The article below was published in the daily newspaper Franc-Tireur, Paris, France, page 5, on September 16, 1954.
|
The APPEARANCE of Martians near Valenciennes has fizzled out, and its Corrèze counterpart seems to be a joke.
Admittedly, the air police took the matter seriously and conducted investigations in both cases.
However, their involvement does not imply that they are hunting flying saucers. In this case, they are likely more interested in smuggler planes than interplanetary vehicles... assuming, at first, that an untrained witness could mistake one for the other.
The adventure of the Limousin peasant is quite instructive in this regard. Mr. Mazaud, a good man honorably known in his part of Corrèze, confirmed the revelations made by his wife against his will. He specified that it was at 8:30 p.m. (at twilight), in a deserted area, 1,500 meters from the village of Bugeat, that he encountered on a path a man of average height wearing a helmet "like a motorcyclist."
Removing his headgear, the figure made a few bows, shook the hand of the farmer - who was trembling all over - and, pulling him close despite his resistance, kissed him "without causing any particularly unpleasant sensations." After this final peaceful gesture, the helmeted being made a few more bows and fled... and it was as Mr. Mazaud was regaining his composure that a cigar-shaped, unlit craft passed horizontally a few meters above the ground.
Mr. Mazaud is probably telling the truth. But seen from the perspective of smuggling, the event takes on a less frightening aspect.
This cigar-shaped craft was probably just a light aircraft that landed in this deserted area for business - or perhaps the pilot, lost, landed to check a signpost. The man spoke unintelligible words? Why not? Mr. Mazaud is probably not a polyglot.
And what if the strange visitor, very much one of us but a bit of a prankster, simply amused himself by terrifying the farmer...
More surprising, however, was the Quarouble sighting, at least on the first day. It was less so for many neighbors of the gatekeeper, who remained skeptical. Certainly, the witness was sincere. But he had suffered a severe head injury a year earlier and, on several occasions since, had shown signs of nervous disorders.
He was likely a victim of one of those waking hallucinations well known to medicine. At most, one might regret the excessive publicity given to these accounts, which were clearly inspired by classic science fiction.
It is true that the police later found, on the railway tracks at approximately the location indicated by the witness, four symmetrical marks in pairs, relatively recent and not made by typical SNCF workers' tools.
But it was noted that the location is close to a level crossing and that such marks could give rise to any number of hypotheses.
The initial reaction of the police (still interested in smuggling) was to think the marks came from a clandestine helicopter. But a railway line is not a welcoming landing site. Telegraph wires (which were untouched) are dangerous, and a train could always come. Helicopter pilots know this. Moreover, if flying saucer pilots exist somewhere in the universe, they must know this too - since they are supposedly visiting us.
But is it really reasonable to credit such fabrications?
Franc-Tireur has already covered the issue by asking for the opinions of top specialists in astronomy, aviation, meteorology, and biology. We have demonstrated (1) the psychosis by showing that the wave of sightings in France lagged a few weeks behind those in America. The U.S.A. no longer believes in interplanetary vehicles; their fate was settled by inquiry commissions composed of genuine scientists. The special observation station set up in Canada in 1952 - under pressure from the psychosis of the time - was recently shut down, having failed to intercept a single saucer. So now Europe has the monopoly on mysterious visits? Suffice it to say that Martians are now replacing the Loch Ness monster and reappear each August to fill in gaps in the news cycle, as mathematicians would say. Reports began appearing, hesitantly, five or six weeks ago. A disc, a flame, a cigar, or a glowing ball was seen here or there; the temperature rose again in certain minds, sightings multiplied, and we now witness the resulting delirium.
The appearance attributed to the supposed extraterrestrial visitors at Quarouble is further evidence of this psychosis. Little men in diving suits - indistinguishable from fictional beings popularized by science fiction novels. The paralyzing green ray the witness allegedly experienced is from the same literary arsenal. And why would extraterrestrial beings look so much like us? We have previously shown that the various planets in the solar system cannot harbor any form of life. But even if beings existed somewhere else, what form would they take?
No one disputes the origin of life on Earth: molds first appeared, which gave rise to the plant kingdom on one side and the animal kingdom on the other. The latter developed in stages - microorganisms, protozoa, worms, fish. One of these, the coelacanth, evolved into reptiles, birds, and mammals, of which we are the only bipedal representatives. It is unthinkable that such an evolution could be exactly paralleled in time and form on another planet with inevitably different environmental conditions.
And yet there are sane people who have seen luminous spots or strange things moving through the sky. Should we therefore assume that the saucers are of terrestrial origin? That is the opinion of all the scientists who have studied the issue.
These distinguished individuals certainly do not believe in revolutionary vehicles the Russians would foolishly risk flying over America - or vice versa. But astronomers and meteorologists provide explanations for many phenomena that could be mistaken for flying saucers, and a prominent German astronomer, Professor Hans Haffner of the University of Hamburg, has just published an interesting new theory on the subject.
"Most unknown flying objects," he says, "can be explained by what is known about fireballs caused by lightning. The size, shape, speed, color, luminosity, duration, electrical composition, and mode of dissolution of these phenomena are remarkably similar to descriptions of flying saucers. Fireballs often emit light rays, they can change shape and direction in less than a second, and they always disintegrate abruptly - sometimes silently, sometimes with a loud detonation."
It is certain that in more than six years of flying saucer mystery, no investigation has brought any definitive information about their origin. Scientists, on the other hand, are slowly but methodically narrowing down the possibilities of their existence by analyzing the phenomena that often cause confusion.
Wasn't lightning long a subject of superstition?
Weren't cemetery will-o'-the-wisps once thought to be the materialization of souls, when in fact they were just the result of decomposing bodies?
But much still remains to be explained before all types of "flying saucers" can be scientifically categorized.
And for those afraid to face reality, the doors of dreams and imagination remain wide open.
Robert SAVREUX.
Rouen, September 15 (F.-T.). -- Mr. Lecière, a newspaper distributor in Carpiquet, near Caen, claims that at eight o'clock in the morning he saw a white dot in the sky, which quickly grew into an oval object of extraordinary brightness. This phenomenon is said to have lasted two minutes. He added:
- I have strong nerves and am not prone to hallucinations.
Meanwhile, a farmer from Thaon (Calvados) reported witnessing a similar phenomenon.
(1) See Franc-Tireur from 12/30/53 to 01/02/54.
