The 1954 French flap:

A new mysterious machine
crossed our sky yesterday

Each day its "saucer"... Once again we received disturbing testimonies yesterday on the enduring mystery of flying junk. While waiting for the enigma to be finally clarified, we are forced to be content with a narrative of the phenomena observed, taking care to sort out the jumble of comments, only the statements whose sincerity and objectivity are not in doubt.

The last testimony which has just been communicated to us emanates from a Amiens resident who wishes to remain anonymous but whom we know enough to totally trust him. He too - like so many others - "hardly believed in it."

Certainly not a known craft...

"It might have been 4:25 - 4:30 p.m., he told us. I was near the Pré-Porus and the Camon Bridge.

"A person, who was on the spot watching a plane passing very high in the sky, suddenly uttered an exclamation. I looked up in the direction he indicated, that is to the right of the river, towards the city.

"Then I saw a brilliant elliptical object. It was certainly very high and appeared to me the size of a large ashtray. It was going fast, faster than an airplane. Its flight line was horizontal and it left no trace behind, no smoke, no condensation.

"I didn't hear any noise, but at this distance I can't say for sure that it didn't produce any noise."

And our interlocutor adds, responding with a caution that fits well with his sincerity:

"I cannot define this thing. But it did not allow any comparison with an airplane. It was, moreover, I believe, larger than an airplane and in any case did not resemble any known craft."

Moving in an East-West direction, the craft gave the impression of oscillating, of tilting on its horizontal axis, offering to the eyes a variable surface.

The witness who told us about the matter had time to call his wife before the object shining like silver disappeared in the clouds. The whole thing had lasted a few tens of seconds, certainly less than a minute.

Five people, in the end, claim to have seen, at about the same place, the "appearance" described above.

Confirmation of other passages

We reported yesterday the statements of a waiter, Mr. Roger Anquetil, on the passage of a "red ball" in the Amiens sky, Saturday at 9:15 p.m.

This observation was confirmed to us yesterday by Mr. Claude Thuillier, residing at 36, rue Dame-Jeanne. Mr. Thuillier, who was on Saturday evening on the Pont de la Solitude, clearly saw a small ball, but of a brilliant white, followed by a long trail of sparks.

Mr. Thuiller adds that this ball, which moved horizontally very high and very quickly, was visible for about five seconds.

Also, Mr. Pruvost, of Rivery, let us know that he had, on Saturday evening also, seen the machine described by Mrs. Fournier, garage owner, place du Marché-aux-Chevaux.

A spherical object above Ham

A brave painter riding a bicycle saw Sunday around 9:40 p.m., near the Picard farm, at the exit of Saint-Sulpice, a spherical object followed by a light cone. But the appearance was brief. The time to dismount and it was gone.

Also, fifteen residents of Ham, gathered near the bridge of Chauny, observed in the sky, in the direction of Péronne, an orange gleam that didn't look like a star.

One of the witnesses equipped with binoculars claims to have noticed gushing from the luminous ellipse, like green sparks, orangeish white. The residents of rue de l'Arquebuse made the same observation. But while everyone declared that they did observe something extraordinary, no one would assert that they had distinguished flying saucers or interplanetary travelers.

Saucers seen
in Amiens and at different places
of the department

Saturday around 9:30 p.m., a waiter going to take his service at Pré-Porus, Mr. Roger Anquetil, saw while he was following rue de Verdun, a ball emitting an intense red light and followed by a long luminous trail. The apparition, which only lasted a few seconds, moved from East to West. However, given the altitude of the craft and the lack of visibility caused by the fog, Mr. Anquetil was unable to provide a detailed description.

At the same time, Mrs. Fournier, who was in front of the garage operated by her husband at Place du Marché aux Chevaux, claims to have seen, at low altitude, a craft which spun at a prodigious speed. Is it the same one who made a turn and dived on Amiens?

This new witness states that the craft emitted no noise, but that it has an exhaust giving off sparks.

The weird craft consisted of a disc swollen in its center resembling two plates (one covering the other) and encircled with a milky white light. The craft disappeared in the direction of Poix.

