The article below was published in the daily newspaper Var-Matin - République, France, le 11 mai 1976.
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No, the little green men did not land at La Coupiane...
And, beyond the stage of jokes and somewhat worn out anecdotes, it is interesting to know the testimony of this young trucker who is struggling to recover from the emotions caused by this appearance. It was around four o'clock in the morning. At the height of the Auzende bridge which crosses the motorway in the direction of La Coupiane, this young man about thirty was traveling in his vehicle when he saw in the distance a very strong light which did not fail to attract his attention.
"At the height of the Rosaire clinic, the light was even brighter. As I approached, I was blinded by this ball of fire which was about ten meters below, above the vacant lot at the end of the road. It must have been three meters in diameter and had this white color of a lightning and flash that would last. It was blinding. I got scared and I rushed in the direction of Sainte-Musse. But the ball was so powerful that it was reflected in my dashboard and dazzled me three hundred meters further...".
No noise, no movement. This unidentified object can be perplexing even if the testimony is precise, honest. And it is indeed this perplexity mixed with skepticism which today makes the witness regret having presented himself to the Central police station of Toulon to tell the facts, he who (like so many others) must suffer the amused jokes of skeptical workmates...
ASSUMPTIONS.
However, they are some to ask themselves questions after the testimony of this reserved man whose good faith cannot be doubted.
Indeed, two hours later, the witness returned to the scene in the company of a work colleague and they were greatly surprised.
"Within a radius of about fifteen meters there was a kind of extremely dense layer of brown smoke which hid the grass. We got closer but not too much... We were afraid in case of radiation!".
For André Trabaud, who accompanied the witness, "this case is still very strange".
In the afternoon, Mr. Forest, head of the S.V.E.P.S (Var Society for the Study of Spatial Phenomena) was on the spot with a detection team to try to take measurements of radioactivity or magnetic field variation.
But it did not give any result.
Should we therefore conclude that it is only a hallucination? It is hard to believe, given the duration of the phenomenon and the presence of this layer which could attest to a sudden variation in the magnetic field.
A streetlight? Unlikely...
Car headlights? The witness is used to driving at night and his eyes were burned by this light "... It is much greater than the impression one feels in front of headlights.
Lightning? The phenomenon would not have lasted.
An ionic plasma (gas in rainy weather)? This is also implausible.
So?
We are waiting.
Commissioner Chase heard the witness and his mission is limited to "desensitizing public opinion" often exacerbated in such cases.
Of course, we can be reserved, but we must not forget that only 4% of people have a chance of seeing a UFO in their lifetime. This leaves a very wide choice of appreciation to the 96% who will never see the slightest trace of it.
OTHER WITNESSES
It is surprising that there are no variations in the magnetic field or traces on the ground. But these are not two decisive elements. The S.V.E.P.S. continues its investigations with the usual meticulousness. However, Mr. Forest and his team are confident that other witnesses saw the UFO.
If you are one of those, contact the S.V.E.P.S, 8 rue Paulin-Guérin, in Toulon, phone 92.79.28.
If you are not, disbelief may not be a Cartesian solution
José LENZEN
OUR PHOTOs:
- Mr. Trabaud: "There was a kind of smoke"
- M. Forest: "Wait for the results of the scientific investigation."
