ufo - UFOS at close sight: the 1954 French flap, September 7, 1954, Harponville, Somme

Reference for this case: 7-Sep-54-Harponville.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

This is one of the 1954 cases for which not only did the Press report it, but also the Gendarmerie's investigation report became available.

The witnesses went to the Corbie Gendarmerie Brigade, the closest to their workplace in La Houssoye, from where they were immediately taken to Acheux-en-Amiénois, where the Amiens Section conducted the investigation.

The Gendarmerie report states that on September 7, 1954, around 7:30 in the morning, Mr. [X], a 27-year-old mason, and his worker Mr. [Y] were riding their bicycles along Departmental Road 47 between Harponville and Contay, traveling from their homes to their workplace.

Their attention was drawn to a strangely shaped craft: a large cylinder 10 meters in diameter and 3 meters high, with a domed upper surface and what appeared to be a door on the vertical wall. The craft was resting in a field 200 meters from the road and rose into the air when the two men approached it. It first ascended obliquely for about fifteen meters, then vertically. No sound was heard, but a pipe beneath the object emitted blue smoke.

The Section Commander who questioned the two witnesses believed they were not pranksters; moreover, they freely admitted that they were very frightened.

At the request of the Company Commander, Mr. X clarified that it was not a helicopter, as he had already seen those up close before.

The Gendarmes went to the scene with the two witnesses and a police dog (and, according to the press, an aeronautics specialist). The spot where the object had been, according to the witnesses, was located 800 meters northwest of D.C. 47, 1.8 km from Contay, and 4.8 km from Varennes. The gendarmes found no trace on the ground, which consisted partly of grass and partly of alfalfa, and the dog detected no tracks.

The Gendarmes reported that visibility on September 7, 1954, at 7:30 a.m. was daylight, with clear weather and no fog.

The Gendarmes noted that both men had good eyesight, were sane and sober, and that they would lose a day's wages because of the incident.

To rule out any suspicion of drunkenness or fatigue, the Company Commander verified the witnesses' schedules: they had gone to bed the previous evening around 9 p.m. and risen around 6 a.m.; they had left Acheux around 7 a.m., after breakfast, to go to work in La Houssoye; they had not stopped on the way for any drinks; they were alert and not intoxicated.

The press gave the same accounts from the witnesses. Le Nouveau Nord Maritime of September 9, 1954 (thus before the media coverage of the Dewilde case), quoting information from Courrier Picard, stated that one was Mr. Emile Renard, 27, a self-employed mason, living on Route de Doullens in Acheux-en-Amiénois, who had left home by bicycle to go to work in Lahoussoye; the other, who accompanied him, was his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillaboz, 23, residing on Route de Bertrancourt in Acheux-en-Amiénois.

Both were riding normally when around 7:15, after passing through Harponville and heading toward Contay, their attention was caught by a large craft resting in a recently mown field, about 200 meters away and to the right of the road.

Mr. de Gillaboz, whom his employer went to fetch at the request of the press, said:

Intrigued, the two men got off their bicycles and ran through the fields toward the craft. Faster than his companion, Mr. Renard pulled slightly ahead:

They both noticed on the side of the craft a kind of door, wider than tall, but closed.

The men said they stood there stunned. De Gillaboz said he "only wanted one thing: to get on my bike and get away as fast as possible."

The press asked Mr. Renard what he would have done if he had reached the craft; he explained:

De Gillaboz, for his part, said, "I wouldn't have touched it, and that machine didn't give me a good feeling..."

The newspaper stated that during their statements, both men gave a clear impression of sincerity. They said that after talking about what they had seen to residents of Lahoussoye, those residents alerted the gendarmerie. During the day, Mr. Renard and Mr. de Gillaboz were questioned at length and separately. They were taken to the place where they had seen the craft, where no trace was found on the ground.

In Var Matin – République of September 15, 1954, it was reported that, according to the two witnesses, the flying saucer had taken off "at the speed of a helicopter, then accelerated vertiginously."

They explained that they had taken their bicycles instead of the van, whose engine needed repair. Their work that day was at the house of the village guard in La Houssoye. Between Harponville and Contay, Gillaboz's bike tire deflated, and Mr. Renard stopped to lend him his pump, and that's when...:

De Gillaboz said the craft was about ten meters wide and a bluish gray color, not shiny, with a kind of exhaust pipe at the rear from which smoke came out at takeoff.

Both men stated that the saucer left without making the slightest sound, that they could not get closer than 150 meters, and that they watched it for at least three minutes because it took some time to disappear into the clouds.

They told their story to the village guard of La Houssoye, and it was he who insisted that they report it to the Corbie Gendarmerie.

Reports:

NATIONAL GENDARMERIE
REGIONAL COMMAND OF THE [...]
GENDARMERIE OF THE 2 ° R.M.
2nd Legion bis of the Gendarmerie

AMIENS, September 7, 1954

REPORT
by captain [...], commander of the Gendarmerie Section [...]
on the appearance of a "flying saucer"

Nr 785/2

Reference: article 78 and 87 of the Decree of May 20, 1903.

On 7 September 1954, around 7:30 a.m., two people on a bicycle report having seen a flying saucer between HARPONVILLE and CONTAY.

THE FACTS:

Mr. [...], mason, 27-year-old and his [...] workman Mr de [...] went this day September 7, 1954, from their home [...] to their work place: [...]

Around 7 hours 30' circulating on the C.G. 47 between HARPONVILLE and CONTAY, these two people had their attention attracted by a strange-shaped machine. It was a large cylinder 10 meters in diameter and 3 meters high, the upper surface was curved and a door was visible on the vertical wall. This device that was posed in a field 200 meters from the road took off when the two abovementioned men approached it. This climb was done first on about fifteen meters in oblique then vertically. No sound was heard but a pipe under the device let out blue smoke.

The machine remained 4 to 5 minutes at the sight of the 2 reporters.

VALUE OF INFORMATION:

The Section Commander who interviewed the two witnesses believes that it is not a matter of mystifiers. They declare, moreover, without false shame, that they had been very frightened.

The gendarmerie went to the place with the police dog BOBBI.

The spot where the machine was located according to the witnesses is located 800 meters N.W. of C.D.47, at 1 Km 800 of CONTAY and 4 Km 800 of VARENNES.

No trace exists on the soil composed partly of grass and partly of alfalfa.

The dog did not follow any trail.

This report is prepared for all purposes and with all reservations.

Signed [illegible].

Recipients:

Mr. the PREFET of the Somme
Mr. the Prosecutor of the Republic in AMIENS
Mr. the Colonel, Cdr of the 2nd Legion of the Gendarmerie
Mr. the Colonel Cdr of the Subdivision of the Somme
Mr. the Head of Security Service of the 2nd Military Region in LILLE
Mr. the Head of Air Security Service CAMBRAI.

COPY OF TWO STATEMENTS

Mr [...], 27 years old, Mason, [...] who states:

"Today, September 7, 1954, around 7 o'clock or 7 o'clock 30 in the morning, I was traveling by road from my home to La Houssoye where I worked when between ARPONVILLE [sic] and CONTAY, in the plain, 150 meters from the road, my attention was attracted by the bizarre shape of a haystack with the particularity of an oscillating movement. After pointing this out to my workman [...] with him I approached this object to better look at it. I had arrived at a hundred meters when it took off, first at fifteen meters on a rather slow oblique ascent, then vertically a lot faster and disappear to my sight in the sky.

I can describe the object I saw as follows:

This is a gray cylinder of train wagon color whose upper surface is slightly domed. I saw arounf it a form of door and below a pipe through which escaped smoke during the ascent. The dimensions are in my opinion the following: diameter about ten meters, height 2 meters 50 to 3 meters.

During the ascent of this object I noticed that the smoke exhaust to the exclusion of any sign of light or sound, the device made absolutely no noise.

Having read, I persists and sign.

Mr. [...], 23 years old, mason [...] who states:

I left ACHEUX at 7 am to reach la HOUSSOYE where I work as a mason. I was accompanied by my boss, Monsieur [...]; on a bicycle we took C.D. 47 by HARPONVILLE. Between this locality and the commune of CONTAY, on our right, in a field stripped of harvest and about 150 meters from the road, we saw an uncovered haystack. The latter had the appearance of a water tower sump. We found this haystack very weird and we stopped to watch it. It may have been about ten meters in diameter by about three meters high. It seemed to me that there was an opening wider than it was high for what we took for a haystack and which in reality was not.

.../...

It was a machine. The latter began to rise in the air slowly and without any noise. By climbing the craft allowed us to discover like a tailpipe from which came out a sparse gray-blue smoke. The craft had a dirty color, either black or dark blue. The smoke was visible until the craft reached ten meters. This machine took altitude obliquely. After a height of about 12 meters, it climbed vertically and it seemed to me that it was gaining speed. It disappeared in the air about five minutes after its climb.

I informed about these facts of the guard of la HOUSSOYE, who informed you.

My boss and I did not approach the place as our surprise was great. The place from where the machine left is located near a wood. I did not see anyone near the craft."

Having read, I persist and sign.

SKETCH OF THE CRAFT ACCORDING TO THE STATEMENT OF Mssrs [...]

Nr 273/4

AMIENS, SEPTEMBER 23, 1954

COPY

- REPORT -

of the Squadron Commander [...] Commanding the Somme Gendarmerie Company

on the appearance of a "flying saucer".

REFERENCES: Oral Orders of the General Regional Commander of the Gendarmerie (continuation of report 785/2 of 7.9.1954 -

The facts were set out in the report cited in reference.

They are briefly recalled below:

On September 7, 1954, around 7:30 am, two cyclists going to work circulate on G.C. 47 between HARPONVILLE and CONTAY. They see a craft of circular shape (diameter 10 meters approximately) height 2 m. 50 to 3 m.) 200 meters from the road. This craft has a swinging motion. No noise is heard. The 2 men approach within 100 meters. The craft then rises in 2 steps: at first a rather slow climb oblique up to an altitude of approximately 15 meters, then a vertical climb to disappear at the sight.

Both people had the machine under the eyes for 4 to 5 minutes. This is not a fleeting vision.

INVESTIGATION

The two witnesses immediately went to the CORBIE Gendarmerie Brigade (the closest to their place of work LA HOUSSOYE) from where they were immediately taken to the Amiens Section.

Upon arrival at AMIENS, the two men are interviewed separately and simultaneously in two offices. Their statements are identical.

Personality of witnesses:

1°) - [...], mason, 27 years old

Excellent morality and mentality. Was chosen to occupy at the mobilization an auxiliary job in the Republican Guard.

.../...

Very well known to the local brigade.

2°) - [...], 23 years - [...] worker very well known to the brigade.

It is therefore two men, having a good view, sane and sober. They will lose the pay of a day's work.

Time schedule of witnesses:

To avoid any suspicion of drunkenness or fatigue, the schedule of witnesses was verified by the Commanding Officer.

They went to bed the previous evening around 9 p.m. and got up around 6 a.m.; They left ACHEUX around 7 a.m., after having lunch, to go to work at LA HOUSSOYE. They did not stop along the way to consume [alcohol]. They are therefore well disposed and are not intoxicated.

Transportation on the premises:

Gentlemen [...] and [...] were taken to the place, with the Commander of Company twelve officers and gendarmes and dog BOBBI.

Location: 200 m. North West of C. D. 47 - 1 km 800 from CONTAY and 4 km 800 from VARENNES.

Soil: partly covered with alfalfa and herbs.

Visibility: September 7th at 7 a.m. 30, it is daylight, the weather is clear and without fog.

At the question of the Company Commander, Mr. [...] said that it is not a helicopter because he has already seen these craft closely.

