The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 3-Oct-54-Tourcoing.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In 1978, then around 2017, "skeptical" ufologist Dominique Caudron, based in the Nord, cataloged sightings in the Nord region for October 3, 1954, neglected by ufologists, including many that were previously unpublished, and mostly explainable by a red moon whose appearance was altered by clouds.
One of these observations was reported in the regional newspaper La Voix du Nord, Tourcoing issue for October 6, 1954, on page 5:
At an unspecified hour, at the placed called "Le Clinquet", in Tourcoing in the department of the Nord, "mysterious objects were seen."
[Ref. vdn1:] NEWSPAPER "LA VOIX DU NORD":
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Flying saucers in Tourcoing? One says so. So far, it has not yet been possible to establish the veracity of the fact but people claim to have seen mysterious craft pass over the districts of La Marlière and le Clinquet.
However, the concerned organizations state that they are not aware of these facts.
[Ref. dcn1:] DOMINIQUE CAUDRON:
TIMELINE OF A FANTASTIC SUNDAY
The weekend of October 2-3 appears on all charts as the maximum-maximum of the 1954 wave. Various newspapers and magazines that I have been able to check for this period give us an almost complete overview, in any case very broadly representative of the regional observations that were reported in the press for Sunday October 3rd. I have included the observations of the Somme which seemed to me inseparable from those of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and which appear moreover in the chapter entitled "Zigzag on the mining country" of the book by A. Michel: "Mysterieux Objets Célestes." I count, as one case, each observation made by an independent group of witnesses. The astonishing number of observations reported below, once again shows the interest of thoroughly digging into the newspapers archives.
OCTOBER 3, 1954:
[...other cases...]
42) idem [=hour not specified]- "Le Clinquet" - TOURCOING -59-: Mysterious objects were seen. (VdN-Tourcoing, p.5, 6/10)
[...other cases...]
[...]
We know that that evening, at 9:30 p.m., the crescent Moon was setting in the southwest and that according to case 9 it was distorted by low clouds...
Disaster! This bundle of suspicions throws a total discredit on this magnificent series of observations, one of the most beautiful that we have ever found yet. We will have to verify certain data, the direction of certain sightings, the weather conditions, but already the doubt is too great for us to be able to classify these sightings as UFOs.
[...]
In his article, Dominique Caudron listed 46 cases for October 3, 1954 in the north of France; he explained that this corresponds to hundreds of witnesses who do not know each other within an hour and a half time interval, which gives an impression of a "real phenomenon".
He noted that the times do not always match, that there are gaps of up to 40 minutes for the same case depending to its different versions.
He noted that "all these cases are a bit similar", listing the part of the cases where the phenomenon splits in two, or where is said that a disc detached to go to the ground, and recalls that one of the witnesses, Mr. Bonte, explained that the moon was barred by a stratus.
He noted that in 5 of the cases the object is described as a crescent, in others it is a disc, a dome, a collar, in others it is compared to the moon. In 7 cases, the object is said to follow a moving car, but stops when the car stops.
He indicated that in 13 of the cases there was an indication of direction, always the southwest, where the moon was.
He indicated that in 7 cases the object was lowering on the horizon, and that the moon was indeed setting.
He noted that some cases may be explained by the hot air balloons of the retiree from Beuvry-les-Béthune.
[Ref. dcn3:] DOMINIQUE CAUDRON:
Dominique Caudron drew up an inventory of observations in the Nord on October 3, 1954, containing 51 reports, including this one:
[...]
Chronology of the observations of October 3.
We give here only a summary of what was published in the press of the time, for the Nord region, regardless of what the ufologists could later say. We have numbered all these observations, the first of which have nothing to do with the setting of the moon, in order to be able to study them globally in a table. Some are already the subject of a special file.
[... other cases...]
42) Hour not specified, "Le Clinquet", TOURCOING (59)
- Mysterious objects were seen.
(La Voix du Nord-ed. Tourcoing 6/10 page 5)
[... other cases...]
All this is only a compilation of the information given by all newspapers of the time, including local editions, and of which ufologists only used a part.
We will see that the analysis of this information makes it possible to eliminate the hypothesis of a flying saucer, in favor of those of multiple observations of the moon, whose image was reddened and deformed by clouds, which also gave it a illusory apparent movement.
[Ref. dcn4:] DOMINIQUE CAUDRON:
[... other cases...]
42) Hour not specified, "Le Clinquet", TOURCOING (59)
Insufficient information.
[... other cases...]
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Totally insufficient information.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Tourcoing, Nord, Le Clinquet, objects
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | June 6, 2019 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | October 13, 2021 | Addition [vdn1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | July 15, 2022 | Addition [dcn1]. In the Summary, "Around 2017" changed to "In 1978, then around 2017". |
