The 1954 French flap:

Flying saucer stories

The appearance of a saucer and armed Martians terrifies a bressan schoolgirl

Bourg. October 7. - The small town of Dommartin near Montrevel has been in turmoil on a rather relative manner by the way with the story of a young schoolgirl in the locality, Miss Manigand, 12-year-old, living with her parents in the hamlet of Marsily.

Sobbing a lot and appearing hopelessly plagued by the deepest fear, the girl said that it was around 7 in the morning, going to catechism, that she witnessed the apparition.

She saw, she clarified, a flying saucer hovering close over her head and out of which two strange beings armed with long knives came out.

The emotion of the child was such that when she finally arrived at school, it took all the care of her teacher, Miss Puvilland, to succeed in calming her down.

However, despite the wealth of detail with which she surrounded her statement, the girl is the only one in the country to testify, no other local resident reported the passage of any saucer.

No doubt we should put her fright on the account of a too vivid imagination, the young Manigand having gone alone that day, to the village, whereas she usually goes with a few friends.

As for the Martians - that we "had never seen the weapons in hand" - they went away, as far as the schoolgirl said, without even touching the ground.

M.P.

A mysterious craft in the sky of Chambéry

Chambery, October 7. - A resident of Bellevue, who asked us to conceal his name, has observed this day, at 1 p.m., along with all members of his family, a mysterious machine operating at very low speed above Beauvoir.

The craft, which had a metallic gray color, suddenly accelerated, took altitude and disappeared towards the Cross of Nivolet.

According to the observer, the phenomenon lasted about five minutes.

Could it be a flying saucer... or a large transport aircraft?

A resident of Lugrin (near Thonon) reportedly saw two Martians!

Thonon, October 7. - Ms. Elise Blanc, of Lugrin, claims that on August 23, she met two strange men near a contraption that looked like an aluminum camping trailer. The two small beings, about 1 m. 20 tall, were dressed in silvery suits.

When they saw Mrs. Blanc, they grunted like pigs and jumped into their machine that rose, becoming the color of fire, to then disappear in a multicolored cloud.

Some years ago, Ms. Blanc had picked up a brown dog she claimed to be the descendant of the wild beasts that ravaged the flocks in the Valais and the Haut-Chablais.

Mysterious luminous craft in the sky of the Bugey

Montalieu, October 7. -- In the afternoon of Tuesday, while the weather was perfectly clear, several people who were at St. Baudille-de-la-Tour, towards Brotel, not far from President Herriot's residence, saw a mysterious craft at low altitude over the mountains of the Bugey.

According to the testimony of Mr. Vigano, mattress maker in Montalieu, the elongated craft seemed to measure 4 to 6 m. in length. Each end was as bright as a sunbeam.

At the same time, people of St. Sorlain-en-Bugey on the bank of the Rhone on the side of the department of Ain, made a similar observation.

[...]

As of 2 October, the number of daily observations is increasing dramatically. On October 3, there are hundreds, and probably thousands of "witnesses". And the places of observation continue to line up, forming very characteristic networks whose layout evokes a spider's web, with a sort of star-shaped center from which most of the straight lines radiate. A large proportion of cases are also located on several different alignments (at their intersection).

An example of this complex and rigorous provision is offered by the observations of October 7 (see map).

That day, on the territory of France, hundreds of "testimonies" make it possible to plot 23 observation places, of which only one is erratic, in the area of ??Toulouse. The other 22 are organized in 17 alignments:

- One seven spots line: Cherbourg; La Ferte-Macé; Saint-Jean-d'Assé; National 23, east of Le Mans; Lavenay; Montlevic; and finally Cassis.

- Three lines of four spots:

a) Marcillac; Puymoyen; Montlevic; Corbigny.

b) Isles-sur-Suippe; Montlevic; Bournel; Montpezat.

c) Saint-Savinien; Saint-Plantaire; Montlevic; Jettingen.