Miscellaneous information:

The craft was not seen by the inhabitants of CONTAY-TOUTESCOURT HARPONVILLE - HERISSANT - VADENCOURT, localities surrounding the place.

.../...

- 3 -

- Consulted, LUCHEUX Radar Master Station 15 km away, in straight line, was not in action at 7 a.m. 30. It cannot provide any indication.

- CONCLUSION -

Gentlemen [...] and [...] are two serious men; the visibility is perfect.

The Company Commander is convinced that these people have actually seen a "craft".

The local press, alerted by the public rumor, sent journalists on the spot. They have the same conviction as the Commander of the Company. It is not possible to say that this machine is what is commonly called "Flying Saucer".

Another "flying saucer" case occurred in the Péronne region, the gendarmerie easily demonstrated that it was a hoax.

Mystery in the Picardy sky

Two workers claim
having seen a flying saucer
between Harponville and Contay

This is the news that reached us at the end of the afternoon, news that witnesses to the astonishing event confirmed to us.

This information will not fail to generate perfectly understandable skepticism, but the two men who "saw" the object gave us concordant statements in every respect.

So, yesterday morning, Mr. Emile Renard, who is 27 years old and works as a mason craftsman, route de Doullens, in Acheux-en-Amiénois, had left his home by bicycle to go to his work in Lahoussoye. He was accompanied by his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillaboz, 23, living on the road from Bertancourt to Acheux-en-Amiémois.

Both were driving normally when around 7:15 a.m., as they had crossed Harponville and were heading towards Contay, their attention was drawn to a large object posed in a recently mown field, about 200 meters and to the right of the road.

- It looked like a haystack that was not finished, tells us Mr. Renard whom we found in the middle of his family in the evening.

- Yes, and the top was somewhat rounded and looked like an inverted plate, added M. de Gillaboz, whom his boss had gone to look for at his house at our request.

Intrigued, the two men jumped off their machine and, running, entered the fields in the direction of the craft.

Faster than his companion, Mr. Renard left him somewhat behind.

- As I got closer, he told us, I never took my eyes off the craft. I could thus realize that it was dirty gray in color and it might have been ten meters in diameter...

- And it oscillated a little, specifies Mr. de Gillaboz...

- Did you hear any noise? we ask.

- Absolutely nothing, the two men answer us.

And both said they noticed a sort of door wider than it was tall, but closed, on the wall of the craft.

- I had corssed about fifty meters, says Mr. Renard, when I saw the craft which rose diagonally, while smoke was escaping through a kind of pipe placed in its lower part.

It thus arrived at a height of fifteen meters. At that moment, it abandoned the diagonal and his ascent continued vertically and faster.

For a few minutes, we followed it with our eyes. As it climbed, it was more and more difficult to see it and it eventually disappeared.

- What were your impressions at the time? we ask.

- What do you want, said Mr. Renard, we stayed there, mouths gaping...

- I had only one hurry: get on my bike and get away as soon as possible.

- I was like dumbfounded, adds the mason craftsman. I was wondering what phenomenon we had just witnessed, and then I thought it might be a flying saucer, like the ones we hear about in the newspapers.

- Think, said his companion, we couldn't believe it. Admit that there is reason to be taken aback when one sees such a thing!

As we were questioning Mr. Renard to find out what he would have done if, continuing his race, he had arrived near the craft, he told us:

- I wanted to know what it was because I was so intrigued. I can't say if I would have risked touching it but I might have tried to realize what was inside. How? I don't know.

- Well, for my part, says Mr. de Gillaboz, I would not have touched it and this craft was nothing good to me...

During their statements, the two men gave us a clear impression of sincerity. They told us that having spoken to residents of Lahoussoye about what they had seen, the latter had alerted the gendarmerie. During the day, MM. Renard and de Gillaboz were interrogated at length and separately. They were taken to the place where they saw the craft. There, no trace was found on the ground.

At the gendarmerie, the most complete silence is observed on the encounter made by the two inhabitants of Acheux-en-Amiénois, and one seems to be careful not to invalidate or confirm, too hastily, what remains for all a mystery.

Nevertheless, the statements of the two men are clear and precise, so we deliver them to our readers as they were given to us...

NEAR AMIENS

Two men claim to have seen a flying saucer in a field

Amiens, September 8. -- Mr. Emile Renard, 27, and his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillabez, 23, claim to have seen in a field, about 200 meters from the road near Acheux-en-Amiénois, a craft resembling a truncated haystack with a kind of large upside-down plate placed on top.

The two men, who were riding bicycles, said they jumped off and ran toward the craft, which they described as gray in color and roughly ten meters in diameter. It was slightly oscillating, and on its side, a kind of closed door was visible. The craft made no sound.

Still according to Mr. Renard and Mr. Gillabez, the object took off when they had already covered about fifty meters. Smoke came out of a kind of pipe located on its underside. After flying obliquely for about fifteen meters, the object rose vertically and disappeared.

The two men were taken to the spot where they claimed to have seen the object. No traces were found on the ground.

Can a flying saucer land without leaving traces?

Amiens, 8. A mason, Mr. Emile Renard, 27 years old, and his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillebez, 23 years old, claim to have seen in a field, about 200 meters from the road near Acheux-en-Amiénois, a craft resembling a truncated haystack with a kind of large overturned plate on top.

The two men, who were riding bicycles, said they jumped off their bikes and ran toward the craft, which they described as gray in color and about ten meters in diameter. It was oscillating slightly, and a kind of closed door could be seen on its side. The craft made no sound.

The two men were questioned at the Acheux-en-Amiénois gendarmerie, then taken to the spot where they claimed to have seen the craft. No traces were found on the ground.

A flying saucer
landed in the Somme

Amiens, 8 (A.C.P.). - It appears from the testimony of two workers that a mysterious craft flew off on Tuesday morning from a field bordering the road connecting Harponville to Contay, in the Somme.

Having left his home by bicycle to go to his work, in La Houssoye, Mr. Emile Renard, 27, masonry craftsman, living on route de Doullens, in Acheux-en-Amiénois, was accompanied by his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillaboz, 23, living on route de Bertrancourt, also in Acheux.

The two cyclists had crossed Harponville and were heading towards Contay, when, according to them, their attention was attracted by a large apparatus, posed in a field, about 200 meters on the right of the road:

"It looked like an unfinished haystack," he said. "And the somewhat rounded top looked like an upturned plate."

Intrigued, the two men jumped off their machines and ran into the fields in the direction of the gray craft; which could have been about ten meters in diameter. It swayed a little, but made no noise and on its wall one could make out a kind of door wider than it was high, which was closed:

"However, declares Mr. Renard, being ahead of my companion, I had traveled about fifty meters, I saw the apparatus which rose diagonally, while a smoke escaped by a kind of pipe, placed in its lower part. Then at about fifteen meters in height, the machine continued its vertical ascent and more quickly."

It ends up disappearing from the eyes of the two men who, dumbfounded, wondered what phenomenon they had just witnessed.

At the Acheux-en-Amiénois gendarmerie, where they were questioned at length and separately, the most complete silence is kept, one is taking care not to deny nor confirm what remains a mystery for all.

Messrs. Renard and de Gillaboz were also taken to the spot where they saw the craft. But there, no trace was found on the ground.

Did a flying saucer
land
near Amiens?

Two masons say it
with disturbing precision

According to two workers, a mysterious craft took off on Tuesday morning from a field bordering the road which links Harponville to Contay, near Amiens.

Having left his home on a bicycle to go to work in La Houssoye, Mr. Emile Renard, 27, a mason craftsman, living on the road from Doullens to Acheux in Amiénois, was accompanied by his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillaboz, 23, living on the route de Bertrancourt in the same locality.

IN A FIELD

The two cyclists had crossed Harponville and were heading towards Contay, when their attention was attracted by a large apparatus, posed in a field about 200 meters on the right of the road.

"It looked like an unfinished haystack, they say. And the somewhat rounded top looked like an inverted plate."

Intrigued, the two men jumped from their machine, and while running entered the fields in the direction of the gray-colored object, which may have been ten meters in diameter.

It oscillated a little, but made no noise, and on its wall there was a sort of closed door wider than it was tall.

THE CRAFT DISAPPEARS

"However, declares Mr. Renard, while preceding my companion, I had crossed fifty meters, I saw the apparatus rise in diagonal, while a smoke escaped by a kind of pipe placed in its lower part. About fifteen meters high, the machine continued its vertical ascent and faster."

And it ends up disappearing under the eyes of the two men who, dumbfounded, wondered what phenomenon they had just witnessed.

At the gendarmerie of Acheux-en-Amiénois, where the two men were interrogated at length and separately, one remains completely silent, taking care not to deny or confirm what remains a mystery for all.

MM. Renard and de Gillaboz were also taken to the place where they had seen the apparatus. But there, no trace was found on the ground.

NEW MYSTERY
in the Picardy sky?

Residents of the Péronne region reportedly saw on the ground, yesterday evening, a flying saucer between Estrées-Deniécourt and Foucaucourt-en-Santerre. Like the smoke of powder, the rumor ran yesterday evening in several neighboring municipalities, of the district of Péronne, that a flying saucer would have been seen in the evening, by inhabitants near the wood of Foucaucourt-en-Santerre.

How much credit should be given to these new claims?

At the time when the news reached us, it was not possible for us to carry out an investigation, even a fast one, to hear some of the witnesses of this new and strange appearance.

Be as it may, the skepticism that could arise from the statements of the two workers of Acheux-en-Amiénois may be mitigated by the fact that this time, those who could give a more detailed description of the curious object could be numerous.

Before further information, we are reluctant to insist too much on this new "mystery".

[Photo caption:] Here are the two residents of Acheux-en-Amiénois who, Tuesday morning, saw, between Harponville and Contay, the flying saucer we talked about yesterday. We recognize, on the left, Mr. RENARD and, on the right, Mr. de GILLABOZ.

- MYSTERY IN PICARDY -

Two workers state
to have seen a flying saucer
and describer it in an impressive manner

The craft was on the ground and rose
in diagonal, then vertically

One reads in "Le Courrier Picard":

This is the news that reached us at the end of the afternoon, news that witnesses to the astonishing event confirmed to us.

This information will not fail to generate perfectly understandable skepticism, but the two men who "saw" the object gave us concordant statements in every respect.

- It looked like a haystack that was not finished, tells us Mr. Renard whom we found in the middle of his family in the evening.

- Yes, and the top was somewhat rounded and looked like an inverted plate, added M. de Gillaboz, whom his boss had gone to look for at his house at our request.

Intrigued, the two men jumped off their machine and, running, entered the fields in the direction of the craft.

Faster than his companion, Mr. Renard left him somewhat behind.

- As I got closer, he told us, I never took my eyes off the craft. I could thus realize that it was dirty gray in color and it might have been ten meters in diameter...

- And it oscillated a little, specifies Mr. de Gillaboz...

- Did you hear any noise? we ask.

- Absolutely nothing, the two men answer us.

And both said they noticed a sort of door wider than it was tall, but closed, on the wall of the craft.

- I had crossed about fifty meters, says Mr. Renard, when I saw the craft which rose diagonally, while smoke was escaping through a kind of pipe placed in its lower part.

It thus arrived at a height of fifteen meters. At that moment, it abandoned the diagonal and his ascent continued vertically and faster.

For a few minutes, we followed it with our eyes. As it climbed, it was more and more difficult to see it and it eventually disappeared.

- What were your impressions at the time? we ask.

- What do you want, said Mr. Renard, we stayed there, mouths gaping...

- I had only one hurry: get on my bike and get away as soon as possible.

- Think, said his companion, we couldn't believe it. Admit that there is reason to be taken aback when one sees such a thing!

