The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 28-Sep-54-Fécamp.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
An article in the regional newspaper Paris-Normandie for October 1, 1954, reported that about fifteen inhabitants of Fécamp, including a head of department of the municipal administration, claimed to have seen twice unusual apparitions.
The first was at 8 p.m. [?] and was about "two craft moving northwest of Fécamp: luminous, to the point of being confused with the position lights of a ship, they soon showed an ovoid shape emitting a luminous trail opposite to the sense of their march."
This first sighting was made by one of the witnesses using binoculars, the newspaper said.
In the newspaper Le Courier Cauchois for October 4, 1954, we get a date since it would have occurred the day after a Monday night observation, so on October 28, 1954. This newspaper said that a resident of Fécamp "absolutely trustworthy, since it is Mr. Alexandre Dubar, director of the Technical Services of the city", took the cool air at the beach when he saw in the direction of the northwest two luminous spots, of ovoid shape, moving vertically.
In 2018, someone using the pseudonym "Clesius Néofolk" published a web page titled "The Secret Files of 'The 1954 Wave' in the Pays de Caux."
He reported that a department head in the Municipal Administration was in the northwest of Fécamp on September 28, 1954, at 8:00 p.m., when he saw two luminous ovoid-shaped craft leaving a bright trail that filled the sky northwest of the city, and this happened twice.
He described them as being as bright as a ship's navigation lights. Fifteen other residents of Fécamp witnessed the same phenomenon.
A bit later in the evening, around 9:51 p.m., west of the port, five similar craft moved through the sky for several minutes, and the witness observed them through binoculars.
"Clesius Néofolk" then argues that these sightings can be explained as distractions amid the disintegration of the Fourth Republic, asserting that in 1954, widespread discontent manifested in near-general strikes, the conflict in Indochina, and other issues. He concludes that talking about "UAPs and their observers" served as a diversion to draw attention away from these problems.
[Ref. pne1:] "PARIS-NORMANDIE" NEWSPAPER:
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We wrote our doubt yesterday to never see the sky of Fécamp furrowed by one of these apparatus called flying saucers here and there: however we stand corrected since this phenomenon has just occurred on several occasions
About fifteen witnesses, among them the head of department of the Municipal administration, indeed, affirmed to have noted twice these strange appearances; the first at 08:[??] p.m. related to two machines moving in the North-West of Fécamp: luminous, at the point of beings confused with the navigation lights of a ship, they soon let see an ovoid shape emitting a luminous trail opposite their direction of movement.
This first observation made with the binocular by one of the witnesses, five of these "saucers" appeared a second time at 09:51 p.m., in the West of Fécamp this time, to trace, by various movements, a curious dance whose duration was evaluated as of several minutes.
Let us specify, to finish, that the contours of these appearances are fuzzy and this characteristic prevents us to conclude too quickly that it is the display of some human work in search for bizarre publicity.
[Ref. lcc1:] "LE COURRIER CAUCHOIS" NEWSPAPER:
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By twice and at twenty-four hours of interval one saw, from Fécamp, mysterious machines moving in the sky.
Monday evening, first of all, one of our fellow-citizens of the vicinity of the sea stated to have seen a red disc moving above Yport. The guettor of the alerted semaphore prepared his telescopes, but vainly.
The next day evening, however, another resident of Fecamp absolutely worthy of faith, since it is Mr. Alexandre Dubar, director of the Engineering Departments of the city, took some fresh air at the edge of the beach when he saw, in the direction of the North-West two luminous points, of ovoid shape moving vertically. Thereafter, several of our fellow-citizens were to make the same observation.
As it cannot be a collective visual error, it should well be supposed that there is something mysterious in the air.
[Ref. cl1k:] "CLESIUS NEOFOLK":
The UAP of the head of the municipal administration, September 28, 1954, North West of Fécamp, 8:00 p.m.:
It is 8:00 p.m. in Fécamp on September 28, 1954.
2 ovoid-shaped luminous craft leaving a luminous trail invade the sky northwest of the port city.
A head of the municipal administration noted the appearance of these two craft on two occasions. He will describe them as as bright as a ship's position lights. 15 other residents of Fécamp will observe the same phenomenon.
A little later in the evening, around 9:51 p.m., west of the port, 5 similar craft moved in the sky for several minutes.
The witness will observe them through binoculars.
In less than 24 hours, the sky of Fécamp seems to be crossed by luminous craft.
As I mentioned a little earlier, it is essential not to dissociate these events from their context. This is valid with regard to the history of the observation of UAPs, but also with regard to history in general. Let me explain:
In your opinion, do the media have an interest in talking about the UAPs and their observers by ridiculing them, provoking the traditional reactions of the type "Woo hoo, look at me, this moron, he must have abused the bottle, that's mainly it his worries!", or would they rather fill their columns and their broadcasts with news reporting the extremely tense social climate that prevailed at that time?
In 1954, the movements of discontent resulted in almost general strikes.
And then there is Indochina.
In September and October 1954, we have not yet suffered the defeat of Dien Bien Phu which will not happen until November, but the conflict is already well "stuck". Morocco, still under French protectorate, begins to rise up. Algeria becomes unstable. Once again, in your opinion, is it better to talk about the UAPs and their observers or to evoke the decay of the Fourth Republic?
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Two airplanes? A meteor split in two?
In the Press for September 24, 1954, it was said that "the biggest aerial drill in Europe", operation "Etoile Filante" ("Shooting Star"), will take place, by NATO Air Forces, above France and Germany.
The idea that the alleged sightings in France in 1954 were a more or less "deliberate" distraction to make people forget about difficulties was already being proposed in opposition newspapers at the time, in the form of "conspiratorial" insinuations, without any factual evidence to support the thesis.
The government and politicians of the time did not speak on the topic of "flying saucers," except for two members of parliament who, on two occasions, asked the government to clarify the matter for citizens - which was not done.
When military authorities spoke out - which happened in only two cases, both involving military personnel - there was each time a denial of the events (justified or not), with no further explanation.
I found no government statements in the press from that era suggesting that government personnel made any "promotion" of the flying saucer topic.
I found no correlation between any significant "events" and an increase in "flying saucer" sighting reports. On the contrary, one can observe that the defeat at Dien Bien Phu, for example, on May 7, 1954 (not at all "in November"), occurred during a month for which I count only 11 "flying saucer" cases in France - while there were at least 2,360 that year. Dien Bien Phu corresponds to a record low in case numbers, not a peak. The beginning of the Algerian insurgency was on November 1, and rather than a spike in reports, there was an almost complete disappearance of "flying saucers" in the press. (I'm not saying there is a causal link - I'm saying there is *no* link between any given "event" and the number of sightings. The media lost interest following an increase in known hoaxes and statements from psychiatrists and other "authorities" claiming that seeing "flying saucers" and "Martians" was a sign of "mass psychosis.")
The press's attitude toward "flying saucers" was varied. Communist or left-wing newspapers asserted that it was all just psychosis, "optical illusions," and hoaxes, criticizing papers that reported the sightings as guilty of sensationalism. These papers intentionally published only cases that had mundane explanations - the most "ridiculous" ones (see for example, Sinceny, Loctudy, Beuvry). The so-called "sensationalist" newspapers reported nearly all cases, but this also included explanations when available; the "hoaxes" were not ignored at all.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Fécamp, Seine-Maritime, night, two, luminous, ovoid, headlights, binoculars, vertically
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | June 8, 2010 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | September 27, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | July 24, 2025 | Addition [clk1], and comments related to [clk1] in the Summary and the Explanations. |