Finally, thirteen alignments of three spots. One can, at first glance, wonder whether three-spot alignments require an explanation other than chance. But on reflection, chance turns out to be insufficient. Indeed:

1. On the map to the millionth used for this study, the accuracy of the alignments is of the order of a millimeter, equivalent to one kilometer, for distances sometimes exceeding 1000 kilometers;
2. But above all, it must be emphasized that most of the spots are at the same time on several alignments (At their intersections): when one plots two spots on a surface, one gets a straight line; if four points are plotted, one gets six lines (the sides of a quadrilateral and its diagonals), determining, in addition to the four primitive spots, three spots of intersection at most; therefore, if one plots three new spots at random, what is the chance for these spots to intersect? Virtually none. The realization by chance of such a provision is therefore highly improbable. If coincidence happens regularly every day for weeks, the chance explanation becomes almost impossible.
3. Finally (and this is perhaps the most troubling part of the case), how can it be explained by chance that this provision lasts only 24 hours?

In-depth analysis of all these alignments is beyond the scope of an article. A glance at the corresponding map is more eloquent than a long speech. We discover this feature, which I have tentatively called "orthoteny" (2), until further studies allow, if necessary, to relate it to some phenomenon already known and provided with a name existing in the dictionary.

Provisionally, therefore, the "orthoteny" is the rectilinear disposition, generating networks, of the vast majority of flying saucer observations of the Fall of 1954. This arrangement is so surprising that one must, a priori to adopt a systematic distrust about it. Before recognizing it for a real event, one must consider every possible means to reject it.

On October 7, 1954, France is furrowed with observations in a straight line

1. CHERBOURG ...One saw luminous globes! (Paris-Presse - 10-10-1954)

2. DUCLAIR ...Mr. X, blinded y a luminous beam, reopened the eyes, saw a ball that disappeared in a few minutes. (Parisien Libéré - 9-10-54)

3. ISLES-SUR-SUIPPES ...on the edge of the road, an object of more than 3 m in length like a big shell pierced with portholes... (Paris-Presse - 10-10-54)

4. PLOZEVET ...sharp gleam, dense smoke... (France-Soir - 10-10-54)

5. SAINT-BIHY ...luminous globes... (France-Soir - 9-10-54)

6. LA FERTÉ-MACÉ ...a mysterious craft, which was rising vertically, leaving behind itself a white trail... (Black out sur les soucoupes volantes, Jimmy Guieu, Fleuve Noir publishers)

7. HENNEZIES ...A "spaceship" and its occupants seen by two children... Egg-shaped object, red, the top pointed at the yky... (Black out sur les soucoupes volantes, Jimmy Guieu, Fleuve Noir publishers)

8. SAINT-ÉTIENNE ...three craft produced a violent white light; - one of the craft was round like a saucer, the two other elongated like cigars. (France-Soir - 9-10-54)

9. SAINT-JEAN-D'ASSÉ ...a gleam of an intense blue color.. (Aurore - 9-10-54)

10. BALLON ...stars as big as the Moon (sic!). (France-Soir - 9-10-54)

11. LAVENAY ...a flying egg... (France-Soir - 9-10-54)

12. DORDIVES ...a weird object... (France-Soir - 9-10-54)

13. CHALETTE ...an oval-shaped luminous craft. (France-Soir - 9-10-54)

14. LES AUBIERS ...a red disc... (France-Soir - 9-10-54)

15. CORBIGNY Craft of cylindrical shapes, emitting red-orange gleams when they were horizontal and of a dazzling white when they rose vertically. (Aurore -8-10-54)

16. BERUGES ...a lighted mushroom... (France-Soir - 10-10-54)

17. SAINT-SAVINIEN ...a luminous disc. (Sud-Ouest - 14-10-54)

18. SAINT-PLANTAIRE

19. MONTLEVIC ...saucers, cigars, luminous globes and flying discs... (Paris-Presse - 9-10-54)

20. JETTINGEN ...a half-spherical cupola. (France-Soir - 10-10-54)

21. PUYMOYEN ...A the place where a saucer had landed, twelve samll heaps of ash in the middle of a 1,50 m circle and, among the ashes, small sticks... (Paris-Presse - 9-10-54)