As we were questioning Mr. Renard to find out what he would have done if, continuing his race, he had arrived near the craft, he told us:

- I wanted to know what it was because I was so intrigued. I can't say if I would have risked touching it but I might have tried to realize what was inside. How? I don't know.

- Well, for my part, says Mr. de Gillaboz, I would not have touched it and this craft was nothing good to me...

Nevertheless, the statements of the two men are clear and precise, so we deliver them to our readers as they were given to us...

Did a flying saucer
land
in the Somme?

It appears from the statements of two workers, that a mysterious craft, Tuesday morning, flew away from a field bordering the road connecting Harponville to Contay.

Having left his home on a bicycle to go to his work in La Houssoye, Mr. Emile Renard, 27, craftsman-mason, living on the road of Doullens, in Acheux-en-Amiénois, was accompanied by his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillaboz, 23, living on the road of Bertrancourt, in Acheux-en-Amiénois.

The two cyclists had crossed Harponville and were heading towards Contay, when their attention was drawn to a large object placed in a field about 200 meters on the right of the road.

It looked like an un-

Read more on the last page under the title:

SAUCERS

SAUCERS

finished haystack, they say. And the somewhat rounded top looked like an inverted plate. Intrigued, the two men jumped from their machine and, running, entered the fields in the direction of the gray-colored object, which might have been ten meters in diameter. It oscillated a little, but made no noise and on its wall there was a sort of door wider than it was tall, which was closed.

However, declares Mr. Renard, while preceding my companion I had crossed fifty meters, I saw the apparatus which rose in diagonal, while a smoke escaped by a kind of pipe placed in its lower part. Then at a height of fifteen meters, the machine continued its vertical ascent more and more quickly, and it finally disappeared from the view of the two men who, dumbfounded, asked themselves what phenomenon they had just witnessed...

At the gendarmerie of Acheux-en-Amiénois, where the two men were interrogated at length and separately, the most complete silence is kept, taking care not to deny or confirm what remains a mystery for all.

MM. Renard and de Gillaboz were also taken to the place where they had seen the craft. But there, no trace was found on the ground.

BETWEEN HARPONVILLE AND CONTAY
IN THE SOMME

A MYSTERIOUS CRAFT
takes off from a field

It appears from the statements of two workers, that a mysterious machine, Tuesday morning, flew from a field bordering the road connecting Harponville to Contay.

Having left his home on a bicycle to go to work at La Houssoye, Mr. Emile Renard, 27, a mason craftsman, living in Acheux-en-Amiénois, was accompanied by his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillabez, 23.

The two cyclists had crossed Harponville and were heading towards Contay, when their attention was drawn to a large object placed in a field about 200 meters on the right of the road.

It looked like an unfinished haystack, they say. And the somewhat rounded top looked like an inverted plate. Intrigued, the two men jumped from their machine and, running, entered the fields in the direction of the gray-colored object, which might have been about ten meters in diameter. It oscillated a little, but made no noise and on its wall there was a kind of door wider than it was tall and which was closed.

However, declared Mr. Renard, while preceding his companion I had crossed fifty meters, I saw the apparatus which rose in diagonal, while smoke escaped by a kind of pipe placed in its lower part. Then at fifteen meters in height, the machine continued its vertical and faster ascent. And it ends up disappearing in the eyes of the two men who, dumbfounded, asked what phenomenon they had just witnessed...

MM. Renard and de Gillaboz were also taken to the place where they had seen the craft. But there, no trace was found on the ground.

Formal testimony of two workers:

A flying saucer landed in the Somme

Amiens 8 (A.C.P.). - It appears from the testimony of two workers that a mysterious machine flew Tuesday morning from a field bordering the road linking Harponville to Contay in the Somme.

Mr. Emile Renard, a 27-year-old artisanal mason living on the road from Doullens to Acheux-en-Amiénois, was accompanied by his workman, Mr. Vves de Gillaboz, 23, who had left his home on bicycle to go to work at La Houssoye, remaining road of Bertrancourt, also in Acheux.

The two cyclists had crossed Harponville and headed towards Contay when, according to them, their attention was attracted by a large machine, placed in a field about 200 meters on the right of their road:

"It looked like an unfinished millstone," they said, and the slightly rounded top resembled a flattened plate.

Intrigued, the two men jumped down of their machine and ran into the fields towards the gray craft, which might have been about ten meters in diameter. It oscillated somewhat, but made no noise, and on its wall one distinguished a kind of door wider than high, which was closed.

"However," said Mr. Renard, "as I was before my companion, I had traveled about fifty yards, I saw the apparatus rising diagonally, while a smoke escaped through a kind of pipe placed in its lower part, and then at a height of about ten meters, the machine continued to ascend vertically and more rapidly."

It ended by disappearing from the eyes of the two men, who, awestruck, wondered what phenonen they had just witnessed.

At the gendarmerie of Acheux-en-Amienois, where they were long and separately questioned, one keeps the most complete silence, being careful not to inform or to confirm what remains for all a mystery.

MM. Renard and Gillaboz were also taken to the spot where they would have seen the aircraft. But there was no trace on the ground.

A mason and his worker
claim to have seen
a flying saucer
in a field

A mason, Mr. Emile Renard, 27, and his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillebez, 23, claim to have seen in a field, about 200 meters from the road, near Acheux-en-Amiénois, a craft resembling a truncated haystack, on which would have been placed a kind of large inverted plate.

The two men, who were riding their bikes, stated that they then jumped from their machine and ran towards the craft which, they say, was gray in color and about ten meters in diameter approximately. It swung slightly, and a sort of closed door could be seen on the wall. There was no sound from the craft.

Still according to the account of MM. Renard and Gillabez, the apparatus flew away when they had already traveled fifty meters. Smoke came out of a kind of pipe placed at its bottom. After an oblique flight of about fifteen meters, the craft took the vertical and disappeared.

The two men were interrogated at the Gendarmerie of Acheux-en-Amiénois, then taken to the place where they claim to have seen the craft. No trace was found on the ground.

BETWEEN HARPONVILLE AND CONTAY
IN THE SOMME

A MYSTERIOUS CRAFT
flies away from a field

It appears from the statements of two workers, that a mysterious craft, Tuesday morning, flew from a field bordering the road connecting Harponville to Contay.

Having left his home on a bicycle to go to work at "La Houssoye", Mr. Emile Renard, 27, craftsman-mason, living in Acheux-en-Amiénois, was accompanied by his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillaboz, 23 years old.

The two cyclists had crossed Harponville and were heading towards Contay, when their attention was drawn to a large object placed in a field about 200 meters on the right of the road.

It looked like an unfinished haystack, they say. And the somewhat rounded top looked like an inverted plate. Intrigued, the two men jumped from their machine and, running, entered the fields in the direction of the gray-colored object, which could be ten meters in diameter. It oscillated a little, but made no noise and on its wall there was a sort of door wider than it was tall and which was closed.

However, declares Mr. Renard, while preceding his companion I had crossed fifty meters, I saw the apparatus which rose in diagonal, while a smoke escaped by a kind of pipe placed in its lower part. Then at a height of fifteen meters, the machine continued its vertical ascent more and more quickly. And it ended up disappearing from the sight of the two men who, dumbfounded, wondered what phenomenon they had just witnessed...

At the gendarmerie of Acheux-en-Amiénois, where the two men were interrogated at length and separately, the most complete silence is kept, taking care not to deny or confirm, what remains a mystery for all.

MM. Renard and de Gillaboz were also taken to the place where they had seen the craft. But there, no trace was found on the ground.

"200 m. away
from us: a
flying saucer"

... but "the thing"
disappeared when
the two men
approached it

LILLE, Sep 9. (Part. Dept.)

A flying saucer reportedly landed Tuesday morning in the vicinity of Amiens, between Harponville and Contay. This is what two masons from Acheux-en-Amiénois claim, Mr. Emile Renard, 27, and his worker Yves de Gillaboz, 23.

"The craft, gray in color, was two hundred meters from us," they said. It looked like an unfinished haystack, the rounded top of which was like an upturned plate. It might have been ten meters long in diameter.

Mr. Renard was the first to run towards the "saucer", but it did not wait for him.

"I suddenly saw the craft rise silently as smoke escaped from a nozzle at its bottom. The craft went diagonally, then vertically and quickly disappeared.

Questioned separately by the gendarmes, the two men told exactly the same story and gave the same details, but on the spot one could not locate any trace of the "saucer."

However, many inhabitants of the district of Péronne reported that they had seen the craft above the wood of Foucaucourt-en-Santerre.

In the Amiens region:

A mason and his worker saw a flying saucer in a field

But no trace was found on the ground

AMIENS, September 9 (A.F.P.). -- A mason, Mr. Emile Renard, 27 years old, and his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillabez, 23 years old, claim to have seen yesterday in a field, about 200 meters from the road near Acheux-en-Amiénois, a craft resembling a truncated haystack on which a kind of large upside-down plate appeared to be placed.

The two men, who were riding bicycles, said they jumped off their bikes and ran toward the craft, which they described as gray in color and approximately ten meters in diameter. It was slightly oscillating, and a kind of closed door could be seen on its side. The craft made no sound.

Still according to the account of Mr. Renard and Mr. Gillabez, the craft took off as they had already covered about fifty meters. Smoke was coming out of a kind of pipe located on its underside. After a slanted flight of about fifteen meters, the craft rose vertically.

"We saw a flying saucer at a distance of 100 meters"

DECLARE TWO BRICKLAYERS FROM ACHEUX-EN-AMIENOIS

ARRAS. -- Two bricklayer craftsmen, Mr. Emile Renard, 27 years old, and Yves de Gillaboz, residents of Acheux-en-Amiénois (Somme), observed a "flying saucer" on the outskirts of the village of Harponville.

"The object," they said, "was in a field 200 meters from the road. It looked like an enormous upside-down plate, was gray in color, and measured about ten meters. We abandoned our bicycles and started running toward the craft, which at times tilted to the left, then to the right. On its surface, one could make out a kind of door, wider than it was tall, and tightly shut.

"When we were still about a hundred meters from the saucer, it began to rise diagonally, without a sound, emitting a pungent smoke from a tube located underneath. Once it reached about 15 meters in height, this strange craft rose in a straight line rather quickly and eventually disappeared. We thought we were dreaming..."

The two men, questioned separately by the gendarmes, gave the same account of what they claim to have seen.

LIKE IN FAIRY TALES

The "flying saucer"
took off in front of the eyes
of the mason and his worker

Amiens. -- A mason, Mr. Emile Renard, 27 years old, and his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillebez, 23 years old, claim to have seen a craft in a field about 200 meters from the road near Acheux-en-Amienois. It resembled a truncated haystack with a sort of large overturned plate placed on top.

The two men, who were riding bicycles, stated that they immediately jumped off their bikes and ran toward the craft, which, they said, was gray in color and approximately ten meters in diameter. It swayed slightly, and on its surface, a closed door-like shape was visible.

The craft emitted no sound. According to Mr. Renard and Mr. de Gillebez, the craft took off as they had already covered about fifty meters. Smoke escaped from a kind of pipe located at its lower part. After an oblique ascent of about fifteen meters, the craft moved vertically and disappeared.

The two men were questioned at the Acheux-en-Amienois gendarmerie and then taken to the location where they claimed to have seen the craft. No traces were found on the ground.

We saw a flying saucer at a distance of 100 meters

ARRAS. - Two masons, MM. Emile Renard, 27, and Yves de Gillaboz, domiciled in Acheux-en-Amiénois (the Somme), said they observed a "flying saucer" at the exit of the village of Harponville.

