The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 9-Jan-54-Cernay.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The regional newspaper L'Alsace for January 12, 1954, reported that at 08:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 9, 1954, the flying saucer that had been seen in the sky of Bergheim and Lunéville had also been seen in Cernay.
Under a cloudless sky, several travelers who were waiting for a bus outside the church suddenly saw above them "a disc of yellowish color, its size reminded that of the full moon." A luminous tail seemed attached to the "thing" that was moving at high speed.
When "the saucer", which came from the direction of the Vieil Armand, had passed the church, lightning tore the sky and "hundreds of stars sprang out from all sides."
Witnesses said that the disc must have exploded, but without any sound.
In 1979, the two "rationalists" ufologists Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker put, rightly, this observation among others on their map of the sighting of the meteor seen that morning.
[Ref. lae1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ALSACE":
We reported in our last issue that Saturday in the morning, a flying saucer had been seen in the sky of Bergheim and Lunéville. The passage of that saucer was also recorded in Cernay.
It was 8 a.m. on Saturday, the sky was cloudless. Suddenly, several travelers who were waiting for a bus outside the church saw above them a disc of yellowish color, its size, reminded the full moon. A bright tail seemed attached to the "thing" that moved at high speed.
When the saucer, which came from the direction of the Vieil Armand, had passed the church, lightning tore the sky and hundreds of stars sprang out from all sides.
According to witnesses, the disc would have exploded, but without producing any sound.
[Ref. aldl:] MRS. GUEUDELOT, "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT" ARCHIVE:
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JANUARY 9, 1954.-
CERNAY. - (68)
Under a cloudless sky, several travelers who were waiting for a bus next to the church saw above them a yellowish-colored disk which, by its dimensions, recalled the full moon. A luminous tail seemed to cling to the "thing" which was moving at high speed.
When the "saucer" which came from the direction of the Vieil Armand, had passed the church, a flash of lightning tore the sky and hundreds of stars shot out on all sides.
According to the witnesses, the disc exploded, but without any noise.
"L'ALSACE" for JANUARY 12, 1954. p.3
(sent by Mr. Mourier)
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The authors give two sketches, the one on the left is the trip of the flying saucer according to Charles Garreau, the one on the right is the trajectory of the meteor according to them:
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They put Cernay on the map on the right.
The authors fustigate [rightly] the ufologists who like Charles Garreau took the hours of observations given in the newspapers literally [as if people were then provided with stop watches! These hours are generally only approximations made a posteriori] and then believed in a complicated flying saucer travel where a meteor had actually passed.
Barthel and Brucker specify that the North-West to South-East trajectory of the meteor of 7:50 is confirmed by testimonies coming from other countries.
[Ref. cvn2:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:
Former journalist Christian Valentin published in 2012 a very interesting book telling the story of UFO sightings, flying saucers sightings, in Alsace, from the beginning to 1980.
In this book, he reports that on Saturday, January 9, 1954, shortly before 8 a.m., a bright ball of a size comparable with that of the Moon and followed by a long tail crossed the sky of Alsace and Lorraine from North to South, seen by numerous witnesses. He noted that the interpretations by the press and by witnesses in the press have been various, although it was likely the entry of a celestial body in the atmosphere.
He provides the text of the article of the newspaper L'Alsace for January 12, 1954, in which this sighting is reported:
We reported in our last issue that Saturday in the morning, a flying saucer had been seen in the sky of Bergheim and Lunéville. The passage of that saucer was also recorded in Cernay.
It was 8 a.m. on Saturday, the sky was cloudless. Suddenly, several travelers who were waiting for a bus outside the church saw above them a disc of yellowish color, its size, reminded the full moon. A bright tail seemed attached to the "thing" that moved at high speed.
When the saucer, which came from the direction of the Vieil Armand, had passed the church, lightning tore the sky and hundreds of stars sprang out from all sides.
According to witnesses, the disc would have exploded, but without producing any sound.
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The January 9, 1954, 07:48 a.m. meteor.
It is said that the "disc" came from the direction of the Vieil Armand and passed above the witnesses in Cernay. Taken literally, this indicates a heading of 171°, i.e. almost from North to South, which matches well most of the directions given in the other observation reports of this meteor.
Note that whereas the newspaper calls it a "flying saucer", the witnesses - we do not know their opinion on this matter - gave an accurate description of the passage of a meteor, without imaginative additions.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Cernay, Haut-Rhin, multiple, disc, yellow, luminous, tail, trail, fast, explosion, flash, silent
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | October 2, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 9, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | October 28, 2014 | Addition [lae1], [cvn2]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | August 5, 2023 | Addition [adl1]. |
