers who were interested in it. In saying this, I am thinking above all about Aimé Michel...
(*) In incident nr 53, of October 10, Mr. Fléchelle was also hit in the shoulder by one of the three little hairy men that emerged from a UFO. This case was only published in a small weekly in Forges-les-Eaux (Seine-Maritime), and rediscovered almost 40 years later!
At the beginning of his book, he lists the case as one of which Barthel and Brucker's alleged investigation is "imaginary" in his opinion.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":
4263: 1954/10/24 17:30 15 4:34:40 E 45:36:00 N 3333 WEU FRN RHN A:5
LES EGOTS,FR:GIRL:BASKET-SCR^:WINDOWS:OID WALKS STIFFLY:HAIRY FACE..:/r8
Ref#217 Jean SIDER: Le DOSSIER 1954 (2 vol.) Page No. 218 : FARMLANDS
[Ref. goe1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:
The Belgian ufologist indicates in her catalogue that in France, in 1954, on October 24, at Les Ergots, "At 05:30 p.m. a child saw a man coming out of a strange machine. Its clothing was red and had the aspect of iron. It walked with stiff legs, had long hair and a hairy face. Its eyes were as large as those of a cow.'"
The source is indicated as: "Jacques Vallée: "Chronique des apparitions ET" - DENOEL 1972 - COLL. J'AI LU - p. 288".
[Ref. ars1:] ALBERT ROSALES:
199.
Location. Les Egots France
Date: October 24 1954
Time: 1730
A child saw a man emerged from a strange craft. He was "dressed in red, his clothes like iron. He walked with his legs stiff, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were large, like a cow." No other information.
Humcat 1954-115
Source: Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia
Type: B
[Ref. djn1:] DONALD JOHNSON:
On this Day
October 24
[...]
1954 - Near Sainte Catherine, Les Egots, France at 5:30 p.m., a child saw a man emerge from a strange craft. He was "dressed in red, his clothes looked like iron." He walked stiff-legged, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were large, "like those of the cows." (Source: Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, A Century of Landings, pp. 237-238).
[Ref. jbu1:] JEROME BEAU:
October 1954
Sunday 24
05:30 p.m. In Les Egots (France), 1 child sees 1 man coming out of a strange machine: Its clothing was red and had the aspect of iron. It walked with stiff legs, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were as large as those of a cow.
[Ref. jbu2:] JEROME BEAU:
Examples of testimonies reporting hairy beings
October 24, 1954, Les Egots (the Rhone): Its clothing was red and had the aspect of fire. It walked with stiff legs. It had a hairy face. Its eyes were as large as those of a cow.
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Rhone in Ste Catherine on October 24, 1954 at 17:30 hours, "At the place les Egots a child observes a strange machine and a being carrying red clothes having the aspect of iron. He walked with stiff legs, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were as large as those of a cow."
The source is indicated as "Ovni, Premier dossier complet... by Figuet M./ Ruchon J.L. ** Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979."
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 24 October 1954 at 17:30, in Les Egots, France, "A child saw a man emerge from a strange craft. Lucien Fisch saw an object land near Route N83 in Issenheim, France. It was luminous."
The website adds: "Near Sainte Catherine, Les Egots, France at 5:30 p.m., a child saw a man emerge from a strange craft. He was 'dressed in red, his clothes looked like iron.' He walked stiff-legged, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were large, 'like those of the cows.'"
The website adds: "Near Sainte Catherine, a child saw a man emerge from a strange craft. He was 'dressed in red, his clothes looked like iron. He walked with his legs stiff, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were large, like those of the cows.'"
And: "An object was observed. Electromagnetic and physiological effects were noted. One red domed disc, about 10 feet across, was observed by one male 40-year-old witness on a road (Fisch; Fish; Schoubrenner; Ujvari, L). A whining sound was heard. One humanoid, wearing a helmet, was seen."
And: "A child saw a man emerged from a strange craft. He was 'dressed in red, his clothes like iron. He walked with his legs stiff, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were large, like a cow.' No other information."
The website says the Vallee rating of the case is: "CE4: The witness has been abducted [1]."
