The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 2-Oct-54-Les Rousses.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In his 1958 book "Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery", the pioneering French ufologist Aimé Michel reported, without giving a source, an observation in the village of Les Rousses, in the Jura on the Swiss border not far from the Lake of Geneva, on October 2, 1954, at 03:15 p.m.
The 23 children of the school were in the playground, watched by their teacher, Mrs. Jaillet, when they saw quite high above the Noirmont mountain, that is to say to their south-east, an elongated object in the form of a short white streak, which was initially hardly noticeable due to its distance.
The "object" quickly approached and within minutes was close enough to be described as close to descriptions of other cases of what Aimé Michel called the "vertical cloud cigar."
Witnesses saw the "object" move from a horizontal position when it moved sideways to a vertical position when it was stationary. At one point, the witnesses saw very clearly for a few seconds a shiny yellow disc emerging from the large cloud cigar and soon hiding in it again.
Then, the cloud, described by witnesses as a trail, resumed its horizontal position to move sideways at high speed in the direction of Dôle, towards the northwest.
Following the publication by Aimé Michel, the case will be repeated, often in a synthetic manner, without ever any further information being given.
[Ref. aml1:] AIME MICHEL:
Aimé Michel reports that at the community of Les Rousses in the Jura on the border with Switzerland, not far from the Geneva Lake, on October 2, 1954 at 03:15 P.M., the twenty three children of the school were in the playground, under supervision of their teacher, Mrs. Jaillet.
They then saw at their south-east, an elongated object appearing first as a short white trail, because it was initially far away in the distance, rather high above the mountain of Noirmont.
The object approached quickly in a few minutes and was quite similar int its description to things seen in other cases so Aimé Michel called it: the traditional vertical cloud-cigar.
The witnesses saw the object changing from the horizontal position when it moved laterally, to the vertical position when it was motionless.
At one time, the witnesses very clearly saw during a few seconds a shining disc of yellow color which came out of the large vloud-cigar, only to soon re-enter in it.
Then, the cloud, described by the witnesses as a trail, took again its horizontal position to move laterally and moved fast in the direction of the city of Dôle, towards the North-West.
[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:
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October 2 [, 1954]
[... Other cases...]
03:45 p.m.: Les Rousses (Jura): cloud cigar + yellow disc
[... Other cases...]
[Ref. jve5:] JACQUES VALLEE:
| 194 | -006.06000 | 46.48200 | 02 | 10 | 1954 | 15 | 45 | 105 | LES ROUSSES | F | 1117 | C** | 184 |
[Ref. pis1:] "PHENOMENES INCONNUS" UFOLOGY BULLETIN:
In this ufology bulletin, Alain Barbe published a map with cases (but not all the 61 cases or more) for October 2, 1954, including that of Les Rousses, which he, like Aimé Michel did, thooght to often be "aligned" beyond mere chance:
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[Ref. htr1:] HERBERT S. TAYLOR:
"October 2, about 3:45 p.m., Les Rousses (Jura Department). A teacher, Mme. Jaillet, along with the 23 schoolchildren that she was supervising, saw in the sky to the southeast an elongated object in the shape of a short white trail or train. At first barely perceptible, it approached quite rapidly and soon the object was seen to be a cloud cigar. The witnesses then saw it switch from the horizontal to the vertical position and become stationary. At one point, a gleaming yellow disk emerged from the cigar. It was in sight for several seconds before they lost sight of it. Then the train resumed its horizontal position and began moving forward again, disappearing rapidly toward the northwest. The whole event took 4–5 minutes."
[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:
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2 October. Les Rousses, France. (about 3:45 p.m.)
School teacher, kids, see "classic cloud cigar."
