ufo - UFOS at close sight: the 1954 French flap, October 6, Murs-Erigné, Maine-et-Loire

Reference for this case: 6-Oct-54-Murs-Erigné.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

The regional newspaper La Nouvelle République du Centre Ouest for October 8, 1954, reported on page 8 that a young farmer, Mr. Pirault, found himself, according to what he said to the newspaper, at the end of a dirt road, in the presence of a mysterious craft surrounded by a dozen small red lights and which gave off an intense light.

The craft looked like a kind of sidecar, more than 3 meters high and elongated. Frightened, the farmer fled on his bicycle to his home. When he came back to the place with his father, he noticed that the clover of the path had been trod on a certain extent.

The newspaper added that two neighbors had seen at the same hour a strange phenomenon in the sky. It was, they said, like a cloud rolling on itself and changing color uninterruptedly.

In 1979, the two "skeptical" ufologists Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker reproduced this article, provided a meaningless comment and said that "the case of Frégné" is a good example of the flying saucers nonsense in the press of the time.

They suggested that if it had the shape of a motorcycle with a sidecar, it was because it was really a motorcycle with a sidecar, at the same time assuring that the object might not have had this shape, because the press of the time may have distorted the story.

In 1997, in his book on the French wave of 1954, French ufologist and author Jean Sider noted from the same article in the newspaper La Nouvelle République du Centre Ouest, that on October 6, 1954, at Murs-Erigné, near Angers in the Maine-et-Loire, a Mr. Pirault witnessed a case of landing trace of a "sidecar-shaped craft" in which clover has been trod on some extent.

He gave the following details from the newspaper, in another chapter of his book:

On Wednesday, October 6, 1954, around 08:00 p.m., in Erigné near Angers, Maine-et-Loire, the young farmer Pirault found himself at the end of a dirt road, in the presence of a mysterious craft surrounded by small red lights, which gave off an intense heat.

The machine looked like a kind of sidecar, two meters high and very elongated. He was scared and fled home on his bike.

When he returned to the scene with his father, he noticed that the clover of the road had been trod on some extent.

At the same time, two neighbors had seen a strange phenomenon in the sky. They said it was like a cloud rolling on itself and changing color continuously.

Reports:

A young farmer, Mr Pirault, was, he told us, at the exit of a dirt track, in the presence of a mysterious machine surrounded by ten small red lights and which released an intense light. The machine resembled a kind of motorcycle with a side-car, high of more than 3 meters and of elongated shape. Frightened, the farmer flees on his bicycle until home. When he reconsidered the location, accompanied by his father, he noticed that the clover of the path had been pressed on a certain extent. Two neighbors saw at the same hour a strange phenomenon in the sky. It was, they stated, like a cloud on fire rolling on itself and changing color in an uninterrupted manner.

The two authors reproduce the article by the newspaper La Nouvelle République du Centre-Ouest for October 8, 1954, indicating that "the case of Frégné" is a good example of the flying saucer nonsense in the 1954 French Press.

They suggest that one must wonder what suggested the side-car shape, that it may not have had this particular shape, that the Press of the time may have deformed the story.

They say that the witness interrogation can provide the answer: it had the shape of a motorcycle with a side-car because it really was a motorcycle with a side-car. Also, they wonder why a "newspaper should have published that a witness X or Y saw the moon? It's stupid." They add that ufologists "confuse the potential witnesses that we all are" and that this is how "such abberrations have survived."

14 - Case of Frégné (?), Maine-et-Loire

Here is yet another remarkable case of trickery [by Barthel and Brucker, [bbr1]]. Page 119, B& B cite an incident they claim to have occurred in Frégnier, referring to the following source: La Nouvelle République du Centre-Ouest of Friday, October 8 (page 8, not indicated by B & B!).

It is a better source than the Figaro, of course, but if they had really consulted it (which they didn't), they could have avoided making a huge blunder. Indeed, according to this local newspaper, this landing occurred in �rigné, which is part of the commune of Murs-�rigné, near Angers! There is indeed a Freigné but 45km east of Angers. I think Frégné comes from an erroneous record.

But that's not all. B& B claim to have spoken with the witness, Mr. Pirault ¹¹! The latter would have told them that the object described in the shape of a sidecar, was in fact... a real sidecar! This "confession" is all the more suspect as it comes from a man allegedly found in a locality that does not exist! Note that Mr. Pirault had indicated a size of two meters for the height of the observed object, which is incompatible with a motorcycle sidecar! Finally, as two neighbors noticed a strange phenomenon in the sky at the same time, this makes the version of a UFO on the ground quite plausible.

Another indisputable proof of an imaginary interview!

As for this two-meter-high "sidecar" abandoned by his motorbike, what can I say except that ridicule, for the rationalists, has long ceased to kill.

[...]

11 - Questioned on the telephone, Mr. Jean-Marie Pirault claimed not to have a memory any more of his observation, but remembered that at the time everyone had made fun of him. Another witness who must have developed a psychological block to the point of claiming that he no longer memorized his observation, although he still remembers the vexatious remarks of those around him...

3992: 1954/10/06 20:00 1 0:31:20 W 47:24:00 N 3333 WEU FRN M&L 7:6

MURS-ERIGNE,FR:1 OBS:2M TALL 'ELONGATED SIDE-CAR' UP CLOSE:CLOVER CRUSHED

Ref#194 LUMIERES dans la NUIT.(LDLN France) Issue No. 319 : FARMLANDS

Luc Chastan indicates that in the Maine at Loire in Murs Erigné on October 6, 1954 at an unknown hour a witness observes a trace of landing of a "craft in the shape of side-car motorcycle" in which clover was flattened on a certain surface.

The website indicates that on 6 October 1954 at 20:00 in Murs-Erigne, France, "2m tall 'elongated side car' up close. Clover crushed. An object was observed. Traces found. One elongated object, about 10 feet across, was observed by one witness on a farm for over one minute (Laroche)."

[Note: the witness name is not Laroche. The Laroches are the witnesses of the Chantonnay case.]

The sources are listed as "Bowen, Charles, The Humanoids: FSR Special Edition No. 1, FSR, London, 1966; Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073); Vallee, Jacques, Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma, Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1966; Vallee, Jacques, Preliminary Catalog (N = 500), (in JVallee01); Vallee, Jacques, A Century of Landings (N = 923), (in JVallee04), Chicago, 1969; Schoenherr, Luis, Computerized Catalog (N = 3173); Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002".

Explanations:

If Barthel and Brucker had thought a bit, they would have understood that the witnesses and / or the newspaper said "a sidecar shape", and not "a shape of motorcycle and side car". This is obviously not the same thing.

If Sider had read Barthel and Brucker well, he would not have said that their investigation was imaginary, since Barthel and Brucker obviously did not investigate, but just commented.

As for what was seen it may have been a helicopter, a farming machine, or an extraterrestrial craft.

Version:	Created/Changed by:	Date:	Change Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	November 28, 2005	First published.
1.0	Patrick Gross	January 20, 2009	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1], [uda1].
1.1	Patrick Gross	October 6, 2019	Additions [lhh1], Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet."

The 1954 French flap:

October 6, 1954, Murs-Erigné, Maine-et-Loire:

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