The sources are indicated as "Webb, David, HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports; Guieu, Jimmy, Flying Saucers Come from Another World, Citadel, New York, 1956; Bowen, Charles, The Humanoids: FSR Special Edition No. 1, FSR, London, 1966; Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073); Vallee, Jacques, Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma, Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1966; Vallee, Jacques, Preliminary Catalog (N = 500), (in JVallee01); Vallee, Jacques, A Century of Landings (N = 923), (in JVallee04), Chicago, 1969; Vallee, Jacques, Passport to Magonia, Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1969; Schoenherr, Luis, Computerized Catalog (N = 3173); Carrouges, Michel, Les Apparitions de Martiens, Fayard, Paris, 1963; Hall, Richard H., The UFO Evidence, NICAP, Washington, 1964; Flying Saucers, Flying Saucers Magazine, (Palmer); Delaire, J. Bernard, UFO Register Volume 7 (1976), Data Research, Oxford, 1976; Newspaper Clippings; Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002; Rosales, Albert, Humanoid Sighting Reports Database".
Note [1]: it is not Vallée who made this classification but UFOdna.
[Ref. uda2:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
Not realizin it is a double entry - see [uda1] - the website indicates that on 24 October 1954 at 17:30, in Les Egots, Nr Ste Catherine, France, "Child saw humanoid emerge from strange craft. He was 'dressed in red, his clothes looked like iron. He walked with his legs stiff, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were large, like cows.'"
The website comments that it was a "Close encounter with an unidentified craft and its occupants. One object was observed by one male child (Ujvari). One round-eyed being, wearing a red metallic suit, was seen."
The sources are indicated as "Webb, David, HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports; Bowen, Charles, The Humanoids: FSR Special Edition No. 1, FSR, London, 1966; Pereira, Jader U., Les Extra-Terrestres, Phenomenes Spatiaux, Paris, 1974; Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073); Vallee, Jacques, A Century of Landings (N = 923), (in JVallee04), Chicago, 1969; Schoenherr, Luis, Computerized Catalog (N = 3173); Delaire, J. Bernard, UFO Register Volume 7 (1976), Data Research, Oxford, 1976; Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002".
[Ref. prn1:] PETER ROGERSON:
October 24 1954 1730 hrs.
LES EGOTS (RHONE : FRANCE)
Near Ste. Catherine a child saw a being emerge from a strange craft. It was a creature with long hair, a hairy face and large eyes like those of cows.. It was dressed in red clothes “like iron” and walked with its legs stiff.
Vallee case 305 citing “personal” sources.
[Ref. jgz1:] JULIEN GONZALEZ:
The author indicates that there was a close encounter of the third kind in Sainte-Catherine, Rhône, on October 24, 1954, 05:30 p.m.:
He says that Miss Janine Séon, 10, told this story to the journalists who came to question her:
"I was in my field, busy 'touring' my cows, when I saw in the sky, an all-white 'thing' coming down. The hillside obscured it from my sight and I walked towards it. I then saw that it was an apparatus which looked like a dumpster, although larger, with windows. As I approached it a man whom I had not seen so far and who was leaning on a bundle of wood, walked towards me as if to keep me from going towards the craft. He was dressed in red, but his clothes looked like fire. He walked with stiff legs and gestured. He had big hair and a hairy face. He was slightly taller than me, and he must have been about four feet tall. What scared me were his big eyes which were like those of an ox! He spoke to me in a low voice, but I didn't understand. So he showed me something green he was holding in his hand, touched me on the shoulder and he climbed back into his craft. He opened a door that was closed, reopened at the end of the "cigar". The craft spun around and then climbed straight up into the sky. It made no more noise than a sewing machine. When I got to a certain height, I thought I saw flames coming out of the craft, because I saw blue, red and green colors, and then nothing."
Julien Gonzalez then makes these remarks:
When the witness advanced towards the craft, her two dogs followed her, but when they came near the "cigar" they ran away without even barking. However, usually they did so when they saw hunters.
Ms. Lombardin, Janine Séon's teacher, was convinced of the sincerity of her pupil, declaring in particular to the journalists who came to investigate on the spot: "Janine never invented stories. She is a very positive student, who learns well - she is sixth in class - and we have only to congratulate ourselves about her. She could not have invented such a story and, personally, I believe in the veracity of her story."
