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November 23, 1954, Boëseghem, Nord:

Reference for this case: 23-Nov-54-Boëseghem.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

The regional newspapers Nord-Eclair for November 25, 1954, and Le Nouveau Nord Maritime for November 26, 1954, reported on page 8 the following events:

A driver from the Comptoir Linier in Hazebrouck, Mr. Michel Leynaert, 39, living on rue de Merville, had left on the night of Tuesday, November 23, 1954, with a bus to pick up workers from Aire-sur-la-Lys.

Around 4 a.m., near the village of Boëseghem, he saw coming to encounter him, a violent and imposing light in the shape of a "saucer" moving fast.

As the "thing" got closer and closer to him, the man panicked, sheltered his coach behind a house and stopped his engine.

When the phenomenon had disappeared, he resumed the trip, and met a little further, a truck from the Debaets house in Aire-sur-la-Lys whose driver admitted having witnessed the same phenomenon.

The young girls taken in by the coach told an identical story.

Mr. Leynaert immediately alerted the Chief Police Commissioner of Hazebrouck Mr. Gouriou, who opened an investigation, which made it possible to identify pranksters who has set up this farce:

On the occasion of the Wittes Fair, some happy chaps had launched into the sky "rockets - parachutes", the vestiges of which were found on the ground by the driver of the Debraets truck.

These remains had been handed over to the police commissioner of Saint-Omer.

Reports:

[Ref. ner1:] NEWSPAPER "NORD-ECLAIR":

Scan.

A coach driver
had reportedly encountered a flying saucer...

It was just a joke of pranksters!

A driver from the Comptoir Linier in Hazebrouck, Mr. Michel Leynaert, 29, living on rue de Merville, left on the night of Tuesday, with a coach to take care of workers in Aire-sur-la-Lys.

Around 4 a.m., near the village of Boeseghem, he saw, coming to meet him, a violent and imposing gleam, in the shape of a "saucer" which moved quickly.

As the "thing" got closer and closer to him, the man was overcome with panic, he sheltered his coach behind a house and stopped the engine.

When the phenomenon had disappeared, Mr. Leynaert resumed the trip and met, a little further, a truck from the Debaets house, of Aire, whose driver admitted having witnessed the same phenomenon.

In turn, the girls taken in by the coach told an identical story.

Mr. Leynart immediately alerted the chief police commissioner of Hazebrouck, Mr. Gouriou who opened an investigation: the result was the identification of the prankster who set up this farce.

On the occasion of the Wittes fair, a few happy chaps imagined launching into the sky parachute-rockets, the vestiges of which were also found on the ground by the driver of the Debaets truck.

These remains were handed over to the Saint-Omer police commissioner.

[Ref. nnm1:] NEWSPAPER "LE NOUVEAU NORD MARITIME":

Scan.

Near Aire-sur-la-Lys,
a coach driver
of Hazebrouck
had encountered
a flying saucer
... but it was
only a prank

A driver from Comptoir Linier d'Hazebrouck, Mr. Michel Leynaert, 39, living on rue de Merville had left on Tuesday night, with a coach to take care of workers from Aire-sur-la-Lys.

Around 4 a.m., around the village of Boeseghem, he saw, coming to meet him, a violent and imposing gleam in the shape of a "Saucer" which was moving fast.

As the "thing" got closer and closer to him, the man was panicked, sheltered his coach behind a house and stopped his engine.

When the phenomenon had disappeared, Mr. Leynaert resumed the trip and met a little further, a truck from the Debaets house in Aire-sur-la-Lys whose driver admitted having witnessed the same phenomenon.

In their turn, the young girls, taken in by the coach, told an identical story.

Mr. Leynaert immediately notified the Chief Police Commissioner of Hazebrouck Mr. Gouriou, who opened an investigation. The result was the identification of the jokers who would organised this farce.

On the occasion of the Wittes Fair, some happy chaps had imagined launching into the sky rockets - parachutes whose vestiges were also found on the ground by the Debraets truck driver.

These remains were handed over to the police commissioner of Saint-Omer.

Explanations:

Map.

Negative case, prank.

Keywords:

(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)

Boëseghem, Boeseghem, Nord, Michel Leynaert, night, bus, multiple, gleam, saucer, prank, rocket, parachute, official, debris

Sources:

[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.

Document history:

Version: Created/Changed by: Date: Change Description:
1.0 Patrick Gross February 15, 2020 First published.
1.1 Patrick Gross March 21, 2020 Addition [ner1]. In the Summary, "The regional newspaper Le Nouveau Nord Maritime" changed to "The regional newspapers Nord-Eclair for November 25, 1954, and Le Nouveau Nord Maritime"

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