The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 30-Aug-54-Buxerolles.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
Around 2008, an English-speaking UFO sighting catalog, on the Web, indicated that on August 30, 1954, at 8:30 p.m. in Buxerolles, France, "Nocturnal lights were reported."
The source was given as the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), a US ufology group, and newspaper clippings.
It was quite plausible that there was an observation in Buxerolles, undoubtedly reported in the press: that day around 8:20 p.m., a meteor passed over the northwestern part of France.
It was in 2025 that I found the original information confirming my idea: in an article from the regional newspaper Le Courrier de l'Ouest fot September 3, 1954, one could indeed read:
Before closing this article, we would like to connect these testimonies - and the ones that came before - to an article published in "Libre Poitou." Our colleague says he received from Father Colin, priest of Buxerolles near Poitiers, and a graduate of the World Meteorological Organization, a very interesting report regarding a meteor seen in the Poitou sky on August 30 around 8:30 p.m. This specialist saw, 30 degrees above the horizon and coming from the Gamma star in the Andromeda constellation, "a magnificent meteor with an apparent length of 1.5 meters, of a dazzling green color, slowly streaking toward the ground. This meteor, roughly the size of a bottle," Father Colin specifies, "did not resemble a typical shooting star, which is fast and followed by a whitish luminous trail."
This interesting testimony from a well-informed witness would seem sufficient to explain the phenomenon witnessed by so many people. At most, we could classify Monday's sighting under the category of "unidentified celestial objects" and leave the label of "flying saucers" for another time.
[Ref. coe1:] NEWSPAPER "LE COURRIER DE L'OUEST":
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In yesterday's edition, we reported a number of testimonies about the unusual phenomenon observed Monday evening in Angers, which immediately led to speculation about a flying saucer passing through our skies.
During the morning, two new witnesses came to further confirm this sighting, which, as we said, was also seen by two of our staff members.
Mr. and Mrs. Chancoin, who were on vacation that day in Fresne-sur-Loire, clearly saw a greenish ball, whose glow was comparable to that of fluorescent tubes of the same color, heading in the indicated direction.
"We were quite surprised," Mr. Chancoin told us, "by this phenomenon, which did not at all resemble the passage of a meteor. Although fast, the speed of the object was much slower than that of a shooting star, and in fact, night was only just beginning to fall."
A second confirmation was given to us by Mrs. Rousseau, who lives in the Saint-Michel suburb and was returning from Ponts-de-Cé around 8:20 p.m. Monday evening via the Ruelles path.
"I clearly saw," she said, "a green ball, surrounded by a very unusual glow, which disappeared toward the north within a few seconds. This ball, apparently the size of a light bulb, emitted a very lovely green light."
Finally, several letters reached us during the day yesterday, as well as a press clipping that may, it seems, put a final word on this flying saucer matter - if indeed it was a saucer.
From Villevêque
First, a reader from Plessis-Grammoire wrote to us regarding the greenish glow seen Monday evening in the sky: "We had gone to drop off friends in Villevêque. We were chatting on the campground when a glow caught my attention. I [unreadable]: Look, a shooting star. But since there were no stars, this struck us as odd.
"This glow resembled a firework rocket. It lasted about 10 seconds and disappeared toward the north. We saw no brown disc and heard no sound; this glow was very high in the sky."
We connect this letter to another sent by a female reader of our newspaper, who also saw, at the same hour, a luminous globe heading north and "leaving only a faint trail in the sky." Mrs. Ernest Chupin, from La Chapelle-Rousselin, also saw an orange disc with a green tail cross the sky between two clouds.
The saucer in Indre-et-Loire
A reader from Rigny-Ussé, in Indre-et-Loire, intrigued by our first article, also confirmed to us the statement from Miss Claire Cordier, who was the first to report the phenomenon. This reader was at a farm during threshing and saw, at precisely 8:20 p.m., the brown disc and the glow "heading at dizzying speed toward the north. There were about ten of us men," he said, "who saw it. The diameter of the disc could have been 50 cm." And our subscriber, who initially thought it might have been a rocket launched from the Fonterrault training field, adds: "In any case, this disc was seen in several places throughout Touraine." Finally, a reader from Faye-d'Anjou confirmed these various accounts in identical terms.
"A meteor in the Poitou sky"
Before closing this article, we would like to connect these testimonies - and the ones that came before - to an article published in "Libre Poitou." Our colleague says he received from Father Colin, priest of Buxerolles near Poitiers, and a graduate of the World Meteorological Organization, a very interesting report regarding a meteor seen in the Poitou sky on August 30 around 8:30 p.m. This specialist saw, 30 degrees above the horizon and coming from the Gamma star in the Andromeda constellation, "a magnificent meteor with an apparent length of 1.5 meters, of a dazzling green color, slowly streaking toward the ground. This meteor, roughly the size of a bottle," Father Colin specifies, "did not resemble a typical shooting star, which is fast and followed by a whitish luminous trail."
