The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: Beg-Summer-54-Livet-sur-Authou.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In September 1988, ufologist Joël Mesnard published a catalog of unpublished French cases in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit of which he had become the editor.
Among those was this case:
At Livet-sur-Authou in the Eure department, at the beginning of the summer of 1954, around 8:30 p.m., Mr. R. Lebailly, a farmer, was milking a cow, when a "blow of the headlight, very powerful" made him look up. He then saw, in a southwesterly direction, quite high in the cloudless sky, perhaps about forty degrees above the horizon, a sort of disc surmounted by a cupola, which seemed to have rocked and presented itself in profile to the witness. This object emitted, for a very brief time, a luminous beam which, according to Mr. Lebailly, was directed only at him.
This beam died out, the object descended and moved away in the direction of Rouen or Evreux, disappearing in a few seconds.
The "saucer" is described as having a probable diameter of 5 or 6 meters; a seemingly rotating turret, surrounded by flames in which red and green hues predominated. The "headlight flash" had lasted barely more than a second. The "likely" altitude of the object, relative to the ground, when it moved away, is given as about fifty meters.
It does not seem that the phenomenon produced any noise, but it is not certain because the witness had impaired hearing. It does not appear that the cow showed any reaction.
The witness shouted to call his son, who was nearby, but the latter did not have time to observe the phenomenon.
The witness, questioned nearly twenty years before 1988, was convinced that it was a u.S. craft, because of the American military presence on the base near Evreux. Trying to find a natural explanation for the "headlight flash", Mr. Lebailly imagined that, although the sun had set a few minutes ago, the object could still be illuminated by the rays of the sun, which would simply have been reflected on the thing.
[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
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Case #14: Livet-sur-Authou (Eure), early summer 1954
Around 8:30 p.m., Mr. R. Lebailly, a farmer, was milking a cow, when a "very powerful headlight flash" made him look up. He then saw, towards the southwest, quite high in the cloudless sky (perhaps about forty degrees above the horizon), a kind of disc surmounted by a cupola, which seemed to have just rocked to tip over and presented its profile to the witness. This object emitted, for a very short time, a luminous beam which, according to Mr. Lebailly, was directed only on him.
This beam died out, the object descended and moved away in the direction of Rouen or Evreux, disappearing in a few seconds. The witness shouted to call his son, who was nearby, but he did not have time to observe the phenomenon.
Description of the "saucer": probable diameter: 5 or 6 meters; turret apparently animated by a rotating movement, surrounded by flames in which red and green tints dominated. Duration of the "headlight flash": just over 1 second. Likely altitude of the object, relative to the ground, when it moved away: about fifty meters.
The witness, interviewed almost twenty years ago, was convinced of the American origin of the phenomenon. This conviction is explained by the fact of the American military presence on the nearby base of Evreux. Trying to find a natural explanation for this "headlight flash", Mr. Lebailly imagines that, although the sun had set, for only a few minutes, the object could still be illuminated by the rays of the sun, which would have simply been reflected on the thing.
It does not seem that the phenomenon produced any noise, but we cannot be certain about this, the witness having impaired hearing. Nor does the cow appear to have shown any reaction.
The case is illustrated like this on te magazine cover:
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Possible meteor.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Livet-sur-Authou, Eure, evening, R. Lebailly, farmer, cow, headlight, powerful, light, high, disc, dome, rocked, beam, luminous, object, descent, Evreux, brief, saucer, turret, rotation, flames, red, green, NATO
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
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| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 17, 2022 | First published. |
