The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 13-Oct-54-Bourges.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In the 2010s, a German database of UFO sightings, on the Web, indicated that there had been a sighting in Bourges in France on October 13, 1954, at 11:30 p.m., of the type "Nocturnal Light(s)" type.
In 2025, I found the primary source, the regional newspaper Le Berry Républicain, from Bourges, which reported on page 2 on October 15, 1954, that Bourges had finally had its "flying saucer," which was rather "a billiard ball."
The newspaper reported that on October 13, 1954, around 11:30 p.m., eight people, including Mr. Servol, who runs the "Trois-Pommes" grocery store located at the corner of Rue Gambon, near the Hôtel-Dieu, as well as his wife and daughter, saw, in the axis of the Pont-Merlan alley, at a height they could not accurately estimate, a "luminous ball as big as a billiard ball," with an orange hue.
The ball moved, in horizontal and vertical trajectories, and its brightness would decrease or increase in intensity.
This lasted "a good quarter of an hour," and when Mr. Servol went outside again around midnight, he saw "a distant spot, as if the ball had moved away."
Mr. Servol stated with certainty that this ball "was not a star, nor did it resemble any man-made craft."
[Ref. brn1:] NEWSPAPER "L'EST REPUBLICIN":
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At last, Bourges has its own flying saucer - though, in an originality that does us honor - it is... a billiard ball.
On Wednesday night, around 11:30 p.m., eight people, including Mr. Servol, who runs the "Trois-Pommes" grocery store at the corner of Gambon Street near the Hôtel-Dieu, saw a luminous ball, the size of a billiard ball and orange in color, in the axis of Pont-Merlan alley, at a height that was difficult for them to estimate precisely.
This ball moved, in horizontal and vertical trajectories, and its brightness fluctuated in intensity.
The phenomenon lasted a good fifteen minutes, and Mr. Servol, who went outside again around midnight, saw a distant dott, as if the ball had receded.
Such a testimony cannot be doubted. Mr. Servol, his wife, and his daughter all confirmed seeing the ball, and since eight people witnessed the appearance, there it canno be a matter of collective hallucination. Moreover, a witness who practices the honorable profession of a grocer has his feet firmly on the ground and does not easily succumb to daydreaming - lest he miscalculate weights and prices and fail to properly serve his customers.
"I am certain," Mr. Servol told us, "that this ball was not a star, nor did it resemble any known human-made craft."
His words only confirm many similar accounts and leave us no choice but to believe that "they truly exist."
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541013 | 13.10.1954 | Bourges | France | 23.30 | NL |
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The newspaper provides sufficient location information; the witnesses were at the red dot and the object was in line with Rue de Pont-Merlan. We don't have the direction, but two directions are possible: 4° (North) or 184° (South).
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Towards the north, there were no bright stars, planets, or Moon; the same absence towards the south. There is therefore no obvious astronomical explanation for this observation.
I this leave the case as an unidentified.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Bourges, Cher, Servol, multiple, night, luminous, ball, orange, luminous, moves, duration
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | February 9, 2021 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | March 23, 2025 | Addition [brn1]. In the Summary, addition of the information from [brn1]. Explanations changed, were "Totally insufficient information." |
