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The 1954 French flap:

The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.

Probably beginning of October, 1954, Vilhonneur, Charente:

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

Summary:

In their 1979 book "La Grande Peur Martienne" ("The Great Martian Scare"), the two "skeptical" ufologists Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker, in order to illustrate their opinion on the indigence of the Press reports, published the following excerpt, indicating that it came from the newspaper La Nouvelle République for October 8, 1954:

"Mr. Triplon, saw a luminous and motionless craft above Vilhonner."

Of course, "Vilhonner" is their misstyped name for "Vilhonneur" in the Charente department.

Reports:

[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:

The two authors indicate, in order to illustrate their opinion on the poor content of the saucer reports in the press, the following extract of which they indicate that the source is the newspaper La Nouvelle République for October 8, 1954:

"Mr. Triplon, saw a luminous and motionless machine above Vilhonner."

Explanations:

I was intrigued by the surname "Triplon"; which I had never heard or read before. I found in the I.N.S.E.E.E. census database that in all France, there was only one "Triplon" born between 1891 and 1915, in Charente precisely, then 13 "Triplon" born between 1916 and 1940, 11 between 1940 and 1961, in Charente and nearby departments of Dordogne and Gironde.

Barthel and Brucker are right about the lack of information for this press report and many other press reports. But:

• "La Nouvelle République" is an unsafe reference, as there were several newspapers whose names began like, but were really "The New Republic of (there or elsewhere)..."; here it was probably "La Nouvelle République du Centre-Ouest" of Tours, available throughout the Center and Southwest of France at the time.
• When the press communicated an observation in this very indigent form, it was usually because the article covered many observations from coming other newspapers. There may well be a much more detailed primary Press source, but Barthel and Brucker certainly did not are much about that.
• Ufologists seem to have realized without Barthel and Brucker's "help" that this Press report was "unusable", since I did not find a single ufology source about this sighting report other than what Barthel and Brucker wrote, neither on paper nor on the Web.

As for what was the "craft" was, since it is luminous and its immobility is evoked, it is of course clear that the information is totally insufficient, and possible that it was an astronomical misinterpretation.

Keywords:

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

Vilhonneur, Charente, Triplon, luminous, motionless, craft, object

Sources:

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

• [----] Article in the newspaper La Nouvelle République, France, October 8, 1954.
• [bbr1] "La Grande Peur Martienne", book by Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker, Les nouvelles Editions Rationalistes publisher, France, page 139, 1979.

Document history:

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This page was last updated on November 18, 2019.