The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 10-sep-54-Mourieras.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. vmr1:] NEWSPAPER "VAR-MATIN REPUBLIQUE":
Ussel, September 13. -- The gendarmes of the brigade of Bugeat, this morning, learning by the public rumor that a farmer of the hamlet of Mourieras, community of Bugeat (the Corrèze), Mr. Antoine Mazaud, had chatted with the passenger of a "flying saucer", went to the farmer in order to get a confirmation of this buzz.
Mr. Mazaud claimed to them that on September 10, at 08:30 p.m., returning from his fields, he had met on a path, within 1500 meters of his dwelling, an unknown individual of average size, capped of a helmet without auricle who shook hands with him and embraced him while uttering unintelligible words.
The man then went up into an apparatus in the shape of a cigar, non-enlightened, of a length from three to four meters which, taking off vertically, left in direction the west, not making more noise than a bee.
Mr. Mazaud then states that he had not wanted to speak about this story because he feared that one would laugh at him. He nevertheless entrusted the thing to his wife, who in her turn, shared it with neighborhood women, and thus the gendarmerie learned about it.
The lieutenant of the gendarmerie, commanding the squad, went on the location where no trace was found.
[Ref. nll1:] NEWSPAPER "NORD LITTORAL":
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Ussel, September 13. -- The gendarmes of the Bugeat brigade, learning this morning by public rumor that a farmer in the hamlet of Mourieras, commune of Bugeat (Corrèze), Mr. Antoine Mazaud, had conversed with the passenger of a flying saucer went to meet the cultivator to confirm these noises.
Mazaud tells them that on September 10, at 8:30 p.m., returning from his fields, he had met on an path, 1500 meters from his home an unknown individual of normal size, wearing a helmet without an earmuff who squeezed his hand and kissed him while saying unintelligible words.
The man then climbed into an unlit cigar-shaped craft, three to four meters in length, taking off vertically, heading west, making no more noise than a bee.
Mr. Mazaud then declares that he did not want to talk about this story because he feared that one would make fun of him; he nevertheless entrusted the matter to his wife who, in turn, communicated it to the neighbors, and this is how the gendarmerie learned of it.
The lieutenant of the gendarmerie commanding the section went to the place where no trace was found.
[Ref. bre1:] NEWSPAPER "LA BOURGOGNE REPUBLICAINE":
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Ussel, 13 (A.F.P.). -- The gendarmes of the Bugeat brigade, learning this morning by the public rumor that a farmer from the hamlet of Mouriéras, commune of Bugeat (Corrèze), Mr. André Mazeaud, had conversed with the passenger of a "flying saucer", went to the farmer's to confirm this rumor.
Mr. Mazaud told them that on September 10, at 8:30 p.m., returning from his fields, he had met on a path, 1,300 meters from his house, an unknown individual of normal height, wearing a helmet without earmuffs, who squeezed his hand and kissed him, uttering unintelligible words.
The man then climbed into a cigar-shaped, unlit apparatus, three to four meters long, which, taking off vertically, took off in a westerly direction, making no more noise than a bee.
Mr. Mazaud then declares that he did not want to talk about this story, because he was afraid that he would be laughed at; he nevertheless confided the matter to his wife who, in turn, informed the neighbors, and so the gendarmerie learned about it.
The lieutenant of the gendarmerie commanding the section went to the place where no trace was found.
[Ref. ppe1:] NEWSPAPER "PARIS-PRESSE":
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USSEL, September 14. If an Amiens citizen "saw" the passengers of a flying saucer, a farmer of Bugeat (Corrèze) "chatted" with the pilot of a "flying cigar".
Mr. Antoine Mazaud says that Friday evening when he came home from work, he met an unknown man wearing a helmet on a path. This character spoke to him in unintelligible language after having friendly shaken his hand and giving him a hug... The stranger then climbed into a cigar-shaped craft, three to four meters long which, taking off vertically, set off towards the west, without making more noise than a bee.
- The machine was not lit, said Mr. Mazaud.
The "Martian", according to him, was of normal size.
The farmer, he said, only told the story to his wife. But she told a neighbor who repeated it to the village merchants. "And that's how the whole country found out." The lieutenant of the gendarmerie questioned the farmer and then went to the place to look for traces of the saucer... or the cigar.
He couldn't find anything. But the adventure of Mr. Mazaud singularly recalls that of the two Canadian women who about a month ago made conversation with an amiable Martian who left them after ten minutes to fly aboard his saucer. One learned three days later that the saucer was an American helicopter whose pilot had wanted to have fun at the expense of the two walkers.
However, one wonders if this flap of saucers across France is not a collective hallucination.
[Ref. nmn1:] NEWSPAPER "NORD-MATIN":
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While the population of the Valenciennes borough continues, for the most part to doubt the story of Mr. Dewilde, the Authorities take the landing of flying saucers on our territory very seriously.
Others have spoken of Martians. On the origin of the beings who would have explored the pastures on the edge of P.N. 79, it is perhaps better to assume nothing. The fear that Mr. Dewilde felt at their sight, if we admit that his adventure had really been lived, has certainly distorted his assessments, both on the size and on the appearance of the occupants of the saucer. Especially since the night from Friday to Saturday was particularly dark.
One thing is official, however: representatives of the air police have discovered, on the railway sleepers, deep claws and impact spots which may lead to believe in the landing in this location of a craft. They also found ballast stones with suspicious traces.
We add that young people from neighboring villages, namely Onnaing and Vicq, saw in the sky, at the time indicated by Mr. Dewilde, and heading west, a luminous disc.
In any case, the case seems disturbing.
The adventure of Marius Dewilde, this farmer from Quarouble, who saw two men embarking in their sidereal machine, is not unique.
There is better, if we have to believe a farmer in the hamlet of Mou-
Read more on the sixth page under the title:
SAUCERS
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rieras (Corrèze). The latter, Mr. Antoine Mazaud, reportedly made an extraordinary encounter on September 10.
It was 8:30 p.m. that day, night was beginning to fall and the farmer was following a hollow path when he found himself face to face with a medium-sized stranger wearing a motorcycle helmet without earmuffs.
The two men were both surprised and the farmer, somewhat worried, made a gesture of defense with his pitchfork.
It was then that the individual approached the cultivator, his hand extended, as if to show him his good intentions. Then, fearing that he would not be understood, he approached the farmer, uttering incomprehensible words and kissed him.
He then walked away to a bizarre craft shaped like a cigar. And, before Mr. Mazaud recovered from his surprise, the craft took off vertically and disappeared towards the West.
Subsequently, the farmer returning home told his wife about his adventure, but asked her not to say a word to anyone.
"They would make fun of me," he said.
Mrs. Mazaud could not resist the pleasure of telling - under the seal of secrecy, of course - this adventure to a neighbor and soon the whole country knew about it.
The Ussel gendarmerie questioned Mr. Mazaud who confirmed his story. But it was too late to find traces. Mr. Mazaud is not considered, in the country, as being subject to hallucinations.
It should also be noted that several people said they saw a "flying saucer" last night near Helsinki.
The strange object, circular in shape, moved at about 800 meters of altitude. It emitted an intense light by leaving in its wake a long reddish tail about three times longer than the diameter of the saucer.
The strange vision was visible for seven seconds.
[Ref. jps1:] NEWSPAPER "LE JOURNAL DU PAS-DE-CALAIS ET DE LA SOMME":
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Ussel. -- The gendarmes of the Bugeat brigade, learning by public rumor that a farmer from the hamlet of Mouriéras, commune of Bugeat (Corrèze), Mr. Antoine Mazaud, had conversed with the passenger of a "flying saucer" went to the farmer to have these rumors confirmed.
Mazaud told them that on September 10, at 8:30 p.m., returning from his fields, he had met, on a path, 1,500 meters from his home, an unknown individual of normal size, wearing a helmet without goggles, who shook his hand and kissed him while speaking unintelligible words.
The man then climbed into an unlit cigar-shaped craft, three to four meters long which, taking off vertically, set off in a westward direction, making no more noise than a bee.
Mr. Mazaud then declares that he did not want to talk about this story because he feared that one would make fun of him. He, however, entrusted the matter to his wife who, in her turn, communicated it to the neighborhood women, and this is how the gendarmerie learned about it.
The lieutenant of gendarmerie commanding the section went to the place where no trace was found.
[Ref. pce1:] NEWSPAPER "LE POPULAIRE DU CENTRE":
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The farmer reconstituted yesterday, in front of the investigators, his encounter with the passenger of the "flying saucer"
(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRRESPONDANT: JACQUES MARJAC.)
Bugeat. -- At 58 years, Mr. Antoine Mazeaud is a solid piece of a man, showing 1 m 82 on the measuring apparatus. Up to now, he had the serene mind of all his fellow residents to the hamlet of Mouriéras, at 1 km. 500 from Bugeat, on the road to Tarnac, clinging to this hard land that however offers in return only thin resources.
Yesterday, Mr. Mazeaud went only one time in the afternoon to see his black wheat field, accompanied in this strange visit by Mr. Bernard, police chief with the General Intelligence in Tulle, his assistant inspector Gratias, the gendarmes of Bugeat and some journalists.
Under the repeated heavy showers, the man gave again his account, calmly, clearly, pointing his finger at the precise locations and making a point to mimic the reactions which he had at the time of the events.
Police chief Bernard was disconcerted because what had just repeated, the gesture which had just reconstituted the farmer, corresponded point by point to the statement made half an hour ago and recorded by inspector Gratias.
- You can question me a hundred times, a hundred times I will answer the same things because I do not lie, Mr. Mazeaud said then...
(continued on page 2)
In the evening of September 10, Mr. Mazeaud left his field of the "Puy", located at 1 km. 800 of his place. He had just cut black wheat and engaged in the rocky path bordered of genets and ferns. It was 08:30 p.m. and the moon, though clear, allowed only a poor visibility.
- I then distinguished a man who went towards me, the farmer specifies. He walked while lowering the head.
- Of small height?
- Average.
- What happened next?
- He approached me, shook my hand, withdrew his helmet made out of metal, a sort of head protection like motorcyclists use, but deprived of a chin protection, then he gave me a hug without ever raising the head.
- Did he talk to you?
- No, he did not even make a sound. Perplexed, I dropped the fork which I carried on the shoulder and the man quickly engaged in the moor.
- Didn't you try to chase him?
By no means, I was like paralyzed; with a friend at my sides, perhaps we would have followed him... Recovered from my emotion, my glance was then attracted by an oblong mass which slowly took altitude and which shone slightly. The "thing" appeared me to pass under the power line which borders the road of Tarnac; its profile did not exceed six meters in length.
I DID NOT WANT TO TELL ANYTHING
Awestruck, a little trembling, Mr. Mazeaud regained his residence. He had supper and slept normally. However, hour after hour, these events worried him; he made of his wife his confident and told his son, teacher at Bort-les-Orgues, of the scene which he had just lived, strongly rejecting to have been the subject of an hallucination and even less to have imagined...
Finally, the word went on in Bugeat and the "case" of "old Mazeaud", told in the grocery, retold in the bakery then at the butcher's to finally arrive at the gendarmerie... which forwarded it to the police force in Tulle!
Mr. Antoine Mazeaud is a hard-working, sober citizen (he does not drink alcohol) and enjoys the general esteem on all the territory of the community. He never yet read "science-fiction" stories and does not event want to hear any.
The most disconcerting, which reinforces the mystery of the "flying saucer" of Bugeat, it is that the same fact was recorded, the same night, at two hours of interval, close to Valenciennes.
[Ref. nnm1:] NEWSPAPER "LE NOUVEAU NORD MARITIME":
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Ussel, 14. -- The gendarmes of Bugeat, learning Monday morning by public rumor that a farmer in the hamlet of Mourieras, commune of Bugeat (Corrèze), Mr. Antoine Mazaud, had conversed with the passenger of a "flying saucer", went to the farmer to confirm this rumor.
Mazaud told them that on September 10, at 8:30 p.m., returning from his fields, he had met on a path, 1.500 meters from his home, an unknown individual of normal size, wearing a helmet without a muff, who shook his hand and kissed him, saying unintelligible words.
The man then climbed into an unlit cigar-shaped craft, three to four meters long which, taking off vertically, set off in a westward direction, making no more noise than a bee.
Mr. Mazaud then declared that he did not want to talk about this story because he feared that one would mock him, he nevertheless entrusted the matter to his wife who, in turn, shared it with the neighbors, and this is how the gendarmerie learned about it.
The lieutenant of the gendarmerie, commanding the section, went to the place where no trace was found.
[Ref. lon1:] NEWSPAPER "L'OISE-MATIN":
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SEA SERPENT", new genre, the problem of flying saucers returns to the foreground of the news. A strange information teaches us that an inhabitant of the department of the Nord, Mr. Marius Dewilde reportedly saw in Quarouble, near the level crossing 79 of the railway line Saint-Amand - Blanc-Misseron two strange individuals. According to this information, these two people, dressed, declares Mr. Dewilde of sorts of diving suits, would have, when he walked on them, sent a light beam with green reflections which paralyzed the witness for a time.
The two individuals would then have climbed into an elongated craft three meters high, six meters long, which rising vertically would have disappeared into the sky. Following this statement, three air police inspectors went to the scene to carry out an investigation. The ground on which this landing would have taken place was thoroughly searched. No footprints were found. On the other hand, one of the railway ties show strange traces. In five places, the timber of the crosspiece is threaded over an area of five square meters. Its markings all look the same and are arranged symmetrically.
The story told by Mr. Dewilde is also confirmed by the testimonies of several inhabitants of the region.
All these testimonies, these facts, give Mr. Dewilde's story a touch of authenticity. Yet many people remain skeptical. Mr. Dewilde is doubtless in good faith; but a year ago he suffered a serious accident at work (head trauma), as a result of which he developed some nervous disorders.
Information indicates that the gendarmes of the Bugeat brigade, informed by public rumor, that a farmer from the hamlet of Mouriéras, commune of Bugeat (Corrèze), Mr. Antoine Mazaud, had conversed with the passenger of a "flying saucer", went to the farmer's to confirm these rumors.
Mazaud tells them that on September 10, at 8:30 p.m., returning from these fields, he had met on a path, 1,500 meters from his house, an unknown individual of normal size, wearing a helmet without ear muffs, who squeezed his hand and kissed him, uttering intelligible words.
The man then climbed into a cigar-shaped, unlit machine, three to four meters long, which, taking off vertically, left in a westerly direction, making no more noise than a bee.
[Ref. ner1:] NEWSPAPER "NORD-ECLAIR":
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The mystery of flying saucers fascinates public opinion. It is no longer from America or Australia that the testimonies come, but from France. They multiply in a quite peculiar manner. We reported the declarations of Mr. Dewilde, of Quarouble. The latter, semsible man, claims that "he saw." A farmer from Corrèze just made such surprising revelations. On the other hand, a German scientist publishes a study disputing the existence of mysterious craft. Who is right?
Suspicious traces were found on the disused railway track, where Mr. Marius Dewilde claims to have seen a landed flying saucer during the night from Friday to Saturday.
After carefully examination of the sleepers near P. N. 79, the air police inspectors noticed that one of them bore symmetrically arranged marks, some sort of "claws", we were told at the Onnaing police station.
The wood has received deep prints in five different locations, and investigators believe they may have been caused when the craft landed.
In addition, they collected some of the stones from the ballast, whose appearance and layout had caught their attention. However, no footprints were noticed. But it may be that the paths hardened in this place by the passage of many cattle, did not keet trace of the "strange little beings" seen by Mr. Dewilde.
Let us add that several people - including a young man from Onnaing - stated that they saw Friday at around 10:30 p.m., a luminous ball moving towards the West.
Continued on page 9
under the title: SAUCERS
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Tulle. -- The gendarmes of the Bugeat brigade (Corrèze), learning yesterday morning, by public rumor that a farmer in the hamlet of Mouriéras, commune of Bugeat (Corrèze), Mr. Antoine Mazaud, had conversed with the passenger in a "flying saucer", went to the farmer, to have these rumors confirmed.
Mazaud tells them that on September 10, at 8:30 p.m., returning from his fields, he met an unknown individual of normal size, wearing a helmet without earmuffs, on a path, 1.500 meters from his home, who shook his hand and kissed him, saying unintelligible words.
The man then climbed into an unlit cigar-shaped craft, three to four meters long which, taking off vertically, set off towards the West, making no more noise than a bee.
Mr. Mazaud then declares that he did not want to speak about this story, because he feared that one would scoff at him.
The eminent German astronomer Hans Haffner claims that flying saucers, apart from hallucinations and aerial reflections, are balls of fire produced by lightning at high altitude. He claims his theory fits with all sightings of flying saucers reported so far.
"Let's get rid of the flying saucer psychosis," he writes. "Flying saucers are actually a natural phenomenon that occurs in the layer of air surrounding the earth."
Mr. Haffner, professor of astronomy at the University of Hamburg and head of section at the Hamburg-Bergedorf Observatory, says that all of the flying saucers that have been seen so far can be classified into four groups:
1) Hallucinations, more frequent than generally believed.
2) Optical illusion even deceiving the lens of the camera. The so-called flying saucer photographs are reflections often seen when taking photos against the light.
3) Weather balloons.
4) Unknown flying objects.
All the objects of the fourth category can be explained by what we know about balls of fire produced by lightning. This phenomenon rarely occurs and we only have two or three photographs. The size, shape, speed, color, brightness, duration, electrical composition and mode of dissolution of these balls of fire are "remarkably similar" to descriptions of flying saucers, Professor Haffner writes.
The balls of fire often emit very bright rays of light, which also matches the story of people who say they saw saucers.
[Ref. foe1:] NEWSPAPER "FORCE OUVRIERE":
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In Quarouble (Nord) a metallurgist saw two Martians... Because it is understood that the flying saucers can only come from March. But just as our man was about to start a conversation (a funny job!) he was paralyzed by a ray, green obviously. It looks nicer in technicolor.
In short, once again the saucer flew away without us knowing exactly what it is.
Clever, these Martians, all the same, we were never to capture oine of them!
In Bugeat (Corrèze) it is a farmer who, too, brings his testimony. Late testimony actually. Not wanting to pass for an imbecile, Mr. Mazaud had taken care not to announce his unexpected encounter, except to his wife as it should be.
But it was too much, of course, and the whole village now knows the story. The man was of normal height, wearing a helmet without ear blinders. Shaking hands with Mr. Mazaud, he kissed him and climbed back into his cigar, 3 to 4 meters long; which took off silently vertically.
If the Martians all behave like this, we can surely establish good neighborly relations.
[Ref. ner2:] NEWSPAPER "NORD-ECLAIR":
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This time it's no longer a flying saucer or being looking weird as if it belonged to another world. The encounter made by Mr. Mazaud, a solid peasant in his fifties from Bugeat (Corrèze), is quite different. He is very formal. In his statements there is an indisputable accent of sincerity. He does not have, far from it, the reputation of a joker or an illuminated, and the investigators did not detect the slightest flaw or the slightest contradiction in his statements.
The man he met on a deserted plateau, on September 10, around 8:30 p.m., was nothing unusual in his outfit or appearance, other than the particular shape of the helmet he wore on his head. When he found himself face to face with the Corrézian peasant, he bowed his head several times to greet him, held out his hand, and gave him a hug. He did not
Continuedn on the last page under the title: CORREZE
[Photo caption:] "And yet it is true!", said MR. MAZAUD, farmer from Corrèze, after his extraordinary story to the gendarmes. (A.P.)