According to Aime Michel:
"The village of Les Rousses is situated on the Swiss frontier, not far from Lake Geneva. At about 3:45p.m., twenty-three school children were outdoors, supervised by their teacher, Mme. Jaillet, when they saw in the sky above Mount Noirmont, in the southeast, an elong~ted object in the shape of a short white trail or train. At first it was barely perceptible, because of its height and its distance. However, it approached quite rapidly, and some minutes later the phenomenon as it was described corresponded exactly to the classic 'huge cloud cigar.' As at St-Prouant, the witnesses saw the object pass from the horizontal position (when moving laterally) to the vertical position (when motionless). At one stage, they perceived very clearly for several seconds a gleaming yellow disk which slipped out of the cigar, only to hide itself again shortly. Then the cloud-the 'train,' said the witnesses-resumed its horizontal position at the same time as its motion, and disappeared at a lively speed in the direction of Dole, that is, toward the northwest. The sighting lasted four or five minutes." (xx.)
(xx.) Michel, Aime. Flying Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery. p.112.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":
3908: 1954/10/02 15:50 1 6:03:40 E 46:29:00 N 3333 WEU FRN JRA 7:A
LES ROUSSES,FR:HZNTL CLOUD-CGR TURNS VERTICAL:SCR SEEN BRIEFLY:>NW:/r138#9
Ref# 49 MICHEL,Aime: FS & STRAIGHT LINE TH: Page No. 112 : PASTURE
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates in his database that in the Jura in Les Rousses on October 2, 1954 at 15:45 hours, "the twenty three children of the school in the playground, were watched after by their teacher."
"They then saw rather high above the mountain of Noirmont, that is to say in their south-east, a lengthened object in the shape of a short white trail, which initially was far from perceptible because of its distance."
"The object approached quickly and in a few minutes it was ready [language error for "close", "près" i.e. "close" not "prêt" i.e. "ready"] enough to see a vertical cigar."
"The witnesses saw the object passing from the horizontal position when it moved laterally to the vertical position, when it is motionless. At one time, the witnesses saw very clearly during a few seconds a disc shining of a yellow color which comes out of the large cigar of cloud to hide in it soon again. Then, the cloud, described by the witnesses as one trail, takes again its horizontal position to move laterally and it left at a sharp pace in the direction to Dôle, towards the North-West."
The source is indicated as "M.O.C. by Michel Aimé ** Arthaud 1958".
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 2 October 1954 at 15:45 in Les Rousses, France, "A hovering object was observed. One cigar-shaped object, about 10 feet across, was observed by seven witnesses for five minutes (Guiron; Jaillet)."
The sources are indicated as Michel, Aime, Flying Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery, S. G. Phillips, New York, 1958; Poher, Claude, Etudes Statistiques Portant sur 1000 Temoignag, Author, undated; 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); Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002.
[Ref. prs1:] "LE PROGRES" NEWSPAPER:
The mystery of the famous ufos in the Jura
In his book "Les Mystères du Jura " published by De Borée publishers in the end of 2009, Alain Lequien, with an historian's approach, listed the observations of unidentified flying objects (ufos) in the department of the Jura. There was the red ball of fire of Poligny, [...] the close encounter of the third kind of Prémanon, the cigar of the schoolboys of Les Rousses, the multicoloured oscillating object of Dole, [...] the white and luminous phenomenon of Meussia, [...]
[Note: I only noted the 1954 cases mentions from the article.]
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This database recorded the case three times:
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Les Rousses | France | 15.45 | ||||||
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Les Rousses | France | 15.45 | ||||||
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Les Rousses | France | 15.45 |
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This was quite possibly a jet plane contrail:
The horizontal positions and the vertical position would match with a jet plane crossing the entire sky during a turn. The "disc" seen at one time would be the plane when the reflection of the sky color on the hull would not act to hide it completely.
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(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Les Rousses, Jura, children, multiples, Noirmont, daytime, white, diurnal, object, trail, cigar, cloud, disc, duration, displacement, manoeuvre, fast
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | September 12, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | February 19, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1], [uda1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | January 17, 2010 | Addition [prs1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | June 20, 2010 | Addition [jve5]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | September 13, 2014 | Addition [lgs1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | January 2, 2017 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | November 2, 2021 | Additions [pis1], [lhh1], Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
| 1.6 | Patrick Gross | November 29, 2021 | Addition [gqy1]. |
