The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Provençal, Marseille, France, page 8, on October 5, 1954.
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Abidjan (A.F.P.).
Flying saucers were seen in the Ivory Coast. The news became known through an official report sent to the Governor of the Ivory Coast by Mr. Vernhet, Chief Administrator of the Danané subdivision, a town located 500 kilometers northwest of Abidjan.
The events date back to September 19, but were only made official yesterday, following requests for specific information and an investigation.
In addition to the general population, the local gendarmerie chief, the head doctor of the medical center, Reverend Father Vyard of the Lyon missions, Mr. Vernhet, the subdivision chief and his wife, all gathered in the courtyard of the residence, saw on the evening of September 19, from 8:30 to 9:05 p.m., a craft exactly matching those observed in France, but which did not land.
It was a luminous point surrounded by a halo that first grew rapidly, moving closer to or further from the horizon. The witnesses saw the craft turn on a powerful spotlight, sometimes pointing upward, sometimes downward. The ovoid-shaped craft had a dome on top, and beams of light seemed to emanate from each side.
When it disappeared after maneuvering for half an hour, the witnesses clearly saw two oval-shaped luminous halos form at the presumed location of the craft. It moved silently.
Administrator Vernhet included with his report a detailed sketch of the different phases observed, as well as the shape of the craft.
Lille (A.F.P.).
Last night between Annoeuillin and Provins near Lille, around a hundred people saw "flying crescents" maneuvering in the sky for 25 minutes.
A miner from Annoeuillin, Mr. Gaston Lecoeuvre, had alerted the patrons of a café, declaring that he had just seen a luminous, crescent-shaped craft about three meters tall land in his garden. When the customers went outside, the flying crescent was flying in the sky along with two other similar craft.
Melun (A.F.P.).
Road workers working along the Coulommiers–Meaux road had declared that they had seen, several days ago around 5 p.m., a flying saucer resting on three legs in a field not far from the Voisins airfield, in the commune of Maisoncelles.
One of them, Mr. Goujon, even claimed that, at 150 meters from the craft, he had been paralyzed by an electric ray while the saucer slowly rose into the sky and disappeared. The worker, who had given the journalists detailed information, had also shown various witnesses the marks left by the saucer's legs.
Several witnesses later recanted, saying they had poor eyesight, weren’t sure what they had seen, or even admitted they saw nothing at all. But the main witness, Mr. Goujon, stood firmly by his statements.
Photographs were taken of the holes allegedly left by the saucer: they had in fact been dug by hand by the worker, and the soil still bore his handprints.
The worker admitted to having fabricated the entire strange story. He was brought before the examining magistrate of Coulommiers.
