The 1954 French flap:

A MYSTERIOUS CRAFT BETWEEN SAINT-LAURENT-D'AIGOUZE AND AIGUEMORTE

"I HAVE SEEN A SAUCER CIRCLED OF FLAMES POSED IN A FIELD CLOSE TO THE ROAD"

states a conveyor of Nimes who attended the silent take-off of the object

[illegible] several people phoned [illegible] to inform of a new appearance.

Tuesday in the night, two phone calls taught us that a round and luminous machine had been seen off Marseilles, above the Planier lighthouse. The "saucer" stopped during a few seconds at the right of the headlight and disappeared towards the North.

In the Gard

A conveyor from Nimes claims to have seen, a few days ago, whereas he was on his tour, a flying saucer stopped between the communities of St-Laurent-d'Aigouze and Aigues-Mortes.

"It was approximately 4 hours of the morning, he told us, and I was at the steering wheel of my car when my attention was drawn by the presence, at a hundred meters of the road, of a circle of small flames, similar, by their distribution and their color, with those of a gas ring. As there was a little fog, I could not distinguish more and I do not know which is the shape of the object from where these flames emanated."

"I stopped my car at once, but at this moment, I saw the flames start to turn in round, faster and faster, while lying down, and at the end of a few seconds, the circle rose and disappeared without any noise."

"At the time of its disappearance, there was nothing any more but only one very long flame which shone like a comet tail."

Continuation on page 12 under the title:
FLYING SAUCERS

Flying saucers

Continued from the first page

Mr. L..., who gave us this statement, added: "At the beginning, I did not want to talk about it, but with the news which appeared these last days in the Press, it seems to me that it could contribute to add one more testimony to the "flying saucers" file."

It seems, indeed, that we are again in the presence of one of these mysterious craft which would have been posed a few moments (in what intention?) on the plains of the area of Aigues-Mortes.

The really disconcerting testimony of a doctor and fifteen people

Doctor Martinet, dermatologist in Chambéry, saw a flying saucer evolving above the cross of Nivollet.

- "About fifteen people, he states, can testify of that."

The doctor and his wife returned by car from the col du Chat [pass of the Cat], when they saw over the cross of Nivollet, 2.000 meters of altitude approximately, "a dark aluminum gray mass". The doctor stopped his vehicle, to follow the evolutions of the machine. Three other cars also stopped.

- "I observed my watch, said the doctor. It was 17. 8 ' 40 ". At 17:16 whereas it was presented its face, i.e. in the form of disc, I distinguished a clear zone in the center of the machine and dark spots around. The machine went down right above the teleferic station from the Revard, then disappeared suddenly at the speed of a lightning."

Meanwhile, about fifteen people had grouped around Doctor Martinet and made the same observations he did.

In the departments of the Rhone, Isère, Drôme and Savoy, many people claim to have seen, these last days, with more or less clearness, craft having sometimes the shape of cigars, sometimes of discs.

The divers of the sky are cherishing

In the Vienne, a 28 year old farmer, Mr. Yves David, living in Brouloux, community of Vouneuil-sur-Vienne, met, on the road of Cenon to Vouneuil, a kind of "diver". The latter "caressed" his arms, emitted inintelligibles sounds then moved towards a machine that Mr. David cannot describe, and which rose without noise vertically, then disappeared at full speed.