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The 1954 French flap:

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

January 26, 1954, Dijon, Côte-d'Or:

Reference for this case: 26-jan-54-Dijon.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

Around 5:40 a.m. on January 26, 1954, what was obviously a meteor had passed over northeastern France.

In the regional newspaper La Bourgogne Républicaine, from Dijon, for January 27, 1954, on page 5, one wondered if there had been a "Luminous phenomenon in the Dijon sky?"

The journalist, obviously flying saucers buff Charles Garreau, indicated that the day before around 4:50 a.m., several inhabitants of Dijon reportedly saw "a sudden luminous trail, seeming to follow an elongated body, of orange color."

Garreau believed that it was neither a meteor nor a shooting star, on the grounds that it seemed that the phenomenon occurred under the clouds which were about 1.500 meters high.

He launched a call for witnesses; which will allow collecting other testimonies in the region, with a geographical extent typical of that of the passage of a meteor, as were the descriptions.

In the regional newspaper La Gazette Provençale for February 1^st, 1954, one assured that it were "Luminous Celestial craft", "flying saucers", that several people had witnessed the passage of a celestial body of great luminous intensity, in the east of France, last week, when it "was barely 5 o'clock", and the sky was quite overcast. The newspaper added without realizing the contradiction:

"A meteor suddenly emerged from the southeast, rushing northeast, radiating an intense purple light."

The newspaper indicated that the first to report it were two policemen from Dijon.

In his late 1954 book on flying saucers, the science fiction writer and pioneering ufologist in France Jimmy Guieu indicated that on January 26, 1954, in the sky of the Dijon area, around 04:50 a.m., a luminous object, orange, elongated, followed by a luminous trail had appeared.

It was going to the north-west, casting a blinding glow over the countryside. Guieu says it was moving very low, less than 1400 meters; which was the altitude of the cloud layer that day at 4:45 a.m.

He indicates that the object had "suddenly projected a powerful purple ray that then quickly disappeared to make room for intense light." Witnesses were panicked, he said, because of its low altitude.

Reports:

[Ref. lbr1:] NEWSPAPER "LA BOURGOGNE REPUBLICAINE":

[Ref. lgp1:] NEWSPAPER "LA GAZETTE PROVENCALE":

[Ref. lbr2:] NEWSPAPER "LA BOURGOGNE REPUBLICAINE":

[Ref. jgu1:] JIMMY GUIEU:

Science-fiction writer and pioneer ufologist in France Jimmy Guieu indicates that on January 26, 1954 in the sky around Dijon, at approximately 04:50 of the morning, a luminous, orange, elongated object, followed by a luminous trail, appeared.

It moved in the direction of the North-West by projecting a dazzling light on all the countryside. Guieu indicates that it moved very low, at less than 1400 meters, which was the altitude of the cloudy ceiling there at this day at 04:45 of the morning.

The object suddenly projected a powerful purple ray; which then disappeared quickly to be replaced with an intense luminosity. Witnesses were afraid because of its low altitude.

A witness of Nuit-Saint-George, Mr. Guyennot, told Jimmy Guieu:

"I was not very reassured and I wondered whether I have been dreaming."

Jimmy Guieu evokes two other witnesses:

Mr. Monnet, of Tilchatel, riding his bicycle, was blinded when the object passed.

Mr. Louis Jacquot, of Liffole-Grand in the Vosges at 100 kilometers of Tilchattel, who made these remarks in his report to the gendarmes:

"I had the impression that the sky split in two. I felt at the same time like a burn in the eyes and the ears."

Jimmy Guieu adds that the Investigation Committee of the ufology group Ouranos, of which he was a member, had tens of relations of the event showing that the witnesses were worried and frightened by the phenomenon, "one of them did not dare anymore to look at the enormous spacecraft which approached," another perceiving heat and a whistling sound, a third being dazzled by the thing although being behind his shutters, and another running away in panic.

[Ref. cpr1:] CLAUDE POHER:

In 1968-1969, before the official GEPAN ufology effort started, its future head Dr Claude Poher was a member of the unofficial GEPA ufology group, and gathered a computer coded listing of more than 700 UFO reports on which multiple factors statistical computation could be run. In the file were a number of 1954 French UFO reports, among those this one.