22. MARCILLAC ...shape of inverted funnel. (Combat - 12-10-54)

23. BOURNEL ...circular shape... (Combat - 12-10-54)

24. MONTPEZAT ...a luminous circle, orange-colored... (Combat - 12-10-54)

25. BEAUVOIR ...a mysterious craft flying at a rather slow pace. (Parisien Libéré - 9-10-54)

26. MONTEUX ...a phosphorescent craft and of 2,50 m height... (local Press - oct. 54)

27. BOMPAS ...a formation of saucers... (Black out sur les soucoupes volantes, Jimmy Guieu, Fleuve Noir publishers)

28. CASSIS ...the object, which seemed to be in aluminum, was very shiny. (Provençal)

Alignments exist. What do they mean? This is a mystery...

The case file is not faked

First question to ask: Is it true that the observation spots are aligned as this article claims?

To check this, just look for the spots in question on a chosen map in such a way that the lines of the map correspond as exactly as possible to the great terrestrial circles in the considered place. For France, it is the millionth map, Bonne projection, in the trade by Michelin (Michelin map nr 989). Ones locates the spots by looking for them in a dictionary of the communes, for example that of Berger-Levrault.

Second question: did the author invent all or part of these observations in order to find alignments? To enable researchers to answer this question, I have used in my research only observations that were already made public.

Third question: Did the author choose the observations that are aligned, creating a phenomenon that would not exist if other unreported observations restored the disorder of chance?

Of course, I cannot hope to know all the sightings because many of the witnesses did not say anything. But I used in my work all observations made public, as one can check by studying my book. To prepare the maps, I therefore only used published cases, and I used them all. There was no invention, no selection. Anyone can completely redo the work I did: one only needs to consult the collection of newspapers of the time, taking care though, however, of dates, not of the newspapers publication of course, but of the reported phenomena.

We come to the most delicate aspect of the problem posed by these strange alignments. What do they mean?

I have shown in detail the results of my research to several prominent scientists, including two Masters of Research at the C.N.R.S. It is very unfortunate that orthotenia is linked to the "saucer phenomenon", so discredited, because all these scientists, whom I cannot name, are now convinced that the alignments show a real and original phenomenon.

Real, that is, objectively taking place in space, not in the imagination of the witnesses.

Original, that is, not related to anything known so far. Neither airplanes, sounding balloons, sundogs, meteors, lightning bolts, nor hallucinations, lies, and facetious inventions are observed along lines forming networks. It is something else. What is it?

In my opinion, we are not close to knowing it. But perhaps the demonstration of the geometric superstructure revealed by the wave of 1954 will finally incite a greater number of scientists to worry about it. Allow me to express the wish here. Personally, the discredit that is attached to this research begins to put me down. It is overwhelming in the long run to have my curiosity viewed like a sin.

Aimé Michel

Note:

• (2) From a Greek word meaning "stretched in a straight line".

25. BEAUVOIR: ..a mysterious craft moving at a rather slow pace.. (Parisien Libéré for 9-10-54).

October 7 [, 1954]

[... other cases...]

01:00 p.m.: Beauvoir (Near Chambéry--Savoie): lumin.sph.

[... other cases...]

For the day of October 7, Aimé Michel noted among others, two alignments: Hennezis-Montlevicq-Bompas and Plozevet-Montlevicq-Beauvoir; which was conform to the theory of the star-shaped networks.

That is to say: in the center of the stars that appeared by the crossing of several orthotenic lines, always appeared a cigar or a sphere of clouds. It is so here, with the observation of Montlévicq, sometimes recorded at Saint Plantaire (Indre).

Let's go back to the first line: Hennezis, no credibility at all anymore; Bompas doubts on the date, Jacques Vallée gives October 7, the "Figaro" for October 13gives the 9th, Quincy says it is in the night from the 7th to the 8th. As of the second one: Plozevet recorded by Quincy at about 0 o'clock, investigation is impossible; Beauvoir, the weather balloon cannot be excluded. These two alignments intersect over the department of the Indre. So we find here the observation noticed by Aimé Michel. Only here, on the admission of a witness, the affair is a hoax. Aimé Michel was right, in the center of a network one always observes a cigar of clouds or a sphere... devoid of any interest.