"The thing, they said, was in a field, 200 meters from the road. It looked like a huge upturned plate, was gray, and measured ten meters. We dropped our bikes and we started to run in the direction of the machine which was sometimes leaning left, sometimes leaning to the right. On the surface a kind of wider than high door could be seen, and carefully closed.

"While we were still a hundred meters of the saucer, the latter began to rise obliquely, without noise, letting an acrid smoke escape through a tube placed below. Having reached 15 meters height, this weird machine rose in a straight line rather quickly and eventually disappeared. We believed we were dreaming..."

The two men, interviewed separately by the police, provided the same report of what they claim to have seen.

HARPONVILLE

A mysterious machine rises in the Picardy sky! -- Tuesday morning, Mr. Emile Renard, 27, craftsman mason, in Acheux-en-Amiénois, had left his home by bicycle to go to his work in Lahoussoye. He was accompanied by his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillaboz, 23, also living in Acheux-en-Amiénois.

Both were driving normally when, around 7:15 a.m., when they had crossed Harponville and headed for Contay, their attention was drawn to a large object posed in a recently mown field, about 200 meters and to the right of the road.

This machine was in the shape of an unfinished haystack and the top was somewhat rounded and looked like an inverted plate.

Intrigued, the two men jumped from their machine and, running, entered the fields in the direction of the machine.

Faster than his companion, Mr. Renard left him somewhat behind. Approaching and not taking his eyes off the engine, he was able to realize that it was dirty gray in color and could be about ten meters in diameters [sic]... and oscillated somewhat.

Mr. Renard had traveled fifty meters when he saw the craft rise diagonally, while smoke escaped through a kind of pipe placed in its lower part.

He thus arrived at fifteen meters of height. At that moment, it abandoned the diagonal and its ascent continued vertically and more quickly.

For a few minutes, MM. Renard and de Gillaboz followed the craft, as it climbed, it was more and more difficult to see it and it eventually disappeared.

Faced with this strange phenomenon, our two men gaped, as if dumbfounded, wondering if they had not been in the presence of one of these famous... flying saucers!

During their statements, both of them produced a clear impression of sincerity.

Having spoken to residents of Lahoussoyse about what they saw, the latter alerted the gendarmerie.

During the day, MM. Renard and de Gillaboz were interrogated at length and separately. They were taken to the place where they saw the craft. There, no trace was detected on the ground.

Nevertheless, the statements of the two men are clear and precise.

News from Everywhere

Did a flying saucer land near Amiens? Two masons claim this with disturbing precision.

The flying saucers again: a mason and his assistant, of Acheux-en-Amiénois also saw a flying saucer. It is a fact that unfortunately never happens on the terrace of a cafe.

Flying saucers are the talk of the town

New details reported by new witnesses

We previously reported that witnesses claim to have seen a flying saucer at Quarouble, on September 10, around 10 p.m.

Our colleague "Le Parisien Libéré" brings additional testimonies regarding a similar event. These come from Mr. Emile Renard and Mr. Yves de Gillaboz of Acheux-en-Amiénois, who, as we had briefly mentioned, also claim to have seen a flying saucer.

This incident, which occurred about 90 kilometers as the crow flies from Valenciennes, dates back to Tuesday, September 7, around 7:15 a.m. The craft seemed to be hovering a few centimeters above the ground in a stubble field about 200 meters from the departmental road between Harponville and Contay.

The two witnesses are highly respected and well-known in Acheux-en-Amiénois, where they reside. They sketched the general shape of the saucer and provided a drawing that our colleague reproduced.

As for Yves de Guillerboz, he has worked as a laborer with Mr. Renard for a year. He is a sturdy 23-year-old man, full of health, who, like his employer, shows no signs of joking around.

Their accounts of the saucer match perfectly, and the overall details also correspond closely with Mr. Dewilde's sighting.

- "Instead of using the truck, which needed engine repairs," explained Mr. Renard, "my worker and I had set out on bicycles to go to our job at the municipal guard's house in La Houssoye. Suddenly, between Harponville and Contay, Guillerboz's bike tire deflated. I stopped to lend him my pump, and my eyes were drawn to a sort of disc, about 250 meters away, in a field."

"Look," I said to my worker, "what a strangely colored haystack!"

"Busy inflating the tire, he didn't respond. Intrigued, I continued to observe the object and noticed it was moving relative to the ground, with a slight rocking motion, like an oscillation around an imaginary axis."

"But look, just look, it's not a haystack!" I shouted to my companion.

"Gripped by some instinct, we both rushed across the fields to get closer to the mysterious craft. We had to cross a fallow field first, then a beet field. As soon as we began to run across, the saucer - for by now we were certain it was one - tilted sideways for about fifteen meters and then rose vertically."

Just like his employer, Mr. Guillerboz described the craft as having a diameter of about ten meters and a height of about three meters.

- "It was bluish-gray in color but not shiny," he specified.

Both men also affirm that the saucer departed without making the slightest sound. Unlike Mr. Dewilde of Quarouble, they did not feel any displacement of air. However, they never managed to get closer than 150 meters to the machine. According to the witnesses, this saucer had a kind of exhaust pipe at the rear, from which smoke emerged during takeoff.

CRAFT SPOTTED IN AMIENS SEEN IN THE THIERACHE

ORIGNY-EN-THIERACHE. -- Did the flying saucer seen in Amiens fly over the Hirson region last Monday night? Returning from the cinema in Hirson around 12:30 a.m. with his wife and father-in-law, Mr. Robert Chovel spotted, upon reaching the top of Fort Hill, a luminous disc following the railway. At first, he thought it was the moon, but noticing the object was moving, he became intrigued. Even more so when the object suddenly changed direction and stopped on the other side of the road, hovering at an altitude of 300 to 400 meters. According to the three witnesses, the craft had the shape of a red-orange luminous disc with a small, also luminous tail seeming to be attached to it.

Upon reaching the Bure bridge, the motorists saw what they believed to be a flying saucer gain altitude. Just as they pointed their headlights at the craft, it sped off toward Hérie, three or four kilometers away, at an incredible speed. Intrigued, the travelers continued their journey, bypassing Origny, and rushed to the top of Chaudron Hill, hoping to spot the mysterious craft again across the valley. They only saw a faint red glow in the direction of Vervins. Mr. Chovel and his family, being very discreet, had not initially mentioned the sighting and only spoke of it after hearing about the Amiens incident.

A "GOLDEN BALL" IN EAST AFRICA

KAMPALA. -- A government official claims to have seen "a strange golden ball" above Kampala, smaller than the moon but larger than a star.

Several East African residents also claim to have recently seen "flying saucers."

A FARMER FROM CORREZE CLAIMS TO HAVE SHAKEN HANDS WITH A FLYING SAUCER PASSENGER

Now it is not only the resident of Tuarenge [sic] Nord, Mr. Dewilde, who saw strange little beings boarding a "flying saucer"; a resident of Mouriéras, in Corrèze (Mr. Mazaud), claims to have met one of these astonishing passengers. But he went even further: he had the privilege of conversing with him and shaking his hand.

Mr. Mazaud, a farmer, declared to the gendarmes that, returning from the fields the other night, he encountered on a path a normally sized, helmeted individual, who embraced him, shook his hand, and spoke in unintelligible words.

Afterward, the man boarded a cigar-shaped craft about three meters long, which took off vertically and silently, disappearing toward the west.

The gendarmes of Mourieras quickly went to the site but found no traces and were skeptical of Mr. Mazaud's account, much to his displeasure.

Witnesses statements match:

"The flying saucer takes off at the speed of a helicopter then the acceleration becomes vertiginous"

Amiens, September 14. -- Yesterday we presented, the extraordinary report by Mr. Marius Dewilde, of Quarouble, close to Valenciennes, who stats he saw a flying saucer and two small mysterious beings. This scene, let us recall, occurred Friday, September 10, towards 23:15. Today hereis the story of two resident of Acheux-in-Amienois, misters Emile Renard and Yves de Gillaboz, who, as we had specified briefly, also claim to have seen a flying saucer.

This adventure, which occurred 90 km in straight line from Valenciennes, happened on Tuesday, September 7, towards 7:15 a.m. The craft seemed stopped at a few centimeters of the ground, in a thatch, within 200 meters of the secondary road which goes from Harponville to Contay.

The two witnesses are very honorably known and very esteemed in Acheux-in-Amiénois where they live. It is there, where separately they told us the event, just like, separately, they sketched for us, the general outline of the saucer which we reproduce. But before hearing their say, let us introduce them briefly:

Mr. Emile Renard is 27 years old, he is owner mason, married and father of four children. Native of Acheux, we were told by everyone that he is a keen worker. And is the first to express his impatience about the flying saucer.

"For one week, he told us, I waste half of my days to tell this story. I have enough of that, believe me. That's not what puts food on the table for my children."

As of Yves de Gillerboz, he worked as mason with Mr. Renard for one year. He is a strong 23 years old boy, showing health and which, no more than his boss, seems to want to joke around.

A strange haystack

We interrogated them and their accounts agree perfectly, just like the whole agrees on many points with the Mr. Dewilde's vision.

"Instead of using the van whose engine needed repair, Mr. Renard explained to us, my employee and I had left on bicycles to return to our work at the rural policeman's of the commune of Houssoye. Suddenly between Harponville and Contay, the tire of Guillerboz' bicycle deflated. I stopped to hand my pump to him and my eyes were attracted by a kind of disc, within 250 meters of us in a field.

- Look, I told my friend, that's a haystack with a funny color!

But very busy inflating the tire, he did not answer me. Puzzled, I continued to detail the object when I realized that the latter, while moving compared to the ground, was shaken by a slight swinging, a kind of oscillation around an imaginary axis.

- But look at that, looks at that, it is not a haystack! I shouted to companion.

And both of us, taken by I do not know what presentiment, we rushed through the fields to approach the mysterious apparatus; we had to cross, after a first waste land, a beet field. Hardly had we started to run through the latter that the saucer, for it was now a saucer to us, we were sure, takes off askew during about fifteen meters to then go up vertically."

Craft wingspan: about ten meters

Just like his boss, Mr. Guillerboz, specified to us that the machine was ten meters in width by three meters high approximately.

"It was of a bluish gray color but did not shine", he specified to us. Both finally, affirm that the saucer left without making the least noise. Contrary to Mr. Dewilde, of Quarouble, they did not succeed in approaching the machine at less than 150 meters. But according to these witnesses, this saucer there too, had at its back a kind of tailpipe where smoke came out at the time of takeoff.

Very disturbed by this vision which had lasted at least three minutes, for the machine took some time before disappearing in the clouds, Misters Renard and Guillerboz told their adventure to the forest keeper of Houssaye. It is the latter who insisted that the statement is made to the gendarmerie of Corbie.

The gendarmes came on the spot as well as a specialist in aeronautics. They lengthily investigated but no trace of the passage of the saucer was found in the field. Perhaps it did not land but hovered like a helicopter.

Lastly, the last comparison item between the saucer of Quarouble and that of Acheux-in-Amiénois, the takeoff was achieved initially askew and then vertically. At the start, during the first meters, the witnesses agree to specify that the rise was done about at the same speed as that of a helicopter. It is thereafter that acceleration becomes vertiginous.

Across everything

Phantasms of the night

I admit it. Despite my oath to believe in this only when I see it, with my own eyes, I am weakening.

What, people who do not have the reputation of riding the chimera, "born natives" of Acheux, near Amiens, Picards with a cool head and, on top of the market, masons accustomed to handle material things, had seen them.

And they gave such details! ...

Epidemic

I was going to surrender, make amends.

Occurs the adventure of the inhabitant of Quarouble. It's getting closer to us.

