The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 7-Oct-54-Roumazières-Loubert.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In 1979, in their book "La Grande Peur Martienne" supposed to debunk the whole French wave of 1954, "skeptical" ufologists Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker use an article from the newspaper La Nouvelle République (in fact La Nouvelle République du Centre-Ouest) for October 12, 1954; which reported an observation of October 7, 1954, in "Roumazière" (actually Roumazières-Loubert) in the Charente department, as follows:
"Madame Allègant saw at a hundred meters from her and at low altitude, a luminous craft in the shape of a barrel. It was not possible for her to stare at the mysterious craft because the violence of the light yellow lights that it projected forced her to look away. Mr. Léon Dutilleuil who was next to her also observed the phenomenon which disappeared after a few minutes."
Barthel and Brucker first comment that they "investigated" such cases, and that they discovered "none of these wacky tales has any credibility."
But then they say that in this case, the witness was "not found after investigation."
In 1984, an investigation report by J.-A. Bouchet, J.-L. Demaille and B. Poeydaban was published in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit #237-238.
They indicated that on November 24, 1979, they found the witness, Mrs. Allignant, born on July 11, 1901, still residing at the same address as the one from which she had made her observation, 108 Route Nationale at the South-West exit of Roumazières, and she confirmed hrt observation to them as conforming to what had been reported in the newspaper La Charente Libre for October 12, 1954.
The other witness was Mr. Louis Dutisseuil, a neighbor of Mrs. Allignant, who had died about fifteen years ago.
The investigators recall the story of La Charente Libre for October 12, 1954:
"A luminous object in the shape of a barrel was seen by Mrs. Allignant. When questioned, she said: Thursday around 11:30 a.m. leaving my house to feed my rabbits, I was surprised to see in front of me, at a low height above the schools, a craft in the shape and the size of a barrel. Wanting to look at it to understand what it was, it was impossible for me to stare at it. The light yellow gleams it projected hurt my eyes, forcing me to look away. Mr. Louis Dutisseuil, who, at that moment was next to me, also saw the same phenomenon, he was amazed."
"As I was calling my daughter to show it to her, it slowly disappeared in the direction of Puybernanrd when she arrived."
Mrs Allignant provided the following details to the 1974 investigators:
- The luminous phenomenon was located close to the ground, below the schools, in a meadow.
- It started off slowly and went on the horizon, passing over schools at a speed comparable to the speed of a car.
- The phenomenon looked roughly like a barrel in a vertical position, 1 meter high.
- The second witness, Mr. Dutisseul would have seen the phenomenon similarly.
- The sighting lasted a maximum of 2 minutes.
- Mrs. Allignant's husband, a farmer, was in the fields and could not see the phenomenon, and Mrs. Allignant's daughter, Simone, called by witnesses, was slow to come and saw nothing of the phenomenon.
- Mrs. Allignant told them that she had good vision at the time.
- She has never seen anything since, nor heard of testimonies.
The investigators met with the local press correspondent of La Charente Libre, Mr. Louis Labaruss, then town hall secretary. After a moment of reflection, he remembered the case: he had indeed seen Mrs. Allignant, and had sent the article to the newspaper. He remembered Mrs. Allignant's difficulty in describing her vision. He thinks she was serious, but on the other hand, the second witness seemed to have a "less alert mind."
Mrs. Allignant told them that since her sighting, no one had contacted her about it, not even by phone.
The ufology group "Lumières Dans La Nuit" in 1989, then Jean Sider in 1997, did not fail to castigate Barthel and Brucker for their "investigation" with a "witness not found" while she was still living at the same address, and their lack of explanation as to why they insisted the case would be a "wacky tale" that "does not retain any credibility."
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors provide the article of the newspaper La Nouvelle République for October 12, 1954 which describes as follows the observation of October 7, 1954, in Roumazière [sic] in the department of the Charente:
"Mrs Allègant saw at a hundred meters of her and at low altitude, a luminous machine which had the shape of a barrel. It was not possible to her to stare at the mysterious machine for the yellow violence of its gleams that it projected obliged her to look away. Mr. Léon Dutilleuil who was nearby also observed the phenomenon which disappeared, after a few minutes."
Further on in their book they that the witness [sic] was untraceable when they wanted to investigate.
[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
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ROUMAZIERES (CHARENTE) October 7, 1954 - 11:30 a.m.
Investigation conducted on November 24, 1979
Witnesses: Mrs ALLIGNANT Denise born on 7/11/01, residing at 108 Route Nationale in Roumazières.
Mr. DUTISSEUIL Louis, who died about fifteen years ago, neighbor of Mrs Allignant
Location: SW exit of Roumazières, at Mrs Allignant's address.
The facts: We will use the story of the Charente Libre dated October 12, 54 "A luminous craft in the shape of a barrel was sighted by Mrs. ALLIGNANT." Questioned, she told us: Thursday at 11:30 outside at the front of my house to feed my rabbits, I was surprised to see in front of me, at a low height above the schools, a machine of the shape and size of a barrel. Wanting to look at it to understand what it was, it was impossible for me to stare at it. The light yellow glow that it projected hurt my eyes, forcing me to look away. Mr. Louis DUTISSEUIL, who at that moment was next to me, also saw the same phenomenon, he was amazed.
