ufo - UFOS at close sight: the 1954 French flap, September 27, Buttes-Chaumont, Paris

Reference for this case: 27-sep-54-Buttes-Chaumont2.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

The newspaper Le Parisien for September 28, 1954, reported they received three phone calls the evening before at about 10 p.m., reporting the passage of a luminous disk on Paris.

Moments after the first call, Mr. Thibaut, who lives at 78, avenue Secrétan, confirmed to the newspaper what the 1st witness had told, saying:

"- Is it a flying saucer? I would not swear it, but it was a luminous disc which, after a short stop above the Buttes-Chaumont, sped towards Montmartre."

Reports:

A MYSTERIOUS LUMINOUS CRAFT WAS SEEN ABOVE PARIS LAST EVENING

Several of our readers took the trouble to call us last night, around 10 o'clock, to tell us about an observation that had moved them deeply.

It was Mr. Ilias, 18 rue David-d'Angers, who first informed us:

"I was making a little tour with my wife," he told us, when we saw a luminous craft, a bit like a neon-lit disk passing over the Buttes-Chaumont. It stopped for five or six seconds, then it set off again at full speed in the east-north direction."

Moments later, Mr. Thibaut, who lives at 78, avenue Secrétan, confirmed to us the words of Mr. Ilias:

- Is it a flying saucer? I would not swear it, but it was a luminous disc which, after a short stop above the Buttes-Chaumont, sped towards Montmartre.

And, in Montmartre, Mr. Georges Chapty, who lives at 36, rue Jouffroy, saw, too, luminous "craft".

- I saw it arrive from the east of Paris, it stopped a short moment above the Sacré-Coeur, then it left again at full speed without changing course - that is to say in the direction north northwest.

It should be noted that our volunteer correspondents are careful not to say that they saw a flying saucer. But they agree on the direction, the speed and the luminosity of the mysterious craft.

According to the French ufologist Aimé Michel, on September 27, 1954, at about 10 p.m., Mr. Thibault, who resides at the 78, avenue Secrétan in Paris, sees a luminous disc coming in the sky, which stops for a few seconds above Buttes-Chaumont, then leaves at fast speed in the direction of the Northwest.

Paris. 27 septembre

[... other cases in the Paris area...]

A M. Thibault, who lived at 78 Avenue Secretan made a report that was identical to M. Ilias' - except for the direction the UFO departed, naming a northwest course instead of one due north. 142

The source "142" is given as: "Michel, Aime. Flying saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery. p.86."

Luc Chastan indicates in his database that in Paris on September 27, 1954 at 22:00 hours "Several witnesses undoubtedly reported the same object" and "Street David-d'Angers around 22 hours, a witness made a small tour with his wife saw a luminous machine similar to a disc lit with neon which arrived in the sky from the East at sharp pace. The witness reports that the luminous disc arrived above Butte-Chaumont where it suddenly stopped during five or six seconds, after that it set out again in the direction of the North."

"Still at about 10 p.m., another witness, residing avenue Secrétan, sees arriving in the sky a luminous disc, which stops a few seconds on Buttes-Chaumont, then goes at a sharp pace in the direction of the North-West. Finally a last witness residing street Jouffroy observed around 22 hours, that an object arrived of the East. It stopped a short moment above the Sacred Coeur, then set out again at full speed in the north-north-west direction."

Explanations:

The distance between Mr. Thibaut and Mr. Ilias home is 1.17 km in a straight line. Mr. Chapty is 5.10 km from Mr. Thibaut.

Unfortunately we do not know exactly where Mr. Ilias was, because he was doing "a little tour". The positions of the other two witnesses are not certain either, maybe they were at home, maybe not.

One can only say that there is no apparent contradiction as to the position they attributed to the "disk".

- Three witnesses and all speak of a stop. I know there may be an illusion of a stop when one follows a meteor with one's eyes, but it depends a lot on the viewing angle. This happens when the meteor seems to "rise" when coming from behind the horizon, and then seems to "accelerate" when approaching.

Here we have Mr. Chapty well in the West of the Buttes-Chaumont, seeing the "disc" arrive from the East of Paris, seeing it stop in the direction of the Sacré-Coeur, which is almost that of Buttes-Chaumont where both other witnesses see it and one of them says it stops; then, says Mr. Chapty, it goes to the north-northwest. He thus has the trajectory of the "disc" parading before his eyes from his right to his left, with perhaps a turn, an angle of view certainly different from that of the two other witnesses. This does not seem to me at all conducive to an illusion of stopping.

This is all very puzzling. But alas, no investigation, no total duration, no elevation angle...

So, if a trivial explanation is needed at all costs, it would be a meteor; but I am hardly convinced.

Version:	Created/Changed by:	Date:	Change Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	April 13, 2004	First published.
1.0	Patrick Gross	February 1, 2010	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Addition [lcn1].
1.1	Patrick Gross	July 29, 2019	Additions [lpn1], [lgs2], Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet."
1.2	Patrick Gross	April 15, 2022	Additions [lgs1], [gep1].

The 1954 French flap:

September 27, 1954, Buttes-Chaumont, Paris:

Summary:

Reports:

A MYSTERIOUS LUMINOUS CRAFT WAS SEEN ABOVE PARIS LAST EVENING

Explanations:

Keywords:

Sources:

Document history: