The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: Jan-54-Mailleroncourt.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The French "skeptical" ufologists Gérard Barthel and Jacques Jacques indicated in 1979 that there was a sighting in Mailleroncourt Charette at 07:45 a.m. according to the newspaper La République for January 12, 1954:
Mr Jean Folley, a farmer, saw above the locality a "block of oval fire of the size of a plate", moving in the sky; coming from the North-West and going towards the south-east. Its appearance lasted 2 to 3 seconds. Barthel and Brucker did not provide the date but related this sighting to the others of January 9, 1954, in the area.
They specify that Mr. Folley confirmed this, telling that there no was stop and that the duration was very short.
They rightly scoff at ufologists like Charles Garreau who took the hours of observations in the area given in the newspapers literally, as if people were then provided with stop watches. Thus, Garreau believed in a complicated flying saucer travel, where a meteor had actually passed. (Garreau actually made no mention of this particular sighting.)
Barthel and Brucker specify that the North-West to South-East trajectory of the meteor of 7:50 was confirmed by testimonys coming from other countries.
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors simply indicate "Mailleroncourt Charette (70), 7.45 mn." and what they then quote seems to be extracted from a newspaper, that they indicate being "La République" for January 12, 1954:
"Mister Jean Folley, farmer, saw above the locality a block of oval fire of the size of a plate, moving in the sky. This phenomenon came from the North-West and moved towards the south-east. Its appearance lasted 2 to 3 seconds."
They specify elsewhere that Mr. Folley confirmed this, telling that there no was stop and that the duration was very short.
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 testimonies coming from other countries.
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Probably the January 9, 1954, meteor.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Mailleroncourt, Haute-Saône, Jean Folley, fire, oval
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | January 3, 2006 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | February 25, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | March 20, 2017 | Addition of the Summary. |