The testimony of Janine's aunt who attended the return of the girl following her curious meeting tends to confirm the sincerity of the young witness: "Janine comes running and we understood that something had just happened. not ordinary. She was very pale and could not explain herself. She was all "revolutionized"! So we put her to bed after having purged her and, the next day, we did not send her to school."
Gonzalez indicates that in 1979, MM. Barthel and Brucker claimed in La Grande Peur Martienne that this sighting was a "boast put on by the village children" and that "the mother of one of the kids repeated (to them) with a smile". He says that, however, in 1989 and 1990, Messrs. Joël Mesnard and Roger Chéreau investigated separately on the spot, found Mrs. Séon, adoptive mother of Janine Séon, who informed them that Janine had died in 1983 of a heart attack while she was in the car. The adoptive mother confirmed to them that Janine was the only witness to the sighting as she was busy tending the cows on the farm. In addition, she clarified that Janine was upset by what she saw and that, as an adult, she always maintained her initial statements regarding this sighting. Finally, Ms. Séon assured them that she had never seen an investigator, nor received any phone calls concerning the observation of her adopted daughter.
Julien Gonzalez indicates as sources La Dépêche - La Liberté (Saint-Etienne) of October 28, 1954; C. Garreau and R. Lavier, Face aux Extra-Terrestres, page 112; Michel Figuet and Jean-Louis Ruchon, OVNI: le premier dossier complet des rencontres rapprochées en France, page 197; Jean Sider, Le dossier 1954 et l'imposture rationaliste, pages 37-39 and 218-220.
[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:
Date: October 24 1954
Location: Les Egots France
Time: 1730
Summary: A child saw a man emerged from a strange craft. He was “dressed in red, his clothes like iron. He walked with his legs stiff, had long hair & a hairy face. His eyes were large, like a cow.” No other information.
Source: Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia 305
[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
*Oct. 24, 1954 - At 5:30 p.m. in Les Egots, Rhone, France near Sainte Catherine, a child saw a man emerge from a strange craft. He was "dressed in red, his clothes looked like iron." He walked stiff-legged, and had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were large, "like those of the cows." (Source: Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, A Century of Landings, pp. 237-238, case 305; David F. Webb & Ted Bloecher, HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports, case # 1954-115 (A0323)).
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This database recorded this case 7 times instead of once:
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19540000 | 00.00.1954 | Sainte Catherine | France | |||||||
| 19541024 | 24.10.1954 | Les Egots | France | 17.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19541024 | 24.10.1954 | Les Egots | France | 17.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19541024 | 24.10.1954 | Les Egots | France | 17.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19541024 | 24.10.1954 | Ste Catherine | France | 17.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19541024 | 24.10.1954 | Ste Catherine | France | 17.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19541024 | 24.10.1954 | Ste Catherine | France | 17.30 | CE III |
[Ref. prn2:] PETER ROGERSON - "INTCAT":
October 24 1954. 1730hrs.
SAINTE-CATHERINE (RHONE : FRANCE)
Near Ste. Catherine Janine Seon (10) was tending the cows, when she saw a white object descending. It was hidden behind the slop of a hill, so she went to see what it was. She encountered something like a large tram with widows. She then saw a "man" leaning against a hay sheaf, who walked with stiffly towards her. The being was dressed in a red metallic suit, was about 1.4m tall and gesturing at her. It had long hair, a hairy face and large eyes like those of oxen. It spoke to her in a deep voice but she could not understand what was said. In its hand was a green devise. The being came up to her, touched her on the shoulder, then re-entered the craft through an opening in the front. The machine, took off, rotating, making a sound Janine compared to a sewing machine. At altitude it emitted blue, red and green flames and took off. Her dogs followed her, but when they encountered the cigar they fled without barking.
Evaluation - Is this a childish misperception of a helicopter and a pilot wearing goggles?
Note: "Gross 1954" is meant to refer to my page; no link was given and my page was absolutely not just citing "H Meilland in La Depeche la Liberte October 28, 1954. citing his own investigation".