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(Continued from the first page)
respond otherwise to the good evening of Mr. Mazaud, and did not articulate a syllable, to such an extent that the farmer thought he was a few simple-minded, and would certainly soon have forget this encounter.
But, a few seconds after the disappearance of the stranger, Mr. Mazaud, who was continuing on his way, heard a slight rustling sound. He turned around, and it was then that he saw a craft rising from the ground obliquely, in the same way as an airplane takes off. The machine was vaguely in the shape of a cigar (somewhat that of a jet plane seen in profile). It was flying to the West very quickly, gaining height. The noise was very slight. Neither the slightest smoke nor the slightest glimmer were noticed.
Mr. Mazaud was careful not to talk about this phenomenon in the neighborhood, fearing that someone would make fun of him. Only the indiscretion of his wife allowed the gendarmes to be notified. They heard him at his home, and went to the scene. But days had passed, and it had rained a lot. There was no trace on the ground.
The Tulle commissioner for general intelligence also heard, at length, Mr. Mazaud, and went with the farmer to the encounter site. Like everyone else, he was struck by the seriousness of the man who was the involuntary witness to this strange phenomenon.
[Ref. nll2:] NEWSPAPER "NORD LITTORAL":
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Tulle, September 15. -- This time it is no longer a matter of a flying saucer or of bizarre beings, seeming to belong to another world.
The encounter made by Mr. Mazaud, a solid peasant in his fifties from Bugeat (Corrèze), is quite different. He is very formal. There is in his statements an indisputable accent of sincerity. He does not have, far from it, a reputation for being a joker or an illuminated person, and the investigators did not detect the slightest flaw or the slightest contradiction in his statements.
The man he met on a deserted plateau on September 10, around 8:30 p.m., had nothing abnormal in his attire, nor in his appearance, except the rather peculiar shape of the helmet which he wore on his head. When he found himself face to face with the Correzian peasant, he bowed several times to greet him, held out his hand to him and then gave him a hug. He did not respond otherwise to Mr. Mazaud's good evening and did not articulate a syllable, so much so that the farmer took it for some simple-minded person and would certainly have quickly forgotten this encounter but, a few seconds after the disappearance of the unknown, Mr. Mazaud, who was continuing on his way, heard a slight rustling sound. He turned around and it was at this moment that he saw a craft which rose from the ground obliquely in the same way as an airplane takes off. The craft was vaguely in the shape of a cigar (that of a jet plane seen in profile more or less). It was flying west very quickly, gaining height. The noise was very slight. Not the slightest smoke nor the slightest glimmer was noticed.
Mr. Mazaud was careful not to talk about this phenomenon in the neighborhood, fearing that one would make fun of him. Only the indiscretion of his wife allowed the gendarmes to be notified. They heard him at home and went to the place, but two days had passed and it had rained a lot. There was no trace on the ground.
The Commissioner for General Intelligence at Tulle also heard Mr. Mazaud at great length.
[Ref. las1:] NEWSPAPER "LIBRE ARTOIS":
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While the population of the district of Valenciennes continues, for the most part to doubt the story of Mr. Dewilde, the Authority takes the landing of flying saucers on our territory very seriously.
Others have spoken of Martians. On the origin of the beings who would have explored the pastures bordering the P.N. 79, it may be better to assume nothing. The fear that Mr. Dewilde felt at their sight, by admitting that his adventure had been truly lived, has certainly distorted his assessments, both on the size and on the appearance of the occupants of the saucer. Especially since the night from Friday to Saturday was particularly dark.
One thing is official, however: representatives of the air police have discovered, on the railway sleepers, deep claws and impact points which may lead to believe that a craft had landed at this place. They also found ballast stones with suspicious traces.
We add that young people from neighboring villages, that is to say from Onnaing and from Vicq, saw in the sky, at the time indicated by Mr. Dewilde, and moving towards the West, a luminous disc.
In any case, the affair seems disturbing.
The adventure of Marius Dewilde, the Quarouble farmer, who saw two men getting into a sidereal machine, is not unique.
There is better, if one has to believe a farmer from the hamlet of Mouriéras (Corrèze). The latter, Mr. Antoine Mazoud [sic], reportedly made an extraordinary encounter on September 10.
It was 8:30 p.m. that day, night was beginning to fall and the farmer was following a hollow path when he found himself face to face with a medium-sized stranger wearing a motorcycle helmet without earmuffs.
The two men were also surprised and the somewhat worried farmer made a defense gesture with his fork.
This while the stranger approached the farmer, his hand extended, as if to show him his good intentions. Then, fearing that he would not be understood, he approached the farmer, uttering incomprehensible words and kissed him.
He then walked away to a bizarre craft shaped like a cigar. And, before Mr. Mazeud recovered from his surprise, the craft took off vertically and disappeared towards the West.
Subsequently, the farmer returning home told his wife about his adventure, but asked her not to say a word to anyone:
"They would make fun of me," he said.
Mrs. Mazaud could not resist the pleasure of telling - under the seal of secrecy, of course - this adventure to a neighbor and soon the whole country knew about it.
The Ussel gendarmerie questioned Mr. Mazaud who confirmed his story. But it was too late to find traces. Mr. Mazaud is not considered in the country as being subjected to hallucinations.
[Ref. cpd1:] NEWSPAPER "LE COURRIER PICARD":
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TULLE, September 15. -- This is no longer about, this time, of a flying saucer or of a bizarre being seeming to belong to another world. The encounter made by Mr. Mazaud, a string peasant in his fifties from Bugeat, is quite different. He is very formal. There is in his statements an indisputable accent of sincerity. He does not have, far from it, the reputation of a joker or an crackpot and the investigators did not note the slightest flaw or the slightest contradiction in his statements.
The man he met on a deserted plateau on September 10 around 8:30 p.m., was nothing unusual in his appearance, except the rather peculiar shape of the helmet he wore on his head.
When he found himself face to face with the Corrézian peasant, he made several nods to greet him, held out his hand and then gave him a hug. He did not respond otherwise to Mr. Mazaud's good evening and did not articulate a syllable, to the point that the farmer took him for some simple minded and would certainly have quickly forgotten this encounter, if, a few seconds after the disappearance of the stranger, Mr. Mazaud, who was continuing on his way, had not heard a slight rustling sound.
He looked back and it was at this moment that he saw a machine which rose from the ground obliquely in the same way as an airplane takes off. The machine was roughly the shape of a cigar (that of a jet plane seen in profile, approximately). It was flying west very quickly, gaining height. The noise was very gentle. No smoke at all nor the slightest glimmer was seen.
Mr. Mazaud was careful not to talk about this phenomenon in the neighborhood, afraid that one would scoff at him. Only the indiscretion of his wife allowed the gendarmes to be notified. They interviwed him at his home and went to the place, but two days had passed and he had rained a lot. No trace was found on the ground.
The commissioner of general intelligence of Tulle also heard, very lenghthily, Mr. Mazaud and went to the place of the encounter. Like everyone else, he was struck by the seriousness of the man who witnessed this strange phenomenon.
[Ref. cdn1:] NEWSPAPER "LA CROIX DU NORD":
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Better and better... The Quarouble metal worker had given of his encounter with the strange passengers of a mysterious craft a description too conform to the standards of "science fiction" not to arouse skepticism. Nevertheless, the air police investigated very conscientiously, much to the sorrow of a Parisian newspaper which proclaimed that state officials had other things to do than waste their time on puns. But now a Corrèze cultivator is now reporting an encounter that is all the more curious because it is less fantastic. This time it is no longer a matter of a flying saucer or a bizarre being, seeming to belong to another world.
The encounter made by Mr. Mazaud, a solid peasant in his fifties from Bugeat, is quite different. He is very formal. There is in his statements an indisputable tone of sincerity. He does not have, far from it, the reputation of being a joker or a crackpot, and the investigators did not identify the slightest flaw or the slightest contradiction in his statements that the France-Presse agency gave in these terms:
The man he met on a deserted plateau on September 10, around 8:30 p.m., was nothing abnormal in his outfit or in his appearance, except fot the
Continued on the last page,
in the fourth column, under the title
"SAUCERS"
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quite peculiar shape of the helmet he wore on his head. When he found himself face to face with the Correzian peasant, he bowed his head several times to greet him, held out his hand, then gave him a hug. He did not respond otherwise to Mr. Mazaud's good evening and did not articulate a syllable, so much so that the farmer took him for a simple mind and would certainly have quickly forgotten this encounter. But a few seconds after the stranger's disappearance, Mr. Mazaud, who was continuing on his way, heard a slight rustling sound. He looked back and it was at this time that he saw a craft which rose from the ground obliquely in the same manner an airplane takes off. The craft was vaguely in the shape of a cigar (that of a jet plane in profile or something close to this.) It flew towards the West very quickly while taking height. The noise was very slight. One did not notice the slightest smoke or the slightest glimmer.
Mr. Mazaud was careful not to talk about these phenomena in the neighborhood, fearing that one would scoff at him. Only the indiscretion of his wife allowed the gendarmes to be notified. They heard him at his home and went to the place, but two days had passed and it had rained a lot. There was no trace on the ground.
The Commissioner for General Intelligence in Tulle also heard Mr. Mazaud at great length and went with the farmer to the encounter's site. Like everyone else, he was struck by the seriousness of the man who involuntarily witnessed this strange phenomenon.
The eminent German astronomer Hans Haffner will no doubt see in this case only the landing, more or less regular, of a foreign aviator. He is indeed very skeptical, in the weekly "Die Zeit", with regard to the stories of saucers, cigars or Martians that are reported to us every day.
"Flying saucers," he writes, "apart from hallucinations and aerial reflections, are fireballs produced by lightning at high altitudes. He claims that his theory fits all the sightings of flying saucers reported up to present.
"Let's put an end to the flying saucer psychosis," he writes. "Flying saucers are actually a natural phenomenon that occurs in the layer of air surrounding the earth."
Mr. Haffner, professor of astronomy at the University of Hamburg and head of section at the Brandenburg-Bergedorf observatory, says that all of the flying saucers that have been seen so far can be classified into four groups.
1. Hallucination, more common than is commonly believed.
2. Optical illusion even deceiving the lens of the cameras. The alleged photographs of flying saucers are reflections often seen when taking photos against the light.
3. Weather balloons.
4. Unknown flying objects.
All the objects of the fourth category can be explained by what we know about fireballs produced by lightning. This phenomenon rarely occurs and we only have two or three photographs. The size, shape, speed, color, brightness, duration, electrical composition and the mode of dissolution of these fireballs are "remarkably similar" to descriptions of flying saucers, Professor Haffner writes.
Fireballs often emit very bright rays of light, which again matches the story of people who say they saw saucers. Likewise, fireballs can change shape and direction in less than a second, just like saucers.
[Ref. ads1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ARDENNAIS":
THE STRANGE ENCOUNTER OF THE CORREZE FARMER TAKEN SERIOUSLYWho was piloting the "flying cigar"?TULLE. -- It is no longer this time about flying saucer or strange being appearing to belong to another world. The encounter, which we reported yesterday, made by Mr. Mazaud, a strong peasant of Bugeat (Corrèze) in his fifties is quite different. He is very certain. In his declarations there is an indisputable accent of sincerity. He has not, far from it, the reputation of a joker or an illuminated, and the investigators did not identify the slightest flaw or the slightest contradiction in his statement. The man he met on a desert plateau on September 10, around 8:30 p.m., was not abnormal in his clothes or appearance, except for the rather peculiar shape of the helmet he wore on his head. When he found himself face to face with the Correze peasant, he nodded several times to greet him, held out his hand and gave him a hug. The mysterious passenger mistaken for a simpletonHe did not reply otherwise to M. Mazaud's good-night, and did not utter a syllable, so much so that the farmer took him for some simple-minded person, and would certainly soon have forgotten this encounter. But a few seconds after the disappearance of the unknown, Mr. Mazaud, who continued on his way, heard a slight rustle. He turned around and it was at that moment that he saw a craft that was rising from the ground obliquely in the same way as a plane takes off. The machine quickly took the shape of a cigar (that of a jet plane seen in profile approximately). It was flying west very fast, gaining height. The noise was very light. One could not see any smoke or light. Mr. Mazaud was careful not to speak of this phenomenon in the neighborhood, fearing that they would make fun of him. Only, as we have said, the indiscretion of his wife allowed the gendarmes to be informed. They heard him at home and went to the place, but two days had passed and it had rained a lot. There was not trace of anything on the ground. (See more in the 6th page.) |
The strange encounter...(Continued from the first page) Tulle's general information commissioner also heard Mr. Mazaud at length and went with the farmer to the encounter place. He was struck as everyone by the seriousness of the one who was the involuntary witness of this strange phenomenon. Seen in LimogesIt seems that Mr. Mazaud was not the only one. An inhabitant of Limoges, Mr. George Frugier, 30, said yesterday, to have seen on September 10, shortly after 08:30 p.m., crisscrossing the sky from east to west, a red disc letting out a bluish trail. Now, the day and the hour of this observation coincide with Mr. Mazaud's strange encounter. Mr. Frugier told his family of the display he had witnessed, but he was met with outright skepticism. However, the publication in the press yesterday morning of the adventure that occurred to Mr. Mazaud, brought a connection: Limoges is located north-west of Bugeat, direction taken by the mysterious machine, according to the statements of the farmer. HE ALSO SAW THE MARTIAN![Photos of Marius Dewilde, with the caption:] Mr. Marius Dewilde, squatting, shows traces on a railway track passing near his house, at Quarouble, where a cigar-shaped craft reportedly landed recently. From this craft, says Mr. Dewilde, two human-looking beings, dressed in diving suits, had come out, while a ray emanating from the apparatus paralyzed him. When he found, he said, the use of his limbs, the craft was already rising in the sky and the two beings had disappeared (AP photo) ("L'Ardennais" photo) |
[Ref. lcx1:] NEWSPAPER "LA CROIX":
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That's the way it is, all these stories about saucers [unreadable] What if Mr. Mazaud, from Bugeat (the Corrèze) really did receive the kiss of a Martian?... Our incredulities would look pretty silly...
Moreover, there is another witness, in the person of Mr. Frugier, of Limoges, who saw, at the very same day and time when the affectionate and interplanetary encounter of Bugeat was ending, saw a red disc furrowing the sky from the East to the West. Now, Limoges is in the North-West of Bugeat, the direction taken by the mysterious apparatus according to statements made by the Correzian farmer.
This is more than just a coincidence here...
[*] the French title "Mars, ou rêve" really translates as "Mars, or dream", a not very smart play of word with the expression "Marche ou crève" which means "do what you are told, else, die."
[Ref. lfe1:] "LA FRONTIERE" NEWSPAPER:
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We talk too much about flying saucers so that there cannot be "no eel under rock"... and it becomes difficult to believe, in my opinion, that all those claiming to have seen something abnormal in the sky... or even on the earth have had visions! Such as this man from Quarouble who told this week the story of an unknown craft, landed near his gatekeeper house, his encounter with these little men in glass helmets and the light that blinded him when the door of the sidereal opened; which departed silently, vertically in a glowing halo...
Such again as this farmer from the Corrèze who claimed to have met in a hollow path, on his return from work, a pilot of a "flying cigar"... who would have spoken to him in an unknown language. Such again as these young Finnish or Danish (I do not remember) exactly who said they saw a flying saucer landed in a field.
Whether these strange craft come from another planet, nothing is less certain. What is curious is the frequency of their appearances in recent months!
But people are so made that they believe, like Saint-Thomas, only what they see. And there is at least one resident of Maubeuges who saw something abnormal in our northern sky.
Indeed that evening was the previous Wednesday, the renowned violinist-soloist of the Symphonic Circle, returned from having conducted his weekly rehearsal at the Harmonie de Louvroil. He was returning by the rue du Gauche Pied to his home in the Faubourg St-Lazare, when his attention was drawn to two lighted and oscillating discs, moving at high speed in the dark sky... And yet Robert Romain did not dream.
The famous German astronomer Hans Haffner may claim that the "flying saucers" are only balls of fire produced by lightning, at high altitude... The fact remains that lightning have always existed and that we had not yet reported these phenomena so much!
***
While waiting for more plausible explanations to come to light our lantern, the Bribeux will undoubtedly one day ring the key to these mysteries. Indeed, since all these awesome news have been circulating, the friend Albert, always has in his bag what to lasso the first saucer or the first Martian - if there are Martians - that would pass within his reach...
This promises a great story one of these days!
[Ref. cdp1:] NEWSPAPER "LE CRI DU PEUPLE":
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THE Millevaches plateau in Corrèze is in turmoil. The Martians have appeared!
The gendarmes of Bugeat (Corrèze) have just been alerted by public rumor. A farmer claimed to have met a Martian on September 10.
The good man, when questioned, confirmed the thing. The Martian was dressed as a motorcyclist. He advanced to meet the honest peasant, kissed him, mumbling unintelligible words, and left in a cigar-shaped craft posed not far away in a field. The craft took off vertically and disappeared into the sky.
The farmer, very disturbed, went home and told the matter to his wife, making her swear secrecy.
The woman swore and told the whole village about it, and that's how the gendarmes were told.
However, the investigation undertaken did not reveal any trace of the mysterious Martian and his craft.
As a result, some evil minds deduce that it may have been a motorcyclist or a prankster.
And bad subjects are said to be planning to tell their wives that they saw the Martians, to justify late returns home.
But beware: there is nothing to confirm that the Martians put on lipstick.
OTHER extraordinary story near Valenciennes. Mr. Marius Dewilde, alerted by the barking of his dog, saw in the middle of the night two strange beings, roughly human in shape, but not more than one meter tall. The two strange characters, disturbed by Mr. Dewilde, engulfed themselves in a "flying cigar" six meters long that awaited them near there.
An intense light burst from the craft, prevented Mr. Dewilde from approaching and forced him to close his eyes. When he reopened them, the craft and the evening visitors were gone.
The air police is investigating. They reportedly noticed a bizarre trace on a railroad crossing.
Hell, the case is getting worse!
However, skeptics remain numerous in the region and point out that Mr. Dewilde, who suffered a serious accident a year ago, may be overly impressionable.
Anyway, there is nothing to worry about. These Martians seem, so far, very peaceful... much more than some Earthlings...
[Ref. lbe1:] "LA BAILLEULOISE" NEWSPAPER:
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- Do flying saucers exist? If so, what are they? The first question is endlessly controversial. The second remains unanswered.
A few weeks ago, two charming Norwegians girls, picking blueberries, were able to contemplate a saucer from which emerged a smiling Martian. Information taken, the saucer was only a helicopter and the Martian an American pilot.
And a peasant from the Corrèze says that he was fraternally kissed by a Martian descended from his "cigar"!
Despite the uncertainties, a learned assembly of Australian scholars concluded that flying saucers were a reality. And a German religious, R. F. Demauer, in a recent and resounding speech, declared that the famous saucers sheltered reasonable beings, coming from another world.
[Ref. ler1:] NEWSPAPER "L'EST REPUBLICAIN":
A plague of "flying saucers" and other mysterious craft is sweeping Europe, and the number of recorded testimony shows that France appears to be particularly targeted. There is no day, since weeks, where many of these events are reported from the Vendée, the Moselle and the Quiévrain to the Bidassoa.
