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.

Was it a
flying saucer?

Riding a bicycle on the road to Saint-Quentin on Saturday evening, near the Picart farm in St-Sulpice, Mr. Paul Vinl, of St-Sulpice, saw an illuminated spherical object followed of a jet of light. The appearance was brief. The time to get off the bike and the phenomenon was gone.

Also, Mr. Raymond Fernet, a resident of rue de l'Arquebuse in Ham, saw a gleam in the sky from his street which disappeared at high speed.

The same evening, MM. Marc and Gilles Lemaire of Croix-Moligneux and Jean Yvart, of Douilly, went to Ham at their work and being on the road from Péronne towards the wood of Sancourt, saw the same phenomenon. A small orange mass, the shape of which they could not specify, which went from East to West.

Several people in the region also observed the same phenomenon.

Was it a flying saucer!