It is precisely in this region that, around 7:15 p.m., Mr. Dewint, farmer at Courcelles-sous-Moyencourt, had his attention drawn as he drove on R. N. 29, by a luminous disc which seemed to land on the plain, at a great distance. He alerted Mr. Delattre, farmer at Fossé-Bleuet, who in turn could see this "rosy glow" and the two men, in the car, tried to reach the craft, but the network of roads did not allow them to follow it with the eyes constantly and they finally had to give up.

Red ball, white plates,
pink disc... running at high speed
crossed the Picardy sky

Saturday around 9:30 p.m., a waiter going to take his service at Pré-Porus, Mr. Roger Anquetil, saw, as he followed rue de Verdun, a ball emitting an intense red light and followed by a long luminous trail.

The apparition, which only lasted a few seconds, moved from East to West. However, given the altitude of the craft and the lack of visibility caused by the fog, Mr. Anquetil could not provide a detailed description.

At the same time, Mrs. Fournier who was in front of the garage which her husband operates at the place du Marché aux Chevaux, claims to have seen, at low altitude, a craft which spun at a prodigious speed. Is it the same who would have made a turn and dived on Amiens.

This new witness declared that the craft did not emit any noise but that it had an exhaust giving off sparks "as when a car valve closes badly."

The curious apparatus consisted of a disc swollen in its center resembling two plates, like neon.

And before neighbors alerted by the witness were able to leave their home, the craft had disappeared at a prodigious speed, the approximate direction of Poix.

It is precisely in this region that, around 7:15 p.m., Mr. Dewint, farmer in Courcelle-sous-Moyencourt had his attention drawn to a luminous disc, which seemed to land on the plain, at a great distance. He alerted Mr. Delattre, farmer at Fosse-Bleuet who in turn could see this "pinkish glow."

The two men, by car, tried to reach the craft but the road network did not allow them to constantly follow it with their eyes and they finally had to give up without result.

again and always
the saucers!

- In Pommier, head marshal Decrequy, commander of the gendarmerie brigade of Fonquevillers, and showmen whose identity he was checking, saw Saturday, around 9:25 p.m., a craft that moved quickly and silently from Monchy-au-Bois to Humbercamp. A cyclist returning from La Cauchie confirmed the fact.

- The same day, at 9:30 p.m., in St-Pol-sur-Ternoise, from different places of the town, a luminous shape moving at considerable speed was seen by several people.

- In Amiens, Mr. Anquetil, waiter; Ms. Fournier, mechanic, in Fosse-Bleuets; Mr. Delattre, farmer, and Mr. Dewindt, from Courcelles-sous-Moyencourt, in Thieulloy-la-Ville; a motorist, Mr. Covemacker, and several people reported the appearance of saucers.

- In Bouzincourt, Mr. Venderworat and his son, loading beet greens, noticed a milky white disc hanging from about thirty meters from the ground. The cultivator turned off the lights of his tractor, saw the glow descend and, finally, disappear. The two men resumed their work and returned to Bouzincourt; then they saw the white glow that seemed to follow them for some time and finally disappeared. Another farmer who was plowing his field in the same area said he saw nothing: he only made it clear that he occasionally turned on the tail light of his tractor to make sure his plowing was correct. Should we conclude from the comparison of the facts to an optical illusion?

THE TEST OF THE METEOR. October 16, as if it was purposely, a splendid meteor crossed the north of France towards 09:30 p.m. It was observed on a score of departments by thousands of people, from the Allier to Lorraine and from the Swiss border to Paris. Naturally many witnesses believed to have seen a Flying Saucer and said so. The newspapers printed "Flying Saucer in Orly", or "in Montdidier", or "in Metz." But once again the description made by all these weak brains appeared of a remarkable honesty.

[...]

The innumerable gathered testimonys show indeed that even when the witnesses called "Flying saucer" the observed object, their description is identical on 200.000 square kilometres where the visible phenomenon was visible: an "orange ball followed by a trail", a "large luminous ball with a tail", a "flying egg followed by a trail", a "bottle's bottom with a trail of thirty times its diameter", etc. The same phenomenon is uniformly described.

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