In the Limousin, in particular, where a farmer was embraced on September 10, by a stranger; although he was peaceful, terror took hold, especially in the area of Roches (Creuse), where children no longer dare to go to school alone and where shepherdesses no longer want to keep their flocks since a dark shadow was reported hiding in the brushes. There is concern that the friendly Martian re-embarked leaving on the earth one of his companions.
In Diges (Yonne), two women saw each in her turn, a cigar land in a meadow and its pilot was leaning, perhaps on its engine. The "being" was of normal size, dressed in khaki and wearing a cap, but they were so scared that by the same reflex, they fled and locked themselves in.
A pseudo-writer, on the contrary, delighted that these fantastic creatures come to join his philosophical ramblings, assimilates the "anti-saucerists" to troublemakers and warmongers. He writes without smiling: "These cigars and saucers could well make all of us agree. Perhaps this is why some people do not want to hear about it. Think about it! Eisenhower and Malenkov shaking hands around a saucer! What an idea!"
What to think of this new fever? Should we follow in their disdainful disapproval those who believe without verification, it is all hallucinations - sometimes collective - or should we believe with the others these are real craft originating from the human genius or more romantically coming from another world?
No doubt it is better to examine things more closely. The case now takes a too serious turn for trafficking in nonsense or admit all the news. It is time to grasp the problem and reason healthily on the sum of elements accumulated since more than seven years.
For it is on June 24, 1947, that the first "saucers" were reported in the manner described thousands of times since.
It was an American businessman, Kenneth Arnold, who saw that day "nine luminous discs flying in formation at high altitude" when he had taken off from Chehalis (Washington) on a personal plane. He could see that these "craft" were "flat like frying pans or saucers" before their disappearance and, if the case made little noise, the term "flying saucers" (soucoupe volante) was already launched.
It took six months before a new apparition was reported again in America, but this one was to end in tragedy, beginning to worry the public opinion. On January 7, 1948, the police in Fort Knox (Kentucky) warns the military at the Godman Airfield that "a huge fiery object, surrounded by a reddish glow" was flying in their direction. Three reservists fighter pilots were in flight, precisely at that time, on "Mustangs" propeller planes, and the tower alerted the control. Captain Mantell, leader of the squadron, immediately saw the "object" and putting gas on dove after it although his two comrades and himself had left for a flight at low altitude and were deprived of oxygen masks. The two crew members did not exceed 4,000 meters. Only Mantell went up to almost 7,000 meters before telling on the radio, breathless:
- It's frightening...
These words were the last and no one ever knew what they meant. The plane broke up in flight and the body of the unfortunate pilot was found horribly disjointed. The first reaction of Mantell's friends was naturally to think that he had been "downed" by the mysterious craft. His exclamation seemed to indicate that what he saw was awful and that monsters had fired at him.
This is the first victim - the first "martyr" - who tragically marked the true arrival of the "saucers" on earth.
An investigation commission was appointed, but its work was long and hard at a time when the high-speed compressibility phenomena were still unclear. When it put out its report on the accident, it finally explained that the pilot had climbed too high, probably in the pursuit of an atmospheric phenomenon. Deprived of oxygen, he had probably exclaimed that he was losing consciousness. The aircraft, abandoned to itself, had probably dislocated by diving at nearly the speed of the "wall of sound".
But psychosis was already on his way. What can the fairly conservative assumptions of technicians do against the taste of wonderful and the supernatural?
It is in any case strange to see that the appearances of "flying saucers" multiplied at once in America where 1,192 cases were reported, in waves, from 1947 to 1952. And it is no less surprising to see that, little by little parallel waves manifested themselves in France three to five weeks behind those recorded in the U.S.A.
Of course, the "pro-saucerists" interpret this pattern to their advantage: - We are part of the same humanity that the Americans and the "saucers" have no reason to despise us when visiting Earth. Their pilots wherever they come from can be as much interested in France and in the United States and if we see less it is because our territory is seventeen times smaller than that of the U.S.A.
It is certainly flattering to our national pride. But more Cartesian than sentimental "anti-saucerists", are concerned with this regular shift:
Just long enough to newspapers to inform you of the virus, they reply. After the Mantell crash anyway America was so gripped by the fear of the saucers deadly saucers that it accepted all the fables.
The most sensational story was published by one Franck Scully of Denver, who told in a weekly magazine, then in a book, how a circular machine, that came from another planet, crashed in the United States, described the autopsy by a famous practitioner of sixteen little creatures found on board and stated that metal debris from the machine, heated to 10,000 degrees, had not melted. The finally palpable "saucer" and these little men in blue linen clothes made such a noise that an investigation commission - again - joined in. Frank Scully, interrogated, had to admit the "hoax". His piece of metal melted at 637 degrees and the case ended with two convictions for fraud.
But once again, the explanation came too late. The book beautifully sold and the author won a lot of dollars.
1953 has not been a hot year for "saucers".
In France, the first known "saucer" was reported in Antibes, in August 1949, but the following came in waves, parallel, we repeat, to those in the US. There is a fever in 1950, two in 1951 and one particularly important in 1952. That year, there were eleven appearances in May, six in June, six in July, two in August and two in September, eight finally in October.
This is precisely the time when America also sees many "flying objects" and made us know its anxiety. We will see how calm then returned across the Atlantic. Here, 1953 was also quiet. The saucers disappeared from our skies until last August where a new wave started discreetly in Norway with the meeting of a helicopter by two young people who were picking blueberries.
This time Europe had exclusivity. The wave grows slowly, recalling the Loch Ness [Monster] who in the past returned in the heart of summer to fill the gaps in the news. But the Scottish snake was a prisoner of the lake while the "saucers" do not recognize borders nor countries nor the dreams and the real facts are now mingled with the disorder.
We must reject from the first five recent stories - the most sensational alas! - just too unreliable.
In Vernon, the young witness has a strong imagination well known in the region.
In Quarouble, near Valenciennes, the gatekeeper who saw "little people" was a victim, one year ago, of a head injury and is subject, since then, to nervous disorders. Prints appear on the wood of the railway track, but may give rise to infinite interpretations.
Near Amiens, four pranksters had to admit they had wanted to make fun of their friends. In Bugeat (Corrèze), Mr. Mazaud has probably been embraced by someone but the air police firstly believes in a light aircraft that came in this deserted place at dusk, for a rendez-vous with a smuggler.
In Craintilleux finally, near St-Etienne, the giant, Hitler lookalike, double-faced (one grimacing at the front and the other, jovial, at the back) climbed in his saucer without opening the door, in the manner of wall-crossing ghosts, really seems too childishly wonderful. Witnesses, actors and writers have probably the romantic spirit that suits this kind of occurrence. And the Martian they thought they saw will at least have the advantage of providing them something for a play or a novel.
Medicine knows about these awaken hallucinations which can be experienced by completely normal people. Who did not see in the dark shadows move where there was nothing? It should be noted in this connection that virtually all reported landings of "saucers" took place at night and no one has yet seen Martians having a shape significantly different from ours in daylight.
Should we conclude that all recorded reports are the work of unbridled imaginations?
Certainly not.
Kenneth Arnold and Mantell were not dreamers. Most French witnesses aren' either.
[Ref. fso1:] NEWSPAPER "FRANCE-SOIR":
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The most recent testimonies of the strange passengers of saucers, cigars, and various apparatuses that landed in different regions of France agree on one point: the supposed Martians are small and different from those who appeared in Portugal and measured 2 m. 50.
We summarize the witnesses report that can give an idea of what might be the "average Martian":
Mr. Marius DEWILDE, 34, metallurgist in Quarouble (Nord), saw two beings measuring one meter, with wide shoulders, but apparently without arms. They were dressed in diving suits and fitted with helmets. They pointed at the witness a ray that paralyzed him for a few seconds.
Mr. Pierre LUCAS, a baker in Loctudy (Finistère), saw an "individual" measuring 1 m 30 come out of a saucer and patting him on the shoulder uttering unintelligible sounds. His face was oval and hairy and his eyes were "the size of a raven egg".
Mr. André NARCY, 48 years old, a roadmender in Mertrud (Haute-Marne), saw a 1.20-meter-tall being disembarking from a saucer "dressed in a coat covered with hairs".
Mr. Antoine MAZAUD, from Bugeat (Corrèze), saw a "medium-sized" being wearing a motorcycle helmet.
M. Lucien BORDET, storekeeper, 9 rue Lapérouse, Paris, saw at the Bois de Boulogne three "beings" of 1 meter in height, dressed in luminous outfits and wearing helmets whose portholes concealed their eyes. One of them, who appeared to be the chief, had "six rotundities on the abdomen".
[Ref. dmi1:] NEWSPAPER "LA DEPECHE DU MIDI":
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In the incredible dance that every day (or every night) saucers and cigars and apparatuses of all kinds lead in the sky of our planet, the Corrèze has not, so far, gotten the lion's share.
But I am tempted to write that if we did not get the quantity however we got the quality.
By this I mean that the few observations made in our region were made by serious people whose good faith and judgment cannot be doubted.
Mr. Mazaud of Bugeat gained a solid reputation not because he was the first to see the "flying cigar" even before the findings made in the sky of Rome, but also because his encounter with a curious person, Which one assumes to be the pilot or passenger of the mysterious machine, a character of the most "terrestrial" type that is contrary to what some write with a little too much fantasy.
Several weeks after other witnesses just as serious as M. Mazaud saw in the sky between Forgès and Saint-Chamont another flying cigar which moved a bit in the manner of an aircraft and which suddenly dove vertically.
But to these two serious observations must be added a third observed by a government employee who wishes to remain anonymous. I understand this a little.
"Saturday," he said, "I drove on the road from Egletons to Lapleau in the company of my wife, enjoying a nice morning we went to the neighboring woods to pick up mushrooms. Suddenly I saw in the sky an elongated machine, very bulging in the center, throwing metallic reflections towards the ground, the apparatus descended gradually, then disappeared suddenly behind the wooded hill in a south-easterly direction. When I reached a ridge I scanned the sky but I realized that the mysterious machine had disappeared.
My informant is formal, he did observe this extraordinary aerial ship; it was not a plane, at least not a plane of any known type. There was no [?]. It therefore belongs to the category of the flying cigars.
In the "flying saucer" category, the most serious observation seems to be that of Mr. Besse, which we did report in detail. He was able to observe the machine using binoculars. Other troubling facts were noted. But they do not have the precision of Mr. Besse's observations.
Thus in Puy-de-Noix, commune of Sainte-Fortunade on the road from Tulle to Beaulieu, several people observed a phenomenon inexplicable in their eyes.
It was Mr. Sol who gave the "alarm". At the moment when he was entering his house, from which he oversees a vast [hamlet?], he perceived at the height of a distant ridge in the direction of Falazinges a luminous ball which was moving, while changing in intensity. Mr. Sol called his son. Mr. Lherbe, a neighbor was also invited to come and observe the luminous ball, it moved irregularly, at one time it seemed that it wanted to go towards the village of Puy-de-Noix, but it returned to Falazinges. The night was dark, so we consider several explanations, an automobile headlight, the headlight of a tractor performing its nocturnal plowing. But we were obliged to consent that it could not be a headlight, since we could not see the luminous beam on the ground.
In the village of Puy-de-Noix, one still wonders about it.
Such are, among the various observations made in Correze, and have come to our knowledge, those that seem the most serious to us. They are troubling but they do not, alas, bring the final word of the enigma. -- V.A.
[Ref. ssr1:] NEWSPAPER "SAMEDI-SOIR":
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[...]
Mourieras (Correze), France, Sept. 10, 1954, 07:15 p.m.:
ANTOINE MAZAUD has just bound his last heap of oat. He thinks that the night falls already rather quickly in this season and that he was right to work late to finish before the first cold. On one kick of his heap, he adjusts the strap of his haversack and his fork on the shoulder, rejected his cap away of the forehead, and moves at great strides towards the hamlet located at approximately two kilometers.
He is a strong bloke, ole' Mazaud. Despite his fifty-eight years, one would find few like him to farm on this arid ground of the plate of Millevaches, where brooms and heather grow better than corn. It was almost night, but this sunken lane, bordered of ferns, he knows it down to every stones, he know each of its ruts. He walks faster, because he's afraid to be late for the soup. Indeed, here's the shortcut which, through the moor, leads to his farm. He engages there, walks fifty meters, and suddenly freezes still. Three steps in front of him, along a bush, a worrying silhouette shows.
Antoine Mazaud, however, does not have any reason to be afraid. Everyone has the right to walk on the plate, even at eight hours of the evening, and it would not be the first time that Mazaud meets a poacher while returning from his field. And yet the fact remains: Antoine Mazaud is afraid. Inexplicably afraid.
Something makes him think that the man is not local. He cannot distinguish his features, but his clothing is of dark color, and his head, which he holds obstinately hung low, appears enclosed in a helmet as those which the motorcyclists wear. He is of small stature, and he is rocking, without saying a word.
In his callous palm, ole' Mazaud father squeezes the handle of his fork. If the unknown wants evil to him, he will get some reaction.
A few seconds went by, then suddenly, the man shook his hand. It is an obvious sign of peace. Mazaud shakes hands with him. The unknown advances, still lowering the head. He takes Mazaud's hand, presses it firmly, and, attracting the farmer towards him, he kisses him. Awestruck, Antoine Mazaud lets him do this and has just hardly realized what has happened that, already, the unknown moves away at great steps on the moor. All the scene lasted one minute and neither one nor the other of the protagonists pronounced a single word.
Still under the shock of the surprise, Antoine automatically resumes his walk.
- I feared another meeting of this sort, which perhaps would have been less peaceful, he would later say.
But hardly had he crossed twenty meters, when he sees "the Thing", or rather he hears a light rustle which makes him turn over. At approximately fifty of meters from him, an apparatus of elongated shape, slightly shining, measuring approximately from four to five meters length, rises gently from the ground and takes altitude little by little.
After having passed under the power line which borders the road of Tarnac, "the Thing" disappears in the night. Antoine Mazaud, from Mouriéras (Corrèze), will become the man in the news.
He tells the affair to his wife, initially, then to his son who is a teacher in Bort-les-Orgues. Soon, all the village is well-informed and, little by little, the case of the ole' Mazaud comes into the ears of the mobile brigade of Tulle, which dispatches police chief Bernard on the premises, from the General Intelligence. To him as with the others, Antoine Mazaud can only repeat what he said: The man... the kiss... the Thing...
On the spot, the investigators discover nothing. No landing trace, no clue. Before to have even started, the investigation is blocked at the declarations of Antoine Mazaud. The mystery remains whole.
Such is the manner in which the adventure of Mr. Mazaud was reported. This story seemed surprising enough to justify the impassioned interest of the public and to make those which regard the flying saucers as interplanetary apparatus utter clamours of triumph.
A local investigation revealed certain rather disturbing details all the same.
"THE BEING WHICH I EMBRACED WAS OF SMALL SIZE," said Antoine Mazaud and he added later "HE EMBRACED ME WITHOUT RAISING THE HEAD." Antoine Mazaud has a size of 1 m 80 approximately, it appears rather difficult that an individual of small size embraces him without raising the head.
DARKNESS PREVENTED TO DESCRIBE FACIAL FEATURES OF THE UNKNOWN, tells Antoine Mazaud. That however did not prevent him from distinguishing certain clothing details such as the motorcyclist helmet.
THE APPARATUS WENT UNDER A POWER LINE, affirms Mr. Mazaud. Close to the place where he was and at the hour when the event occurred, it would have been necessary to have the hawk's sight to notice this detail with certainty.
Lastly, it seems that certain precise details came to be grafted thereafter onto the account by the witness. Is this so astonishing, when a flock of people overpowered Mr. Mazaud with questions and when he has to repeat his story more than one hundred times?
Who subjected Antoine Mazaud to a questionnaire bearing on absolutely irrefutable facts? Who tried to reduce back his adventure to data which he would have judged certain himself?
The mystery is perhaps not as impenetrable as it appears, but Saint-Thomas would perhaps not be too much to clear it up.
[Ref. eum1:] "EUROPE MAGAZINE:
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"A Martian hugged me ", said, most earnestly, Mr. Mazaud, farmer in the Corrèze.
[Ref. smh1:] "SYDNEY MORNING HERALD" NEWSPAPER:
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From June GODDARD In Paris
FRANCE, the land of logic, is in the full grip of the fever of flying saucers and of little men in space helmets, who make friendly, if unintelligible, advances to startled peasants, or nail them to the spot with a hypnotic "green ray."
For the past 10 days there have been unnumerable flying saucer reports from peasants, doctors, milkmen, butchers, farmers, housewives, gendarmes, teachers, from the Channel coast to the Mediterranean, from the Pyrenees to the Ardennes, from Brittany to Alsace.
According to all these witnesses, the sky over France is alight with sparkling yellow "saucers," bluish globes, "flying cigars," (Once as dramatically reported from Mulhouse in Alsace, surrounded by "12 little cheroots"), plain aluminum "saucers," luminous "cigars," 10 "saucers" which seemed to perform a sort of ballet in the sky, and sometimes just plain "mysterious machines."
Unlike earlier flying saucers, those reported hovering over France fly low, sometimes at about 600 ft, and do not flash across the sky, but remain in view for as long as 15 minutes, or remain apparently immobile.
They variously spit flames, form luminous curtains of light, change color, land and take off vertically without a sound.
MANY French scientists, hitherto skeptical on the flying saucer question, are reported to be somewhat shaken by the multiplicity of reports, and by the fact that some are group observations, or individual reports which tally with others received from adjacent regions.
On the subject of little men or Martians, they reiterate that astronomers have never made any observations which could indicate a high form of life on Mars.
They point out that Mars is a thousand million years older than the earth, and that, if life did once exist there, it probably disappeared in the pink icy deserts which appear now to abound on the planet.
The protagonists of the flying saucers and the little men from Mars have been greatly encouraged by an article in the serious journal, "Forces Aériennes Françaises" (French Air Forces) written by a young aeronautical engineer, Lieut. J. Plantier, and approved by an engineer-in-chief of the Air Ministry.
Lieut. Plantier does not take sides, but merely demonstrates theoretically and by mathematical study that all the phenomenal behavior attributed to flying saucers is perfectly explicable if such machines were using cosmic ray energy,
Lieut. Plantier shows that the reports that flying saucers remain motionless in the sky, accelerate from immobility to 10,000 m.p.h. in a few seconds without any noise, and that living beings can fly in them without being harmed by the acceleration, are completely logical if it is admitted that energy of cosmic rays has been harnessed and that machines can fly at the speed of light.
IRRESPECTIVE of the views of scientists, however, French men and women continue to report daily appearances of saucers and cigars and their encounters with the space men.
First reaction of the honest French citizen in the face of any unusual happening or danger - including, it seems, phenomena from outer space - is to inform the gendarmes.
Accordingly, in villages and towns, bold gendarmes have been "alerted" as the French Press has it, and have been kept busy checking reports and examining alleged flying saucer landing areas for "traces."
Two gendarmes at Chateauroux in Central France themselves saw three luminous green flying objects.
Their police training immediately asserted itself, and they stopped a motor car driver and a cyclist so that they too could look and bear witness. Then the gendarmes made out a full report.
The only tangible evidence to date of a landing is that produced by Mr. Marius Dewilde, a 28-year-old metal worker in the North near Valenciennes.
