The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 9-Nov-54-Sains-du-Nord.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The regional newspaper La Voix du Nord, in the local edition of Maubeuge, reported on November 10, 1954, that the morning of the day before, around 6, a group of workers working at the Establishments "Le Sucre de l'Est" saw from a height that seemed relatively low a fairly large red luminous disc or globe moving slowly at a steady pace.
The "spectacle of this unusual craft" had aroused great curiosity, the witnesses were happy to tell their friends what they had seen, so the apparition had been the great topic of conversation of the population of Sains-du-Nord.
The newspaper went on to say that without looking for "a remote explanation" they thought maybe it was "one of the observation balloons that are launched from aerodromes or weather stations in Brussels or from some large French cities", and explained that these balloons "which carry complex and heavy measuring devices are sometimes very large. As large, it has been said in some cases, as houses." And the newspaper concluded that "after all, it could still very well be an ordinary flying saucer..."
[Ref. vdn1:] JOURNAL "LA VOIX DU NORD":
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Yesterday morning, around 6, a group of workers working at the "Le Sucre de l'Est" establishments were able to see at a height which seemed relatively low a disc or a luminous red globe of rather large dimension moving slowly at a steady pace.
The sight of this unusual craft did not fail to arouse great curiosity and these witnesses were happy to tell their friends what they had seen so that this appearance was the great topic of conversation of the Sains-du-Nord population yesterday.
Without looking for a remote explanation, we risk saying that this disc was - perhaps - one of the observation balloons that are launched from aerodromes or meteorological stations in Brussels or from a few large French cities. These balloons which carry complex and heavy measuring devices are sometimes very bulky. As big, it has been said in some cases, as houses. The vision of Sains-du-Nord would correspond quite probably to the passage of one of them. But after all, it could still very well be an ordinary flying saucer...
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The idea of a "balloon" mentioned in the newspaper should not be ruled out a priori; but there is also the moon and the sun to check, for example. The newspaper would have been better inspired to give detailed information such as angle of movement, direction, angular size etc., but the press clearly lacked competence in the matter.
At this time in this place, the Sun was still set and did not rise until 07:46 a.m.
Mars, often described as "red", did not rise until after 2 p.m.
The Moon was a full Moon, it was at 209 °, but its elevation of 49° is hardly conducive to a red moon or to a misinterpretation.
It was still pitch black, the weather balloon is unconvincing, having neither to be "luminoust" nor to be "red."
Planet Jupiter - often described as red or orange - was there at 80°, elevation 19°.
A Chinese lantern is of course a possible solution.
I therefore have no single obvious solution to offer for the observation; which for me remains for now an "unidentified" of low strangeness and with insufficient data.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Sains-du-Nord, Nord, morning, multiple, workers, low, circular, luminous, red, big, slow
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
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| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | October 5, 2021 | First published. |