[Ref. dcn5:] DOMINIQUE CAUDRON:
|
At the start of this case, there is an observation by a 10-year-old girl, investigated quite carefully by journalists from the local newspaper.
IN SAINTE-CATHERINE-SUR-RIVERIE
Janine SEON (10 years old) saw Sunday
a flying dumpster (with windows)
and a red Martian with bull eyes!RIVE-DE-GIER. - The number of people having or claiming to have seen interplanetary spacecraft is increasing. They hasten to proclaim it from the event. However, in the countryside, it seems that we are less verbose, we are wary and we hesitate to spread the news. This is how last Sunday, October 24, around 5:30 p.m., a ten-year-old girl, Janine Séon, living on a farm, at the place "Les Egots", commune of Sainte-Catherine (Rhône), rushed back to her parents, after having seen and heard speak... the occupant of a flying cigar.
The news, which one had taken care not to spread, only reached us yesterday, and thanks to the kindness of Mr. Pierre Bonjour, aviator, that these stories fascinate - we understand it - we went, towards 12 hours, to this pretty village before climbing a rocky path which was to lead us to the farm where the young Janine lives.
Dominating the rare farms in the area, a wooded hillside surmounted by a high cross: the Croix du Chatelard. This is where the little girl saw the mysterious craft land and its no less mysterious occupant fly away ...
THE YOUNG ONE WAS ALL
"REVOLUTIONIZED!"...At the farm, we only find a young and friendly lady, little Janine's aunt, the latter being at the village school. She was the first to tell us about the child's return, Sunday evening, after this vision that had upset her.
"Janine comes running and we realized that something unusual had happened. She was quite pale and could not explain herself. She was all "revolutionized"!...
"So we put her to bed after serving her, and the next day we didn't send her to school."
"A HAIRY MAN
WITH EYES
LIKE THOSE OF THE BEEF..."We then knock at the school where the teacher, Mlle Lombardin, welcomes us very kindly. Little Janine has lunch with the teacher and two other students who, like her, live too far from the school to return to the farm for noon.
We try, by referring to the statements of the aunt of the child, to change the version and to deceive Janine. Not once have we succeeded in tricking her. These statements, made calmly, agree in every way with those she has already made to her parents.
"I was in my field, busy making my cows 'turn', when I saw in the sky, an all-white 'thing', oval in shape, descending. The hillside hid it from my sight and I walked towards it."
And the child then told us that she saw an apparatus resembling a dumpster, although larger, with windows. She was getting closer to it when, suddenly, a man who was leaning on a bundle and whom she had not seen until now, approached as if to prevent her from going towards the apparatus.
This man was dressed in red, but his clothes looked like iron. He walked with stiff legs - Janine mimics the man's gait - and gesticulated. He had big hair and a hairy face. He was slightly taller than her and you might think he was around four feet tall.
"What scared me were his big eyes which were... like those of an ox!" He spoke to me in a deep voice, but I did not understand. So he showed me something green that he was holding flat in his hand, walked over to me again, touched my shoulder, and climbed back into his craft. He opened a door that was at the end of the cigar, the craft spun around and then went straight up into the sky.
"It didn't make more noise than a sewing machine. When I got to a certain height, I thought I saw flames coming out of the craft, I saw blue colors, red and green, and then nothing...""
THE DOGS FLED
When little Janine walked towards the craft, her two dogs followed her, but when they got close to the cigar, they ran away without even barking. However, they usually do so when they see hunters.
Another girl who was around there, but who could not see the craft, would have claimed to have seen the cows and dogs in a neighbor's field.
THE TEACHER BELIEVES
IN THE TRUTH OF THE STATEMENT
OF JANINEHow much credit can we give to little Janine's story? Isn't it the fruit of a fertile imagination? Didn't she invent this story from scratch to give herself a certain importance?
Miss Lombardin, Janine's teacher, questioned, is convinced that the girl has told the truth.
"Never," she tells us, "Janine made up stories. She is a very positive student, who learns well - she is sixth in class - and we can only congratulate ourselves about her. She was not the one who would have invented such a story and, personally, I believe in the veracity of her story..."
... And we left Sainte-Catherine, leaving little Janine to her schoolwork...