M. Dewilde, a young man with a hairline moustache, a long - and it must be admitted, humorous - face, said he first saw the "Martians" from his garden near the railway line.
"Two little beings, not more than three feet high," he reported, "each wearing a sort of diving suit with metal helmet, were standing near a 'flying cigar,' which had landed on the railway sleepers."
M. Dewilde had no chance to shake hands or welcome the visitors in the name of the Fourth Republic for, as soon as they saw him, they hypnotized him with a "green ray" while they leapt into their machine which, of course, took off vertically in a thick cloud of smoke without making a sound.
Next day the gendarmes "alerted" at once by M. Dewilde and two inspectors of the Air Force police, found a series of strange regular marks on the railway sleepers, which could have been caused by the "saucer" in landing.
MOST intimate contact with the space men was reported by M. Antoine Mazaud, a farmer, aged 58, with a bushy grey moustache, who lives near Limoges in the Massif central plateau of France.
M. Mazaud alleges that a "Martian" about three feet high emerged from a "flying cigar" and began to talk in an unintelligible tongue. When he realized that M. Mazaud could not understand him, he kissed the farmer on the cheek.
M. Mazaud's argumentative fellow-countrymen, questioning this strange story, immediately wanted to know why a creature from another world should adopt the habit - not even universal on earth, they pointed - of kissing.
"It is surprising that he did not pin a medal on your chest and kiss you on both cheeks," they scoffed.
In view of this unsympathetic response to M. Mazaud's story, it is not surprising, therefore, that M. Yves David, a farmer of Chatellerault, concealed for some days the fact that he had been touched on the arm by a "space man" before being momentarily hypnotized by the "green ray" like M. Dewilde.
M. David was afraid of being laughed at, he said, but eventually asked a friend if anyone else had seen the space man. The friend spread the news and, of course, told the gendarmes.
Two women in the Yonne department gave independent reports of having seen a strange machine in a clearing with a pilot standing next to it. Neither stayed to investigate, however.
DAILY the stories continue. No Parisians have yet reported an encounter with a "Martian," altough, as the wits point out, you would expect them to land on the "Champs de Mars" ("Field of Mars"), the esplanade in the front of the military school.
Cartoonists are fully exploiting the "Martian" and flying saucer season. One, in true Gallic vein, has drawn the classic wronged husband who returns home unexpectedly. He has thrown open the cupboard door to reveal a strange little figure in a spaceman's suit and helmet, and is saying to his guilty wife, cowering in bed: "And that, I suppose, you'll tell me, is a Martian."
Most celebrated flying saucer "spotter" to date in Paris is film star Michele Morgan, who reported seeing one near the Eiffel tower at about 10 p.m.
When Mademoiselle Morgan later complained of the flood of telephone calls from fans and friends who wanted to hear further details, her mother made the dry and essentially French comment:
"You lost a good opportunity that night to hold your tongue."
[Ref. tht1:] "TERRE HAUTE TRIBUNE" NEWSPAPER:
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Flying saucer stories originated in the United States, spread to Canada, and have now burst out in France. The French saucer tales have a gallic quality that adds to their fascination.
For instance, a French farmer claims that as he was walking along a lonely road, a creature came up to him, caressed his arm, and made unintelligible noises. Then it moved off to a waiting saucer, says the farmer, which he could no see because he was blinded and temporarily paralyzed by a green ray directed at him. (Only in France would a creature from outer space caress a man who chanced upon him on a lonely road.)
Then a former artillery officer in France reported he saw a dark-gray object hovering over some mountains at about 6.000 feet. As he stopped his car to look, the mass suddenly "shot away like lightning and disappeared." The element of romance is missing here, but not that of wonder.
It's impossible to say that flying saucers don't exist; certainly stories about them appear to be universal. But so, at one time, did stories of witches and fairies come from all over the world. What is universal today is the jitters. It may be these, along with the fantastic devices assembled by science, that cause people to see things in the sky which exist only in their imagination.
[Ref. esr1:] "EVENING STAR" NEWSPAPER:
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PARIS. -- Readers of the classical ad columns of the Brest Telegramme blinked recently at the following notice:
REWARD
Offer of 10 million francs (1000000) to anyone who brings me a live inhabitant of planet Mars. Contact PRE in LOCRONAN (Finistère).
It may that that Mr. Pre has his tongue in his cheek and a good more than 10 million francs in his pockets. But considering what is going on in Europe these says you never know...
Cedric Allingham, if his interest has been more mercenary than scientific, might have warmed up. Mr Allingham is a [unreadable]. He is also a professional ornithologist and an amateur astronomer. His big chance came last February 18, about 3:30 p.m. on his course of a stroll between [... unreadable]
[(Allingham claimed he met Venusians...] chances of earning Mr. Pre's reward, he has no corner on the Martian market. Within recent weeks, European newspapers have been flooded with scores of hardly less intriguing reports:
On the night of September 10, near Quarouble in Northern France, an oblong machine about 10 feet long landed on a railroad track a few yards from the house of farmer Marius Dewilde. Two small man-like creatures emerged, dressed in costumes that looked like divers' suits. As Mr. Dewilde walked towards the machine, he was paralyzed by a green light. By the time he recovered, the machine was high in the sky. Further investigations showed symmetrical scrapes on the wooden railroad ties, suggesting that the object had rested on a tripod undercarriage.
The same evening a farmer named Antoine Mazaud of the Plateau of Millevache in Southern France turned in a similar report to the local authorities. Walking home, Mr. Mazaud had found himself suddenly face to face with a small, mysterious stranger, wearing something that looked like a crash helmet. Farmer Mazaud prudently extended his pitchfork. The stranger, on the contrary, held out his hands in a gesture of friendship, walked up, uttered a few sounds, and kissed Mr. Mazaud on the cheek. Before the farmer could recover his poise, the amiable intruder has climbed the roadside hedge and entered a cigar-shaped contraption which took off with a faint buzzing sound.
On September 24 at 10 a.m. in the Gardunha Mountains near the Spanish border, three Portuguese peasants were startled by a fast flying sphere which landed in a field 200 yards from them. This time, two tall creatures emerged in shiny metallic outfits and started collecting grass and stones in a brightly polished box. Spotting the peasants, they strolled over and invited the men by gestures to climb into their machines, where moving shadows could be seen behind the semitransparent center section. When the offer was declined, the strangers disappeared through a hatch. A few seconds later, the sphere took off vertically and rapidly disappeared. [In Portugal, a hoax. Case file here.]
"Flying Mushroom"
On September 30 at 5:10 p.m. Bernard Goujon and Armand Pichet were working on the road between Maisoncelles and Meaux when a "flying mushroom" eight feet wide settled gracefully nearby. Mr. Pichet, from a vantage point in the roadside ditch, urged Mr. Goujon to "run over and have a look." According to Mr. Goujon's report to the gendarmes, the mushroom seemed to be made out of aluminum and rested on three crutches. It took off as he approached "spiraling like an autumn leaf" and was lost in the clouds. Next morning the
[Ref. els1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ECHO DE LA LYS":
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What a nice "chit-chat" ground for the Press in search of sensations...
But until proven guilty (and it hasn't been released yet) the flying saucers are just a myth, a big joke. They don't exist!
Certainly the popular imagination often more or less well balanced, multiplied by gossip and malice, this gives fertile results (in all areas).
Most recently, in the Somme department, two men had certified to have seen a flying saucer (which they had approached) land in a field (which they designated) where naturally no trace was found (the thatch was not even crushed).
The cases of individual or collective hallucinations are increasing. We give below a very recent relation (it comes, it is true, from a Mediterranean country where pranks and other jokes...):
The newspaper "Diario de Lisboa" (Portugal) reveals that like a French farmer who recently met a Martian who came to earth aboard a mysterious craft, four Portuguese peasants had also just met visitors who had arrived from another world.
However, they did not kiss them.
"Seeing us," one of the witnesses reports, "they walked towards us and made a few sounds. Faced with our incomprehension, they invited us, by gestures, to get into their craft. But we refused".
It was on September 25, at 6:00 p.m., that these events occurred, to which we would like to be able to add here, at a point located in the Gardunha mountains, on the Spanish-Portuguese border.
A sphere appeared in the sky to the east, witnesses still say. It flew at breakneck speed and threw multicolored lightning flashes. It landed silently 200 meters from us and two figures about 2.50 meters tall got out. They looked like men of aluminum. They first gathered herbs and gathered stones which they placed in a box of blinding glare.
Editor's note. - So they refused to get on the craft! What a great missed opportunity to make a splendid trip.
The silhouettes were 2.50 meters tall. Previously they did not exceed 25 centimeters: they must have grown, like human stupidity.
[Ref. lbe2:] "LA BAILLEULOISE" NEWSPAPER:
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- In Quarouble, Friday, September 10, at 11 p.m., a gatekeeper reportedly saw a flying saucer posed on the track. Having approached by the light of his electric lamp, he saw two small men surmounted by a "glass head" quickly get inside. The gendamerie investigated without result.
- A farmer from the Corrèze said that he was approached by the passenger in a flying saucer who shook his hand. He was a quite man-like individual. He then climbed into a cigar-shaped craft that rose vertically.
- A "flying saucer" with a diameter of about ten meters, reportedly landed in a field near Amiens. Two masons who were on their way to work approached it by almost 100 m. and saw it disappear quickly, rising diagonally.
[Ref. lpn1:] "LE PROGRES DU NORD" NEWSPAPER:
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I admit it. Despite my oath to believe in this only when I see it, with my own eyes, I am weakening.
What, people who do not have the reputation of riding the chimera, "born natives" of Acheux, near Amiens, Picards with a cool head and, on top of the market, masons accustomed to handle material things, had seen them.
And they gave such details! ...
I was going to surrender, make amends.
Occurs the adventure of the inhabitant of Quarouble. It's getting closer to us.
Without doubt, the visionary, who is called Marius by chance, was not satisfied with seeing something like what our two brave masons reported.
He adds a little, up to having been grazed by the passengers of the flying saucer - because it was one, no doubt - little helmets, and saw them rush into the mysterious craft that resumed its backfiring flight.
Maybe like simple aviators more or less at home on a more or less ordinary plane.
And then patatras!
This Corrèze cultivator who lets himself be kissed by the passenger of the flying saucer speaking an unknown dialect, goes a little furtherer: he throws everything on the floor.
Including flying saucers that do not leave a trace of their passage while leaving some.
So, farewell saucer!It will be for another time.
When your passengers are more serious.
[Ref. lsr1:] "LE SEMEUR" WEEKLY NEWSPAPER:
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Some time ago, young Norwegian girls claimed to have met a mysterious aviator who had left in a flying saucer. Here now that a worker from Valenciennes then a peasant from Corrèze say they had a similar encounter.
The latter, Mr. Mazaud, from Bugeat, declares having met in a moor, at dusk, a peaceful-looking man who, without speaking, extended his hand to him, then left in a machine shaped like a cigar and hovering with a slight noise.
[Ref. let1:] "L'EVENEMENT" WEEKLY NEWSPAPER:
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Martians have landed in France; some in Corrèze, others in Quarouble (Nord). But while the first made the unfortunate earthlings who came to greet them fell asleep, with a stroke of a green ray, the second pushed kindness to kiss them on the forehead.
These are the incredible nonsense published by our "big" daily colleagues. They testify more to the taste for hoaxing dear to some than to the respect of the reader.
But there is more!
Air Force police have been investigating in Quarouble (Nord) following statements by the "witness".
They engaged in long investigations, they analyzed the stones allegedly burned by the passage of the saucer piloted by the Martians, measuring AT THE CENTIMETER the traces of crutches supporting, according to the narrator, the interstellar craft.
Let's be serious.
[Ref. cpe1:] NEWSPAPER "LA CROIX DE PICARDIE":
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The flying saucers multiply at a dizzying rate. Indeed, witnesses to the evolutions of these mysterious craft have been legion in France for some time.
It is first Mr. Marius Dewilde who said he saw a saucer on September 10, at 10 p.m., posed on a railway track near Valenciennes. When he approached the apparatus, two strange and stocky men, whose size did not exceed one meter, moved quickly towards the craft. A few moments later, a square of intense light appeared on the sides of the saucer. The witness was dazzled, and when he opened his eyes, everything was gone.
In Onnaing, 70 kilometers away, a young man, Mr. Auverlot and a pensioner, Mr. Hublard, revealed to have seen on the same day, at the same time, a red glow moving in the sky. As for Mr. Emile Renard, he claims to have seen a saucer which had landed in a field near Acheux-en-Amiénois. The craft hovered slightly above the ground, and when he wanted to approach it, the craft took off and disappeared.
Better still, Mr. Mazaud, farmer of Mourieras (Corrèze), reportedly met an unknown individual, wearing a helmet, on a path, who shook his hand and kissed him, saying unintelligible words. The stranger then climbed into an unlit cigar-shaped craft, four meters long, which, taking off vertically, set off in a westward direction, making no more noise than a bee.
In Origny-en-Thiérache and in the region of Château-Thierry (Aisne), residents claim to have seen a meteor about the size of a motorcycle wheel. Its passage through the Marne valley was accompanied by a blast heard from several localities.
[Ref. pmh1:] PARIS MATCH:
In a four pages general article on the flying saucers, the famous Paris-Match magazine counts Antoine Mazaud as one of the three sole people, with Aasta Solvag and Marius Dewilde, "which made a personal contact with the passengers of the flying saucers" on the old continent. The article denounces the American swindle of the hoaxed saucer fragments of Frank Scully and gives a clearly dubitative account of the Adamski claims.
The magazine indicates that these passengers of flying saucers kissed Mr. Mazaud, adding that according to his own words, Mr. Mazaud felt against his cheek a hot flesh "like that of a guy from my countryside."
[Ref. rdr1:] MAGAZINE "RADAR":
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USSEL. -- Antoine Mazaud, peaceful cultivator of Bugeat, on the plateau of Millevaches, in the Limousin, returns home with his fork on his shoulder. On the path which leads to his farm, a stranger advances. On his head, a helmet, quite similar to that of careful motorcyclists, but without ears. This stocky, plesant-looking character approaches Antoine and holds towards him a large palm, which ends with five very human fingers. Then he turns away from the path. Antoine follows him with his eyes and sees a craft in the shape of a large cigar of around 3 m. The unknown enters inside and takes off vertically (as in the Nord and in the Somme) "making no more noise than a bee."
[Ref. ste1:] "THE STAR TRIBUNE" NEWSPAPER:
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LYON, FRANCE, -- (Reuters) -- France's flying saucer circus continued to rouse interest around the country Wednesday as more eyewitnesses accounts of "saucers", "plates" and other whizzing celestial objects kept pouring in.
Now a farmer says a creature came up to him on a lonely road, caressed his arm and burbled unintelligible noises at him. Then it went off towards its "saucer", which the farmer could not describe because a green ray temporarily paralyzed him.
[Ref. prs1:] UNKNOWN NEWSPAPER:
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Auxerre (of our C.P.). - Friday morning Mrs. widow Geoffroy, living in the hamlet of Les Jolivets, commune of Dizes [sic] (Yonne), went to join the washhouse where she usually works, at the place "En Bécard", when her attention was attracted by a bizarre machine resting on the left of a clearing.
It was a device like a "flying saucer", as the Press had described it for a few weeks.
The cigar (seen in profile) was elongated, six or six feet in diameter, and was brown in color with a bulge in its upper central part. Beside, a man of average height was looking at Mme Geoffroy, who became frightened and did not return until two hours later.
Fortunately, another person, Miss Gisèle Fin, who kept her goats on the other side of the wood, was warned of this unusual presence by the barking of her dogs. She saw, about thirty yards away, a crouching man, apparently of normal height, who was busy working around a machine.
Continued on page 6, under the title
SAUCER
This device is described in the same way as Mrs. Geoffroy did.
Miss Fin led her dogs cautiously by the path in the direction of the road to better look while being safe. So she looked away from the craft for three or four minutes. When she wanted to look again, she saw nothing. Without noise, the craft had disappeared.
On the dew, in the place where it had been seen, there were traces of dried grass, at a distance of 80 centimeters, attesting that the saucer, mounted on skates - "I clearly saw them," said Miss Fin - did really land there.
Other people passing a few moments later were able to check it out.
The declarations of the Leaunais correspond to those given by a Bugeat peasant, who traded an identical craft and person on the plateau of Millevaches, in Limousin.
A month ago, a resident of Dizes, a hamlet of Varennes, Mrs. Lucas, had seen a hovering craft; which suddenly skyrocketed vertically. It was a superb moonlight. Madame Lucas dared not say anything, lest she would be mocked.
Does the region of Dizes, because of the presence of ocher piles extracted from the wells of Sully, attract, by its clear spots, the attention of the observers in the interplanetary vessels?
[Ref. ree1:] NEWSPAPER "THE RECORD-EAGLE":
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Flying saucer stories originated in the United States, spread to Canada, and have now burst out in France. The French saucer tales have a gallic quality that adds to their fascination.
For instance, a French farmer claims that as he was walking along a lonely road, a creature came up to him, caressed his arm, and made unintelligible noises. Then it moved off to a waiting saucer, says the farmer, which he could no see because he was blinded and temporarily paralyzed by a green ray directed at him. (Only in France would a creature from outer space caress a man who chanced upon him on a lonely road.)
Then a former artillery officer in France reported he saw a dark-gray object hovering over some mountains at about 6.000 feet. As he stopped his car to look, the mass sudeenly "shot away like lightning and disappeared." The element of ramce is missing here, but not that of wonder.
It's impossible to say that flying saucers don't exist; certainly stories about them appear to be universal. But so, at one time, did stories of witches and fairies come from all over the world. What is universal today is the jitters. It may be these, along with the fantastic devices assembled by science, that cause people to see things in the sky which exist only in their imagination.
[Ref. prs2:] UNKNOWN NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE:
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This farmer of the Corrèze Mr. Mazaud is said to have been fondly kissed by a "Martian" who came down of a flying "Cigar" of 6 meters in length.
[Ref. tms1:] "THE MARION STAR" NEWSPAPER:
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By CROSBY S. Noyes
PARIS (NANA) -- Readers of the classified-ad columns of the Brest Telegram blinked recently at the following notice:
Reward - Offer of 10 millions francs ($28.000) to anyone who brings me a live inhabitant of the planet Mars. Contact Pre at Locronan (Finistere).
It may be that M. Pre has his tongue in his cheek and a good deal less than 10,00,000 francs in his pocket. But considering what is going on in Europe these days, you never know...
Cedric Allingham, in his interest had been more mercenary cleaned up. Allingham is a Scots. He is also a professional ornithologist and an amateur astronomer. His big chance came last Feb. 18, about 3:30 p.m., in the course of a stroll between Lossiemouth and Buckle in Scotland. The flying saucer landed on the heath only a few yards away.
"A magnificent machine," Allingham reported later. "About 50 feet wide and 20 feet high. Made of metal, shinier than aluminum. As I walked over, a trap in the lower part opened and a man jumped out gracefully. I waved at him and he waved back. Then we just sort of stared at each other for a while.
"We both looked pretty much alike - about 5 feet 8 inches, around the same age (32), short, dark hair. Clothes, of course, were quite different. He had on a sort of tunic covering him completely to the neck, leaving only his hands free. One thing especially caught my attention: his nose, or rather two small tubes which emerged from his nostrils, connected by a metal bar no thicker than a match.
