The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 14-Oct-54-Avignon.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In the regional newspaper Le Provençal for October 15, 1954, one learned through their Press correspondent in Avignon, that "yesterday", which would thus be on October 14, 1954, at approximately 06:10 p.m., a plasterer-painter from Avignon working for the services of historical monuments, Mr. Blanc, came back from work on his scooter with one of his comrades on his vehicle.
When he arrived in the J.-H. Fabre street, he saw a hard-to-identify object pass over his head, heading north-east.
He told the newspaper a few moments later: "I saw a ball pass at a low altitude, silently, at a speed that seemed, as far as I could appreciate it for lack of landmarks for distances, almost four times that of a jet plane, the ball had a kind of flame, in a spindle shape, of green and red color, about as long as twice its diameter."
In 1979, the two "skeptical" ufologists Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker noted that there was no investigation on this sighting and that the description clearly suggests that it was a meteor.
In their catalogue published just after in 1979 also, the ufologists Michel Figuet and Jean-Louis Ruchon noted that this observation, like all the observations at 6 p.m. of that day, was obviously about an object at very high altitude, seen simultaneously from very distant places; which was probably a big meteor, according to the descriptions.
For this case, they also gave the source as Le Provençal for October 15, 1954, indicating that on October 14, 1954 at 06:10 p.m., a ball from which escaped a red and green flame had been observed in Avignon in the Vaucluse.
This did not prevent the case from appearing on the Web without its explanation even though Figuet and Ruchon are cited as sources...
[Ref. lpl1:] NEWSPAPER "LE PROVENCAL":
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Arles (C.P.).
Arles also had its "unidentified object" - not to call it flying saucer.
A group of residents of Arles living in the end of the Sadi-Carnot avenue, near the channel of Arles to Bouc, witnessed, indeed, Wednesday evening, around 7 p.m., the maneuvers of an object in the sky.
According to the statements which were made to us, in particular by Mrs. Paul Forbaud and her son Adrien, a kind of luminous ball was rather high in the sky in direction of Sainte-Maries-de-la-Mer. This ball started to whirl before going down slowly on the horizon.
This descent lasted several minutes since the observers had time to go get a binocular in order to better observe the phenomenon.
The binoculars made it possible to see an object of ovoid form then, the higher part appearing of dark red color, whereas the lower part was paler, vaguely yellowish.
Mrs. Forbaud specified to us that she had already observed, three weeks ago, a kind of disc placed vertically and emitting yellow, green and red gleams.
Pertuis (C.P.).
A luminous disc, of lengthened form, a thickness of 1 meter approximately, was clearly seen in the area of Pertuid yesterday afternoon, and particularly in La Bastidonne.
Mr. Francis Jausserand, mayor of this village, came in person to describe the phenomenon to us:
"It was 6 p.m. when I returned from harvesting grapee. A very shining disc moving horizontally between the hills of Myrargues and Luberon, leaving a sharp reddish trail, stopped almost above the village of La Bastidonne and stayed motionless during about twenty seconds, then, without any noise nor trace, disappeared at a vertiginous speed, vertically."
This testimony of the mayor of Bastidonne was confirmed to us by other people who observed the luminous object from different places, the details and the schedule perfectly coinciding.
Volonne (C.P.).
Yesterday at the end of the afternoon, residents of Volonne occupied gathering the grapes, saw a large reddish ball whirling on itself at a very fast pace.
In addition, hundreds of people working at the Pechiney factory of Saint-Auban, saw around 18 hours a brilliant sphere moving at a very high pace; it appeared flanked of two large pipes on the side.
Mallemort (C.P.).
Yesterday evening around 18 hours, three people worthy of faith saw a flying cigar. It was motionless above the mounts of Luberon, in direction of Mérindol.
It resembled a long spindle of color aluminium. It was motionless in the sky.
A few minutes afterwards, it disappeared at very high speed, leaving a luminous trail behind him.
These three people: Green Marcel, Armenico Paul and Espagnet Francois, are serious people and this confirms the statements of several others, which would have seen flying saucers since a few days in the sky of Mallemort.
Avignon (C.P.).
Yesterday, around 06:10 p.m., a plasterer-painter from Avignon, working for the services of the historic buildings, Mr. Blanc, returned from his work on a scooter. He had one of his comrades on his vehicle.
Arriving in street J.-H. Fabre, he saw moving towards the North-East an object difficult to identify pass above his head.
A few moments later, he told us: "I saw a ball passing at low altitude, silently, at a speed which seemed, as much as I could appreciate for lack of reference mark for the distances, about four times that of a jet. The ball released a kind of flame, spindle-shaped, of green and red color, long about twice its diameter."
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors note this case of October 14, 1954:
"Avignon - 84 - 06:10 p.m.: no investigation. Obvious description of a meteor."
[Ref. fru1:] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:
The two authors indicate that on October 14, 1954 at 06:10 p.m., a ball from where escaped a red and green flame was observed in Avignon in the department of Vaucluse.
The authors note that all the observations at 6 p.m. that day obviously refer to an object at very high altitude, seen simultaneously from very distant places, which is probably a large meteor according to descriptions.
The source is indicated as Le Provençal for October 15, 1954.
[Ref. vau1:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "VAUCLUSE UFOLOGIE":
[... other cases...]
14) 10/14/54 - 06:10 p.m.- Avignon
[... other cases...]
[Ref. vau2:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "VAUCLUSE UFOLOGIE":
THE SECTION OF THE FIFTIES.
With Vaucluse Ufologie #7, we gave you the list of all the cases of observation that we had for the period of the fifties, from 1950 to 1959. But since this publication we have been able to update this list, complete it and, sometimes, specify it further. It is above all because Jean Pierre Troadec endeavored to update his file for this period, with the aim of compiling a catalog of all the cases of UFO sightings on the Vaucluse that GREPO will make known in some time in a special issue of our bulletin, which I can give you today a new list. This new list obviously eliminates the previous one which contained many date errors, but it is still imprecise in certain cases. I hope that it can serve you usefully, or even generate investigations or counter-investigations; and, if you have new elements or other cases that we do not have, let us know and I will communicate them in this section with your references.
[... other cases...]
16° - 10/14/54 - 06:10 p.m. - Avignon. A ball.
[... other cases...]
[Ref. vau3:] "VAUCLUSE UFOLOGIE" UFOLOGY BULLETIN:
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THURSDAY OCTOBER 14 1954 - 06:10 P.M.
AVIGNON
Reference 7
A plasterer painter working for the services of historical monuments, Mr. B. returns from his work by scooter. He has one of his comrades on his vehicle.
They arrive J.H. Fabre and Mr. B. sees moving towards the North East an object difficult to identify, passing over the houses.
A few moments later he stated: "I saw a ball pass at a low altitude, silently at a speed that could be compared to four times that of a jet plane. The ball produced a kind ofa spindle-shaped flame of green and red color, about as long as twice its diameter.
"Reference 7" refers to "Le Provençal".
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates in his database that in the Vaucluse in Avignon on October 14, 1954 at 18:10 hours, "a ball from where escapes a red and green flame is observed."
The source is noted: "Ovni, Premier dossier complet... by Figuet M./ Ruchon J.L. ** Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979".
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The 6:13 p.m. meteor.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Avignon, Vaucluse, ball, red, green, flame, trail, Blanc, Fabre, multiple, spindle
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | January 16, 2006 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | April 8, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | June 26, 2010 | Addition [lpl1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | November 6, 2019 | Additions [vau3], Summary. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | July 17, 2022 | Additions [vau1], [vau2]. |
