The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Courrier de Saône-et-Loire, France, page 4, on October 15, 1954.
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I read, with quite a bit of astonishment, the article in which you report that hunters saw, in the territory of the commune of Le Donjon, what has come to be called a flying saucer, and that two of them had the presence of mind to fire their rifles at the object!
If these people are trustworthy and, in the absence of game, did not bring back a tall tale, then they displayed an attitude the press must condemn.
About four years ago, I believe it was on May 1st at 3 p.m., I had the opportunity to very clearly see in the sky, toward Dijon, an object shaped like an elongated rectangle with rounded ends, moving in a south-to-north direction.
The front half was the green color of the sparks produced by the pantographs of electric locomotives when they switch conductor wires. The rear half was a dark red with a blur at the back end.
I had time to call two people who very clearly saw the object before it disappeared into the sky.
Its trajectory was not straight, but curved, seemingly following the shape of the Earth. Its dimensions resembled those of a kind of cigar, about 1.5 meters long and about 0.3 meters thick. It was very high and its speed was extremely, extremely fast—several thousand kilometers per hour.
The next day, your newspaper as well as the entire regional press reported that in Dijon and to the north of the city, a circular-shaped object had been seen—a saucer!
In Dijon, it had been seen from underneath; I saw it in profile and from 70 kilometers away, which suggests a very large size and fantastic speed.
Since that day, reports have multiplied—more or less contradictory, but all quite disturbing.
I believe, given the current state of things, that the truth will come out when we have absolutely indisputable testimonies regarding the size of the saucers' occupants.
If it turns out that their size is normal, we are probably dealing with a terrestrial craft. If, on the contrary, it is proven that they are about one meter tall, then there is no doubt—we are witnessing a massive invasion of craft from another planet.
And immediately, one fact stands out: apart from two exceptions, our visitors have never shown any hostility toward us.
The two exceptions are still relative: the American pilot Thomas Mantell saw a circular object about 100 meters in diameter and went to intercept it. He never returned.
He had no oxygen mask and pushed his plane to the limit. Did it disintegrate under the influence of a mysterious ray or due to vibrations caused by excessive speed?
The other exception is the jet-powered "Comet" that disintegrated over Karachi and reportedly collided with an unknown object! Since then, several "Comets" have broken up in flight, and talk of collisions has ceased [later explained by structural flaws around the windows].
On the other hand, in all reported encounters, the contacts have been peaceful, even friendly!
And yet! If it is true that these are craft from another planet, given the number of sightings, the extraordinary speed of the craft, and the distances they must travel, one is entitled to think that these beings are several centuries ahead of us and that it would be easy for them to destroy us.
So why shoot at them? That is a gesture I choose not to qualify.
On the contrary, we should try to make contact with the occupants of these craft. If they are normal-sized, they are men from Earth—Russians or Americans—and it would be easy to confirm this. It would not be hard to find the words to clear up the mystery.
If, on the other hand, they are small beings whose sounds resemble no language of Earth, we must find and multiply gestures that show we harbor no hostility toward them (rifle shots not included), but rather a desire to establish ongoing and—no doubt—beneficial relations with them.
For if this latter hypothesis is confirmed, I believe there is no reason to panic. An invasion of Earth by inhabitants of Venus or Mars does not seem likely.
What would they come here for, aside from exploration and scientific research?
To colonize us? The atmosphere is likely not the same on both planets; they couldn't live normally here, nor we on theirs if they intended to raid us for slaves.
To take our riches? What is rare here might be abundant there.
Our secrets? Our civilization? From what little we’ve seen, it seems we’re the ones with something to learn from them.
And besides, why assume from the start that they are as malevolent as many of Earth’s inhabitants?
Ch. ADNOT
