The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 31-Oct-54-Le Bizet.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The regional newspaper Nord-Matin, in the Armentières issue for November 2, 1954, on page 3, reported observations in the hamlet of Le Bizet near Armenières:
Residents of Bizet told them that at almost 8 p.m. on Sunday, October 31, 1954, a woman and her daughter who were returning home were intrigued by the frantic race of two little girls who seemed disturbed.
The woman and her daughter turned around and then saw in the sky, towards the west, an object at first reddish, in the shape of a crescent, which took various shades.
The girls stopped, and explained that they had seen this object moments before, and that it was moving at that time. But within a short time, the "saucer" appeared to descend and disappeared.
A young Bizet couple had also seen this phenomenon.
And at rue Paul Lafargue, around 7:45 p.m., a mason had alerted his neighbors, indicating an unusual light that lit the roofs. Soon everyone noticed a cylindrical, whitish object, which took a yellow and then a blood red color. It took the shape of an elongated disc, hovered for about twenty minutes above the mental hospital, changed to the shape of a half crescent moon, went out and disappeared.
The newspaper adds that many residents had also seen this "saucer" which made the conversations of that Sunday evening.
[Ref. nmn1:] NEWSPAPER "NORD-MATIN":
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Was the Armentières sky crossed by one of these machines that hit the headlines.
We can suppose it, if one believes many testimonies of several people from the border hamlet of Bizet and the limit of the cities of Armentières and Houplines constituted by the rue Paul Lafargue.
Here is what the residents of Bizet told us: it was almost 8 p.m. Sunday when a woman and her daughter, who were returning home, were intrigued by the frantic race of two little girls who seemed disturbed.
They turned around and then saw in the sky, towards the west, an object at first reddish, in the shape of a crescent, which took various shades.
The girls stopped and explained that they had seen this object a few moments before and that it was "moving"... But soon the "saucer" seemed to descend and disappeared. A young Bizetian couple also observed this phenomenon.
Rue Paul Lafargue, around 7:45 p.m., a mason alerted his neighbors, indicating to them the unusual light that lit the roofs. Soon everyone noticed a cylindrical, whitish object, which turned yellow before taking the color of blood. Taking the form of an elongated disc, this object hovered for about twenty minutes above the psychiatric hospital, overturned, this time taking the form of a half-crescent moon, went out and disappeared.
Many residents also saw this "saucer" whose appearance fed the conversations of this Sunday evening.
[Ref. mju1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ARMENTIEROIS" CITED BY MICHEL JEANTHEAU:
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Weekly "L'ARMENTIEROIS" (Armentières,59) for Sat 11/6/1954,p.2:
SAUCERS
In the sky of le Biset different people saw an unusual object, having the shape either of a crescent or of a cylinder. It was also seen above the mental hospital where it hovered quite a long time before disappearing.
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The immediately obvious explanation is: the Moon.
Not only is the comparison with the Moon made, but the change in color corresponds well to a Moon with a "red" hue as it sets on the horizon.
So I checked if there was a crescent Moon setting to the West around 7:45 p.m., 8:00 p.m. on October 31, 1954, from Le Bizet.
At 07:45 p.m., the Moon was in the direction 225° 16', at the low height of 2° 24', it will set at 08:08 p.m., and it was in its last crescent.
This therefore fits perfectly, except that 225° is to the southwest rather than the west - but it should be well known that directions given without compasses are not necessarily entirely reliable.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Le Bizet, Nord, night, multiple, mason, woman, girl, young girls, object, red, reddish, white, yellow, whitish, crescent, saucer, descent, disc, cylinder
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 15, 2020 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | January 28, 2021 | Addition [mju1]. |