This interesting testimony from a well-informed witness would seem sufficient to explain the phenomenon witnessed by so many people. At most, we could classify Monday's sighting under the category of "unidentified celestial objects" and leave the label of "flying saucers" for another time.
[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:
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August 30 [, 1954]
08:20 p.m.: Seine/Seine-et-Marne/Yonne/and 15 other departements: luminous body + trail of sparks + explosion over Paris. (meteor)
About 9 PM: Sens(Yonne): luminous ball (same observation?)
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 30 August 1954 at 20:30 in Buxerolles, France, "Nocturnal lights were reported."
The source is indicated as National Investigations Committee Aerial Phenomena, NICAP investigation files; Newspaper Clippings.
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19540830 | 30.08.1954 | Buxerolles | France | 20.30 |
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Probably the August 30, 1954, meteor at 08:20 p.m.
As soon as 1958, Aimé Michel published [am1] very interesting pages on the observations for August 30, 1954: it was a meteor, and he uses this example of a meteor event to show the similarities and differences between UFO reports and meteor reports. He notes that this meteor was reported by hundreds of witnesses in more than 20 departments. It was seen finally exploding by a witness at La Porte des Lilas in Paris.
It however appears that except Aimé Michel, almost none of the authors of the other later sources publishing these sightings took care to give the explanation. Yet these other authors are generally aware of Aimé Michel's book, which they sometimes quote for other cases, as if they had a quite selective reading method... or as if they chose to use the poorest sources instead...
Neither did they understand the descriptions of the sightings. They call "UFO" what was obviously a meteor, and let their readers believe in an unexplained observation.
The sighting places for the matching cases are:
| Vanves | 48.824 | -2.289 |
|---|---|---|
| Buxerolles | 46.616 | -0.4833 |
| Le Coudray-sur-Thelle | 49.305 | -2.124 |
| Angers | 47.466 | -0.550 |
| Paris | 48.856 | -2.351 |
| Creil | 49.258 | -2.479 |
The plotted sighting places:
|
The case files and their sources for this meteor event:
| Vanves, Hauts-de-Seine. | 21:00 |
| Buxerolles, Vienne. | 20:30 |
| Coudray-sur-Thelle, Oise. | ~20:30 |
| Angers, Maine-et-Loire. | 20:20 |
| Paris. | ~20:20 |
| Creil, Oise. | 20:00 |
Note on the sighting times: it would be silly to mistake the given hours for stop watch measurements, like some ufologists did in some cases (For example Charles Garreau...). People did not inevitably walk around with a wristwatch then, did not inevitably look at a clock, did not think inevitably of asking or checking the hour. The press was then satisfied enough to write things like "at about 08:30 p.m.". The most probable hour is "approximately 08:20 p.m."; it is the less "rounded at half an hour".
What the witnesses said, when it is known:
| Vanves, Hauts-de-Seine. | ? |
| Buxerolles, Vienne. | Luminous |
| Coudray-sur-Thelle, Oise. | glowing ball seeming to fall. |
| Angers, Maine-et-Loire. | Fast brown disc surrounded of green gleams. Shining disc-shaped light followed of a rather short tail, very fast, sems to fall. |
| Paris. | Luminous circular flying object. |
| Creil, Oise. | ? |
These descriptions are concise, they are the ordinary words of ordinary people, noted by newspapermen subjected to brevity rules, they are not scientific descriptions. What is clear is that there is no strangeness at all in the reports, no "impossible manoeuvers", no "humanoid occupants", no beams, no landings etc.
Update of August 30, 2025:
With the information I found in [coe1], a contemporary source, it is clear that it was indeed a meteor, recognized as such immediately.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Buxerolles, Vienne, lights, night, Abbot, Colin, weatherman, meteor, green, dazzling, trail, white, luminous, negative case
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 23, 2010 | First published, [uda1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | October 30, 2011 | A search on the web and in my documentation did not reveal other sources. Explanation changed from "Probably the meteor of that day" to "The 30 August 08:20 p.m. meteor". Addition of the "Note on the meteor for that day". |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | November 25, 2016 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | August 31, 2021 | Additions [gqy1], Summary. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | August 30, 2025 | Addition [coe1]. In the Summary, addition of the information from [coe1]. In the Explanations, addition of the "Update of August 30, 2025" part. |