Without doubt, the visionary, who is called Marius by chance, was not satisfied with seeing something like what our two brave masons reported.

He adds a little, up to having been grazed by the passengers of the flying saucer - because it was one, no doubt - little helmets, and saw them rush into the mysterious craft that resumed its backfiring flight.

Maybe like simple aviators more or less at home on a more or less ordinary plane.

The kiss of the Saucerian

And then patatras!

This Corrèze cultivator who lets himself be kissed by the passenger of the flying saucer speaking an unknown dialect, goes a little furtherer: he throws everything on the floor.

Including flying saucers that do not leave a trace of their passage while leaving some.

So, farewell saucer! It will be for another time.

When your passengers are more serious.

In the Amiens region:

A mason and a worker saw
a flying saucer in a field

But no trace was found
on the ground

A mason, Mr. Emile Renard, 27, and his worker, Mr. Yves de Guillaboz, 23, claim to have seen on September 8, in a field, about 200 meters from the road, near Acheux-en-Amiénois, a craft resembling a truncated haystack on which would have been placed a kind of large inverted plate.

The two men, who were riding their bikes, stated that they then jumped from their machines and ran towards the craft which, they say, was gray in color and approximately ten meters in diameter. It swung slightly and on the wall, there was a sort of closed door.

There was no sound from the craft.

Still according to the account of MM. Renard and Guillaboz, the craft flew away when they had already traveled fifty meters. A smoke escaped from a kind of pipe placed at its bottom. after an oblique flight of fifteen meters, the craft took the vertical.

All this happened... this week

Two masons tell the police with disturbing precision that they saw a flying saucer take off near Amiens.

Flying saucers in the sky of France?

The flying saucers multiply at a dizzying rate. Indeed, witnesses to the evolutions of these mysterious craft have been legion in France for some time.

It is first Mr. Marius Dewilde who said he saw a saucer on September 10, at 10 p.m., posed on a railway track near Valenciennes. When he approached the apparatus, two strange and stocky men, whose size did not exceed one meter, moved quickly towards the craft. A few moments later, a square of intense light appeared on the sides of the saucer. The witness was dazzled, and when he opened his eyes, everything was gone.

In Onnaing, 70 kilometers away, a young man, Mr. Auverlot and a pensioner, Mr. Hublard, revealed to have seen on the same day, at the same time, a red glow moving in the sky. As for Mr. Emile Renard, he claims to have seen a saucer which had landed in a field near Acheux-en-Amiénois. The craft hovered slightly above the ground, and when he wanted to approach it, the craft took off and disappeared.

Better still, Mr. Mazaud, farmer of Mourieras (Corrèze), reportedly met an unknown individual, wearing a helmet, on a path, who shook his hand and kissed him, saying unintelligible words. The stranger then climbed into an unlit cigar-shaped craft, four meters long, which, taking off vertically, set off in a westward direction, making no more noise than a bee.

In Origny-en-Thiérache and in the region of Château-Thierry (Aisne), residents claim to have seen a meteor about the size of a motorcycle wheel. Its passage through the Marne valley was accompanied by a blast heard from several localities.

BRIEF NEWS

FRANCE

- In Quarouble, Friday, September 10, at 11 p.m., a gatekeeper reportedly saw a flying saucer posed on the track. Having approached by the light of his electric lamp, he saw two small men surmounted by a "glass head" quickly get inside. The gendarmerie investigated without result.

- A farmer from the Corrèze said that he was approached by the passenger in a flying saucer who shook his hand. He was a quite man-like individual. He then climbed into a cigar-shaped craft that rose vertically.

- A "flying saucer" with a diameter of about ten meters, reportedly landed in a field near Amiens. Two masons who were on their way to work approached it by almost 100 m. and saw it disappear quickly, rising diagonally.

MYSTERIOUS CRAFT
IN THE SOMME
AND IN THE NORD

SEE OUR REPORT IN THIS ISSUE

SEPTEMBER 7: A NEW CHAPTER IN THE SAUCERS AFFAIR, IN PICARDY

From OUR SPECIAL ENVOYS: ROBERT LEFEBVRE AND YVES CONTI

[Photo caption:] On the left, the landscape which was the scene of the apparition, between Harponville and Contay. The cross indicates the approximate location from where the unknown craft would have taken off.

In four days, from September 7 to 11, two Picard masons and a metalworker from Quarouble added two new chapters to the fabulous history of flying saucers. The similarities in their statements, days apart, are particularly troubling. Trustworthy testimonies, collected since, did confirm the testimonies. In Quarouble, for the first time, suspicious traces were found. The official services are taking the matter seriously: three Air Police inspectors investigated for 48 hours in Valenciennes, and the Amiens gendarmerie now has a "saucers" file containing the reports of their investigators and the statements signed by Emile Renard, 28, craftsman-mason, rue de Louvancourt in Acheux-en-Amiénois, and his worker, Yves de Gillaboz, 23, rue de Bertrancourt.

The adventure told by the two Picardy men takes place on September 7 at 7:15 a.m.. The gray and overcast skies give the countryside a color of science fiction. On the road, between Harponville and Contay, two men pedal in silence, their bags of tools on their backs. They struggle on the hill, and curse the breakdown which has deprived them since the day before of their solid B-12. At the top of the steep slope, Emile Renard suddenly stops pedalling. His finger points, beyond the millstones, 1,500 meters away, to a grove:

- Funny haystack! Do you see it?

His workmate shrugs. He is much more interested in the disturbing agony of his rear tire. Indeed, one kilometer further on, the inner tube breathed its last air. The two masons dismount. Yves de Gillaboz repairs with a grumble. His boss waits, hands on hips. Suddenly, while handing his worker the pump of his bicycle, Emile Renard again experiences a strange feeling of unease. His eyes stare at the oddly shaped haystack spotted from the top of the hill. It does not have the bronze color that the peasants are familiar with. It is gray, a dull and dirty gray. And it moves... It oscillates on its base.

- Like an upturned plate tossed negligently on a table, Yves de Gillaboz would later say.

The first moment of amazement passed, Emile Renard did not hesitate for a second: "Damn, that's not a haystack! I'll check it out".

The worker is not reassured. Impressed by the legends that run about the mysterious stellar craft, he tries to hold his boss back. But Emile Renard is already far away. He advance towards the strange object, with long strides in the field of freshly harvested wheat. Yves de Gillaboz grew bolder and set off in turn. Emile Fox is only 150 meters from the craft.

- "It was still swinging, noiselessly, about 50 centimeters from the ground".

Suddenly, as the boss mason enters the beet field that still separates him from his goal, the incredible happens. The thing rises rapidly vertically, for about fifteen meters. It slows down, then heads northwest, towards Toutancours, after flying over the nearby grove. It disappears in the fog. On the edge of the beet field, Emile Renard, upset, stopped. Unable to utter a single word, he comes out of his torpor on a nudge from his worker who has joined him, trembling with fear. Slowly, the two men, still silent, return to the road.

Three hours of interrogation

Such is the extraordinary adventure that Emile Renard and Yves de Gillaboz claim to have experienced. It's not a story they tell, in front of a liter of red wine, to impress their friends. On Tuesday noon, they went, of their own free will, to explain the facts to the gendarmes of Corbie.

- We would have done better not to say anything! sighs, however, Yves de Gillaboz. Indeed, the gendarmes, conscientious civil servants, did not smile. They phoned the departmental commander in Amiens. An hour later the

[Photo caption:] Mr. Emile Renard, mason, was the first to see the machine at 7 a.m. 15 in the morning.

[Photo caption:] The two masons retraced the path they took through the fields. On the right, they indicate to our special correspondent the direction taken by the craft.

two heroes of the day were received by the staff of the Picardy gendarmerie. They returned home at nightfall. They had just undergone, each, separately, nearly three hours of interrogation.

- This would disgust you forever of the flying saucers, they throw at us from the top of the scaffolding where we surprised them two days later in Bouzincourt. "And who will compensate us for lost working hours?".

They will probably lose many more if, as they say, they have to be heard by the specialists who have been studying the mystery of the saucers for several years. For their part, the gendarmes were able to establish that the accounts of the two men agreed perfectly, down to the smallest details. They learned, from their colleagues at Acheux, that Renard and Gilleboz [sic] were well regarded, sober and hardworking. They went with them to the scene of the apparition, but no trace has yet been found. They also went to Estrées-Deniecourt, near Péronne, where residents claimed to have seen a craft on Wednesday evening. But their arrival paralyzed the tongues, and it is likely that they were pranksters inspired by the Acheux affair.

"That thing wasn't on the ground"

Emile Renard and Yves de Gillaboz accompanied us to the field from which the mysterious craft is said to have flown away.

- As I got closer, I never took my eyes off it, says Emile Renard. It looked like a haystack that wasn't finished. it was about ten meters in diameter, about three meters high...

- Did the machine spin on itself, like a disk?

- No, it oscillated on its base, but it didn't spin, since I clearly saw, on the left of the wall facing us, a kind of door wider than it was high. But it was closed.

- All the same, it seems incredible that the craft left no trace, and made no noise while fleeing?

The artisan mason purses his willing lips and exclaims:

- What do you want? I can't tell you what I haven't seen or heard! I don't think that thing was on the ground. I also point out to you that I noticed that a slight smoke was escaping through a kind of pipe placed in its lower part.

- I saw it too, confirms Yves de Gillaboz who continues, worried: "Do you think there was someone inside it?".

The boss wanted to know for sure: "I was intrigued to the hilt. If the craft hadn't flown away, I would have tried to find out what was going on inside. How? I don't know..."

Collective hallucination? The two men are not at all the visionary type. They don't know anything about fantasy literature, and the film "War of the Worlds" is not yet distributed in this region. Flying saucer or secret craft of an unknown nation? The mystery is probably far from being solved.

- This is all too complicated for me! Emile Renard told us. I am not a scientist.

- Me, in any case, it doesn't mean anything good to me, concludes Yves de Gillaboz. That bloody saucer is wasting my time. And my sleep: I can no longer sleep at night...

But on the very day the inhabitants of Origny-en-Thiérache came to describe to the gendarmerie a luminous craft which they had seen passing, on September 7 - description that confirms the testimony of the two masons - the news was bouncing in the police station of a village in Valenciennes where, in the middle of the night, a terrified man is going to tell a new and no less extraordinary adventure...

[Photo caption:] The mason worker Yves de Gillabroz [sic]: "Me, all that, it keeps me from sleeping".

DESCRIBING SAUCER TAKE-OFF from field near Amiens, Yves de Gillaboz (left), Emile Renard point to the sky where they saw the Martian machine" belching puffs of smoke as it disappeared from view.

GILLABOZ AND RENARD: AN INVERTED PLATE

Amiens. -- Yves de Gillaboz (left) and Emile Renard point out the direction taken by the flying saucer which they caught landing. While going to work, in a roadside field they saw a big cupola, shaped like an inverted deep dish. They ran toward it. They could easily perceive its color, "dirty grey", they declare, and its dimensions, 10 meters by 3. It was oscillating on its base, but was emitting no sound. On the surface appeared a closed door, which was wider than it was high. Before they were able to get close to it, the machine rose diagonally, a thick black smoke escaping from a pipe on its underside. It climbed then to a height of 15 meters, then rose vertically, at a noticeably increasing speed. The two men, in awe, followed it for a moment with their eyes. The police, on being notified, found no suspicious marks at the indicated place. But the seriousness of the two men was beyond doubt. Moreover, Mr. Chovel and his family, near Hirson, saw during the night time a luminous disc resembling the Amiens saucer.

Flying saucers

What a nice "chit-chat" ground for the Press in search of sensations...

