The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 9-Jan-54-Saint-Vit.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The newspaper La République for January 12, 1954, among the observations of January 9, 1954, that it reported, indicated that in Saint-Vit, the young Paul Girard, 16, was busy with various work at the municipal watershed, when he observed an "incandescent craft, about 50 to 70 cm in diameter. It also seemed to be throwing fire at a very high speed, heading north-northeast. It lasted only a few seconds and then this disc appeared to be spraying a shower of sparks before disappearing completely."
This was of course, not a "craft", but the meteor of January 9, 1954 at 07:48 a.m.
[Ref. lre1:] NEWSPAPER "LA REPUBLIQUE":
[...]
In Saint-Vit, the young Paul Girard, aged 16, busy with various work at the municipal feeding trough, saw an incandescent machine, of approximately 50 to 70 cm in diameter. It seemed, he said, also to release the flames while moving at a very high speed in the direction to the north-north-east. Its appearance did not last more than a few seconds then this disc appeared to explode in a shower of sparks before disappearing completely.
[...]
[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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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 testimonys coming from other countries.
They add that a discussion with the witness[es?] revealed that the appearance lasted some moments only.
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The January 9, 1954, 07:48 a.m. meteor.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Saint-Vit, Doubs, Paul Girard, flames, disc, fast, duration, explosion, sparks, glowing, incandescent
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | October 8, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 6, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | January 26, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. |
