The 1954 French flap:

The Courier of the Somme

A bright "spinning top"
flew over the regions of Moreuil
and Ailly-sur-Noye

In the "saucers" file, today we add three testimonies which cannot be tainted with exaggeration or fantasy. They come from Mr. Pierre Duval, jeweler in Montdidier, his wife and her grandmother, Mrs. Delorme. Our fellow citizens returned from Amiens by car during the night of Wednesday to Thursday. It was 11:15 p.m. when, some 300 meters from Moreuil, they saw, in the sky, at low altitude, a kind of orange "spinning top", rigorously motionless.

The thing lit the sky a little like the sun at sunset. Mr. Duval stopped and put his headlights on hold. The "top" then moved away quickly in the direction of Ailly-sur-Noye. It was soon nothing more than a dot, like a red traffic light, and returned at a very high speed, appreciably to the place it had left, and lower still, it seems. Then it slid at breakneck speed to get lost on the horizon.

The phenomenon had lasted ten minutes. Mr. Duval cannot claim that it was a craft, but he is certain, like his wife, that he was not the victim of a hallucination. As for Mrs. Delorme, she admits having been deeply impressed, especially when the "top" returned to the car.

None of the three witnesses assesses the size of the orange mass whose contours were not clear, but all three agree that the propulsion speed far exceeds that of jet planes.

The "saucer" - you have to give it a name - has moved in the region limited by Rouvrel Sains-en-Amiénois, Estrées-sur-Noye and Guyencourt, said Mr. Duval, road map in hand.

It is possible that other motorists have encountered the mysterious flying top.

We were informed last night that two residents of Villers-Tournelle also saw a luminous object yesterday morning.

***

Yesterday, around 4:50 p.m., nine workers from the Galland firm, road of Rouen in Amiens, saw, very high in the sky, a round and luminous "object" which was moving from east to west.

The mysterious craft stopped for a few moments and resumed its course to disappear on the horizon.

A mysterious machine
in the sky of Camon

Here, on the other hand, is a series of credible testimonies which are currently shaking the whole little town of Camon.

There was Wednesday evening at the town hall of the town a meeting of the Municipal Council which was to examine the ritual multiplicity of tax claims.

It is around 9:45 p.m. that this meeting ended. When the attendees found themselves on the steps of the town hall, they all saw, without exception, the following phenomenon:

Four red balls, veined like agaths, were "installed" in the sky a few hundred meters high. They seemed to designate the four corners of a hanging rectangle, the short sides at the top and bottom.

First immobilized, the balls began to descend slowly above the presbytery garden. At this moment some of the witnesses saw under the reflection of the moon a pale dome which covered the red lights. Then the two lower lights, remaining at an equal distance from each other seemed to detach and lower further towards the ground, the relief of which they seemed to explore.

The maneuver had lasted five minutes when one of the witnesses invited the others to "rush" towards the place of the red lights. This witness was Mr. Brunel, former mayor of Camon, who was with the current mayor, Mr. Garçon, of MM. Masse, deputy, of M. Pertuisot, country gardener, and of MM. Blanquart and Lottin, dispatchers.

Mr. Brunel knocked on the door of the grocery store opposite and the merchant's son rushed out in his garden which borders the place where the fires were operating.

Climbing the fence walls he saw in turn the red lights which, on his arrival, went up a few meters and fled horizontally towards Amiens, at a dizzying speed such as he it took barely a few seconds to disappear.

At 9:40 p.m., Mr. Batellino, plasterer, who lives near the Town Hall, had seen the four red globes pass over a neighboring house. But at that time, the luminous balls which could have a meter fifty in diameter at the hardly appreciable distance where they were seen, were following each other.

***

A teacher from the canton of Nesle came to our office in Péronne yesterday afternoon to report a strange phenomenon that he noted, as well as his wife and daughter, who accompanied him by car, Sunday, around 7:55 p.m., at the exit of Péronne.

As he was about to reach Nesle, he saw arriving from the direction of Barleux, an orange body shaped like a crescent. It was not at high altitude and the motorist estimated the distance between it to 500 meters. This appearance lasted at most a minute, then suddenly the body in question tipped and gradually the two ends came together to finally make a kind of cone.

This phenomenon, which moved from right to left, stopped above the national road, then set off again very quickly, taking a great height, in the direction of Amiens. That is to say, according to the witness, in the opposite direction to that followed previously.

The importance of the illuminated mass was such and so close it was that it could not be confused. Our informant, who did his military service in the weather services, cannot provide any other details, but he thinks he must not have been the only one to have noticed this phenomenon.

SOMME

Mysterious craft move
again in the Picardy sky

For some time now, the appearance of saucers, discs or luminous cigars had stopped in the Picardy sky. Their absence was not very long since again there are reports of recent incursions of these strange craft in different places of the Somme. Two series of testimonies worthy of attention have just been collected.

The first are from Mr. Pierre Duval, jeweler in Montdidier, his wife and his grandmother, Mrs. Delorme. All three returned from Amiens by car, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday. Around 11:45 p.m., about 500 meters from Moreuil, they noticed in the sky, at low height, a kind of orange "spinning top" absolutely motionless. The top lit up the sky more or less like the setting sun.

Mr. Duval stopped and put his headlights on hold. The "top" then quickly moved away towards Ailly-sur-Noye.

After becoming only a red dot on the horizon, the craft returned at high speed to roughly the same place it had left a moment earlier, and a little lower. Then it disappeared into the depths of the sky at breakneck speed.

It had all lasted about ten minutes. Also Mr. Duval and the people who accompanied him were able to observe the "top" at their ease. They cannot say that it is really a craft but certify that they were not victims of a hallucination. And all three state that the speed of the "spinning top" is certainly higher than that of jet planes.

"Red balls"
above Camon

Also on Wednesday evening, a strange phenomenon was observed for a long time in Camon, a commune in the suburbs of Amiens.

Around 9:45 p.m., the town council meeting had just ended. Leaving on the doorsteps of the town hall, the assistants could all see four red balls which seemed "settled" in the sky, a hundred meters high. They seemed to be at the four corners of a hanging rectangle, the short sides at the top and bottom.

Until then motionless, the "balls" began to descend slowly above the presbytery garden. It was then that the witnesses noticed a sort of pale dome which covered the red lights. Then the two lower lights seemed to come off and lower until they seemed to want to touch the ground.

It had been a good five minutes that the "show" lasted when one of the witnesses, Mr. Brunet, former mayor of Camon, invited his companions to rush towards the red lights. There was a knock at the grocery store opposite and the grocer's son rushed into his garden which borders the spot where the fires were located. The young man climbed on the wall of the fence but, on his arrival the "lights" went up a few meters then moved away towards Amiens horizontally and at a dizzying speed.

Around 9:40 p.m., another resident of Camon, Mr. Barrelino, plasterer, had also seen the four red balls pass over the houses, but at that time, the balls, which appeared to him to be one meter in diameter, were placed in a single line.

The population of Camon is still overwhelmed by these very strange apparitions.

 

OBSERVATIONS

(continuation and addenda)

1954

FRANCE -- 3/11: [... others at that date...] Moreuil, Somme; [... others...]