But until proven guilty (and it hasn't been released yet) the flying saucers are just a myth, a big joke. They don't exist!

Certainly the popular imagination often more or less well balanced, multiplied by gossip and malice, this gives fertile results (in all areas).

Most recently, in the Somme department, two men had certified to have seen a flying saucer (which they had approached) land in a field (which they designated) where naturally no trace was found (the thatch was not even crushed).

The cases of individual or collective hallucinations are increasing. We give below a very recent relation (it comes, it is true, from a Mediterranean country where pranks and other jokes...):

The newspaper "Diario de Lisboa" (Portugal) reveals that like a French farmer who recently met a Martian who came to earth aboard a mysterious craft, four Portuguese peasants had also just met visitors who had arrived from another world.

However, they did not kiss them.

"Seeing us," one of the witnesses reports, "they walked towards us and made a few sounds. Faced with our incomprehension, they invited us, by gestures, to get into their craft. But we refused".

It was on September 25, at 6:00 p.m., that these events occurred, to which we would like to be able to add here, at a point located in the Gardunha mountains, on the Spanish-Portuguese border.

A sphere appeared in the sky to the east, witnesses still say. It flew at breakneck speed and threw multicolored lightning flashes. It landed silently 200 meters from us and two figures about 2.50 meters tall got out. They looked like men of aluminum. They first gathered herbs and gathered stones which they placed in a box of blinding glare.

Editor's note. - So they refused to get on the craft! What a great missed opportunity to make a splendid trip.

The silhouettes were 2.50 meters tall. Previously they did not exceed 25 centimeters: they must have grown, like human stupidity.

INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROACASTS

COUNTRY:	Non-Orbit	DATE OF INFORMATION:	1954
SUBJET:	Military - Unidentified flying objects
HOW PUBLISHED:	Dail[y] newspaper	DATE DIST.:	29 oct 1954
WHERE PUBLISHED:	As indicated	NO. OF PAGES:	5
DATE PUBLISHED:	31 Jul - 20 Sep 1954
LANGUAGES:	Various	SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT NO.:
[Blackened out]	[Blackened out]	THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
SOURCE:	As indicated

SIGHTINGS OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS,
31 JULY - 20 SEPTEMBER 1954

WESTERN EUROPE

[... (Reports from other countries) ...]

France

[... (Previous reports) ...]

UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS SEEN IN SOMME DEPARTEMENT -- Dakar, Paris-Dakar, 10 Sep 54

A 27-year-old mason and his assistant report that recently (on September 7, see below) they saw a grey object resembling a truncated millstone with a large inverted plate lying on it in a field at about 200 meters from the road where they were driving, near Acheux-en-Amiénois, Somme Department. The object oscillated slowly, and seemed to have a closed door on its side. When the men had run about 50 meters toward it, the object began to fly away. Smoke was then visible from a sort of exhaust pipe on the underside. After an oblique flight of about 15 meters, the object rose vertically and disappeared. Police later found no trace of the object.

[... (next reports)]

Paris, Le Parisien Libéré, 14 Sep 54

Emile Renard, a Mason, and Yves de Guillerboz, his assistant, saw what they considered to be a "flying saucer" at 0:15 on 7 September. Both men are known to be very reliable. They stated that the object apparently never touched the ground, but hovered above the ground like a helicopter. It was about 10 meters in diameter and 3 meters in height. did not glow, and departed noiselessly, trailing smoke as it took off. They saw the object for at least 3 minutes.

(Source contains three crude sketches of the object drawn by these men.)

DESCRIBING SAUCER TAKE-OFF from field near Amiens, Yves de Gillaboz (left), Emile Renard point to the sky where they saw "Martian machine" belching puffs of smoke as it vanished from sight.

The author indicates that from a village fifty miles from Lille, a report was telegraphed, saying that Emile Renard, a builder, and Yves de Guillerboz, his foreman, had been cycling home along a country lane, when glancing at a stubble field, they saw a strange object parked among the oats.

September 7 [1954]

07:17 a.m.: Contay (Somme): reversed hollow plate on the ground au sol.

The author indicates that on August 8, 1954, close to Acheux-en-Amiénois, the mason Emile Renard and his workman Yves Degillabez saw a saucer posed in a field. They ran in direction of the apparatus whose shaped reminded of "a truncated haystack covered with a huge plate turned upside down."

The apparatus oscillated slightly, proof that it was not posed, and on his wall "one distinguished a 'door'." When the men approached, smoke escaped from the lower part of the saucer and it then started its flight and disappeared.

The gendarmes who opened an investigation noted no trace at the place indicated by the two masons, a detail which is nothing surprising owing to the fact that the apparatus did not rest on the ground but "oscillated slightly."

The author indicates that on September 7, 1954 in the morning a flying saucer landed in a field near Amiens, between Harponville and Contay.

Emile Renard, mason, aged 27, and his workman Yves Gillabez, aged 23, affirmed to have seen in a field at approximately 200 meters of the road near Acheux-in-Amiénois a craft resembling a truncated haystack covered of a plate turned upside down.

The two men jumped off their bicycles and ran in direction of the craft of gray color, ten meters of diameter approximately, which oscillated slightly and on which a kind of closed hatchway could be seen.

The two men were interrogated separately by the Gendarmerie of Acheux-in-Amiénois and made exactly the same report and gave the same details. The gendarmes were astonished not to discover any trace on the location, but that is normal since the witnesses specified that the apparatus oscillated slightly, which obviously proves that it did not touch the ground.

Numerous residents of the district of Peronne reported that they had seen at the same hour as that indicated by the two witnesses a craft of exactly identical description above the wood of Foucancourt-in-Santerre.

Observations such as these, reported with similar care, were numerous during the month of August and the beginning of September. And suddenly, on September 7, came the biggest surprise: for the first time witnesses claimed to have seen a flying saucer land.

This incident took place in the Amienois region, less than 200 kilometers north of Paris.

Around 7:15 in the morning, two masons from Acheux in Amienois, Mr. Emile Renard, 27 years old, and his helper, Yves Degillerboz, 23 years old, were on their way to work on their bicycles between Harponville and Contay when they saw an extraordinary spectacle.

According to the police constabulary the two men were interrogated separately and their statements were strictly in agreement; all the details reported by Renard agree with the details reported by Degillerboz.

"Instead of taking our small truck, because the motor needed repairs, my worker and I left by bicycle," Mr. Renard said. "We were going to work at the Constable's at Houssaye. Suddenly, between Harponville and Contay, Degillerboz' bicycle had a flat. I stopped to lend him my pump and my eyes were attracted to a sort of disc about 200 meters from us in a field.

"'Look,' I said to my worker. 'Don't you find that haystack bas a peculiar color?'

"Intrigued, I was examining the object when suddenly it moved with a slight swinging oscillation.

"'But look! Look there! It isn't a haystack,' I cried to my companion.

"Then we ran across the fields toward the mysterious object. In order to reach it we had to cross a piece of fallow land and a field of beets. We had hardly reached this last than the object came up obliquely, went on its way diagonally for about 15 meters, then started to go up vertically.

"All in all this vision lasted perhaps three minutes, after which the object disappeared in the clouds.

"The object flew off without noise and emitted on the lower right a little smoke. It was of a blue-green color. It could have been about 10 meters in diameter by three meters high and resembled an overturned plate. On the left, below, one could see a sort of plaque which was longer than it was high, like a door. It was about 150 meters from us at the moment of its ascent.

"The Constable of La Houssaye insisted that we report our observations to the Constabulary of Corbie."

Having taken this double statement, the constabulary went to the place but found no evidence except that of the two men who had left their footprints in the fields. This is explainable by the fact that the two witnesses reported the saucer was oscillating, which means that it could not have been on the ground.

Confronted with this story, told by two men who knew each other well and who were together at the time of the supposed incident, the constabulary decided that it was a hoax being perpetrated by two practical jokers. Therefore the affair was not publicized. The first newspapers to mention it were Figaro, Paris-Presse, and France-Soir, in their issues of October 9 [sic, September 9].

[...]

One last detail must be mentioned: The two principal witnesses, Renard and Degillerboz, only told their story unwillingly after the police and the press put them through some vexatious publicity which they did not wish and, indeed, had tried to avoid.

Aimé Michel notes that on September 7, 1954, at about 7:15 A.M., two masons of Acheux-en-Amiénois, Mr. Emile Renard, aged 27, and his workman Yves Degillerboz, aged 23, went to their work riding bicycles and were between Harponville and Contay on the secondary road Route Départementale 47 when they lived a strange encounter.

Aimé Michel provides the following account like resulting from the statement to the Gendarmerie (police attached to the Army), which questioned the two men separately, as did the military authorities, which all indicated that the accounts of the two men confirmed each other in all the reported details.

Here is the statement by Mr. Renard at the gendarmerie according to Aimé Michel:

"Instead of taking the van as usual, as its engine was under revision, my workman and I took the bicycles. We were to go to work at the pastoral guard of the community of Lahoussoye. Suddenly, between Harponville and Contay, a tire of Degillerboz' bicycle deflated. I stopped to lend him my pump, and my eyes were attracted by a sort of disc, within 200 meters from us, in a field. You would have thought it was an unfinished haystack, whose top would have been capped by a plate turned upside down."

"- Look at this, I said to my workman, don't you find that this haystack has a strange color?"

"Puzzled, I examined the object, when I realized that it slightly moved with a hardly perceptible swinging, like an oscillation."

"But looks at it! Look at it please! It is not a haystack! I shouted at my companion."

"Then, we both rushed through fields towards the mysterious object. To reach it, we had to cross a waste land, then a beet field. Hardly had we reached this field that the object took off in skew, slipping by in diagonal on about fifteen meters, then started to go up vertically. Maybe, overall, the vision lasted three minutes, after that the object disappeared in the clouds."

"The object flew away without noise, while releasing on it right below, a small puff of smoke. It was of a gray-bluish color. It could have had ten meters in diameter, and three meters height approximately, and, as I said, it resembled a plate turned upside down. On the left, at the bottom, a sort of plate, broader than high, as a door, was observed. It was at approximately 150 meters of us when it took off. It is the rural guard of Lahoussoye who insisted that we report our observation to the gendarmerie of Corbie."

Aimé Michel indicates that after having received the witnesses statements, Gendarmes and specialists in aeronautics, that he says were the military authorities of the city of Amiens, went on the premises where they did not find any traces other than those of the two witnesses. Aimé Michel notes that as the object oscillated, it was to be above ground-level and did not land, which is consistent with the absence of traces.

Aimé Michel indicates that the official investigation, not being able neither to prove nor to disprove a prank - the two men knowing each other well - produced no result and the case was thus closed.

On September 7, in the morning, near Amiens, Emile Renard, 27 years old, mason, and his assistant, Yves Gillabez, 23 years old, noticed a machine on the ground, 200 m from the road between Harponville and Contay, near Acheux-en-Amienois. It looked like "half a haystack with a large, upside-down plate on top." They left their bicycles on the road and ran toward the object. It was gray, about 10 m in circumference, and swayed slightly, so it was not completely stationary. A closed hatch could be seen on its side. The two had barely covered 50 m when the machine rose at an angle, while smoke appeared from a sort of pipe underneath. Then, once it reached about 15 m, it continued its ascent vertically at great speed and soon disappeared from sight. "We thought we were dreaming," the witnesses declared. At almost the same time, numerous residents of the Peronne district saw a spaceship over the forest of Fouancourt-Santerre, which they described in exactly the same way.