- * -
THINKING FAST, Allingham decided that his responsibility both as a scientist and an earthling required him to take the conversation initiative. By way of an obvious opening gambit, he pointed a questioning finger toward the sky.
"The man nodded affirmatively and smiled," Allingham related. "He had a charming smile. I said 'Mars' and he repeated 'Mars' in a voice which can't be described but could be compared to the sound of spring water."
After this promising beginning, the conversation lagged. Further questions produced little in the way of new information about life on Mars or the working of flying saucers. It was established, however, that the Martians had also made trips to Venus and had landed on the moon. Finally, the Martian, who showed an astonishing lack of curiosity about Allingham, decided it was time to leave.
- * -
BEFORE GOING, however, he agreed to a few snapshots of himself and his machine. Unfortunately, for all his knowledge of bird lore, astronomy and interplanetary small talk, Mr. Allingham turned out to be no great shakes as a photographer. His developed film showed only the blurred but surprisingly human-looking back of the retreating space traveler. The picture of the saucer has all the definition of a badly poached egg.
Although Allingham has written a book about his experience and stood the best chance of earning Mr. Pre's reward, he has no corner on the Martian market. Within recent weeks, European newspapers have been flooded with scores of hardly less intriguing reports.
On the night of Sept. 10, near Quarouble in northern France, an oblong machine about 10 feet long landed on a railroad track a few yards from the house of a farmer Marius Dewilde. Two small man-like creatures emerged, dressed in costumes that looked like divers' suits. As M. Dewilde walked toward the machine, he was paralyzed by a green light. By the time he recovered, the machine was high in the sky. Further investigation showed symmetrical scrapes on the wooden railroad ties, suggesting that the object had rested on a tripod undercarriage.
The same evening a farmer named Antoine Mazaud of the plateau of Millevaches in southern France turned in a similar report to the local authorities. Walking home, Mazaud had found himself suddenly face to face with a small, mysterious stranger, wearing something that looked like a crash helmet. Farmer Mazaud prudently extended his pitchfork. The stranger, on the contrary, held out his hand in a gesture of friendship, walked up, uttered a few sounds and kissed Mazaud on the cheek. Before the farmer could recover his poise, the amiable intruder had climbed the roadside hedge and entered a cigar-shaped contraption which took off with a faint buzzing sound.
- * -
ON SEPT. 24 at 10 a.m. in the Gardunha mountains near the Spanish border, three Portuguese peasants were startled by a fast-flying sphere which landed in a field 200 yards from them. This time, two tall creatures emerged in shiny metallic outfits and started collecting grass and stones in a brightly polished box. Spotting the peasants, they strolled over and invited the men by gestures to climb into their machine, where moving shadows could be seen behind the semitransparent center section. When the offer was declined, the strangers disappeared through a hatch. A few seconds later, the sphere took off vertically and rapidly disappeared.
On Oct. 8 at 7:15 a.m., a roadmender named Gustave Narcy was bicycling to work near Wassy, a Paris suburb, when he noticed an unusual looking creature climbing out of a 30-foot cigar. Narcy's description was very precise. The stranger was 3 feet 11 inches tall. His body was covered with hair. He was wearing a large orange corset and a helmet made of plush. A moment of mutual staring ensued after which Narcy said good-morning. The stranger apparently unreassured, scrambled back into his fuselage and flew away. An investigation on the spot revealed skid-marks on the grass and a strange milky substance.
- * -
REPORTS LIKE these are run-of-the mill, chosen at random from literally gundreds of similar incidents that have been brought to the public attention within the last two weeks. The stories have an interesting mixture of variety and consistency. The flying whatnots are always luminous by day or night. They are described as saucers, mushrooms, cigars, barrels, bananas, spheres and chamber pots. The pilots vary in size as well as wardrobe, ranging from dwarfs to giants. In all cases, the visitors have been pictured as mannerly but timid. In several cases the use of harmless weapons has been reported - in several others the intruders have shown an interest in collecting vegetable and mineral specimen near at hand.
The scientists have come up with plenty of explanations. A report from Russia that the past summer has been unusually hot on Mars has led to the journalistic deduction that the Martians are coming over for a breath of fresh air. The summer in western Europe has been anything but hot. In Africa, the vice president of the astronomic association of Nairobi suggests that Mars is conducting a geographic survey of the earth concentrated presently on Europe and Africa. The politicians are also getting nto the act: in France, Jean Nocher, Gaullist deputy from the Loire district, has formally demanded an investigation by the Secretary for Air.
All of which, probably, proves very little. Except that people in Europe today have more serious things to worry about than rearming the Germans. And that if M. Pre of Locronan is daft, he has, at least, plenty of company.
[Ref. cia1:] CIA:
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INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
| COUNTRY: | Non-Orbit | DATE OF INFORMATION: | 1954 | |
| SUBJET: | Military - Unidentified flying objects | |||
| HOW PUBLISHED: | Dail[y] newspaper | DATE DIST.: | 29 oct 1954 | |
| WHERE PUBLISHED: | As indicated | NO. OF PAGES: | 5 | |
| DATE PUBLISHED: | 31 Jul - 20 Sep 1954 | |||
| LANGUAGES: | Various | SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT NO.: | ||
| [Blackened out] | [Blackened out] | THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION | ||
| SOURCE: | As indicated |
SIGHTINGS OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS,
31 JULY - 20 SEPTEMBER 1954
WESTERN EUROPE
[... (Reports from other countries) ...]
France
[... (Previous reports)]
BELIEVE "FLYING SAUCER" PILOTS WERE SMUGGLERS -- Paris, Franc-Tireur, 16 Sep 54
(The following is additional information on reports of two cases cited in the FBIS [CIA reports such as this one] roundup of 14 September 1954)
Two of the alleged landings (on 10 September) in France of "flying saucers" are considered by the local air police to have been nothing more than the landing of planes used in smuggling. Furthermore, in one case, the farmer in Correze Department stated that the pilot uttered unintelligible words; but the farmer was certainly no polyglot and could easily have been fooled. In the other case, in Valenciennes Departement, the witness may have been sincere, but it should be noted that he had a cranial traumatism one year ago and several nervous disturbances since. It is true, however, that in the latter case, the air police found four unusual marks on the railroad ties near the spot indicated by the witness, marks that could have been made by the tools of railroad workers.
[... (Next reports)]
Note: the "other case" is the Marius Dewilde case, refer to the corresponding file for September 10 in Quarouble, Nord.
[Ref. hws1:] HAROLD T. WILKINS:
The author indicates that a few days after the Quarouble report, came a report from Clermont Ferrand, in the lonely mountain region of the Auvergne: Antoine Mazaud, walking in the dusk along a lonely footpath towards a hamlet called Ussel had met a being in a helmet, four feet six inches tall, who shook hands with him, and kissed him on both cheeks.
That being spoke a strange tongue, then turned and jumped into a 12 feet long cigar-shaped object; which took off vertically into the sky, and vanished west at great speed.
Mazaud notified the police, who only shook their heads and told the keeper of the local bistro whose customers laughed at Mazaud; which did not please him.
The author indicates further in his book that in France in 1954, at Bugeat, a man alleged that normal-looking beings or a normal-looking being approached, kissed him, jabbered unintelligibly, then got into cigar-shaped saucers ten feet long, and took off.
[Ref. gbr1:] GRAY BARKER:
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Dewilde's story was somewhat confirmed, and a strictly Freudian note was injected, when, on the same evening, a farmer names Antoin Mazaud, of the Plateau of Millevaches in southern France, told a similar tale.
He was walking home when he ran smack into a little guy wearing what he thought was a crash helmet. Although the farmer was not greatly frightened, he decided to play it safe and held up his pitchfork in a menacing manner.
But the small stranger wasn't offended: he held out his hand in a gesture of friendship, and when Mazaud put down his pitchfork the creature walked up, said a few unintelligible words and kissed him on the cheek.
Before Mazaud could recover his poise the saucerian climbed over a roadside hedge, hopped into a cigar-shaped contraption and zoomed away with a buzzing sound.
[Ref. mtn1:] MARC THIROUIN:
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The Mazaud case -- One remembers the adventure occurred to this farmer of Corrèze who claimed he had been kissed by a F.S. passenger, on Sept. 10, 1954. The questioning of Mr. Mauzaud multiplied so much that at the end, exhausted, he denied his claims and admitted that be had not been kissed. We were resting on this statement, when our correspondent, Mr. Avignon made?a counter-investigation and received the witness's written and signed confirmation of his first version.
[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:
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September 10 [1954]
08:30 p.m.: Mouriéras-de-Bugeat (at 40 km in straight line from Tulle--Corrèze): humanoid + spindle-shaped craft posed on the ground.
[Ref. jgu1:] JIMMY GUIEU:
Jimmy Guieu reports that on September 10, 1954, at 08:30 P.M., near the hamlet of Mouriéras in the département of Corrèze, on the Millevache mesa, Mr. Antoine Mazeau, a farmer of age 50, returned home after having worked in the field.
On a path, at 1500 meters of his home, he met an unknown individual, of normal size, capped of a helmet similar to those used by motorcyclists but without earcovers. The individual was coming towards him.
Mr. Mazaud and the individual surprised each other when they noticed their respective presences, and Mr. Mazaud started a gesture of defense with the fork which he carried on the shoulder, while the individual then advanced towards him smiling, tended hands, to convince him of his good intentions. The individual spoke, but Mr. Mazaud did not understand what he said. The individual took the hands of Mr. Mazaud in his and "tightened them warm-heartedly."
Mr. Mazaud had not yet recovered from his surprise, when the individual crossed the slope which bordered the path and jumped in an odd machine which had the shape of a large metal cylinder of 3 to 4 meters length. The apparatus, non-enlightened, took off vertically, emitting a curious buzz similar to that of a beehive and disappeared in the direction of the West.
Jimmy Guieu adds that Mr. Mazaud's statements were distorted by some, who wrote that he was kissed by the individual, while actually the individual only shook hands with Mr. Mazaud as a manifestation of friendship.
Jimmy Guieu indicates that Mr. Mazaud was lengthily interrogated by the Lieutenant of Gendarmerie (Police attached to the Army) of Ussel and formally maintained his declarations, but deplored the fuss which had been made about his adventure. The Gendarmerie had been alerted 5 days after the facts, went to the site and did not find traces of the landing at the site.
Jimmy Guieu finally adds that sincerity of Mr. Mazaud was obvious, and the absence of contradictions in his report convinced the investigators of the accuracy of his account, and that Mr. Mazaud was honorably known and had the reputation neither of a joker nor of a visionary.
[Ref. aml1:] AIME MICHEL:
Aimé Michel offers a lively account of the events, whose substance is what follows. He notes that in this little populated area, everyone knows everyone and an "unknown" is a strangeness per se.
On September 10, 1954, Antoine Mazaud, a robust country man in his fifties, calms and well balanced, has just spent the afternoon working in his oats field. At 08:30 P.M., whereas the night was falling, he put his fork at his shoulder and takes the sunken lane overhung by the Monneidières mounds and which curves between two hedges and leads to his house of the hamlet of Mouriéras, close to Bugeat, at 1.5 kilometer off the place where he worked.
At the level of a small wood, he puts down his fork to smoke a cigarette, during one or two minutes, then picks up his fork again and walks away. Michel provide Mr. Mazaud's wording:
"As soon as I had made a few steps, in the starting darkness, I came face to face with an unknown "character" dressed in an odd way. Of average size, the "character" had a sort of helmet without earcovers, a little like motorcyclists use. My first reflex was to hand my fork. I was frozen with fear." The other "was also motionless. Suddenly, quite gently, he advanced towards me, making a sort of gestures with his arm above his head. I believed to understand that he wanted to calm me down, perhaps to greet me, or to express his friendship to me. His other arm was directed at me, but I did not have the impression of a threat, on the contrary. I didn't know what to do. After one moment of panic, when I wondered with what I was dealing with, I thought that it was some crackpot in disguise. As he continued to advance slowly towards me making odd gestures, I deduced from it that he did not intend to attack me. He was in front of me. Then, still holding my fork in my right hand, I advanced my left hand towards him, hesitantly. He grabbed it and shoot hand very extremely tightly, then suddenly, grabbed me against him, attracting my head against its helmet. I was amazed. All that had happened in complete silence. Coming out of my stupor, I dared tell him a good evening. He did not say anything, passed in front of me and moved away a few meters in the thick shade of wood. It seemed to me that he went down on his knees. A few seconds afterwards, I heard a light whistle like a buzz of a bee and I saw a dark type of apparatus rise between the branches towards the sky, it appeared me to have the shape of a reinflated cigar on a side and a length of three or four meters. It passed under high voltage power lines and disappeared in the sky towards the West for Limoges. It is at this time that I began to gather my senses. I sprang in the direction where he had disappeared, but it was too late, obviously."
At 08:50 p.m., Antoine Mazaud arrives at his place. His wife questions it on what occurred, because he is pale and its hands are shaking. Pressed by his wife, he agrees to tell her what happened, but asks that she does not to speak about it with others, by fear of the scoffing. Mrs. Mazaud nevertheless told tell all the story to her neighbor, under promise that it will not be repeated, but is was, and as of the following day, everyone in the area was well-informed.
On October 12, the lieutenant of the Gendarmerie of Ussel opens his investigation and questions Mazaud, initially annoyed and reticent, but ending up telling the events. On the location of the encounter, the gendarmes find no trace, no clue. Michel notes that two days had passed and that it had rained a lot.
The gendarmes have been unable to prove that Mazaud lied, and have been also unable to prove that he told the truth. They checked the man's reputation, it was excellent, Mazaud being described as a silent man, a hard worker, balanced and deprived of any imagination. Michel provides an extract of an article by a journalist from "Combat" who came to investigate:
"In his statements, there is an indisputable note of sincerity. He does not have, not the least of it, the reputation of an illuminated prankster, and the investigators did find the least error or the least contradiction in his declarations."
Michel notes that the chief of the Military Intelligence in Tulle Information said that he was "struck as everyone by the seriousness of this involuntary witness of this strange phenomenon."
Michel indicates that the authorities would undoubtedly have filed the case away as cock-and-bull story, if it had not appeared during the investigation that the very same evening, a few moment after Mr. Mazaud saw the machine leaving for Limoges, towards the West, that the inhabitants of Limoges actually saw an object darting in the sky, coming from the East and going Westward, described as a reddish disc which let escape a bluish trail. These testimonies were collected by the police force before the meeting of Mr. Mazaud was even known of the inhabitants of Limoges. Michel notes amongst other the testimony of Mr. George Frugier, thirty years old, who reported his observation as of the evening of September 10, having noted the time with certainty: a few moments after 20:30. Michel adds that of Mr. Frugier's family did not take his testimony with serious before September 14, date at which the newspapers mentioned Mr. Mazaud's sighting.
Michel adds several precise details. Thus, it seems that Mr. Mazaud regretted "not having killed" the unknown individual" using his fork "to know what he was." For Michel, this is a firm indication that Mr. Mazaud knew the individual was not human. But the nature of the unknown being, if one sticks to the account of Mazaud given by Michel, is human: nothing suggests the contrary.
To add to the difficulty, Michel notes that at the time, Mazaud did not thought that his visitor could be an extraterrestrial being, because the notion of "Martians" and "flying saucers" were unknown to him, and it was thereafter, with the suggestions of the press amongst other, that he ended up naming his visitor: "my Martian."
Lastly, Aimé Michel notes with accuracy that Mr. Mazaud does not have anything of the "contactee" of the "Adamski type" in the sense that nothing enabled to foresee in his entourage that he was going to meet "a Martian", and that following its meeting, Mazaud was unchanged, in particular he did not gather any worshippers. He met a "Martian," and it stops right there.
[Ref. mcs1:] "MICHEL CARROUGES":
Michel Carrouges indicates that the Mazaud observation is one of the cases in which the saucer pilot touched the hand or shoulder of the witness.
[Ref. hdl1:] "HISTOIRE DE L'INSOLTE":
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The comments and summaries [about the book by the British Cédric Allingham which recounted his alleged contacts with "Venusians" in Lossiemouth] published in the French newspapers impressed a farmer from Corrèze. Antoine Mazaud announced, on September 11, 1954, that a helmeted Martian had kissed him the day before, at nightfall, on a dirt road that leads to the hamlet of Mourieras.
On September 10, at 7:15 p.m., Antoine Mazaud, after tying up a last bundle of oats, left his field and took the path he took every day to get home. 500 meters from the field, he saw a curious silhouette near a bush. In his declaration to the journalists, he acknowledged having been afraid: "The man was not from here... He had dark clothes and he wore a big helmet on his head like motorcyclists. He was very small and he swayed as he walked from one leg to the other. He came towards me, lowering his head... I hesitated to move forward. I was afraid of being attacked and I gripped the handle of my pitchfork very tightly... He approached. Suddenly, he is in front of me. He holds out his hand to me. I couldn't refuse... I hold out mine. He squezzed it stringly and pulls me towards him and kisses me on the cheek, without raising the head... I didn't even have time to understand what was happening to me that he had already slipped away..."
Mr. Mazaud fled in his turn. Having heard the sound of an engine, he looked back and saw a brilliant egg which measured 5 to 6 meters: "I watched the craft rise very slowly and climb into the sky, above the road to Tarnac..." The Martian's kiss made a big fuss. One published the portrait of Antoine Mazaud, "the man who kissed a Martian". He was about to become famous when the investigators of the Tulle brigade communicated the results of their work. Antoine Mazaud said: "The being I met was very small... he kissed me without raising his head..." However, Antoine Mazaud was 1.80 meters tall...
This little lie did not slow down the race of flying eggs and glowing globes.
[Ref. jve8:] JACQUES VALLEE - "FLYING SAUCER REVIEW":
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| Date | Place | Country | Witnessed by | Description of "Pilots" | Total |
| 10 Sept. 1954 | Mouriéras | France | Mazaud | A being of medium height, helmet without ear - pieces, approaches gently while gesticulating with his arm above his head, hugs him and shakes hands. | 1 |
[Ref. jve5:] JACQUES VALLEE:
| 116 | -001.92600 | 45.61650 | 10 | 09 | 1954 | 20 | 30 | 105 | MOURIERAS-CORREZE | F | 0111 | 2C | 038 |
[Ref. cln1:] CORAL AND JIM LORENZEN:
The authors indicate that at Mourieras, France on September 10, 1954, a farmer returning to the town at nightfall saw a man of average height, wearing a helmet, who made friendly gestures and entered the brush, and after that a cigar-shaped object estimated to be 16 feet in length, took off.
[Ref. jve2:] JACQUES VALLEE:
The author indicates that on September 10, 1954, a farmer who returned from Mouriéras at night fall suddenly came face to face with a helmeted being of average size who made friendly gestures to him, then returned, entered a bush, and penetrated in an object in the shape of a cigar of approximately 4 meters length which flew away.
[Ref. aml2:] AIME MICHEL:
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[...]
For the first narrative that follows [ldl1], the interesting fact (if one can say so!) is that the witness is dead and it is his wife who speaks. There is reason, in my opinion, to grant greater credence to this indirect account, for it is obvious that Mr. Mazaud must have shown himself more confident with regard to his wife than with regard to my correspondent. And Mrs. Mazaud, on the other hand, can speak coldly, knowing that the suspicious interest of the newspapers (so harmful in times of waves) no longer exists.