For readability, a decoded interpretation of the data is provided here under the original 80 character encoded string. Decoding was done according to the original indications, the code number and its generic meaning is given. Please not that the generic meaning of each code is a predefined category, not the real specific details of the case. For example, if the main witness' age was 33, the coding would result in a number "3" which corresponds to a category "Adult from 21 to 59 years."

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

[Ref. via3:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "VIMANA 21" - ADRUP:

This magazine listed this case:

[Ref. via2:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "VIMANA 21" - ADRUP:

[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:

The sources "58". "59" and "60" refers to "Guieu, Jimmy. Flying Saucers Come Worn Another World, p.148."

[Ref. rbt1:] NEWSPAPER "LA GAZETTE DE COTE-D'OR":

[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:

Luc Chastan indicates that in the "Côte d'or" in Dijon on January 26, 1954 at 04:50 hours "Tens of witnesses observed whereas the sky was covered at high altitude, an object in the shape of an orange cigar followed by a luminous trail. t projected dazzling gleams on all the countryside and moved in straight line in direction of the Northwest. It was very low at less than 1400 meters altitude of the clouds this day there. It suddenly projected a powerful purple ray which disappeared quickly and made place to an intense luminosity Some witnesses would have felt a heat, others took fear in front of the phenomenon."

The sources are noted as "Les Universons by Poher Claude ** http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/universons/" and "Les soucoupes volantes viennent d'un autre monde by Guieu Jimmy ** Fleuve Noir 1954".

[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:

The website indicates that on 26 January 1954 at 04:50 in Dijon, France, "One object was observed by 11 witnesses (Guyennot)."

The sources are indicated as "Poher, Claude, Etudes Statistiques Portant sur 1000 Temoignag, Author, undated; Schoenherr, Luis, Computerized Catalog (N = 3173)."

[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":

Explanations:

The meteor of January 26, 1954, at 04:50 a.m.

Keywords:

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

Dijon, Côte-d'Or, night, luminous, purple, orange, elongated, trail, ray, clouds, multiple, burn, effects, whistling sound, low, dazzled, frightened, bicycle

Sources:

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

• [lbr1] Article in the regional newspaper La Bourgogne Républicaine, Dijon, France, page 5, January 27, 1954.
• [----] Article in the regional newspaper Le Bien Public, Dijon, France, January 27, 1954.
• [lgp1] Article in the regional newspaper La Gazette Provençale, Avignon, France, France, page 2, February 1, 1954.
• [lbr2] Article in the regional newspaper La Bourgogne Républicaine, Dijon, France, page 5, 22 février 1954.
• [jgu1] "Les Soucoupes Volantes Viennent d'un Autre Monde", book by Jimmy Guieu, Fleuve Noir publisher, France, page 161, 1954.
• [jgu1] "Les Soucoupes Volantes Viennent d'un Autre Monde", book by Jimmy Guieu, Omnium Littéraire publisher, France, page 161, 1954.
• [cpr1] "Statistics from 735 UFO Observations", papier par le Dr. Claude Poher, GEPA, France, non daté.
• [gep1] "Catalogue mondial des observations - Fichier OVNI GEPO Pasqualini 1954, list, in the ufology bulletin GEPO Informations, ufology group GEPO, France, #16, page 13, April / May/ June 1979.
• [via3] "Listing fichier ADRUP", in the ufology magazine Vimana 21. ADRUP, France, #17, 4^th quarter 1984.
• [via2] "Catalogue départemental des observations d'OVNIS, in the ufology bulletin Vimana 21, A.D.R.U.P. ufology group, France, #17, page 13, 4^th quarter 1984.
• [lgs1] "UFOs: A History - 1954 January-May", compiled by Loren Gross, page 19, 1990.
• [----] "Computerized Catalog", compiled by Luis Schoenherr.
• [rbt1] "A la une - OVNI: mythe ou réalité?", article by Roald Billebault in the newspaper La Gazette de Côte-d'Or, France, May 10, 2007.
• [lcn1] Base OVNI France, website by Luc Chastan, France, circa 2005, at baseovnifrance.free.fr/listgen.php?typlist=9&page=0&numobs=396
• [uda1] "26 Jan 1954 - Dijon, France", web page by the UFOdna website, circa 2008, at www.ufodna.com/uf05/uf4/054468.htm
• [ubk1] Online database UFO-Datenbank, Germany, found in 2016, at ufodatenbank.de

Document history:

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This page was last updated on April 5, 2022.