Am 7. September, morgens, bemerkten bei Amiens Emile Renard, 27 Jahre, Maurer, und sein Gehilfe, Yves Gillabez, 23 Jahre, 200 m von der Strasse zwischen Harponville und Contay, in der Nähe von Acheux-en-Amienois, eine Maschine am Boden, wie ein "halbes Heufuder mit einem grossen, umgekehrten Teller oben drauf". Sie Liessen ihre Fahrräder auf der Strasse und rannten gegen das Objekt zu. Dieses war grau, hatte einen Umfang von ca. 10 m und schwankte leicht, war also nicht ganz abgestellt. Eine geschlossene Luke war an der Wand zu sehen. Die beiden hatten kaum 50 m zurückgelegt, als sich die Maschine schräg erhob, während aus einer Art Rohr an der Unterseite Rauch erschien, dann, auf etwa 15 m angelangt, setzte sie ihren Anstieg senkrecht in grossec Schnelligkeit fort und kam bald wieder ausser Sicht. "Wir glaubten zu träumen", erklärten die Zeugen. Zahlreiche Bewohner im Bezirk Peronne sahen fast zur gleichen Zeit über dem Walde von Fouancourt-Santerre ein Raumschiff, das sie genau gleich beschrieben.

The author reports that on September 7, 1954, at 07:15 a.m., in broad daylight since the sun rose at 05:15 a.m., Mr. Emile Renard, aged 27, and his companion Yves Degillerboz, aged 23, mason, were riding their bicycle on the road between Harponville and Contay in the department of the Somme, to go to the building site where they worked.

Mr. Degillerboz suddenly realized that one of its tire was deflated. The two cyclists thus stopped and while Mr. Degillerboz was busy to reinflate the tire, Mr. Renard idly looked at the landscape.

Michel Carrouges reports that what Mr. Renard then saw and told as such according to the newspaper article published by Le Perisien Libéré of September 14, 1954:

Michel Carrouges indicates that the account of Mr. Renard is confirmed by Mr. Degillerboz, and that the latter adds that the machine was gray bluish and must have been about ten meters wide for approximately three meters in height.

Michel Carrouges reports that the two men spoke about their meeting only to the rural guard to which they went, and that it is this pastoral-guard which insisted that they must report with the gendarmerie of Corbies. Citing Aimé Michel, Carrouges notes that the gendarmes as well as the journalist noted that the two witnesses were annoyed by a publicity which they had not sought and which they tried to escape.

Carrouges points out the important aspect in this case as in many others that of traditional "successive assumptions" in which the witness does not think firsthand that he sees a saucer as if he were conditioned to see some, but starts by interpreting what he sees at the beginning as something of commonplace nature, a haystack in this case, before having to give up the commonplace interpretation after a better or nearer glance, and of course after the fact that the "haystack" flies away in this case.

Carrouges also notes that at the time of the takeoff of the machine the witnesses are with 150 meters of him, and that at this distance, as he checked by looking at similarly distant cars, one can accurately realize the color of an object having this sort of proportions.

Carrouges evokes the theory that saucer reports are sometimes caused by landed helicopters, but indicates that on the one hand the departure was quiet and on the other hand, "noboby reported the least helicopter as having landed at the indicated place."

Jacques Vallée days that at Amiens, France, on September 7, 1954, at 7:15 a.m..:

Jacques Vallée indicates that on September 7, 1954, between Harponville and Contay, two brickmakers saw an object floating in the air above a field. He quotes:

"It resembled an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down at the top."

DATE	GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION	SOURCE	PAGE
SEPT 7. 1954	AMIENS, 125 MI N. OF PARIS	(MICHEL-1958 P 35) 2 W	3-28

September 7, 1954, 07:15, Harponville (France).

Between Harponville and Contay, two bricklayers, Emile Renard, 27, and Yves Degillerboz, 23 saw an object floating in mid-air over a field: "It looked like an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down on top of it." When they approached, it took off. Diameter 10 m, height 3 m. A kind of door was noticed. The observation lasted over 3 min. The object released smoke when it departed. (6; M 35) (Le Figaro, September 9, 1954).

142) September 7, 1954 07:15, Harponville (France):

When hovering, the saucer often wobbles (Contay September 7, 1954) or sways (Poncey October 4, 1954).

In a list of cases of the 1954 French flap that were estimated to need an investigation or a counter-investigation, the magazine noted:

317 7 September 1954 07 15 HARPONVILLE (FRANCE)

Between Harponville and Contay, two bricklayers, Emile Renard (27) and Yves Degillerboz (23) saw an object floating in mid-air over a field: "It looked like an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down on top of it". When they approached, it took off. It had a diameter of 10 m, height of 3m. A kind of door was noticed. The observations lasted over 3 minutes. The object released smoke when it departed.

(M142; Le Figaro, 9 September 1954; Michel II, 35)

The two authors, journalists and ufologists, indicate that on September 7, 1954, at about 07:15 in the morning in the department of the Somme, two masons of Acheux-in-Amienois, Emile Renard, aged 27, and his colleague workman Yves Degillerboz, aged 23, were going to a building site in Lahoussoye. They rode on bicycles on the Secondary Road 47 because the van which they usually used was under revision.

Whereas they were between Harponville and Contay, Yves Degillerboz had to stop because one of the tires of his bicycle had deflated. Emile Renard put foot at ground also, to lend his pump to his comrade.

While the latter reinflated the tire, Emile Renard randomly looked at the landscape. He told to the gendarmes:

The two men had time to observe the machine well, of which they were not any more than with 150 meters away approximately when it rose from the ground. They made a rather good description of it to the gendarmes, which the authors note as follows: a disc, or more exactly a kind of reversed plate, color gray-bluish, some ten meters in diameter and 3 meters height approximately. On the left of the lower part, they believed to see a kind of door.

The authors indicate that the testimony of the two masons was largely confirmed by many others which, in a radius of 15 kilometers, reported at this same time the overflight of the area of Péronne by an object identical in all manner.

The two authors indicate that they were refer to the report by the gendarmerie and their personal file as source.

Discussing the "ways of moving these craft", the author notes that in Contay on September 7, 1954, when "it is hovering, the saucer often oscillates".

09/07/1954 Contay (Amiens)

That day, around 7:15 a.m., Messrs. Y. Renard and E. Dégillerboz [sic] observed a craft in the shape of a haystack which oscillated slowly at ground level. The object flew away silently and releasing a small smoke from the right and below. (J. Guieu)

09/07/1954 Contay (Somme)

Around 7:15 a.m., two masons were able to observe a haystack-shaped object oscillating at ground level in a field 200 m away. (A.Michel)

The two authors indicate that on September 7, 1954, at 7:15, between Harponville and Contay, Emile Renard, masonry craftsman, aged 27, residing in Acheux-in-Amiénois and Yves de Gillaboz, aged 23, mason, were going to their workplace when they saw in a field within 200 meters of the secondary road a disc like a haystack or "a turned over plate of some ten meters in diameter oscillating around an imaginary axis." One distinguished on his wall a kind of closed door, broader than high.

The craft rose in diagonal with a smoke which escapes by a kind of pipe on its lower part. At about fifteen meters of altitude the object started a faster vertical rise and disappeared.

They note that the gendarmerie squad of Acheux-en-Amiénois told them by a letter of April 3, 1976 to have never investigated into this case, as opposed to what the newspapers of the time had written, and that the brigade of Corbie gave the same answer.

They indicate as source the newspapers La Montagne in September 1954, Le Parisien Libéré for September 9, 1954 and October 14, 1954, Le Figaro and Nice-Matin for September 9, 1954, Vallée's catalogue and the books of Michel Carrouges and Aimé Michel.

Note also that B&B [Barthel and Brucker], who claim to have found no reliable case for the year 54, carefully avoid talking about [... cases ...], Harponville/Contay, [... cases ...], for which we met the witnesses and collected stories in all respects identical to those reported at the time.

Dominique Caudron indicates that in Harponville in the Somme on September 7, 1954 a saucer performed a near-landing, and comments on - by irony - "This time it's, 'they' land on our premises".

[... Other cases...]

A saucer lands!?

The time and date: 7:15 a.m. September 7th. Witnesses: M. Emile Renard and Yves Degillerboz. The place:200 miles north of Paris on a road between Contay and Harponville. M. Renard told a constable:

"Suddenly, between Harponville and Contay, Degillerboz's bicycle had a flat. I stopped to lend him my pump and my eyes were attracted to a sort of disc about 200 meters from us in a field.

"'Look,' I said to my worker. 'Don't you find that haystack has a peculiar color?'

"Intrigued, I was examining the object when suddenly it moved with a slight swinging oscillation.

'"But look! Look there! It isn't a haystack,' I cried to my companion.

"Then we ran across the field toward the mysterious object. In order to reach it we had to cross a piece of fallow land and a field of beets. We had hardly reached this last than the object came up obliquely, went on this way diagonally for about 15 meters, then started to go up vertically.

"All in all this vision lasted perhaps three minutes, after which the object disappeared in the clouds.

"The object flew off without noise and emitted on the lower right a little smoke. It could have been about 10 meters in diameter by three meters high and resembled an overturned plate. On the left, below, one could see a sort of plaque which was longer than it was high, like a door. It was about 150 meters from us at the moment of its ascent.

"The Constable of La Houssaye insisted that we report our observations to the Constabulary of Corbie." 38.

After hearing the men out, the Constable checked the area of the sight ing finding the footprints of Renard and Degillerboz in the soft dirt but no trace of a landing by the supposed machine. Since the two witnesses were good friends, the officer of the law assumed the story was a practical joke. Later critics of the lawman's judgement suggested that since the UFO was quivering when first spotted, perhaps it never actually touched down. 39.

Word of this report did reach the offices of BLUE BOOK, one of the few European cases to do so, but when and by what means is not known. Judging by the scanty data obtained case project record card below, the sole bit of paper on the incident), the source must not have been a good one.

[... Other cases...]

Scan.

38. Paris, France. Le Parisien Libere. 9 September 54. p.7. Also: Paris, France. Figaro. 9 October 54" Also: Paris, France. France-Soir. 9 October ST.
39. Michel, Aime. "Flying Saucers in Europe." Fate. Vol.11, No.l. January 1958. p.33.

These authors indicate that in Harponville, France, on September 7, 1954, two witnesses saw a floating object resembling an "unfinished haystack", with a diameter of ten meters, with an overturned plate on its top.

SIMILARITIES WITH HELICOPTERS

[... other cases...]

07/09/54 [sic, as "9 July 1954"] between Harponville and Contay (80) at 07:15 - an object like a haystack with a door higher than large, closed, takes off vertically

[... other cases...]

3761: 1954/09/07 07:20 5 2:30:00 E 50:01:00 N 3333 WEU FRN SMM 8:7

nr CONTAY,FR:2 OBS:SLNT 12M SCR/FLD:WIDE DOOR/SIDE:PLATE/TOP:^^:/r197p01

Ref# 2 VALLEE:UFOS IN SPACE:Anatomy/phenon. Page No. 94: FARMLANDS

The Belgian ufologist indicates that in 1954, on September 7 en France in Acheux en Amiénois - Harponville - Contay, "Emile Renard, mason and Yves Degillerboz his workman, both by bicycle, saw at 07:15 of the morning, a saucer posed in a field, whose form resembled a truncated haystack covered with an immense plate turned over. The apparatus oscillated slightly. Whereas the witnesses approached a smoke escaped from the lower part of the machine which took its take-off and disappeared. The gendarmerie investigated."

The sources are indicated as "Jimmy GUIEU: 'Black-out sur les S.V.' - Fleuve Noir 1956 - p. 79 et 123 - he cites two dates (including 8.8.54) at different places for the same case" and "Jacques Vallée: "Chronique des apparitions ET" - DENOEL 1972 - J'AI LU COLL. - p. 257)".

