The 1954 French flap:

ALERT FOR MARTIANS IN ST-HILAIRE DES LOGES

Mrs. Boeuf sees a "flying saucer", barricades herself with her family and turns off the lights in fear of an invasion

On Boulevard Pereire, a "saucer" passed during the night of Saturday

LA ROCHELLE, October 25 (dispatch "France-Soir").

A farming family from Saint-Hilaire-des-Loges (Charente-Maritime), terrorized by the appearance of a "flying saucer", lived through a dramatic night and were only freed from fear at dawn thanks to the intervention of calm neighbors.

Mrs. Boeuf had just finished milking her cows at nightfall when, upon leaving the barn, she saw, above her field, a luminous disc, motionless and at an altitude that was hard to determine.

– The saucer seemed to be looking at me, the unfortunate farmer was to say later.

Frozen in place for a moment by fear, Mrs. Boeuf, abandoning her milk pails, ran to alert her husband and three children. They too were able to witness the phenomenon, whose intensity was such that it lit up the area like a full moon.

The saucer seeming to show the intention of approaching the ground, Mrs. Boeuf expressed the idea that "Martians" might descend from it. Panic-stricken, she decided to barricade the family inside the farmhouse.

– Let's not draw them to us, added Mrs. Boeuf. Turn off all the lights.

So it was done. In the darkness, with all the shutters closed, they took refuge in the common room. Only at the first light of day did neighbors, surprised by the silence in the house, dare to enter the farm. After calming the Boeuf family and comforting the farmer with a cordial, everyone went back to their activities. The threatening disc had, in any case, disappeared without a trace.

An orange parachute on Boulevard Pereire

Trustworthy witnesses saw on Saturday evening, at 10:15 p.m.,

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FLYING SAUCERS

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above the Boulevard Pereire, in Paris, a curious craft in the shape of a parachute and orange in color was brightly lit from below. The strange object remained suspended motionless in the sky for a few moments, then disappeared, leaving behind a pinkish trail.

IN BEAUMONT-PIED-DE-BOEUF (SARTHE), Mrs. Goujon and her husband, a P.T.T. receiver, saw in the sky as they were closing their shutters around 8 p.m., a luminous orange-colored sphere moving from east to west at a dizzying speed.

IN SAINT-ETIENNE, about a hundred passers-by, among them several police officers, observed "a sort of star" moving above the city at an altitude of 2,000 to 3,000 meters.

IN VILLEJOLET, near Périgueux, three residents saw a huge luminous ball. Nearby, in Vieux-Simely, Mr. Pierre Mounet saw a craft equipped with two headlights rise above the village. In Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, Mr. Faure, his wife, and his son were seized with panic last night at 9:28 p.m. upon seeing a huge, very bright, round-shaped craft stop thirty meters from their home. It took off horizontally while emitting a slight whistling sound.

Flying Saucer Over Vienna

VIENNA, October 25 (Reuter). -- Thousands of Viennese saw this morning, over their city, an "unidentified flying object." The object flew over Vienna between 6:15 and 6:20 a.m. It appeared as a shining, spinning disc with a narrow tail from which flames emerged. It could not have been a weather balloon or an ordinary airplane [but probably a meteor].

Red Ball Over the Adriatic

PESARO (Italy), October 25 (Reuter). The population of the Adriatic port of Pesaro claims to have seen "a red ball with a blue tail" darting at full speed from north to south at an altitude of about 800 meters. Several fishermen say the object fell into the sea [probably another meteor, or the same one].