The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 18-Oct-54-Doullens.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
Before heading GEPAN, the official research group on UFO reports within the CNES, Dr. Claude Poher had, in the 1970s, compiled a synthetic catalog of observations by official witnesses and / or subjected to official investigations.
He noted that on October 18, 1954 at 01:34 a.m., in Doullens, in the Somme, there had been an observation with 5 witnesses. It was at great distance, a disc or lens of changing colors or of several colors, luminous, of the intensity of a star, moving silently in a straight line or very broad curve, in a sky clouded at low altitude but without rain.
An official investigation had been conducted - without publication at the moment.
[Ref. cpr1:] CLAUDE POHER, UFO RESEARCH GROUP "GEPA":
In 1968-1969, before the official GEPAN ufology effort started, its future head Dr Claude Poher was a member of the unofficial GEPA ufology group, and gathered a computer coded listing of more than 700 UFO reports on which multiple factors statistical computation could be run. In the file were a number of 1954 French UFO reports, among those this one.
For readability, a decoded interpretation of the data is provided here under the original 80 character encoded string. Decoding was done according to the original indications, the code number and its generic meaning is given. Please note that the generic meaning of each code is a predefined category, not the real specific details of the case. For example, if the main witness' age was 33, the coding would result in a number "3" which corresponds to a category "Adult from 21 to 59 years."
| Original code: | 0619551810195401341JA5104014460011AA0B1350A0114000000000000000000000000000000010 |
| Location: | Doullens (Somme) - France |
| Case number: | 0619 |
| Source code: | 55 |
| Nature of the source: | Reports from official French sources: Police, Gendarmerie, Army, Pilots |
| Day: | 18 |
| Month: | 10 |
| Year: | 1954 |
| Hours: | 01 |
| Minutes: | 34 |
| Type of Time: | 1 = local time |
| Number of witnesses: | 5 = 5 |
| Main witness named: | 1 = name (s) indicated |
| Main witness age: | 0 = no indication |
| Main witness occupation: | 4 = army, police, fireman, constable |
| Official investigation: | 1 = an official investigation was made |
| Weather: | 4 = sky covered at low altitude, no rain |
| Duration: | 4 = from 1 to 19 minutes |
| Minimal distance witness - phenomenon: | 6 = larger than 3 km |
| Method of observation: | 0 = no indication |
| Number of "objects" observed simultaneously: | 01 = 1 |
| Shape of the "object" (terminology of witness(es)): | 1 = disk, saucer, lenticular |
| Dimensions of the phenomenon: | AA = angular size, 0B = "like a five Francs coin at arm length" (3 centimeters). |
| Color of the observed phenomenon: | 13 = several colors, changing color |
| Luminosity of the phenomenon: | 5 = luminosity evaluated as a star magnitude |
| Lights or projectors on the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Moving speed of the phenomenon: | A = angular speed indicated |
| Acceleration of the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Trajectory of the phenomenon: | 1 = straight line or very wide curve |
| Sounds perceived during observation: | 1 = no noise, total silence, object noiseless |
| Maximum angular height of observation (horizon = 0°): | 4 = 45 to 60° |
| Nature of the landing place: | 0 = no indication |
| Number of contact points with ground: | 0 = no indication |
| Traces of landing: | 0 = no indication |
| Observation of "occupants": | 0 = no indication |
| Height of the occupants observed: | 00 = no indication |
| Garment of the occupants: | 00 = no indication |
| Garment: | 0 = no indication |
| General behavior of "occupants": | 0 = no indication |
| Interaction of "occupants" with witness: | 0 = no indication |
| Head, hair: | 0 = no indication |
| Voice, breathing, chin: | 0 = no indication |
| Skin: | 0 = no indication |
| Eyes: | 0 = no indication |
| Mouth: | 0 = no indication |
| Various details: | 0 = no indication |
| Thermal effects: | 0 = no indication |
| Luminous effects: | 0 = no indication |
| Magnetic effect (or electromagnetic): | 0 = no indication |
| Odor perceived by witness: | 0 = no indication |
| Physiological effects on the witness(es): | 0 = no indication |
| Psychological effect on the witness(es): | 0 = no indication |
| Effects on animals: | 0 = no indication |
| Other effects reported: | 0 = no indication |
| Nebulosity: | 0 = no indication |
| Oscillations, emission of matter: | 0 = no indication |
| Spin, formation flight: | 0 = no indication |
| Immediate disappearance: | 0 = no indication |
| Halo surrounding the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Interaction witness / phenomenon (complement to the other rubrics): | 0 = no indication |
| Drawing or photo: | 1 = a drawing or a photograph is added to the original report |
| Structural details observed: | 0 = no indication |
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Somme in Doullens on October 18, 1954 at 01:34 hours, "Five gendarmes witnesses observed, in a covered sky at low altitude and during several minutes, a disc whose size was estimated as like a coin of five francs held at arm's length. It was rather far away from the witnesses, its colors were changing and it moved in straight line at a certain speed which was evaluated by the investigation, without any noise, and 45 to 60° above the horizon."
The source is indicated as "Les Universons by Poher Claude ** http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/universons/"
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This database recorded the case twice:
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541018 | 18.10.1954 | Doullens | France | |||||||
| 19541018 | 18.10.1954 | Doullens | France | 01.00 | NL |
|
The data is unfortunately too synthetic to allow a proper assessment of what it was. There is no obvious strangeness in the sighting. A misinterpretation cannot be ruled out.
In the local newspaper L'Abeille de la Ternoise for October 30, 1954, there was a mention of a "saucer" reportedly seen in Doullens on October 18, 1954, but betweel 8 and 9 p.m..
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Doullens, Somme, official, multiple, investigation, duration, saucer, color, luminous, point, silent
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | February 6, 2006 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | June 6, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | December 15, 2016 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | January 21, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | October 29, 2020 | In the Explanations, addition of "In the local newspaper L'Abeille de la Ternoise for October 30, 1954..." |