I had long wondered about the human appearance of the being observed by Mr. Mazaud. Was it a man? A very human humanoid? It seems that the counter-investigation has settled this: he was a man, an earthly man. This case should therefore be compared to that of Lac de Saint-Point (1) also reported in my book, and involves the same immense questions (although the young woman who witnessed the Lac de Saint-Point, frightened by the fuss made around her, wrote to me afterwards that she had perhaps no seen correctly): do UFOs have companions among us? Do they use men, abducted from Earth? Are the small humanoids themselves products of breeding obtained from human strains, with artificial hypercephalization, reduction of vegetative organs and size, modification of the senses, etc...? Or, according to a more subtle theory, are the similarities, differences and aberrations perceived by the witness attributable to an impotence of our integrating thought in the face of a phenomenon that goes beyond it?
[...]
[Ref. gal1:] CHARLES GARREAU AND RAYMOND LAVIER:
The authors indicate that their information for the case of Mourieras, commune of Bugeat, the Corrèze, of September 10, 1954, towards 08:30 p.m., has its source in newspapers clipping and their personal files.
They indicate that in this "classic case", farmer Antoine Mazaud, going back from his work in the fields, met a strange being of average size capped of a kind of motorcyclist helmet. There was reciprocal surprise, and the farmer told:
"My first reflex was to immediately use my fork, which I strongly held in my right hand, for I was not reassured at all. I was frozen on the spot by the fear. Then, all gently, he advanced towards me, while making salamalecs and holding out a hand to me. When he was at my level, I shook his left hand; which he squeezed very strongly. Then, pulling me in a fast gesture, he kissed me on the two cheeks. I remained dumbfounded about it. He had not said a word. Getting bolder I told him: "Good evening!" He answered nothing, passed in front of me, and moved away a few meters. In the thick shade of the wood, it seemed to to me that he went down on his knees. I then heard a gentle whistling sound. Then a kind of cigar, larger at the front than at the back, rose towards the sky, almost with vertically. It passed under the high voltage power lines and disappeared to the direction of Limoges."
The authors indicate that the investigation opened by the gendarmerie of Ussel made it possible to establish that this evening of September 10, 1954, little after 08:30 p.m., residents of Limoges had seen in the sky, flying from West to East, a reddish disc which let escape a bluish trail. The report of these witnesses had been collected before Antoine Mazaud's adventure was published in the press.
[Ref. jve1:] JACQUES VALLEE:
September 10, 1954, 08:30 P.M. Mouriéras (France).
A farmer, Mr. Mazaud was walking home when he was suddenly confronted with a helmeted being of average height who made friendly gestures, then went back into the brush, entered a cigar-shaped object about 4 m long, which took off toward Limoges. A few minutes later witnesses in Limoges reported a disk-shaped, red object leaving a bluish trail. (7; M 40)
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Antoine Mazaud, in 1954. |
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[Ref. qsj1:] MICHEL DORIER AND JEAN-PIERRE TROADEC:
September the 10th, 1954 was marked by two very strange affairs. The first takes place at 08:50 p.m. with Antoine Mazaud, fifty years old, who returns to his farm in Mouriéras (Corrèze). In the emerging darkness, he is face to face with an unknown being, of normal size, abnormally dressed, and wearing on the head without a helmet without earmuffs. The character takes his hand and pulls it against his helmet. No words are pronounced. Then he walks away. Seconds later Mr Mazaud hears like the buzzing of bees, and sees a kind of dark craft, 3 to 4 m long, rise.
[Ref. krs1:] KEVIN RANDLE AND RUSS ESTES:
The authors indicate that on September 10, 1954, in Mourieras, France, a farmer on his way home saw a man of average height wearing a helmet. The man made friendly gestures, then finally turned away and walked into the forest. A moment later a cigar-shaped craft lifted off.
[Ref. goe1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:
1954, September 10
FRANCE, Mourieras-Millevache (Correze)
Antoine Mazaud, a farmer, returning from the fields at 8:50 p.m., met 1500 m from his house in a path between two hedges, an individual of normal size, wearing a helmet walking towards him. Great surprise on both sides but Mazaud worried, made a gesture of defense with the pitchfork he carried on his shoulder. The individual advanced quickly towards him, smiling, hands outstretched, to convince him of his good intentions. While pronouncing incomprehensible words, he seized Mazaud's hands and shook them warmly. Then, before Mazaud recovered from his surprise, he stepped over the embankment bordering the path and jumped into a bizarre contraption in the shape of a large metallic cigar 3 to 4 m long. The unlit craft took off vertically with a curious hive-like hum, passed under the high voltage wires and disappeared westward. (Jimmy GUIEU: "Black-out sur les S.V." - Fleuve Noir 1956 - p. 125) (Aimé Michel: "M.O.C." - ed. Seghers, p. 56 to 60)
[Ref. rbn1:] RICHARD BOYLAN, PhD:
Richard Boylan is an American ufologist. In an article titled "Alien races: varied types and appearances" for the MUFON journal in April 2000, he reproduced Vallée's Magonia summary with no changes.
On September 10, 1954 in Mouriéras, France, a farmer, Mr. Mazaud was walking home when he was suddenly confronted with a helmeted being of average height who made friendly gestures, then went back into the brush, entered a cigar-shaped object about 4 m long, which took off toward Limoges. A few minutes' later witnesses in Limoges reported a disk-shaped, red object leaving a bluish trail.
[Ref. gab1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "G.A.B.R.I.E.L.":
A H-type "Martians"
09/10/1954 Mouriéras (Corrèze)
Around 8:30 p.m., Mr. Antoine Mazaud, who was returning from his fields, found himself face to face with an unknown character who was curiously dressed. The medium-sized being was wearing a helmet without ear flaps. He approached the witness, shook his hand and kissed him (bare cheek contact) then he disappeared. Mr. Mazaud remained convinced that he had been dealing with a madman until the moment he saw a dark mass rise silently from behind an agricultural machine... (J. Guieu)
What can be said about this affair, which was analyzed from top to bottom? Unquestionably, Mr. Mazaud found himself in the presence of a "Man" or at least of a being identical to a man. In issue 105 of the "Lumières dans la Nuit" magazine, Mr. Yves Gaille (regional responsible investigator) published a report of the counter-investigation he had carried out on the Mazaud case. This article constitutes an extraordinary document demonstrating in a more than convincing way that humans would be involved in the observations of "Flying Saucers". We will try to explain this later. Such facts require the utmost caution on the part of those who wish to attempt to interpret them. Without formal proof, it is extremely difficult to speak of abductions (or sampling) without immediately falling into the fiction of the novel. The facts are troubling but the evidence is lacking. We will conclude this paragraph by contenting ourselves with this statistic: the "Martians" of type A H [= with human appearance] only appear in 20% of the observations, they are therefore far from constituting a majority.
[Ref. gab2:] UFOLOGY GROUP "G.A.B.R.I.E.L.":
If we accept as a principle that the "Martians" do not speak our language (and why would they?), the most natural form of contact seems to us that of gestures and signs. If indeed the gesture has a universal value. The most perfect example of this type of behavior took place on 10/09/1954 in Mourriéras (Corrèze) vis-à-vis Mr. Mazaud. That evening, around 8:30 p.m., this brave peasant from Corrèze suddenly found himself face to face with a stranger whom he took for a poor fellow. Mr. Mazaud said good evening to him, for only answer, the stranger shook his hand and kissed him. Not for a moment did Mr. Mazaud think he was dealing with a "Martian". He only started to react when, everything being over, he saw a "Flying Saucer" take off. There was an attempt at contact, it is undeniable (and on this subject we cannot highly recommend the extraordinary study that M. Gaillé made of this case in L.D.L.N. number 105 of April 1970), but the earthling did not understand this contact, therefore the attempt was doomed to failure. For it to have had a chance of succeeding, Mr. Mazaud would have had to realize that he was in the presence of a "Martian". He was always persuaded to be in front of a man. Contact, in the sense that we give to this term, is not possible with an "alter ego"! But in terms of establishing contact with a "Martian" with full awareness of the fact, that would require a dose of courage, composure and presence of mind that we are not even sure we possess ourselves. It is therefore difficult for us to demand it from a witness who, unlike us, would be totally taken by surprise. Man also has his limits!
[Ref. fru1:] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:
10091954 8:30 p.m. Mourieras, commune of Bugeat 19170 A4 M72/20.
WITNESS. Mr. Antoine Mazaud, 48, died in 1964.
OBSERVATIONS.
a) Cigar about four meters long, bigger at the front than at the back.
b) A being of normal size, wearing a helmet identical to those of motorcyclists.
PROGRESS. Walking down a sunken path bordered by hedges and copses, the witness suddenly came to an open space devoid of trees and shrubs where an agricultural machine was parked. He comes face to face with a "character" dressed in a weird manner, wearing a helmet. He has one hand outstretched, the other, making "salamalecs", waves above his head. "When he was at my height, the witness told, I held out my left hand to him" (in the other hand, the witness held a pitchfork, which he hugged very tightly). "Then he kissed me on both cheeks. I made bold to say good evening to him, (See: Note), he didn't answer, he moved away a few meters, I heard a slight whistlinf sound, then a sort of cigar, bigger at the front than at the back, rose almost vertically into the sky, passing under a power line."
NOTE. In 1968, a counter-investigation carried out by MM. Ameil, Gaille, and Pulvin, from the "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT" group, enabled them to meet Mme Mazaud. She taught the investigators divergent points.
"I was frozen with fear, I thought it was a madman in disguise", reports Mr. Aimé Michel.
"A poor fellow, a little retarded, oddly dressed", said Mrs. Mazaud.
"I held out my left hand to him. I took the courage to say good evening to him...", reports Aimé Michel.
"What do you want?... What are you doing here?", according to Mes. Mazaud.
This counter-investigation was carried out fourteen years after the event. Mr. Mazaud only encountered one man whose fortuitous presence was completely unrelated to that of the machine (low probability). The presence of man and machine are linked (high probability). We can ask ourselves the question: was it a helicopter? (See "Errors of interpretation": Garreau case in Chaleix, Dordogne on October 4, 1954, N.A.T.O. helicopter, L.D.L.N. N° 126, p. 24 and the case of Becar on Sept. 24, 1954, traces of skates.) The object has the shape of a cigar, but larger at the front than at the rear: this shape is that of a helicopter. But we can hardly see a helicopter pass under a high voltage line, or make a noise comparable to that of a bee. An investigation opened by the Ussel gendarmerie established that on the evening of September 10, shortly after 8:30 p.m., Mr. Frugier and other inhabitants of Limoges saw a reddish disc pass in the sky.
THE SAME DAY. Evening in Quarouble (Nord): M. Dewilde affair.SOURCES. Vallée Catalog, case #143. - Michel Carrouges: Les Apparitions de Martiens, p. 95 to 97. - Aimé Michel: Mysterieux Objets Célestes, 1966 edition, p. 54. - Jimmy Guieu: Black out sur les soucoupes volantes, p. 125. - C. Garreau and R. Lavier: Face aux ETs, p. 70. - Lumières Dans La Nuit, #105, p. 9 to 12. - Dépêche de Tunisie, Oct. 14, 1954.
[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
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(Case #143 of "A Century of Landings" - September 10, 1954)
Case of Mr. Antoine Mazaud in MOURIERAS, Municipality of BUGEAT (Corrèze) reported in the book "MYSTERIEUX OBJETS CELESTES" by Aimé Michel, 1966 edition, page 54: "an eventful twilight".
Going to Mouriéras in September 1968, we learned that Mr. Mazaud had been dead for 4 years and that Mrs. Mazaud was at MEYMAC. Although quite disappointed we decided to make this new trip to visit her.
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This brave woman, who answered all our questions with good grace, not having been an eyewitness, it is therefore necessary to make certain reservations, due to the fact that we are unable to appreciate the personal contribution that she risked introducing into her statements without knowing it. So we tried, rather than recounting our entire interview with her, to bring out, as objectively as possible, the details or facts tending to strengthen or, on the contrary, to contradict the text published by Aimé Michel.
It should also be noted that we were unable to go to the actual place of the event (Mrs. Mazaud was at MEYMAC during our visit) which indisputably constitutes a serious inadequacy of our counter-investigation. But we think that, anyway, the answers of Mme Mazaud being formulated only on the basis of the explanations provided by her husband, it is probable that she would not have changed the fundamental content of her own statements. Therefore, we consider them, until proof to the contrary, as true, because, neither of us, during the conversation, was in a position to assess the impact that such or such data could make, the accuracy of which it would have deliberately distorted, on the conclusions that we would be led to draw.
The analysis of the 2 accounts has shown us a large number of points of agreement, which it seems useless to list, as long as these points do not serve as a support for an assessment or a different subjective interpretation. The points of divergence, less numerous, which seemed to us at first seemingly innocuous, relate mainly to the place of the observation, its environment and the chronological details of the encounter:
In Aimé Michel's text, Mr. Mazaud, returning to his farm by taking a sunken path bordered by hedges and stopping near a small wood to roll a cigarette, finds himself face to face, after having resumed his walk, with an "unknown character dressed in a strange manner"! Note also that at the end of the encounter this "character" moved away a few meters, in the shade and deep wood, and that he seemed to kneel.
Mrs. Mazaud gives us an apparently different description (because it is the same place) and points out a detail that Aimé Michel does not mention. According to her, the sunken path bordered by hedges and copses, in which her husband was walking, suddenly leads to an open space devoid of trees and shrubs (field, meadows ...) and In this space, at 10 or 15 paces, an agricultural machine like a tractor or combine-binder or thresher was parked.
Now let's review the details of the encounter:
According to her husband's story, it was while suddenly emerging in the open (the hedges bordering the sunken path ceasing) that he saw the "character". It seems that the 2 protagonists discovered each other simultaneously, one because being in the path, he could not see the free space hidden by the hedges and copses, the other for the same reason, could not see what was in the path, and both showed a movement of surprise. Mrs. Mazaud could obviously not be formal on this point, but she thinks she remembers that her husband had told her: "that they both stopped at 5 or 6 meters from each other", which very much implies that the "character" was also moving.
Finally, let us note in her story that her husband did not see "the stranger who seemed to kneel down". (We insisted on this point, because for us, in the first place, it contradicted Aimé Michel's story, and we were a little disappointed).
Nor did he see the craft rising between the branches, but behind the agricultural machinery).
We also have some differences on elements relating to the impressions or conclusions attributed to Mr. Mazaud: "I was frozen with fear"... "I thought it was a madman who was disguised" for Aimé Michel.
"I was taken aback, suspicious"... "A poor fellow, a little simple-minded, oddly dressed" for Mrs. Mazaud.
The terms used were not opposed, at most, they differed by a notion of degrees. Which seemed even less important to us than the small differences relating to the places, the gestures, etc... All the more so, as for both of them, exposed by two different storytellers, we were only hoping for an overlap of the two stories, without being absolutely, and in every way, identical!
But by putting the wording of this counter-investigation to fruition, a remark from Mrs. Mazaud intrigued us:
The most striking fact that what had literally stunned Mr. Mazaud, was not the encounter with the unknown and all that it involved, but the appearance of the apparently very heavy bulky mass that lifted silently behind farm machinery and started at high speed almost instantly, always silently, thus giving an impressive display of power and that without any engine noise, other than a buzz, which he described as that of a wasp or a bee moving close to his face.
"My husband had fought in WWI in the tanks and he could not understand that such a thing could be done without you being able to hear the noise of the engine!"
And he returned home, still completely stunned and worried, seized with retrospective fear, the affair taking on an almost supernatural character.
So we thought about it for a long time!
In the presence of two accounts, emanating from two different people, both based on the account of the facts by another witness, one by Aimé Michel, incites us to consider the living phenomenon (we let us use this name for all that touches on the encounter) as being the most striking in the mind of Mr. Mazaud. The other, by Mrs. Mazaud tells us, without particular emphasis on this point, and without minimizing the importance of the reactions
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emotional witness in the presence of the "living phenomenon" that what most marked him was the physical phenomena" (the silent departure of the craft).
We tried to discern the "Why?" and we wondered if, faced with the multiplication of details on the "living phenomenon" in the 2 accounts, and the relative poverty of these same accounts on the "physical phenomenon", the quantity of the elements of information on the first, did not alter our conclusions about its true quality?
We resumed the analysis of the accounts taking into account, not only the facts, but also the reactions of Mr. Mazaud, as a human, faced with two distinct phenomena in an almost identical geographical and temporal situation where, only, the nature of these phenomena is different.
We believe that in either case, the reactionary power of the Witness is part of the same mental process, starting from the observation or the perception of the external elements which he appreciates comparatively, according to his personal equation, to the elements of knowledge which together constitute its sensory, intellectual, mental and psychic heritage. In other words, he observes, recognizes (or not) one or more external elements, determines himself and takes the possible initiative which seems to him best suited to the comparative assessment that he is able to establish. (This does not mean that this process is not marred by errors, either in observation or perception, or in the comparative assessment or in the choice of initiative).
Now, what were the reactions or initiatives of Mr. Mazaud?
"I held out my left hand to him... I emboldened myself to say "good evening" to him..." (Aimé Michel) "What do you want?... What are you doing there?... "(Mrs. Mazaud)
HE TAKES A HAND OUT AND TALKS TO HIS VIS-A-VIS!
We do not immediately realize, the two things being so familiar to us, banal in themselves, what they are symptomatic and what is enormous, unthinkable in the fact that Mr. Mazaud reaches out and speaks to a being that a context encourages us to consider as an extraterrestrial and if we take into account the place, the surrounding loneliness, the late hour (external elements encouraging an overestimation of the importance of suspicious details) one can only admire his composure?
When Aimé Michel wrote that: "in front of a stranger barely human in appearance; Mr. Mazaud remained stunned... That he was frozen with fear" (Mrs. Mazaud told us: taken aback, suspicious)... "I thought it was a madman who would have disguised himself" (Mrs. Mazaud); a poor fellow, a little "simple-minded" strangely dressed)... Mr. Mazaud always regretted not having forcibly held back his strange visitors and even not having killed him with a pitchfork to find out what it was." (Formally contested by Mrs. Mazaud)... "That he might not have the impression of really being in front of a man" and that when he saw the craft take off: "It was only then that I recovered my senses, continues Mr. Mazaud. I was heading in the direction in which he had disappeared, but it was obviously too late." It seems to us that logic forces us to consider the situation thus described, and more or less subjectively presented, as being the reverse of what it should be in reality, and maybe it was! (which we formulate with great caution)
The small perceptible differences between the two stories, all going in the same direction, from the description of the place to the impressions given to Mr. Mazaud? It seems impossible to us that Mrs. Mazaud deliberately distorted, in such a subtle way, the meaning of her statements, in order to bring us to such a conclusion!
It seems probable, if not certain, that Mr. Mazaud not having discerned or perceived any strangeness capable of alerting him and thus of modifying the comparative assessment established in his subconscious, behaved, like a human facing another human!
Nothing, neither in the gait, (he saw the stranger move) nor in the waist (he barely knows when he was inclined for the brace) nor in the gestures (which he classified overall as coming from a being of a lower mental level) neither in the contact of the hand, nor in the contact of the cheek (according to Mrs. Mazaud THERE IS EPIDERMAL CONTACT) does not allow Mr. Mazaud, during the whole time of the meeting, to question the very human authenticity of his counterpart.