H. MEILLAND.
(La Dépêche-La Liberté, October 28, 1954, page 3)
The major regional newspapers do not seem to have passed on this case, while they reported other cases, also observed by children. There seems to have been only an AFP dispatch, the text of which will end up in Jacques Vallée's catalog, through a source he does not mention.
October 24, 1954, Les Egots (France), near Sainte-Catherine:
A child saw a man come out of a strange device. "His clothes were red and looked like iron. He walked with straight legs, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were as big as a cow's" (Personal).
(Jacques Vallée, A Century of UFO Landing, in Chronique des apparitions extraterrestres, Denoel 1972, page 299)
No source indicated, and the department is not even specified.
It is however this summary of Jacques Vallée which will prevail in the small UFO world until the original article is found.
It is first of all Garreau and Lavier who quote Vallée.
Les-Egots - Sainte-Catherine (Rhône), October 24, 1954, around 5.30 pm Reference: Vallée catalog, nr 305.
Sparse information: A child claims to have seen a being come out of a strange device: "His clothes were red and looked like fire. He walked with stiff legs. He had a hairy face. His eyes were as big as a cow's.
Note [by Dominique Caudron]: Here it is said that it was an aspect of fire, and not of iron, as with Vallée and in the original article. But maybe it was a typographer's typo, because the look of fire is much more compatible with the color red than the look of iron, and Garreau, who was a journalist, must have been used to this problem.
(Charles Garreau, Raymond Lavier, Face aux extraterrestres, Jean Pierre Delarge 1975, p 112)
Then in 1978, Eric Zurcher, puts the case in his catalog.
095 24.10.54 5.30pm Les Egots-St Catherine 69 G3 A child
Note [by Dominique Caudron]: 69 is, of course, for "Rhône", and G3 for ufonaute of group 3, that is to say hairy.
(Eric Zurcher, Les apparitions d'humanoïdes, Alain Lefeuvre 1978, page 313)
In 1979 Michel Figuet took over Vallée, Garreau and Lavier.
24 10 1954 5:30 p.m. Les Egots, near Sainte-Catherine 69116 C8.
WITNESSES. A child.
OBSERVATIONS.
a) A strange craft (no details).
b) A being wearing red clothes that looked like iron. He walked with straight legs, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were as big as a cow's.
PLEASE NOTE. The being walked with stiff legs (noted in many observations) as well as long hair and hairy face.
SOURCES. Vallée catalog, case nr 305. - C. Garreau and R. Lavier: Face aux E. T., p. 112 ..
(Michel Figuet, OVNI: Le premier dossier complet des rencontres rapprochées en France., Alain Lefeuvre 1979, p 197)
All the other ufologists will only use Vallée's information, through one or the other of the previous sources.
But "les Egots" in Ste Catherine is a bit vague. Barthel and Brucker strongly criticize Jacques Vallée, who probably had nothing to do with it.
Jacques Vallée, (and only him to our knowledge) retains in his list as places of appearance of "extraterrestrials" "les Egots, near Ste-Catherine": - October 24, 1954 - 5.30 pm
"A child saw a man come out of a strange craft. His clothes were red and looked like iron. He walked with straight legs, had long hair and a hairy face. His eyes were as big as a cow's."
On reading this story, we logically think that "les Egots" is a small hamlet near the town of Sainte-Catherine. Have the curiosity to look in a dictionary of municipalities the number of localities called Sainte-Catherine! We would like to thank Mr. Vallée for the extreme rigor of his work which makes it impossible for almost all the researchers to counter-investigate such a case, because moreover, being indicated as from a "personal" source, no cross-checking is possible!
We have overcome these pitfalls in a few weeks: "Les Egauts" is located near Sainte-Catherine-sous-Riverie in the Rhône department. One remembers very well in this locality the swagger mounted by the children of the village. The mother of one of the kids clarified it for us with a smile. Was she laughing at a good memory, or is it the limitless gullibility of ufologists that put her in such joy?
(Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker, La grande peur martienne, Nouvelles éditions rationalistes, Paris 1979, page 78-79)
Of course the valiant Jean Sider gets on his fiery steed to slay the two disbelievers.
