The article below was published in the daily newspaper Sud Ouest, France, on March 5, 1980.
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Mrs. JEANNE Courpron and her daughter Chantal (17 years old) are all moved: "A fireball in front of the car. The engine stalled, but I think it was my fault. I was completely amazed and I thought that this glowing mass came on us at first sight."
It happened on Monday evening, March 3, at 10:15 p.m. precisely, near the "cit " in Saint-Porchaire, where the Courpron family lives.
The mother and her children came home for the night, leaving the cafe held by Mr. William Courpron, the father of family (nicknamed "Zorro") in the town of Saint-Porchaire. 200 to 300 meters away, when in the last bend, before the "cit ", the headlights of the car illuminated a huge object emitting an intense red glow. Everyone was very frightened and Mrs. Courpron stalled her motor: "I was completely dazzled by this violent red light" and the girl Chantal says: "The object started to move away as soon as the light from our headlights lighted it. Then it climbed at a phenomenal speed, in steps, spinning, I saw, it looked like a huge ball of fire, surrounded by bright quills of the same color."
Under the influence of emotion, the whole family quickly returned to the paternal coffee, where it was greeted with the fiercest skepticism; but in the face of conviction and trembling of all these witnesses, M. William Courpron jumped into his car to have a clear idea of it: he arrived near the cemetery, and saw in his turn, the "phenomenon," its lights illuminating the cemetery; but it disappeared very quickly in the direction of Beurlay, thus towards the north-west. "I alerted the gendarmes immediately, but around 10:35 p.m., the luminous object had dissolved in the atmosphere. It's still weird, but I saw it with my eyes. I did not believe it, since I had not believed, three years ago, in those so-called UFOs that had already flown over Saint-Porchaire."
It is also said that a month and a half ago, on the road to Saint-Sulpice-d'Arnoult, a motorist would also have witnessed a similar appearance of which he has not yet recovered. So? Is Saint-Porchaire a privileged place of rendez-vous for these spaceships? The police opened an investigation. We never know!
[Photo:] Mrs. M. Courpron and their daughter show the place where the luminous machine was moving: "there above the cemetery". (Telephoto Christian Rigaber)
