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The 1954 French flap:

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Beg. October, 1954, Ramatuelle, Var:

Reference for this case: Beg-Oct-Mois-54-Ramatuelle.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Reports:

[Ref. lml1:] NEWSPAPER "LE MERIDIONAL":

NEAR SAINT-TROPEZ

Potters claim to have seen the virgin appear to them

Saint Tropez. -- The story of a strange apparition that a well-digger of Saint-Tropez and his assistant claim to have witnessed about two weeks ago in Ramatuelle (the Var), begins to cause a certain stir in the region by already attracting groups of pilgrims.

Mr. Marius Giraud and his workman, Mr. Duperrier, were busy finishing the construction of a well in the territory of the commune of Ramatuelle. It was full daylight. Suddenly Mr. Duperrier, who was leaning towards the bottom of the well, saw with amazement stars reflected at the bottom of the water. "He raised his head," said Mr. Giraud, and, pale and wide-eyed, said to me: "Look behind you."

"Then," continued the boss, "I saw, two or three yards away, the Blessed Virgin." She had a long blue dress and wore a golden crown on her head and stretched her arm towards the sea in the direction of Pampelonne, and disappeared in a sort of cloud."

It was on this beach that the first French forces of liberation landed in 1944 and it was on the margin of this same bay that the submarine "La Sybille" sank in September 1952.

The two visionaries indifferent to everything related to religion

In St-Tropez and in the region, the two well-diggers enjoy a well-established reputation as conscientious and respectable workers. But when the news began to appear, everyone was impressed by the fact that neither of them was noticed by their devotion. The two men, on the contrary, display a total indifference to all that touches religion, their political opinions separate them quite clearly from it.

The religious authorities observe in this case their customary prudence, only the testimony of the two visionaries remains.

[Ref. nll1:] NEWSPAPER "NORD LITTORAL":

Near Saint-Tropez
two well diggers claim
to have seen
the virgin appear to them

Saint-Tropez, October 19.

The story of a strange apparition of which a well-quarry artisan from Saint-Tropez and his help claim to have witnessed, a fortnight ago, in Ramatuelle, is starting to cause a stir in the region by already attracting groups of pilgrims.

Mr. Marius Giraud and his worker, Mr. Duperrier, were busy finishing a well on the territory of the commune of Ramatuelle. It was broad daylight.

Suddenly, Mr. Duperrier, who was leaning towards the bottom of the well, saw with astonishment the stars reflected in the water. He looked up, Mr. Giraud told, and, quite pale, with wide eyes, said to me: "See behind you."

"So," continued the wellman, I saw two or three meters from the well the Blessed Virgin. She had a long blue dress and wore a crown of gold on her head. She stretched out her arm towards the sea, in the direction of Pampelonne and disappeared in a kind of cloud."

It was on this beach that the first French liberation forces landed in 1944 off the same bay that the submarine "La Sibylle" sank in September 1952.

The two well diggers enjoy a well-established reputation as conscientious and respectable workers in Saint-Tropez and the region. But when the news started to spread, everyone was impressed that neither of them was noticed for their devotion. The two men, on the contrary, display total indifference to everything related to religion from which their political opinions would even separate them quite clearly.

The religious authorities observe their customary prudence in this case, only the testimony of the two visionaries remains.

[Ref. ler1:] NEWSPAPER "L'EST REPUBLICAIN":

Near Saint-Tropez

Well-diggers claim to have seen the Virgin appear to them

Saint Tropez. -- The story of a strange apparition which a well-digger from Saint-Tropez and his assistant claim to have witnessed a fortnight ago in Ramatuelle (Var) is beginning to cause a stir in the region in already attracting groups of pilgrims.

Mr. Marius Giraud and his worker, Mr. Duperrier, were busy finishing the construction of a well on the territory of the commune of Ramatuelle. It was broad daylight. All of a sudden, Mr. Duperrier, who was leaning towards the bottom of the well, saw with astonishment stars reflected in the water. "He raised his head, says Mr. Giraud, and quite pale, his eyes wide open, he said to me: "Look, behind you..." "So, continues the well-digger boss, I saw the Blessed Virgin two or three meters away. She had on a long blue dress and wore a golden crown on her head. She stretched out her arm towards the sea, in the direction of Pampelonne, and disappeared in a kind of cloud".

It was at this place that the first French liberation forces landed in 1944 and it was off this same bay that the submarine "La Sybille" sank in September 1952. The two visionaries are indifferent to everything related to religion.

Explanations:

Obviously, it is permissible to ask why an (alleged) "apparition of the Virgin" appears in a ufology catalog. It would be fairly simple and obvious to find that it is just off topic; but things are not that simple.

Whereas some ufologists would have rejected such a story from the start, others on the contrary would reproach them to reject it, under various pretexts:

Some "skeptical" ufologists believe that the stories of flying saucers and their occupants are just as false as the "Blessed Virgin" apparitions stories. So they include such stories in their catalogs (eg, Raoul Robé) with the idea of ??demonstrating it: since so-called credible witness say they saw the "Blessed Virgin", who does not exist, the stories about saucers and occupants are of the same stuff, equally false. The whole is only "folkore".
Some ufologists are convinced that the saucer stories, or at least some of them, are true, but that the stories of appearance of the "Blessed Virgin" are just as true. They argue that this proves that these "visions", real as they are, in a "certain way", form a "global" phenomenon, often called "paranormal". UFOs, religious apparitions, ghosts, poltergeists and all sorts of things would be the "same phenomenon", the cause of which not being specified often - and when it is specified one may just smile. They argue that "believing in extraterrestrials" as an explanation for UFO sightings is "naive", a sign of "ignorance", since this "global phenomenon" is not made only of saucer stories, but also of all sorts of other stories.

The people of the latter "school" (Keel, Valley, Sider and many imitators) are keen to criticizing their opponents by arguing that they would "filter out" things, eliminating everything that would go against the "extraterrestrial" explanation. This is what I do not do here.

There is still another possibility: one can remember the famous phrase by Arthur Clark asserting that a manifestation of an extraterrestrial intelligence would necessarily appear to us as a form of "magic", something far beyond our faculties of understanding and even of interpretation; thus it is permitted to ask whether this "incommensurability" would not make some extraterrestrial appearances appear as "religious" appearances, as this would be an interpretation that can made of the manifestation of an extraterrestrial intelligence. In this order of idea, it should be noted here that the "Blessed Virgin" here is very vaguely described, and that she "disappears in a kind of cloud" that some would have called "UFO phenomenon".

Personally I am careful not to decide on the basis of this story alone, which offers no good guarantee of veracity, it apparently was not investigated at all, and lacks detail.

Keywords:

(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)

Ramatuelle, Var, Marius Giraud, Duperrier, Saint-Tropez, BVM, occupant, cloud, blue, golden, arms

Sources:

[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.

[lml1] Article in the regional newspaper Le Méridional, France, October 20, 1954.
[nll1] Article in the regional newspaper Nord Littoral, Calais, France, page 1, October 20, 1954.
[ler1] Article in the regional newspaper L'Est Républicain, Nancy, France, October 20, 1954.
[----] "La Vierge serait apparue à deux puisatiers de Saint-Tropez", article in the national newspaper Franc-Tireur, France, October 20, 1954.

Document history:

Version:	Created/Changed by:	Date:	Change Description:
1.0	Patrick Gross	January 21, 2017	First published.
1.1	Patrick Gross	June 8, 2020	Addition [nll1].
1.2	Patrick Gross	March 10, 2022	Addition [ler1].

This page was last updated on March 10, 2022.