Note [by Dominique Caudron]: Jean Sider first talks about the alleged discovery of Barthel and Brucker.
This "discovery" is interesting for two reasons. Indeed:
1°) - It proves that, when they really checked the names of the places, they made a point of pointing out the insufficiency of the previous inquiries, which corroborates what I brought to the reader's attention on the same kind of deficiency noted at B & B in the cases mentioned above. In other words, they blame the researchers for mistakes they make themselves, which deserves shame!
Note [by Dominique Caudron]: But on this last point, Jean Sider does the same thing.
2°) - It shows that they did not check the sources of the information, which would have avoided them accusing Vallée of a blunder that cannot be attributed to him, because he only repeated what was reported in the Parisian press, which took over an AFP dispatch which, once is not customary, respected the real names. Here is the local version of La Dépêche-La Liberté of October 28, 1954, page 3: "Last Sunday, October 24, around 5.30 pm, a ten-year-old girl,] Janine Séon, living on a farm at a place called Les Égots, commune of Sainte-Catherine (Rhône), rushed back to his parents' place after having seen and heard the occupant of a flying cigar speak - (See in chapter 6, RRS n ° 91 which reveals details hitherto unknown).
Note [by Dominique Caudron]: chapter which takes up the article we saw at the beginning of this page.
In addition, the Dictionary of Municipalities of 1963, Albin Michel, page 1023, indicates Sainte-Catherine, the only locality to bear this name in the Rhône! Same observation in the brochure of the Post Office, Postal Code, 1995 edition, page 204...
That being said, this is what our schemers write on page 79: "We remember very well in this locality the swagger mounted by the children of the village. The mother of one of the girls told us with a smile..."
The proof of this fallacious assertion will be given in the lines which follow. First of all, distinguishing a smile over the phone is a matter of extrasensory perception! Then, Joël Mesnard and Roger Chéreau investigated separately on the spot, one in 1989, the other in 1990, and they were able to ascertain the following points:
-Janine Séon was the adopted daughter of Mrs. Séon, the latter still residing in the village. She had married and had followed her husband to Belleville-sur-Saône where she died in 1983 of a heart attack while she was in the car.
-Janine Séon was the only witness. She made her observation while she was alone, busy attending the cows on the farm.
-Mrs. Séon confirmed the incident, specifying that Janine was upset by what she had seen and, as an adult, she always maintained the version of the facts that she reported in 1954.
Finally, last but not least, Ms. Séon certified that she had never been contacted by anyone since the event, until the arrival of the investigators cited above!
Note [by Dominique Caudron]: This only proves that it was not Mrs. Séon that Barthel and Brucker contacted.
(Jean Sider, Le dossier 1954 et l'imposture rationaliste, Ramuel, 1997, page 37-39)
In 2014 Julien Gonzalez takes over the elements of the file.
Sainte-Catherine, Rhône, October 24, 1954, 5.30 p.m.
Miss Janine Séon, 10 years old.
Note [by Dominique Caudron]: Here the story of the observation reported by the first newspaper then by Jean Sider.
Notes:
1. When the witness advanced towards the craft, her two dogs followed her, but when they came near the "cigar" they ran away without even barking. However, usually they do so when they see hunters.
2. Ms. Lombardin, Janine Séon's teacher, was convinced of the sincerity of her pupil. In particular, she told reporters who came to investigate the scene: "Janine has never made up stories. She is a very positive student, learning well - she is sixth in class - and we can only congratulate ourselves about her. She wasn't the one who could have invented such a story, and personally. I believe in the veracity of his story."
3. The testimony of Janine's aunt, who attended the girl's return following her curious meeting, tends to confirm the young witness's sincerity: "Janine comes running and we understand that something unusual had happened. She was very pale and couldn't explain herself. She was all "revolutionized"! Then. we put her to bed after serving her and, the next day, we didn't send her to school."
Note [by Dominique Caudron]: the sincerity of the witness is not to be doubted, it is the interpretation of journalists and ufologists that can be doubted.
