The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
October 5, 1954, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines:
Reference for this case: 5-Oct-54-Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In his "Preliminary catalog of 500 observations" published in his book "Les Phénomènes Insolites de l'Espace" in 1966, ufologist Jacques Vallée noted an observation on October 3, 1954 at 8:30 p.m. in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
In their 1979 book "OVNI, Premier Dossier Complet des Rencontres Rapprochées en France", ufologists Michel Figuet and Jean-Louis Ruchon reported a little more: October 5, 1954, at 9:00 p.m. in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the Yvelines, on the road to Poissy, an ovoid object surrounded by a very bright halo, moving slowly, was observed.
I found the original primary source from the time, the national newspaper Le Figaro for October 9, 1954.
It tells us that one of their readers from Paris, Doctor Pigounidès, told the newspaper that he had witnessed "the aerial movements of a strange craft":
"I was driving on Tuesday between Saint-Germain and Poissy, when around 9 p.m. I noticed a luminous object flying along the road at a height I estimate to be about 400 meters. It was a kind of ovoid object surrounded by a very bright, very clear halo. On each side of the craft, there appeared what looked like sprays of violet plumes."
"It seemed to move very slowly and I was able to follow it with my eyes for a good quarter of an hour. Then the halo almost went out and the craft suddenly took on an upward, almost vertical and very rapid motion."
[Ref. fio1:] NEWSPAPER "LE FIGARO":
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Saucers and flying cigars continue to make the news.
Thus, several residents of Corbigny (Nièvre) reported having seen the other night in the sky a luminous cigar-shaped object, with two discs at its lower part. The craft was moving at high speed...
An office worker claimed to have observed a large luminous disk, yellow-orange in color, emitting a dazzling glow from the rear.
Luminous globes were also seen in the sky by merchants of Saint-Bihy, near Quintin (Côtes-du-Nord). Customers at a local tavern went outside to observe the same phenomenon.
Near Montargis, an employee of a company in Chalette reported seeing a luminous oval-shaped craft moving at high altitude.
In Dordives (Loiret), two residents declared they saw in the sky a craft of "strange" shape moving at high altitude. Rising rapidly, it disappeared in the direction of the West.
In the Indre, two residents of Montlevicq saw a flying saucer moving slowly in the sky above the Boulaise woods. About thirty kilometers away, at Saint-Plantaire, other people reported seeing a luminous craft the size of a soccer ball.
In Orthez, in the Lapoustelle neighborhood near the Moncade Tower, a very bright disk was seen yesterday in the sky by about twenty people. The disk turned red, stopped briefly, and then disappeared.
On the night from Wednesday to Thursday, young Claude Bourneix, 17 years old, living in Pierre-Dur, commune of Puymoyen (Charente), saw a large orange glow in the sky heading toward a field.
His father, Mr. Bourneix, went to the spot where the glow had landed and found small piles of ashes spaced 25 to 40 centimeters apart, forming a circle 1.5 meters in diameter.
There were twelve on the circumference and a thirteenth in the middle. Having the idea to scrape the soil, Mr. Bourneix discovered a small black stick in each pile of ash.
The gendarmerie of Angoulême, alerted, went to the scene. It appears that the sticks are pieces of tubular powder commonly used in artillery.
One of our Parisian readers, Dr. Pigounidès, witnessed the aerial maneuvers of a strange craft:
"I was driving on Tuesday, between Saint-Germain and Poissy," he told us in the letter he sent, "when around 9 p.m. I saw a luminous craft flying along the road at an altitude I estimate to be around 400 meters. It was an oval-shaped object surrounded by a very bright, clear halo. From each side of the craft, purple plumes extended like sprays of feathers.
"It seemed to move very slowly, and I was able to follow it with my eyes for a good fifteen minutes. Then the halo almost went out, and the craft suddenly moved upward, almost vertically and very rapidly."
[Ref. jve5:] JACQUES VALLEE:
| 209 | -002.09430 | 48.89700 | 03 | 10 | 1954 | 20 | 30 | 1 | ST-GERMAIN EN LAYE | F | 301 | A |
[Ref. fru1:] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:
The two authors indicate that on October 5, 1954 at 09:00 p.m., in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the department of the Yvelines, on the road of Poissy, an ovoid object surrounded by a very shining halation, moving slowly, was observed.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":
3985: 1954/10/05 21:00 3 2:07:00 E 48:53:40 N 3333 WEU FRN YVL 6:6
SAINT GERMAIN-en-LAYE,FR:OVOID W/VBRITE HALO:MOVES VERY SLOWLY:NFD:/AFP
Ref# 30 FIGEUT[sic]&RUCHON: OVNI: Le 1er Dossier Page No. 125: RESIDENT'L
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Yvelines in German St Germain en Laye on October 5, 1954 to 21:00 hours, there was observation on the road of Poissy, of an ovoid object surrounded by a very shining halation, moving slowly.
Luc Chastan indicates that the source is "Ovni, Premier dossier complet... by Figuet M./ Ruchon J.L. ** Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979".
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This database recorded this case twice:
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541004 | 04.10.1954 | St. Germain Laye | France | 20.30 | ||||||
| 19541004 | 04.10.1954 | St. Germain Laye | France | 20.30 | NL |
|
Insufficient information, low strangeness.
Update as of March 25, 2026:
With the primary source [fio1], the report shows a higher degree of strangeness, although one might possibly think of a jet fighter aircraft.
It is not possible to say whether this report is fabricated or not; I note that the name "Pigounidès" is not made up.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines, Pigounidès, doctor, night, road, car, craft, halo, bright, brilliant, purple, oval
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | May 4, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 9, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Addition [lcn1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | June 21, 2010 | Addition [jve5]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | February 16, 2017 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | April 26, 2022 | Addition [lhh1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | March 25, 2026 | Addition [fio1]. In the Summary, addition of the information from [fio1]. In the Explanations, addition of the "Update as of March 25, 2026" part. |