Let us imagine what the reactions of a man who, believing to seize a hand, finds only a kind of pincers, where, preparing to feel the contact of a cheek against his, meets only an epidermis comparable to shark skin, could have been? In the absence of fear, wouldn't we expect, at least, a reaction of instinctive repulsion?
However, Mr. Mazaud, so to speak, did not "flinch".
The helmet, the outfit, the behavior itself, with this hand outstretched and the other waving above the head, all these "salamaleks" (Mrs. Mazaud) that the stranger was doing as he came forward, do not seem to have been sufficient to trigger the alert: "Attention, danger! this is not a human."
Let us add this detail provided by Mrs. Mazaud: her husband, the meeting over, resuming his path, beginning to wonder the meaning of all this "carnival" and remembering the agricultural machinery, looked back, taken by a sudden doubt, to ensure that the presence of the stranger, in this place is at this time, was not motivated by malicious intentions (theft, deterioration) with regard to the material left there by its users, intention loaned, which are unfortunately not on the fringes of very human possibilities!
But he doesn't see anyone anymore!
Before examining the rest of the two accounts let us retain this first conclusion, of which we admit
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gladly that it is not proven, that consequently it can only be retained as a probable hypothesis, accompanied by a certain probability factor, and which can be formulated according to two deductive processes:
1) The being met by Mr. Mazaud had enough characteristics to identify him as a human.
or
2) It did not present characteristics of a sufficiently high level of strangeness to allow a contrary identification
Accordingly:
The quality of extraterrestrial can only be attributed to it by the subjective link inspired by the geographical and temporal proximity of the second phenomenon (which we have called physical phenomenon) because the probability that these two phenomena are totally foreign to each other, seems ridiculously minimal.
We wrote that the situation presented to us by the first phenomenon seemed to us to be the reverse of what it was perhaps in reality (when we write situation, we mainly consider the reaction of the witness to the fact that he perceives). We believe that the same is true for the second (that of the physical phenomenon).
Let us not forget what Mrs. Mazaud told us: the silent departure of the craft had terribly impressed Mr. Mazaud, who repeated several times to his wife: "But how can that happen?"
In our opinion, this is a reaction that we will qualify as logical. Because it was indeed there, the improbable, incredible thing, the conscious of Mr. Mazaud could no longer recognize and that his subconscious, too, recorded as being incommensurate with elements of appreciation in his possession. And we understand very well the real psychic trauma suffered by the good man!
Looking back to take a look at the agricultural machinery, not seeing anyone, but then seeing a large, bulky mass rise up, with outlines not identifying with anything known to him, with only a slight buzz, then move away obliquely towards the sky, pass under the wires of the high-voltage line with a formidable acceleration and disappear on the horizon, in a few seconds, the brave peasant certainly thought he was losing his mind. We can hardly imagine him, brandishing his pitchfork and darting forward in front of this quasi-supernatural manifestation, but rather genuinely panicked, scanning the surrounding shadow where every detail must suddenly become unusually suspicious.
"He was like dazed," Mrs. Mazaud told us, telling us about the arrival of her husband, and the long minutes that elapsed before he decided, in snatches, to tell his story, under the seal of secrecy!
That in his mind, and perhaps even more in that of his listeners, the two combined phenomena complement each other seems normal. The high value of the second phenomenon in strangeness "rubbing off" on the first, the whole forms an impressive whole that we will be careful not to minimize.
Some will object to us that we have just told the same story in another manner. Perhaps! But we think that this counter-investigation and the conclusions that we drew from it, bring additional elements of credibility to this whole, especially as regards the presence of a craft and its flight, which remain inexplicable in the state of the current human scientific knowledge.
If, faced with what he identifies with a man, Mr. Mazaud reacts, let us say normally, it is no less normally that he reacts to this that he can no longer identify this time!
Which pushes us all the more to consider his testimony as true.
If we now turn to our two conclusions:
- The testimony appears to be entirely true.
- The qualification of extra-terrestrial can only be attributed to the being encountered by a subjective relation (which does not mean that it is not an extraterrestrial). We find that they only increase our perplexity. They indeed force us to admit as probable the following deductions:
- Mr. Mazaud only met a man whose fortuitous presence was totally foreign to that of the craft (very low probability). Only the part of the testimony concerning the latter would count.
- The presence of man and machine are linked (very high probability). He was therefore a passenger or the pilot of the craft: human beings, living on the Earth use machines of a technological level much higher than that of our planet. So where do they live?
- If not on earth: one or more planets offer living conditions identical to ours, the origin of their inhabitants being terrestrial (they would only be emigres).
- If they are of extra-terrestrial origin, it must be admitted in this case that life is a universal phenomenon and that under identical conditions of development, it results in an appearance, physically not very different (human). Only an evolution of the cerebral neo-cortex would continue, allowing man (taken in its universal sense) to reach a level of knowledge such that we can only yet suspect the possibility.
Let us not forget Koestler's hypotheses that the caveman probably already had the same brain (we could say the same tool) in his head as the one that allows the man of today to design devices that allow him to go walking on the moon, but that humans did not yet know how to use!
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Mrs. Mazaud did not share her husband's revelations with anyone. But her son, a schoolteacher, despite Mr. Mazaud's unfavorable opinion, decided to alert the gendarmerie.
Y. GAILLE
In the first part of the presentation of this counter-investigation, we only focused our attention on Mr. Mazaud's behavior in the face of two phenomena, and in particular in the face of what we have called "living phenomenon" in order to properly discriminate the being encountered, from the "physical phenomenon" which is closely associated with it: the flight of the saucer (or M.O.C. [Mysterious Sky Object]). But the study of the behavior of this being is also very interesting.
We are, in particular, very intrigued by the fact that the stranger did not utter any sound (at least audible to Mr. Mazaud), while the latter talked to him.
On the other hand, all these "salamaleks" strangely resemble a sign language: repeated bend, hand waved above the head, another hand extended forward, Mr. Mazaud's hands tightly clenched, hug.
Quick and wonderful demonstration, apparently, of spontaneous friendship from an alien towards a stranger!
And that, if Mrs. Mazaud's words are correct, unbeknownst to the saucer, masked by agricultural machinery!
To our knowledge, this is the only case of contact between a being presenting a great similarity with a real man, and an "earthling" (whose origin we cannot doubt) where there is an attempt to expression, at first glance "sentimental" on behalf of the first! (or attempts to express something else) without the scene happening directly in the, say, visual field of a saucer or the presence of small beings! (see Valensole [1965], Quarouble, Vezenay).
If its is a coincidence, or else, did the stranger try to take advantage of the screen that the tractor or the combine was doing to express something, in the most understandable way, and without making any the least are or onomatopoeic, as if not to give the alert!
What did he want Mr. Mazaud to understand? A second point also intrigues us: it is the brevity of the encounter!
Time would seem to be "running out" for the unknown! Apparently, we are inclined to see him as the master of the situation and it is Mr. Mazaud who seems to be on the defensive. It was the other who approached him, who made gestures, who strongly shook hands... but who immediately moved away, leaving Mr. Mazaud amazed. Who or what prevented him from extending the meeting further? Since he took the initiative in contacting, he made gestures for Mr. Mazaud, which he was therefore attempting, we can even write that he was expressing something, we can only be surprised at his lack of insistence! The term stealthy comes naturally to us to describe the brevity of the action.
Maybe it's overkill? Mr. Mazaud made no aggressive gesture that could have justified this retreat. So why did the unknown not push his expressive manifestation a little more? Because, in any case, it appears completely useless. If you are traveling aboard a flying saucer and you belong to a high level civilization, what is the point of bothering a good man, who in any case will understand absolutely nothing, unless taking time time and patience to allow him to grasp a very small part of what one is trying to express to him! Otherwise, what can both protagonists get from it?
Mr. Mazaud, in any case, does not seem to have learned anything, nor retained anything from any exchange of information. There is a profound discrepancy between the intention which the stranger seems to manifest and the manner he goes about making it visible. And, if we take into account his obvious inclinations, we may wonder if an intellectual contact on his part was possible, since in our eyes it seemed to be wanted, but did not happen! Why?
Among the possible hypotheses, taking into account the particular and very disturbing situation, where, let us not forget, the saucer was hidden (which is perhaps the capital point of the whole study of this case) we retained the one where other occupants were present inside the craft! and that this may be the explanation for the abnormal behavior of the unknown!
We believe (despite some opinions) that for 20 years (at least) that the saucer phenomenon has been around our existence, contact with humanity is not sought, but on the contrary avoided! If such a rule exists, Mr. Mazaud was witness (and perhaps the cause) of a real beginning of "infringement" on the part of his vis-a-vis!
Te latter, perhaps one of our fellows, prisoner or dominated, by the occupants of the craft, could have enjoyed (under their injunction) semi-liberty, while those they were busy elsewhere? The place being apparently deserted, reassuring for his "masters", then, suddenly, at the bend of a hedge, this unforeseen, unthinkable meeting?
Astonishment, shock, and our stranger may have had then a flash of lucidity; for a few moments part of his sensibility came back; he expressed his joy at meeting a purebred brother and tried in vain to explain what had happened to him!
A sudden return to realities, perhaps a psychic reminder of these masters? He interrupts his demonstrations and goes to his destiny, helpless and submissive, leaving his partner disconcerted!
So much mystery in this Mazaud affair!
Mazaud died in 1964, while shaving, he collapsed in front of the mirror! His wife, who had left him a few moments earlier, in good health, found him lying on the ground, apparently the victim of a heart attack.
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[Ref. prn1:] PETER ROGERSON:
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318 10 September 1954 2030 MOURIERAS (FRANCE) A farmer, Antoine Mazaud, was walking home when he was suddenly confronted with a helmeted being of average height who made friendly gestures, then went back into the bush, entered a cigar-shaped object about 4 m long, which took off towards Limoges. A few minutes later, witnesses in Limoges reported a disc-shaped, red object leaving a bluish trail. (Le Parisien, Combat, L'Aurore, 14 September 1954; Paris Presse, 16 September 1954; Michel II, 40) |
[Ref. agd1:] ALAIN GAMARD:
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| Case # | Date | Time | Locality | Department | Witness(es) name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 018 | 10/09/1954 | 20.30 | Mouriéras | 19 | Mazaud. |
[Ref. jsx1:] JACQUES SCORNAUX:
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As for physical contact between witness and humanoid, it seems less rare than one might think. Here are a few examples that we had no trouble finding in the specialized literature.
- Mouriéras (Correze, France, 10-9-1954): this case is famous. Mr. Antoine Mazaud, a farmer, was returning from work one evening when he met a helmeted and oddly dressed character in a hollow road. The latter, after a few gestures of appeasement, vigorously shook the witness's hand, then pressed him against him... He disappeared into the bushes and a few moments later a cigaroid machine rose between the branches. (18).
The sources (18) are given at the end of the article as:
18. Aimé Michel, A propos des soucoupes volantes, Planète pub., 1966, pp. 54-58; Michel Carrouges, Les Apparitions de Martiens, Fayard pub., 1963, pp. 95-97.
[Ref. pmi1:] PAUL MISRAKI:
Paul Misraki reports the case like this:
On September 10, 1954, a Limousin farmer found himself face to face, in the middle of the countryside, with an oddly dressed character who sketched gestures of friendship, in particular by raising an arm above his head. He moved away, and a few seconds later a cigar-shaped object rose vertically to the sky with a hissing sound.
[Ref. idb1:] ISABEL DAVIS AND TED BLOECHER:
34. Encounter at Mourieras (Correze), September 10, by Antoine Mazuad [sic]: Paris Combat, September 14; Samedi-Soir, October 14; Radar Magazine, September 26; Crosby S. Noyes, op. cit.; Aime Michel, op. cit., pp. 40-44.
[Ref. rmy1:] ROGER-LUC MARY:
Chronology of events in France, Quarouble and its region, September 10, 1954
1st testimony, 8:30 p.m.
Near the hamlet of Mourieras, municipality of Bugeat, in Corréze, a witness, Mr. Mazaud (deceased) makes a friendly encounter with a humanoid. Then the craft takes off and moves away in the direction of Limoges.
[Ref. cck1:] GILBERT CORNU AND HENRI CHALOUPEK:
The two French ufologists Gilbert Cornu and Henri Chaloupek indicate that on September 19, 1954, Mr. Mazaud, a farmer of Corrèze returned to his farm shortly before 10:00 P.M., and had a face to face encounter with an unknown dressed in an unusual way and capped with a helmet without earcovers. In silence, the unknown took the hand of Mr. Mazaud and attracted him against his helmet and then went away. A few meters farther, the unknown kneeled. A few seconds later, Mr. Mazaud heard a whistling sound "like the buzz of bees" and saw "a sort of dark craft" rise in the sky.
They note that the scene is odd, practically unique, and that it is difficult to decide based on these sole data. They mention the possibility of a "strange human meeting" "by a poor fellow a little bit of a simpleton" mixed a phenomenon UFO, though the coincidence of two such events seemed strange to them.
[Ref. bus1:] NEWSPAPER "LE BUGEACOIS":
5.3 - ON SEPTEMBER 10, 1954, AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL VISITED BUGEAT
In the kitchen of the family farm in Mouriéras, one of the hamlets of the commune of Bugeat, Antoine Mazaud, 56, recalls, once again, the mad succession of events he has just experienced: investigation by the gendarmerie, the arrival of the Commissioner of General Intelligence from Tulle, questions from neighbors and then those from journalists. And here is his photograph on the front page of La Montagne, the daily newspaper of Clermont-Ferrand! It's sure now: onlookers and curious people will rush to tell him what happened on Thursday, September 10, 1954.
That day, at nightfall, he was walking across the Piloux plateau a few hundred meters from Mouriéras. A rough and desolate land, this moor of heather and ferns, scarcely bristling with clumps of broom and thorny bushes. After rolling a cigarette, he was returning home, pitchfork in hand, at the end of a long afternoon's work. Suddenly, around a bush, Antoine Mazaud bumped into a stranger. The dawning darkness did not allow him to distinguish the features of the face of the one who was in front of him. He noted that the man “just stood where he appeared, curiously bobbing his head and body without saying a word. His clothes were also dark in color." Although taken aback by such a meeting, the peasant from Corrèze saw himself extending his hand towards the one extended to him by the stranger. While "continuing his strange mimicry", the latter then drew him towards him to kiss him and walked away immediately afterwards.
The most extraordinary part of the story does not stop there. Antoine Mazaud had only gone about twenty meters when he heard a slight buzz, like that of a bee. Turning around, he saw "an elongated craft hovering like a bird very close to the ground. It looked like a cigar 4 to 5 m long. Its color was reminiscent of zinc. It passed under the electric wires and disappeared silently in the night" in a westerly direction. Back home, Antoine Mazaud was silent, for fear of not being believed. Nevertheless, the secret was too much to bear; in the evening, he confided in his wife who, the next day, told her neighbours. From that moment, the news grew and provoked the investigation of the gendarmerie.
The latter could not doubt the sincerity of the farmer from Mouriéras, described as a balanced man and enjoying the esteem of everyone in the region. On the other hand, on the Piloux plateau, no traces were found. The mystery remained whole, even if other witnesses, in Limoges, declared before the "landing" of Bugeat was known, to have seen in the sky at the same time, that September 10, a reddish disc followed by a bluish trail moving from east to west.
A few days later, on September 20, a farmer from Lachassagne d'Alleyrat also saw a luminous flying object which positioned itself practically above his tractor, causing him the fear of his life... new boon for journalists! In this year 1954, which corresponds to the largest wave of French UFO sightings - 178 cases of craft on the ground or about to land and 62 descriptions of humanoids, reminds Guy Quincy - the harsh lands of Haute-Corrèze would therefore have particularly attracted extraterrestrials, if they exist.
(story taken from the book by Jean-Michel VALADE "100 years in Corrèze" (Les Trois Epis publishers in BRIVE) on sale at the Maison de la Presse in BUGEAT
This book presents 100 characteristic events that happened in Corrèze (1 per year) from 1901 to 2000
[Ref. bus2:] BUGEAT VILLAGE BULLETIN, N. 26:
A witness of that time gives his explanation in #26 of the Journal Municipal de Bugeat (section 5.5):
The previous edition (25) of the BUGEACOIS narrated, under the title "on September 10, 1954, an extraterrestrial in visit in Bugeat," the encounter between Antoine MAZAUD and somebody and something.
This is part of my memories... I WAS THERE! Or almost.
La MONTAGNE, in its relation of the event indicated that Antoine MAZAUD spoke, on the road, with a neighbor and his son. The neighbor was my father, and the son: myself.
This occurred at the location called "Les Fonfreydes" at the limits between the villages of Bugeat and Toy-Viam. My father and I were returning by bicycle from my aunt's at La Batisse in Toy-Viam. Antoine MAZAUD had just turned over the hay, and fork on the back, went up towards Mouriéras.
After some routine conversation, and as the sun set, we separated, we by road on the bicycle, him by foot through the pathway that crosses the plate of "Piloux" directly regained Mouriéras by the way of "The Mazaud."
Sorry about the journalist, this was not a land of moor and brooms and thorny bushes, for this plate always was and still is worked, it has a flat surface, a large surface, favorable for a landing.
Antoine MAZAUD, crossing our plantation, before the plate, was taken by a sudden and natural urge and "dropped his pants" (something a journalist cannot write.)
It is when he stood up again, that he was face to face with a man dressed as in the description (dark colored tight fitting clothing and headcap).
Antoine was large and strong, brave, not a wimp, but... when your pants are down, it is hard to try to attack or defend yourself.
They thus "looked at each other in the eyes", and the individual, anxious on the attitude to take, went closer and... kissed him on the mouth, before turned around and leaving.
Our Antoine finished to button up, took his fork again and took the path home again, he was then attracted by a buzz, and looking up, he saw, not what the newspaper journalists "a craft with an elongated craft like a cigar" but a COUADIERE!
Explanation for our younger readers: a couadière is a wooden pointed tube, or more generally in our region, a cow horn that the peasants hung at their belt to carry the whetstone for his scythe.
Upon arriving at Mouriéras, Antoine said no nothing, but undoubtedly disturbed, his spouse being worried managed to get him to tell her what happened, of course under the seal of secrecy... Four days later, the entire France and the whole world knew about it.
As much as was often impassioned about UFOS and encounters of the third kind, reading many books, when it comes to the MAZAUD case, it seems odd that:
Sorry for the dream. Antoine saw a man, neither small, neither macrocephalic nor green; and a couadière not leaving any of the traces found in UFO landing cases.
Perhaps our strange pilot was also taken by a natural urge that forced him to land in the country...
Marc ORLIANGES.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":
3765: 1954/09/10 20:50 10 1:55:40 E 45:37:00 N 3333 WEU FRN CRZ A:8
MOURIERAS,FR:FARMER:PSH W/HELMET GESTURES:BOARDS 4M CGR:>W:/r30p74+/LDLN#105
Ref#197 WEINSTEIN, D: French Newsclips 1954 Page No. 5 : FARMLANDS
[Ref. lgm1:] LUIS GONZALES:
September 10, 1954 – Mouriéras
08:30 P.M. A peasant, Mr. Mazaud, returned to his house when he found himself in front of a man of normal size and capped of a helmet, which made friendly gestures at him, pressed himself against him, entered am object of 1 meter height and large of 4 meters, which left towards Limoges. One minute later, several inhabitants of this city saw a red and discoid object pass, which released a bluish gleam.
