The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 4-Oct-54-Narbonne.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The regional newspaper La Dépêche du Midi for October 6, 1954, reported that a saucer was seen in the sky of Narbonne:
Two "honourable families" from Narbonne saw for about an hour an "aerial craft which remained at high altitude."
On October 5, 1954, the newspaper heard one of the witnesses, Mr. Raymond Rivière, 52 years old, an inspector of foodstuffs at the halles, living in Moulin-de-Gus, on a bank of the Robine not far from the factory of sulfide about 100 meters from the cooler, who told them:
""It was exactly 9:05 p.m. I was winding up my alarm clock. My son, Guy, aged 28, a PTT [Mail services] agent in Lézignan-Corbières, had just left the door of our lodge when he rushed in and told me that he had just seen a flying saucer."
"He urged me to follow him, and we went out and saw in the direction of Montpellier, high up in the sky, a sort of elliptical disc with a colored cross of a pretty blue-green in its center. Every seven or eight seconds approximately an orange-colored glow passed this cross."
"The apparatus, which had a magical aspect, rotated in a clockwise direction. It ascended, descended, without moving laterally."
"My wife called to join us, as well as the Masberost family, which includes four members, our only neighbors."
"I regretted that we did not have the presence of mind to alert personalities in town, especially as the maneuvers of the flying saucer caught our attention for more than an hour."
"In the morning the mysterious flying machine was no longer in the place where we had noticed it a few hours before."
"However, in the direction of Fleury I noticed a large, brilliant white disk in the starry sky where the moon shone."
"I am sure I did not confuse with a star because this craft was rotating on itself and had a much larger surface than the ordinary stars."
[Ref. dmi1:] NEWSPAPER "LA DEPECHE DU MIDI":
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Narbonne (C.P.) -- Two honorable Narbonne families saw with their own eyes - and what can be called well seen since their observation lasted for about an hour - an aerial craft that maintained high altitude.
Let's talk to one of the witnesses we had the good fortune to join yesterday at noon, in the covered market.
It is an honorable citizen of Narbonne, Mr. Raymond Riviere, 52 years old, inspector of edibles at the halls, residing at Moulin-de-Gus, on a bank of the Robine not far from the sulphide factory at 100 meters of the cooler.
"It was", Mr, Rivière told us, "exactly 9:05 p.m. I was winding up my alarm clock. My son, Guy, aged 28, a PTT [Mail services] agent in Lézignan-Corbières, had just left the door of our lodge when he rushed in and told me that he had just seen a flying saucer.
"He urged me to follow him, and we went out and saw in the direction of Montpellier, high up in the sky, a sort of elliptical disc with a colored cross of a pretty blue-green in its center. Every seven or eight seconds approximately an orange-colored glow passed this cross.
The apparatus, which had a magical aspect, rotated in a clockwise direction. It ascended, descended, without moving laterally.
"My wife called to join us, as well as the Masberost family, which includes four members, our only neighbors.
"I regretted," added M. Riviere, "that we did not have the presence of mind to alert personalities in town, especially as the maneuvers of the flying saucer caught our attention for more than an hour.
"In the morning the mysterious flying machine was no longer in the place where we had noticed it a few hours before.
"However, in the direction of Fleury I noticed a large, brilliant white disk in the starry sky where the moon shone.
"I am sure I did not confuse with a star because this craft was rotating on itself and had a much larger surface than the ordinary stars."
Mr. Raymond Riviere, whose good faith cannot be doubted, concluded with these words:
"I admit that the show was magical, hallucinating, I'd like to nkow what is going on up there?
Yes, to know! Everything is there since everywhere flights of these mysterious flying saucers, that carry the imagination of the earthlings in the field of the marvelous, are reported.
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Montpellier is 80 km northeast (55°) of Narbonne.
At the time of the observation, in Narbonne, it was dark, and roughly in the direction of Montpellier, the only notable astronomical object in the sky is the star Capella with an elevation of 13° at the azimuth 37°4'.
The date of the 4th is a probable but not certain date, however in the preceding days the celestial vault presented a similar configuration.
But this is still a very odd of a star, and furthermore, "very high in the sky" strongly contradicts Capella's low height.
So, unidentified, and possible extraterrestrial craft.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Narbonne, Aude, multiple, night, Raymond Rivière, Guy Rivière, saucer, disc, ellipse, white, green, orange, maneuvers, rotation, cross
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 6, 2017 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | March 27, 2022 | Addition of the Summary. Case day changed from 5 to 4. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
