The 1954 French flap:

During a Match

15,000 Florentines watch the maneuvers of a "squadron of saucers"

DURING A MATCH, 15,000 FLORENTINES WATCH THE MANEUVERS OF A "SQUADRON OF SAUCERS"

FLORENCE. -- A squadron of flying saucers appeared, interrupting a football match for half an hour. If it was a collective hallucination, it was a significant one, as 15,000 spectators went home convinced of the existence of the mysterious craft.

According to witnesses, the objects were shiny and flew at fairly high altitude. They left behind a kind of spider web trail, parts of which fell to the ground and were collected by passersby.

Some experts believe the substance could indeed be spider web, as it apparently sometimes gets carried by the wind to great altitudes.

The mysterious substance was analyzed by Professor Giovanni Canneri, director of the Chemistry Institute at the University of Milan.

In his report, the professor noted that the substance had a fibrous structure with considerable resistance to tension and torsion.

When heated, the substance turned brown and left behind transparent ash. After analysis, Professor Canneri stated that it contained mostly boron, silicon, calcium, and magnesium, which relates it to borosilicates.

This is quite different from substances collected under similar circumstances in Oloron, Gaillac, and more recently in the Isère.

There, the materials appeared similar but dissolved and disappeared very quickly without leaving a trace.

TO GET ATTENTION, TWO WORKERS CLAIMED TO HAVE TOUCHED A SAUCER

Two workers from Mitry-le-Neuf, Mr. Christian Porcher and Mr. Jacques Trow, decided to claim they had seen a flying saucer on October 25 near Villepinte to get attention. They even said that the pilot invited them to touch the craft and signaled that he would return.

Unfortunately for these clever "witnesses", the police commissioner of Villeparisis, to whom they wrote to report their sighting, was sharp-eyed. When summoned by the police to explain themselves yesterday morning, they admitted they had made everything up. They will be prosecuted for contempt of a magistrate.

FOR THE SECOND TIME A SAUCER LANDS IN THE VOSGES

EPINAL. -- For the second time in eight days, a mysterious craft was seen in the Vosges. This time, the witness was young Guy Cuvillier from Moussey, near Saint-Dié. On Wednesday evening, he was walking his dog near his home. Suddenly, the dog barked furiously and ran toward a nearby field. The boy followed. A few dozen meters away, the dog had stopped in front of a circular craft resting on the grass. It emitted no sound or light.

The child later gave a fairly detailed description of the craft, saying it was 1.6 meters high and had a diameter of 4 to 5 meters.

At the time, he quickly ran to alert his mother, who was initially skeptical but eventually took him seriously. As they both walked toward the field, a reddish light suddenly rose vertically. Frightened, the mother and child fled and later reported their strange encounter to the police.

A SCOOTER STOPS DUE TO THE PASSAGE OF A LUMINOUS CRAFT

CLERMONT-FERRAND. -- Mr. Jean Lasse, from Vichy, went to the local police station and gave the following account:

- I was returning from Clermont-Ferrand on my scooter when the engine began to sputter inexplicably. I downshifted, thinking it was a carburetion issue. But the engine stopped completely. At that moment, a yellow glow emerged from the nearby forest, followed by red lights, and an ovoid craft rose silently, leaving behind three beams. Then it all vanished. Without any action on my part, my engine restarted.

The young man, who is well-balanced, insists he was not hallucinating. However, there remains the question of how his engine started again without his intervention.

Mitry-Mory

"Fake Saucers"

In Mitry-le-Neuf, two workers from this town, wanting to gain attention, spread the story that they had seen a flying saucer at a standstill in the territory of Villepinte. They even claimed that the occupants of the so-called saucer had approached them cheerfully, gesturing for them to touch the saucer if they were skeptical and even offering, through gestures, to take them on a little trip.

To lend more credibility to their claim, the two workers sent a letter to the commissioner of Villeparisis. However, when questioned shortly afterward at the police station, they "backed down" and admitted they had made it all up to get attention...

They are now likely to gain attention much faster than they expected—but before a court, which will judge them for contempt of a magistrate.