The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 16-Oct-54-Louhans.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The regional newspaper Le Courrier de Saône-et-Loire for October 18, 1954, reported that "the day before yesterday," thus likely October 14, at "nightfall," in a clear sky, "one" had spotted, fairly low on the horizon, behind a grove of poplars, a very bright red-orange disc that was rising slowly in a vertical motion. An elderly couple, intrigued by the phenomenon, alerted their neighbors on Rue du Guidon, who hurried down to the riverbanks to "observe the flying saucer, which had undoubtedly come to survey the topography of the Bresse plains."
Then, the newspaper stated that it was actually the Moon, as one observer, an amateur astronomer, remarked: "Don't you see that it's just the rising Moon?"
The newspaper commented on the number of people struck by "the collective hysteria currently unsettling minds," who mistake the Moon for a flying saucer.
[Ref. csl1:] NEWSPAPER "LE COURRIER DE SAONE-ET-LOIRE":
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The day before yesterday, at nightfall, in a clear sky, a very bright red-orange disc could be seen fairly low on the horizon, rising slowly behind a grove of poplars. A middle-aged couple, intrigued by the phenomenon, alerted their neighbors on Rue du Guidon, who hurried down to the riverbanks to witness the flying saucer, which had undoubtedly come to survey the topography of the Bresse plains.
However, one observer, an amateur astronomer, remarked: "Don't you see that it's just the moon rising?"
Indeed, it was nothing more than Earth's satellite, whose disc, as it ascended in the sky, shrank and turned white, gradually losing its colorful glow.
How many people, caught up in the collective hysteria currently unsettling minds, mistake the moon for a flying saucer!
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This would be a negative case, a red Moon.
On that day in Louhans, the Moon rose at a direction of 19° around 9 p.m., which would give us the time of the observation.
A "small problem" in relation to the newspaper's account is that the Moon was not rising vertically but at an angle of about 45 degrees. Also, 71.4% of its surface was illuminated, which should have allowed all witnesses, except in the presence of clouds, to recognize the Moon by its shape.
Another problem is that the newspaper said this moon rose at nightfall; but night fell around 6 p.m., three hours before the moon rose.
Therefore, I cannot completely rule out the possibility that the newspaperman invented the story, presenting it as a kind of "moral lesson" about what the journalist saw as "collective hysteria."
So: negative case, Moon, or journalistic fabrication.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Louhans, Saône-et-Loire, multiple, orange, red, moon, negative case
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | April 3, 2025 | First published, [csl1]. |