Calling my daughter to show it to her, it slowly disappeared in the direction of PUYBERNARD when she arrived.
We found Mrs. Allignant. She confirmed her observation as described in the newspaper of the day. She made the following clarifications:
- The luminous phenomenon was located near the ground, below the schools, in a meadow.
- It started slowly and went on the horizon passing over schools quickly (comparable to the speed of a car). Mrs Allignant cannot say more.
- The phenomenon was roughly like a barrel in a vertical position 1 meter high.
- The second witness, Mr. Dutisseul, would have seen the phenomenon likewise.
- The observation lasted a maximum of 2 minutes.
- Mrs. Allignant's husband, farmer, was in the fields and could not see the phenomenon.
- Mrs. Allignant's daughter, Simone, called by the witnesses, was slow in coming and saw nothing of the phenomenon.
- Ms. Allign said she had a good vision at the time.
- She has not seen anything since, or heard of testimonies.
We saw the local correspondent of the Charente Libre, Mr. Labaruss Louis, then secretary of the town hall. After a moment of reflection, he remembered the case. Indeed, he had seen Mrs. Allignant and sent the article to the newspaper.
He remembers Ms. Allignant's difficulty in describing her vision. He thinks the witness is serious. On the other hand, the second witness seemed to have a less awaken mind.
Details: Since his observation, no one has contacted the witness (even by telephone) to discuss this matter.
[Ref. ldl2:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
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3. Roumazières (Charente), October 7, 1954. Barthel & Brucker version, who propose two contradictory theses for this case:
1: "... in order to be objective, we had to investigate these cases. Fortunately, we were not mistaken, none of these eccentric tales has the slightest credibility." p. 164/168.
2: Roumazieres 16: Witness not found after investigation. p. 196.
LDLN version: Mrs. Denise Allignant was interviewed on November 24, 1979 (by Messrs. Bouchet J.-A., Demaille JL, Poeydaban B.) and confirmed her observation "as described in the newspaper of the time". Since her observation, no one has contacted the witness (even by telephone). LDLN 237/238 p. 28: if the witness cannot be found after an investigation, it is not clear what evidence shows that the observation has no credibility. The fact that the witness was found by LDLN 25 years later, in the city of the observation, speaks volumes about the seriousness of B&B's research.
[Ref. jsr1:] JEAN SIDER:
Jean Sider indicates that the counter-investigation by Barthel and Brucker on the "CE0" case in Roumazières or more exactly Roumazières-Loubert in the Charente is "imaginary."
He notes that Barthel and Brucker write in their book on page 168 that such observations, "ones guesses", are hoaxes, and others are confusions, and others still are curious ways of describing shooting stars, but that to be objective they investigated and found that none of these cases has any credibility.
Jean Sider notes that the investigation in question for this case is limited to their note saying "untraceable witness after investigation", and that it is silly to consider that the case is an oddball story under the pretext they failed to found the witness.
He adds that actually, on November 24, 1979, a few weeks after the publication of the Barthel and Brucker book, Denise Allignant was interrogated by investigators J.-A. Bouchet, J.-L. Demaille and B. Poeydaban. She confirmed her observation and told them that nobody had asked he on the matter since her observation, not even by phone. Sider specifies that she was not difficult to locate since she still resided in Roumazières, whereas Barthel and Brucker did not even seek to contact her.
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Charente in Roumazières on October 7, 1954, at 11:30 hours, "a woman comes out of her home to feed the rabbits when she observes an object of the shape of a barrel in vertical position close to the ground downwards of the schools in a meadow. The size of the object is approximately 1 m. the witness does not manage to stare at the object because it projects yellow gleams that hurt the eyes. The object starts gently and leaves towards the horizon, passing above the schools at the speed of a car. A second witness who was beside the woman confirms the testimony."
Luc Chastan indicates that the source is "Lumières dans la Nuit".
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 7 October 1954 at 11:30 there was a sighting in Roumazieres, France.
The sources are indicated as "Newspaper Clippings".
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541007 | 07.10.1954 | Roumazieres | France |
|
Barthel and Brucker name the witness "Allègant", Sider names her "Allignant". Probably, Barthel and Brucker simply took a phone book, did not find the - erroneous - name in there, and were thus simply satisfied to state that the witness is "untraceable" whereas they simply did not find her. To call that an "investigation" and to deduce from it that the case is closed and explained is indeed not very clever on their part. Moreover it is obvious that even an investigator with only a bit of intelligence would have understood from a phonebook that "Allègant" was perhaps "Allignant", a name right below...
As for the sighting, it may have been a meteor - if one agrees that the "barrel" was not really vertical.
For the moment, I only have another case of October 7, 1954 at 11:30 a.m., that of Montlevicq, which could also be the supposed meteor, but which would be a hoax according to Barthel and Brucker...
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Roumazières, Roumazière-Loubert, Charente, Allègant, Léon Dutilleul, multiple, machine, luminous, barrel, plugging, yellow, gleams, duration, craft
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | January 16, 2006 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | May 6, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1], [uda1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | February 20, 2017. | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | December 19, 2019 | Additions [ldl1], [ldl2]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | November 7, 2021 | Explanations changed, "Not looked for yet" replaced with the paragraphs "As for the sighting..." and "For the moment...". |