4. In 1979. MM. Barthel and Brucker claimed in La Grande Peur Martienne that this observation was "a boast put on by the children of the village" and that "the mother of one of the little girls repeated [them] with a smile". However, in 1989 and 1990, MM. Joël Mesnard and Roger Chéreau investigated separately on the spot. They found Mrs. Séon, Janine Séon's adoptive mother, who informed them that Janine had died in 1983 of a heart attack while in the car. The adoptive mother confirmed to them that Janine had been the only witness to the sighting while she was busy tending the cows on the farm. Furthermore, she clarified that Janine had been upset by what she saw and that, as an adult, she had always maintained her initial statements regarding this sighting. Finally, Ms. Séon assured them that she had never seen an investigator or received any phone calls regarding the sighting of her adopted daughter.
Note [by Dominique Caudron]: But all this is irrelevant if Barthel and Brucker inquired - without knowing - about another story.
(Julien Gonzalez, RR3 - Le Dossier des Rencontres du Troisième Type en France, Le Temps Présent, 2014, pp 155-156)
The 1972 national dictionary of municipalities in France lists eight "Ste Catherine", including one municipality in the Rhone.
The information given by the first newspaper article is consistent, except that it should read "Sainte-Catherine-sous-Riverie" and not "sur-Riverie". "sous" ["under"] applying to the proximity of a larger town, and "sur" ["on"] to the situation of the municipality on a watercourse which is here "La Platte", which would give "Sainte-Catherine-sur-Platte ". But the town is in the Rhone department, and there is, to the south of the town, a wooded hillside surmounted by the "Croix du Chatelard".
As for the localities "Les Egots", on the Territoires-fr site, there are 4 "les Egots", but none in the Rhone, 2 "les Egauts", but still none in the Rhone, and 68 "Les Egaux", including 2 in the Rhone, but none in Ste Catherine.
Never mind. We inquired at the town hall of Ste Catherine. One did not know of "les Egots" there, but we were advised to get information from a charming old lady who knew the town well, and moreover, was interested in the history of the localities. She admitted to us not yet knowing the etymology of the word, but she confirmed to us that the place called "Les Egots" did exist, and was just behind the campsite, coming from the village, therefore below the Croix du Chatelard.
We therefore have no reason to doubt H. Meilland's article. But what can we deduce from this?
Janine Séon saw a white object land (or maybe a matte metallic sheen), like a dumpster, but larger, with windows. Already, this evokes a helicopter.
Then she saw a man with fiery red clothes (we follow Garreau's correction), long-haired, with a hairy face, and with big eyes. This is compatible with a bearded pilot, in a red jumpsuit, wearing goggles.
The man opened a door, the craft spun around, then went up to the sky where it made no more noise than a sewing machine. All this is still compatible with a helicopter, especially when you know that the sewing machines of the time were much noisier than today, and that the sound propagation depends on the temperature gradient of the air.
And voila! given the fact that the witness is a 10-year-old girl, the description fits well enough with a helicopter that one does not need to imagine a flying saucer, nor a fabrication.
Of course, immediately come the questions: What could this helicopter be, and where could it come from? The witness's description, "like a dumpster with windows" makes one think of a Sikorsky S 51 helicopter, like the one Eliane Bertiaux had seen in Villers-le-Tilleul. It turns out that some Sikorsy [sic] S 51 were transferred in 1954, to the Base school 725, at Le Bourget du Lac, to be used for the training of student pilots. And there are only 100 km between Sainte Catherine and Le Bourget du Lac.
Now why are Barthel and Brucker talking about swagger? It seems that they made inquiries in the right commune, but since they did not contact Ms. Séon herself, it is quite possible that the answer that was given to them concerned another matter. A children's swagger inspired by Janine's story, in fact. It wouldn't be the only time an actual sighting spawns a hoax a few days later. Thus the first observation of a saucer landing, on September 7, was followed as soon as the 8th, by a hoax which was inspired by it. And since Janine's story got little coverage outside of the local newspaper, it's likely the hoax didn't get any, especially if it was fanned out before a reporter arrived. It is therefore quite possible that Barthel and Brucker did not invent anything, but failed to verify that it was indeed the same story.
