The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 8-Aug-54-Contrexeville.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
François Diolez of the French ufology group CNEGU set up a catalogue of cases in the Vosges, in November 1984, with the help of ufologist François Lagarde.
The catalogue indicates an observation in Contrexéville and Vittel on Sunday, August 8, 1954 at 03:00 local time published in an article in La Liberté de l'Est for August 9, 1954:
"A FLYING CIGAR IN THE SKY OF CONTREXEVILLE?"
"Last Sunday at 3 o'clock in the morning, many people worthy of faith observed a curious meteor which moved horizontally in the direction South-North above Contrexeville and Vittel, at an altitude that one can roughly estimate as 800 or 1 000 meters. The machine - if machine there is - was of undecided contours, in the shape of a cigar say some: a bluish flame escaped from the back, followed of a brush of sparks. There was no possible confusion with shooting stars, particularly abundant that night and the fireworks of the Lake of La Folie had been finished for one hour. While arriving above Vittel, the meteor increased its speed considerably and disappeared."
Diolez specifies that this was the entire article and comments on: "was this a beautiful meteor?"
[Ref. aml2:] AIME MICHEL:
But during the days that followed [July 24, 1954] similar observations [as the sighting in Talence] were made at [... other cases...] Contrexeville, [... other cases...] and other places. The remarkable thing was that only the local papers made mention of these sightings. As a consequence the witnesses had no way of knowing that other persons in other places were having the same experiences.
[Ref. lbs1:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "LA LIGNE BLEUE SURVOLEE?":
|
9°) CASE Nr F/98/88540808 (01)
CONTREXEVILLE / VITTEL - SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, 1954
03:00 P.M. Local Time
Witnesses: Several
Sources: La Liberté de l'Est article of August 9, 1954
"A CIGAR FLYING IN THE SKY OF CONTREXEVILLE?
"Last Sunday at 3 o'clock in the morning, many reliable people observed an odd meteor which moved horizontally in the South - North direction above CONTREXEVILLE and VITTEL, at an altitude which can be estimated approximately at 800 or 1000 meters.
The craft - if craft there is - was of indecisive contours, cigar-shaped some say: A bluish flame escaped from the rear, followed by a plume of sparks. There was no possible confusion with the shooting stars, which were particularly abundant that night and the fireworks at LAC DE LA FOLIE had been over for an hour. Arriving above VITTEL, the meteor considerably increased its speed and disappeared.*
(Full article).
Comments: Was it a nice meteor?
[Ref. lbs2:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "LA LIGNE BLEUE SURVOLEE?":
|
| Num. | DATE | PLACE | TIME | SHORT DESCRIPTION | 1234 | SOURCES | EXPLANATIONS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08/01/1954 | CONTREXEVILLE | 3 a.m. | Observation of a "cigar" moving rapidly in the sky from South to North. A bluish flame was observed aft, followed by a plume of sparks. | ...X | Liberté de l'Est for 08-08-1954 | Fireball probable |
The case was noted down a second time, with the correct date:
| Num. | DATE | PLACE | TIME | SHORT DESCRIPTION | 1234 | SOURCES | EXPLANATIONS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08-08-1954 | CONTREXEVILLE VITTEL |
03:00 a.m. | Observation of a "cigar" moving rapidly in the sky, from South to North. A bluish flame was observed aft, followed by a plume of sparks. | ...X | Liberté de l'Est for 08/09/1954 | Fireball |
[Ref. fdz1:] FRANCOIS DIOLEZ:
François Diolez of the French ufology group CNEGU set up a catalogue of cases in the Vosges, in November 1984, with the help of ufologist François Lagarde.
The catalogue indicates an observation in Contrexéville and Vittel on Sunday, August 8, 1954 at 03:00 local time published in an article in La Liberté de l'Est for August 9, 1954:
"A FLYING CIGAR IN THE SKY OF CONTREXEVILLE?"
"Last Sunday at 3 o'clock in the morning, many people worthy of faith observed a curious meteor which moved horizontally in the direction South-North above Contrexeville and Vittel, at an altitude that one can roughly estimate as 800 or 1 000 meters. The machine - if machine there is - was of undecided contours, in the shape of a cigar say some: a bluish flame escaped from the back, followed of a brush of sparks. There was no possible confusion with shooting stars, particularly abundant that night and the fireworks of the Lake of La Folie had been finished for one hour. While arriving above Vittel, the meteor increased its speed considerably and disappeared."
The author of the catalogue specifies that this was the entire article and comments on: "was this a beautiful meteor?"
|
Perfect description of a meteor.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Contrexeville, Vosges, night, cigar, flame, blue, bluish, sparks, multiple
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | January 30, 2007 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 6, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | April 16, 2022 | Addition [aml2]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | June 8, 2022 | Additions [lbs1], [lbs2]. |
