The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 31-Oct-54-Arry.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In his "Preliminary catalog of 500 observations", published in his 1966 book "Les Phénomènes Insolites de l'Espace", Jacques Vallée noted in synthetic form an observation on October 31, 1954, at 8:00 p.m. in Arry in the Somme department in France. There was no source or details, and I couldn't find anything else about this so far.
[Ref. jve5:] JACQUES VALLEE:
| 401 | -001.71990 | 50.27760 | 31 | 10 | 1954 | 20 | 00 | 1 | ARRY-SOMME | F | 001 | E |
[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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541031 | 31.10.1954 | Arry | France | 20.00 |
|
I wondered whether this case would be the one of the same day in Long, also in the Somme department, but Long is 30 kilometers South-East of Arry.
The question arose all the more because although I was able to obtain what appears to be all the articles relating to the "saucers" from the newspapers of the Somme for 1954, including the local issues, I couldn't find anything about a sighting in Arry.
Here are the locations for the October 31, 1954 reports:
|
The places may suggest that the whole of the observations are that of the same meteor. The hours and descriptions suggest it for some of the reports, but not for all.
| Dossier: | Notes: |
|---|---|
| Arry, Somme. | No description, no information. |
| Yssingueaux, Haute-Loire. | Description od a meteor, but duration too long. Hour given as about 09:00 p.m. |
| Colmar, Haut-Rhin. | Vague description, witness are children. Seen to the East. 06:45 p.m. |
| Meyreuil, Bouches-du-Rhône. | Description of meteor kind, seen going South to North. 06:30 p.m. |
| Nimes, Gard. | Description of meteor kind, seen going South to Northwest. 06:15 p.m. |
| Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin. | Totally different time, 04:00 a.m. |
| Lézoux, Puy-de-Dôme. | possible red moon. Incompatible direction, duration 30 minutes, hour not known. |
| Corrompu, Somme. | Incompatible direction, 30 minutes sighting. 09:00 p.m. |
It appears that for this day, the observations in Meyreuil and Nimes are probably that of a meteor of going roughly from the South towards the North at approximately 18:15 - 18:30. Perhaps the observation in Arry has the same explanation, no information confirms or denies this.
The observation in Yssingeaux could be that of this meteor only if the newspaper had badly understood the hour as well as the duration; in Long, the duration and the direction would both be false.
For Lézoux, nothing matches with the 18:15 meteor. For Colmar, the initial direction would be false, if it is reliable - it is given by a child. The direction according to the adult would correspond.
Thus, for the Arry sighting, I estimate that it is possible that the explanation is the meteor, but there is no certainty about it.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Arry, Somme, night
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | July 11, 2010 | First published, [jve5]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | October 31, 2011 | A search on the web and in my documentation did not reveal other sources. Change of the explanation "Not looked for yet" with the paragraphs about the sighting reports for that day. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | March 9, 2017 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | June 30, 2022 | Addition of the Summary. |