As often, everyone is wrong! A probable helicopter landing with a pilot in a red suit, becomes that of a flying dumpster with a red Martian, then that of a strange machine from which a no less strange man comes out, then becomes a boast, before that, by the magic of the "UFODNA" website, it becomes outright an abduction story according to Patrick Gross [1], whose page shows that no one thought of a helicopter. However, it was not the first time that a 10-year-old girl who looked after the cows had witnessed the landing of a helicopter: The young Eliane Bertaux had seen one three weeks earlier, but there again no one had thought of a helicopter, not even the gendarmes.
Note [1]: Please do not think that I wrote that this was an "abduction"; UFOdna suggested this and I merely cited this source [uda1] in my file, without sharing this opinion in an manner. [uda1] is actually so confused that it mixes up several very different cases into one...
This is nothing more than a story by a young girl.
There is a "Sainte-Catherine" in the Rhône department:
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Jacques Vallée indicates the location as "Les Egots near Sainte Catherine", and Barthel and Brucker seem to suggest that it would have been to prevent checking. However, the article of the time in the newspaper "La Dépêche-Liberté" indeed indicated "Les Egots near Saint-Catherine." Jacques Vallée thus does not have to stand accused on this point, except for lack of spell-checking a locality's name!
Barthel and Brucker are in addition the only ones to mention "several" children. Only Janine Séon is mentioned in all the other sources. If, as claimed by Barthel and Brucker, the mother "of one of the girls smiles", that implies that they spoke to her in person and not over the phone. Ufologist Jean Sider noticed that Barthel and Brucker invented some their investigations; here, their assertion of several witnesses whereas there is only one in the newspapers which would not have failed to indicate others if there had been any and if one believes the charge of newspapers' sensationalism by these same authors.
Barthel and Brucker say that the locality is not Les Egots but Les Egauts. Indeed, the only locality "Les Egauts" that I could find in France is close to Saint-Just-en-Bas, which as Rive-de-Gier is in the department of the Loire and not in the Rhone, the nearest big city being Saint-Etienne, where the reporting newspaper is located. As that can result from Barthel and Brucker, the newspaper is mistaken with "Catherine-sur-Riverie" which is "Catherine-sous-Riverie" in the Rhone, which is all the same with at more than 70 kilometer of the locality "Les Egauts" close to Saint-Just-en-Bas, while Rive-de-Gier is within 20 kilometers of these places. We are thus probably correctly in the department of the Loire, Rhone-Alpes region, somewhere in the vicinity of Saint-Just-en-Bas and Rive-de-Gier.
As for "La Croix du Chatelard," there is indeed a "Croix du Chatelard" in Maurienne quite far from there, a quasi-alpine summit that has nothing of a timbered hill. There is on the other hand a Wood of Chatelard which dominates the valley of Gier, in a landscape decorated with many crosses of which the oldest date of 1533.
The question of the location "Les Egots" is thus closed thanks to Dominique Caudron [dcn1]; except for the spelling, as Barthel and Brucker said it was "Les Egauts".
A misinterpretation of a helicopter and its pilot is possible, of course. I do not exclude a child's fantasy, such as in Prémanon where kids fooled even the investigating Gendarmes.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Sainte-Catherine-sous-Riverie, Sainte-Catherine-sur-Riverie, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, Les Egauts, Les Egots, man, craft, child, clothes, red, iron, legs, stiff, walk, hair, long, eyes, cow, hoax
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | January 4, 2006 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 2, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [goe1], [djn1], [jbu1], [jbu2], [lcn1], [uda1], [uda2]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | October 10, 2014 | Addition [tai1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | October 24, 2014 | Addition [nip1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | October 7, 2016 | Addition [pls1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | December 14, 2016 | Additions [lgs1], [ubk1]. |
| 1.6 | Patrick Gross | December 23, 2018 | Additions [ioi1], [ldl1], [prn1], [lhh1], [prn2]. |
| 1.7 | Patrick Gross | December 5, 2019 | Additions [cnu1]. |
| 1.8 | Patrick Gross | September 9, 2021 | Additions [jve2], [agd1], [tbw1], [jsr1], [jgz1], [dcn1], Summary. In the Explanations, addition of the "Update on September 9, 2021" part. |
| 1.9 | Patrick Gross | July 11, 2022 | Addition [gab1]. |