Sources: MAGONIA Catalog N.142 - Le Populaire du Centre (Limoges).
[Ref. -:] UNIDENTIFIED SOURCE:
This summary is circulating on the French-speaking Internet, I have not located its source yet:
A farmer, Antoine Mazaud, who returns from his work in the fields, meets a strange being, of middle, capped with a sort of motorcyclist helmet.
"My first reflex, told the farmer, was to immediately use my fork, which I strongly tightened in my right hand, for I was not reassured at all. I was frozen on the place by fear. Then, all gently, he came towards me very slowly, while making salamalecs [Arabic expression used in France to indicate an exaggerated verbal politeness], and he held his hand to me. When he had reached me, I shook hand with him, he pressed my hand very firmly. Then, he drew me by the hand, he kissed me on the two cheeks. I remained "baba" [Arabic expression used in France when one is extremely surprised]. He had not pronounced a word. I became more daring, and I told him: "good evening." He answered nothing, passed in front of me and moved away a few meters. In the thick shade of the wood, it seemed to me that he was kneeling down. I then heard a light whistle. Then a sort of cigar, larger at the front than at the back, rose towards the sky, almost straight up. It passed under a high voltage wire and disappeared in the direction of Limoges."
The investigation opened by the gendarmerie of Ussel made it possible to establish that, this evening of September 10, little after 08:00 P.M., inhabitants of Limoges had seen a reddish disc which let a bluish trail escape, going from East to West.
[Ref. sdn1:] STEVEN DUNN:
| DATE | DESCRIPTION | MICAP_CLAS | REF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09/10/1954 | Mourieras. FR 10 Sep 54 A farmer on his way home saw a man of average height wearing a helmet who made friendly gestures, then walked into a forest. A moment later a cigar-shaped craft took off. |
CE-3-102 | Randle/Estes, FOV pg 264 |
[Ref. djn1:] DONALD JOHNSON:
On this Day
September 10
[...]
1954 - Mourieras, France. A farmer, Mr. Mazaud was walking home when he was suddenly confronted with a helmeted being of average height who made friendly gestures, then went back into the brush, entered a cigar-shaped object about four meters long, which took off toward Limoges. A few minutes later witnesses in Limoges reported a disc-shaped, red object leaving a bluish trail. (Sources: Le Parisien, September 14, 1954; Aime Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 40; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, p. 209).
[Ref. ars1:] ALBERT ROSALES:
78.
Location. Mourieras France
Date: September 10 1954
Time: 2030
While returning home, Antonie [sic] Mazaud met a person of normal stature, wearing a helmet without earflaps, who shook his hands smiling, while pronouncing unintelligible words. The man then climbed into his cigar shaped craft, 15, or 20 ft long, and took off vertically, with a sound like a bee's buzz.
Humcat 1954-47
Source: Aime Michel
Type: B
[Ref. rhh1] RICHARD HALL:
TABLE 1. UFO OCCUPANT SIGHTINGS, 1954-1963
[...]
September 10, 1954 Antoine Mazaud, Mourieras, France 8:50 P.M.
One being of average height, "helmet"-like headgear; cigar-shaped craft; being confronted witness, extended arm and touched him.
[...]
[Ref. prn2:] PETER ROGERSON:
September 10 1954, 2035hrs.
MOURIERAS (CORREZE : FRANCE)
Farmer Antoine Mazaud was walking home to Mourieras, along a quiet country road, after working in his oat fields 1.5km from the village, had just finished a cigarette in a little wood and restarted on his way. In the gathering darkness he encountered a normal sized man wearing a form of motorcycle helmet. Shaken by the unexpected appearance of a stranger in this remote region, Antoine grabbed his pitchfork. After remaining motionless the stranger approached, making a sort of gesture above his head and bowing low. Antoine now decided he was dealing with a madman, and so when he was right in front of him, Antoine held out his hand to the stranger, who shook it hard, then pulled him right up, drawing Antoine’s head against his helmet. Very shaken Antoine muttered a greeting. The stranger made no reply and went into the shadow of the woods a few metres away, where it seemed he got down on his knees. A few seconds later Antoine heard a low hum and saw a dark cigar shaped object 4.5-6m long, swollen one on side, rise almost vertically among the branches, pass under the high tension wire and disappear in the sky towards Limoges, where, a few minutes later, witnesses saw a red disc with a blue trail flying east to west. Antoine arrived home white and trembling. Police investigations found no traces.
Michel 1958, p.40.
Vallee case 143 citing Le Parisien + Combat + L’Aurore all 14 Sept 1954.
[Ref. rtl1:] "RTL":
RTL leisure > Relaxation > Paranormal
The people who invent encounters with extraterrestrials, we meet them (almost) every day. But when, as was the case with Antoine Mazaud, they repeat the same thing 100 times, we begin to have doubts... Unless he is masochistic, that Mazaud...
February 24, 2012 9:12 a.m.
We are on September 10, 1954, in the village of Bugeat, a little lost corner in Corrèze. Antoine Mazaud cut buckwheat all day. He throws his pitchfork over his shoulder and is about to go home when a 'little guy' decked out in a helmet as ridiculous as it is unusual throws himself at him and kisses him.
The surprise passed, the farmer wants to see who he is dealing with, but this being he perceives as not being human leaves as quickly as he arrived. Stunned, Antoine, more of a pragmatic boy, does not manage to catch up with him and will only have time to see this 'visitor' climbing into a curious cylindrical craft. He will even speak of a giant steel cigar disappearing without leaving a trace.
Of course, Antoine never disdains a hot drink to quench his thirst, but September 10 is cold and he has not had a drop of alcohol. He is firmly determined not to tell anyone about this adventure. No anyone. Back home, he can't resist the urge to tell everything to his wife. It did not take more than, two days later, the village was invaded by journalists and gendarmes.
Dozens of times, investigators will ask the same questions. Antoine will give the same answers, adding more and more often that he cannot say anything else since he is telling the truth.
In the days that followed, journalists, skeptical by nature, found some explanation for the phenomenon, ranging from a bad joker to testing a new racing car. Some even spoke of a drinking problem with our man. But why then repeat the same thing so many times if if you are not masochistic.
[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:
Location: Chatellerault & Bugeat France
Date: October 1954
Time: unknown
Two men, at separate locations 120 miles away, allege independently that normal looking beings approached them, kissed them, jabbered unintelligibly, and then got into cigar shaped objects, 10 feet long, and took off.
Source: Harold T Wilkins, Flying Saucers Uncensored
[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:
Date: September 10 1954
Location: Mourieras France
Time: 2030
Summary: While returning home, Antonie [sic] Mazaud met a person of normal stature, wearing a helmet without earflaps, who shook his hands smiling, while pronouncing unintelligible words. The man then climbed into his cigar shaped craft, 15, or 20 ft long, and took off vertically, with a sound like a bee’s buzz.
Source: Aime Michel
[Ref. jgz1:] JULIEN GONZALEZ:
The author indicates that there was a close encounter of the third kind in Bugeat, hamlet of Mourieras, Corrèze, on September 10, 1954 around 8:30 p.m.:
Mr. Antoine Mazeau, farmer, returned from his work in the fields. Walking in a sunken lane bordered by hedges and copses, he suddenly came to an open space devoid of trees and shrubs where an agricultural machine was parked.
He then came face to face with a strange being, of average height, dressed in a strange manner and wearing a sort of motorcycle helmet but without a chin strap.
Without saying a word, he walked slowly towards the witness, with one hand outstretched, the other making "salamaleks" waved above his head. When the being arrived at the height of Mr. Mazaud, he extended his left hand to him. The being hugged him tight. Emboldened, the witness said "good evening!". The being did not respond, he walked past him and then moved away a few meters.
In the thick shadow of the wood, it seemed to him that the being had knelt down.
A few moments later, the witness heard a slight whistling sound and then observed a cigar-shaped craft, larger at the front than at the back, which rose into the sky, almost vertically, emitting a curious bee buzz. The object then passed under high voltage wires and disappeared in the direction of Limoges.
The author wonders if it was a helicopter, saying that the object has the shape of a cigar, but bigger in the front than in the back which is indeed the shape of a helicopter. But he can hardly see a helicopter passing under a high voltage power line or making a noise comparable to that of a bee.
He indicates that the Ussel gendarmerie established that on the evening of September 10, shortly after 8:30 p.m., Mr. Georges Frugier and other residents of Limoges had seen in the sky, flying from west in the east, a reddish disc which let out a bluish trail. The report of these witnesses had been collected before Antoine Mazaud's adventure was published in the press.
The author indicates that a counter-investigation was made in 1968 by MM. Ameil, Gaille and Pluvin, from the Lumières Dans La Nuit ufology group. Mr. Mazaud had died in 1964 but his widow confirmed her late husband's statements.
The author indicates as sources:
Aimé Michel, Mystérieux Objets Célestes, pages 58-64; Jimmy Guieu, Black-out sur les soucoupes volantes, pages 108-109; Michel Carrouges, Les apparitions de Martiens, page 95-97; C. Garreau and R. Lavier, Face aux Extra-Terrestres, pages 70-71; Michel Figuet and Jean-Louis Ruchon, OVNI: le premier dossier complet des rencontres rapprochées en France, page 74-75; Lumières Dans La Nuit, #105, pages 9-12 (investigation by Mssrs Ameil, Gaille and Pulvin); Le Populaire du Centre for September 15, 1954; La Montagne for September 15, 1954.
[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
*Sep. 10, 1954 - Mourieras, France. A farmer, Mr. Mazaud was walking home when he was suddenly confronted with a helmeted being of average height who made friendly gestures, then went back into the brush, entered a cigar-shaped object about four meters long, which took off toward Limoges. A few minutes later witnesses in Limoges reported a disc-shaped, red object leaving a bluish trail. (Sources: Le Parisien, September 14, 1954; Aime Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 40; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, p. 209).
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This database recorded this case 19 times:
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | Nightfall | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras Bugeat | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | CE III | ||||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | CE III | ||||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | Night | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Mourieras | France | 20.30 | CE III | |||||
| 19540910 | 10.09.1954 | Plateau de Milleraches | France | |||||||
| 19541013 | 13.10.1954 | Bugeat | France | CE III |
[Ref. prn2:] PETER ROGERSON - "INTCAT":
|
September 10 1954. 2035hrs. MOURIERAS (CORREZE : FRANCE) Farmer Antoine Mazaud was walking home to Mourieras, along a quiet country road, after working in his oat fields 1.5km from the village, and had just finished a cigarette in a little wood and restarted on his way. In the gathering darkness he encountered a normal sized man wearing a sort of motorcycle helmet. Shaken by the unexpected appearance of a stranger in this remote region, Antoine grabbed his pitchfork. After remaining motionless the stranger approached, making a sort of gesture above his head and bowing low. Antoine now decided he was dealing with a madman, and so when he was right in front of him, Antoine held out his hand to the stranger, who shook it hard, then pulled him right up, drawing Antoine's head against his helmet. Very shaken Antoine muttered a greeting. The stranger made no reply and went into the shadow of the woods a few metres away, where it seemed he got down on his knees. A few seconds later Antoine heard a low hum and saw a dark cigar shaped object 4.5-6m long, swollen one on side, rise almost vertically among the branches, pass under the high tension wire and disappear in the sky towards Limoges, where, a few minutes later, witnesses saw a red disc with a blue trail flying east to west. Antoine arrived home white and trembling. Police investigations found no traces.
See Patrick Gross 1954 for press details |
Not completed yet. A helicopter possibility is discussed below.
|
Aimé Michel indicates that a helicopter can be excluded as explanation for the flying object. If, starting from Mouriéras, you walk the path towards Les Mazaud, you quickly find yourself in a forest, not a likely place for a helicopter to land:
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If on the other hand you walk around Puy Perdu which dominates the way with its 738 meters, the landscape is perfectly suited for the landing of a helicopter. And maybe this is where Antoine Mazaud's encounter of September 10, 1954 occurred, at least if one believes an inhabitant of the area, author of these photographs to illustrate his advice for a visiting walk in the area:
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It would be advisable to check exactly where the point of meeting between Mr. Mazaud and the "helmeted" man. His craft being landed nearby, it may be possible to determine if Aimé Michel, trusting the newspaper, just imagined that the place is impracticable for a helicopter landing, or if on the contrary, it really was impossible for a helicopter to land.
However, there remains the difficulty mentioned by Michel that the craft "passed under a high voltage wire," if one admits that this information is true. Helicopter pilots do not risk anything like that.
In the same way the problem of the agreement with testimony remains: Mazaud is known as to have heard a weak whistle a few seconds after the unknown was perhaps down on his knees at some footsteps of him. How, if the account of Mr. Mazaud is not completely false, can anyone imagine that one can describe the sound of the takeoff of a helicopter at some step as a "weak whistling sound?" How can one imagine that Mr. Mazaud describes the machine and its takeoff as he did, if it were a helicopter? The blades of the rotor would have almost turned above Mr. Mazaud's head, and the noise would have been deafening.
There were helicopters around that time, and they were still little known in the countries. Doesn't the Sud-Est Aviation SE 3000, a resumption of the WWII German Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 prototype resemble a cigar (but it existed in only two specimens, quickly abandoned)? Let's also note that the first helicopters used by the Gendarmerie fly in 1953, the Hiller 360, Djinn and Bell 47, then the Sikorsky S-55 types. In 1954, the helicopter is still an innovation, 1956 is the years of the explosion of the use of the helicopter in the Gendarmerie (the "Alouette" type). The "banana shaped" helicopters mentioned by the author of the article in the Bulletin of Bugeat do not exist at all in France in 1954. Helicopters coming from Russia could not reach France.
|
| Sud-Est aviation SE 3000 |
But how can one imagine that the Gendarmerie investigators and the Intelligence investigators both did not explain the case as caused by a helicopter, if there was the least chance that this was the explanation? And how could they have missed it if it was?
To be compliant with the facts, admitted that they are at least partly accurately known and correctly brought back, I can risk a helicopter hypothesis provided that:
Moreover, the assumption also forces to ignore the witnesses in Limoges, or at least, to consider that their sighting is not of the same phenomenon as Antoine Mazaud's encounter. This weakens to a certain extent any helicopter hypothesis.
I found a first candidate which more or less satisfies certain constraints, except one which it does very probably not satisfy at all.
After WWII, the Soviet Union tried to produce a lightweight helicopter. They had in mind some sort of "flying motorbike." The Kamov research offices took up the challenge and in 1947, they produced three exemplaries of a Lamov Ka 8 type, with two contrarotating rotors.
The machine is single-seated, and its light engine with two cylinders seriously handicaped it on the aeronautical level, but this engine is relatively quiet, and the machine is small and lightwight. It is not a good candidate, because these three exemplaries very probably never flew elsewhere than in the surroundings of the Kamov test facility.
But Ka 8 strongly interested the Soviet Military Navy: with its mini size, it can be embarked on board any small ship, it takes off and lands very easily, and it could be used in liaison, reconnaissance, and air intelligence missions.
I found a second candidate who more or less satisfies almost all the constraints. It satisfies some of these constraint in an amazing way.
The Soviet Military Navy asked for an improvement of Ka 8, which was to be the Ka 10, with much better aeronautical capacities thanks to its newer Ivchenko engine. This project was actively supported by the commander-in-chief of the Navy, admiral Kuznestov, and all the project was conducted under the clear intent to build a lightweight helicopter which could be used from small ships of the Navy, without requiring any modifications, for operations of liaison, reconaissance, and, this goes without saying, of air intelligence.
The first operational Ka 10 were used in 1951 in the Black Sea by a specially created Navy squadron under the command of Captain A.N. Voronine.
If we check the Ka 10 against our constraints, we have:
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| Kamov Ka 8 | Kamov Ka 10 |
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Mouriéras, Corrèze, Bugeat, Antoine Mazaud, encounter, landing, cigar, noise, sound, luminous, red, blue, kiss, contact, Gendarmes, Intelligence, helicopter
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | June 21, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 8, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [prs1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | March 15, 2010 | Addition [mcs1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | June 17, 2010 | Addition [jve5]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | October 26, 2011 | Addition [gal1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | August 13, 2013 | Addition [prs1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | October 7, 2014 | Additions [mtn1], [qsj1], [tai1], [nip1]. |
| 1.6 | Patrick Gross | November 23, 2016 | Addition [ler1]. |
| 1.7 | Patrick Gross | January 5, 2017 | Additions [fso1], [prn2]. |
| 1.8 | Patrick Gross | January 7, 2017 | Additions [dmi1], [idb1], [ubk1]. |
| 1.9 | Patrick Gross | January 24, 2017 | Addition [gbr1]. |
| 2.0 | Patrick Gross | September 15, 2017 | Addition [smh1]. |
| 2.1 | Patrick Gross | September 19, 2017 | Addition [ms1]. |
| 2.4 | Patrick Gross | September 21, 2017 | Addition [tht1]. |
| 2.5 | Patrick Gross | September 23, 2017 | Addition [ste1]. |
| 2.6 | Patrick Gross | January 8, 2020 | Addition [ads1], [ppe1], [prn1], [krs1], [lhh1], [prn2]. |
| 2.7 | Patrick Gross | January 15, 2020 | Addition [let1]. |
| 2.8 | Patrick Gross | February 17, 2020 | Additions [cpd1], [lsr1], [pmi1]. |
| 2.9 | Patrick Gross | February 23, 2020 | Addition [nnm1]. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | March 13, 2020 | Additions [lbe1], [lbe2]. |
| 3.1 | Patrick Gross | April 24, 2020 | Addition [jps1]. |
| 3.2 | Patrick Gross | April 26, 2020 | Additions [cpe1, [lfe1]. |
| 3.3 | Patrick Gross | May 9, 2020 | Addition [cdn1]. |
| 3.4 | Patrick Gross | May 14, 2020 | Addition [lpn1]. |
| 3.5 | Patrick Gross | June 2, 2020 | Addition [nmn1]. |
| 3.6 | Patrick Gross | June 4, 2020 | Addition [cdp1]. |
| 3.7 | Patrick Gross | June 9, 2020 | Additions [nll1], [nll2]. |
| 3.8 | Patrick Gross | June 12, 2020 | Addition [las1]. |
| 3.9 | Patrick Gross | June 26, 2020 | Addition [ner1]. |
| 4.0 | Patrick Gross | July 3, 2020 | Addition [ner2]. |
| 4.1 | Patrick Gross | January 27, 2021 | Additions [bre1], [foe1]. |
| 4.2 | Patrick Gross | January 29, 2021 | Addition [els1]. |
| 4.3 | Patrick Gross | February 3, 2021 | Addition [ree1]. |
| 4.4 | Patrick Gross | February 12, 2021 | Additions [ldl1], [jgz1]. |
| 4.5 | Patrick Gross | February 22, 2021 | Additions [gqy1], [jve8], [rmy1], [rtl1]. |
| 4.9 | Patrick Gross | May 12, 2021 | Addition [lon1]. |
| 5.0 | Patrick Gross | March 22, 2022 | Additions [aml2], [jsx1]. |
| 5.1 | Patrick Gross | June 6, 2022 | Additions [agd1], [eum1]. |
| 5.2 | Patrick Gross | June 14, 2022 | Addition [fru1]. |
| 5.3 | Patrick Gross | July 1, 2022 | Additions [goe1], [bus1]. |
| 5.4 | Patrick Gross | July 19, 2022 | Additions [hdl1], [gab1], [gab2]. |