"Suddenly Degillerboz realized that one of his tires was deflated. The two men stop and while Degillerboz is busy reinflating his tire, Renard looks idly automatically at the landscape (etc...) And both, taken by I do not know which presentiment, we rushed through the fields to approach the mysterious l'engin (...) took off in skew during about fifteen meters to go up vertically then".

The sources are indicated as "Parisien Libéré, 14.9.1954" et "Michel Carrouges: 'Les apparitions de Martiens' Fayard pub., 1963, p. 86,87" and "Aimé MICHEL: 'Apropos des Soucoupes Volantes', PLANETE pub., 1966, p. 47, 48".

September 7

Near Acheux-en-Amiénois (Somme), Emile Renard, a 27 year-old mason, and Yves de Guillerrez, his assistant - both regarded as reliable people - see a gray object resembling a truncated kilometric milestone with a large plate resting on its top, from the road where they work. The object, approximately 10 meters in diameter and 3 meters in height, oscillates slowly in lift like a helicopter above the ground, without it never touches. It does not emit light, and seems to have a door on its side. After the men ran up to 50 meters close to it, it flies away without noise, leaving a trail of smoke escaping from a small conduit. After an oblique flight of about fifteen meters, the object rises vertically, and disappears. The witnesses observed the object during at least 3 minutes. The police forces found no traces.

(Des objets non identifiés vus dans la Somme, Paris-Dakar, September 10, 1954)
(Le Parisien Libéré, September 14, 1954).

On this Day

September 7

[...]

1954 - Between Harponville and Contay, France two bricklayers, Emile Renard, age 27, and Yves DeGillerboz, age 23, saw a bluish-gray object floating in midair over a field. "It looked like an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down on top of it." When they tried to approach it took off. It had a diameter of ten meters (33 feet), and they noticed it had a kind of door. The observation lasted over three minutes, at which point the object released some smoke as it departed straight up.

(Sources: Le Figaro, September 9, 1954; Aime Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 35; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, pp. 208-209).

September 1954

00:15 Between Harponville and Contay, Close to Acheux-en-Amiénois (Somme), Emile Renard (mason, 27 years old) and Yves Degillerboz (or Guillerrez?) (his assistant brick-maker, 23 years old) - all 2 looked as reliable people - see from the road where they work 1 gray phenomenon of 10 m in diameter and 3 m high float in the air above a field resembling a truncated milestone with a great plate resting above: It resembled an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down at the top. The phenomenon oscillates slowly in lift like a helicopter above the ground, without never touching it. It does not emit a light, and seems to have a door on its side. A kind of door is visible. After the men ran up to 50 m of it, it flies away without noise, releasing smoke leaving a trail of smoke escape from a small pipe. After an oblique flight of about fifteen meters, the object rises vertically, and disappears. The witnesses observed the object during at least 3 mn. The police force will not find traces.

The sources are indicated as Le Figaro, September 9, 1954; Vallée, J., case #7, "Rapport sur l'analyse de 200 observations documentées faites en 1954"; "Des objets non identifiés vus dans le département de la Somme", Paris-Dakar, September 10, 1954; Le Parisien Libéré, September 14, 1954

Luc Chastan indicates in his database that in the Somme in Vadencourt on September 7 at 07:15 "On the road between Harponville and Contay, two masons going to their work observe an object within two hundred meters of the road. It will be described as a disc like a grinding stone. A turned over Plate of ten meters in diameter oscillating around a secondary axis. On his wall one could distinguish a kind of closed door broader than high. The apparatus rises in diagonal, a smoke escaping from a kind of pipe placed in its lower part. When at about fifteen meter in height, the object continues its vertical rise more quickly and dissapears [sic]. It should be noted that contrary to the assertions of the press of the time, it seems that no gendarmerie squad investigated on this case."

The sources are indicated: "Ovni, Premier dossier complet... by Figuet M./ Ruchon J.L. ** Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979".

The website indicates that on 7 September 1954 at 07:15 between Contay and Harponville, Contay, France, "Bluish-gray haystack, oscillating, 200 yards away in field. Traveled diagonally upward for 50', then shot straight up. A flying disc was observed. It moved with a falling-leaf motion. It departed by rapidly flying straight up until lost to sight."

And: "One blue domed disc, about 40 feet across, around 500 feet away, was observed by two male witnesses, typical age 27, in a field for over three minutes (Renard). No sound was heard."

The sources are indicated as "Michel, Aime, Flying Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery, S. G. Phillips, New York, 1958; Project Bluebook, (USAF) Blue Book files counted in official statistics; Bowen, Charles, The Humanoids: FSR Special Edition No. 1, FSR, London, 1966; Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073); Vallee, Jacques, Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma, Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1966; Vallee, Jacques, Preliminary Catalog (N = 500), (in JVallee01); Vallee, Jacques, Anatomy of a Phenomenon, Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1965; Vallee, Jacques, A Century of Landings (N = 923), (in JVallee04), Chicago, 1969; Schoenherr, Luis, Computerized Catalog (N = 3173); Rogerson, Peter, World-Wide Catalog of Type 1 Reports; Olsen, Thomas M., The Reference for Outstanding UFO Sighting Reports, UFOIRC, Riderwood, 1966; Newspaper Clippings; Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002".

The website indicates that on 7 September 1954 at 07:15 in Harponville, France, "An object floating in mid-air over a field "like an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down on top of it"

And: "Between Harponville and Contay, France two bricklayers, Emile Renard, age 27, and Yves DeGillerboz, age 23, saw a bluish-gray object floating in midair over a field. "It looked like an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down on top of it." When they tried to approach it took off. It had a diameter of ten meters (33 feet), and they noticed it had a kind of door. The observation lasted over three minutes, at which point the object released some smoke as it departed straight up."

And: "Between Harponville and Contay, two bricklayers, Emile Renard, 27, and Yves Degillerboz, 23 saw an object floating in mid-air over a field: "It looked like an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down on top of it." When they approached, it took off. Diameter ten meters, height three meters. A kind of door was noticed. The observation lasted over three minutes. The object released smoke when it departed."

And: "An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft."

And: "One object, about 1000 feet across, was observed by two male witnesses, typical age 27."

The sources are indicated as "Guieu, Jimmy, Flying Saucers Come from Another World, Citadel, New York, 1956".

This Website indicates that on 8 August 1954 in "Acheux-Amienois", France, "An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One object was observed by two male witnesses (Renaud)."

The sources are indicated as "Guieu, Jimmy, Flying Saucers Come from Another World, Citadel, New York, 1956".

*Sep. 7, 1954 - Between Harponville and Contay, Somme department, France two bricklayers, Emile Renard, age 27, and Yves DeGillerboz, age 23, saw a bluish-gray object floating in midair over a field at 7:15 a.m. "It looked like an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down on top of it." When they tried to approach it took off. It had a diameter of ten meters (33 feet), and they noticed it had a kind of door. The observation lasted over three minutes, at which point the object released some smoke as it departed straight up. (Sources: Le Figaro, September 9, 1954; Aime Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 35; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, pp. 208-209).

Date: September 07, 1954

Location: Harponville France

Time: 0715

Summary: Between Harponville and Contay, two bricklayers, Emile Renard, 27, and Yves Degillerboz, 23 saw an object floating in mid-air over a field: "It looked like an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down on top of it." When they approached, it took off. Diameter 10 m, height 3 m. A kind of door was noticed. The observation lasted over 3 min. The object released smoke when it departed.

Source: Magonia 142

[Ref. gei1:] "GROUPE D'ETUDES ET D'INFORMATIONS SUR LES PHENOMENES AEROSPATIAUX NON IDENTIFIES":

September 7 1954. 0715hrs.

HARPONVILLE (SOMME: FRANCE)

Two masons from Acheux-en-Amienois, Emile Renard (27) and his helper Yves Degillerboz (23) were bicycling to work, when between Harponville and Contay, Yves suffered a broken tyre. As they were seeing to this, Emile's attention was caught by something like an inverted plate, in a field 200m away. He first thought that it was some peculiar haystack, but then noticed it was oscillating slightly. They ran across the fields to investigate, but as they got within 750m, it took off at an angle, travelled diagonally upwards for about 15m then rose up vertically. It was observed for three minutes in all. The blue-grey object was about 10m in diameter, 3m high. On the left side of the bottom they saw something like a plate or door, wider than it was high. The object disappeared in the clouds, emitting smoke from the underside. The matter was reported to the police.

Michel 1958b p35 citing Le Figaro + Paris-Presse + Le Soir all of 9 September 1954
Patrick Gross [*] citing La Nouveau Nord Maritime 9 September 1954. + Var Matin Republique 15 September 1954.

[*] Note: no link to my web page was given, and my web page was not limited just to citing these two newspapers.

The observation of Harponville

The so-called Harponville sighting, which occurred on September 7, 1954, 19 km from Amiens, was perceived as the quasi-landing of a flying saucer, and it was the first observation of this type, after only aerial observations. It is therefore important because it showed that the saucers were threatening to land, and prompted the journalists to see in the Quarouble observation the first landing of a saucer of this memorable wave.

We call it the Harponville sighting, because it is known as such in the catalogs, because it took place between Harponville and Contay, but in fact, the witnesses had not passed through Harponville, and the observation took place on the terroir of the commune of Vadencourt. The first newspaper to talk about this case, is the local newspaper, Le Courrier Picard.

Mystery in the Picardy sky

Two workers say
they saw a flying saucer
between Harponville and Contay

That is the news that reached us at the end of the afternoon, news that the witnesses of the amazing event confirmed to us.

This information will not fail to generate perfectly understandable skepticism, but the two men who "saw" the machine made consistent statements in all respects.

So yesterday morning, Mr. Emile Renard, who is 27 years old and works as a mason craftsman on the road from Doullens to Acheux in Amiens, had left his home by bicycle to get to work in Lahoussoye. He was accompanied by his worker Mr. Yves de Gillaboz, 23 years old, living on the route from Bertrancourt to Acheux in Amiens.

The two of them normally drove when around 7:15, when they had crossed Harponville and were heading towards Contay, their attention was attracted by a big machine placed in a recently mown field, about 200 meters and on the right of the road

- It looked like a haystack that was not finished, says Mr. Renard that we found among his family during the evening.

- Yes, and the top was somewhat rounded and looked like a plate turned over, adds Mr. de Gillaboz, that his boss had sent home at our request.

Intrigued, the two men jumped out of their machine and ran across the fields toward the craft.

Faster than his companion, Mr. Renard left him a little behind.

- As I got closer, he tells us, I did not leave the craft from my sight. I could see that it was dirt gray, and it could be about ten meters in diameter...

- And it was swaying a little, says M. de Gillaboz...

- Did you hear any noise? we ask.

- Absolutely nothing, the two men answered to us.

And both say they noticed on the wall of the machine a sort of door wider than it was high, but closed.

- I had advacned about fifty meters, Mr. Renard told us, when I saw the apparatus rising diagonally, while a smoke escaped by a kind of pipe placed in its lower part.

It arrived at a height of about fifteen meters. At that moment, he gave up the diagonal and his ascent continued vertically and faster.

For a few minutes we watched it. As it climbed, one saw it with more and more difficulty and it finally disappeared.

- What were your impressions at the moment? We asked?

- What do you want, Mr. Renard tells us, we stayed there with our mouths gaping...

- I was just looking forward to getting on my bike and getting away as soon as possible.

- I was dumbfounded, adds the bricklayer. I was wondering what phenomenon we had just witnessed, and then I thought it might be a flying saucer, like the one that are talked about in the newspapers.

- Think, his companion tells us, we could not believe it. Admit that there is reason to be taken aback when you see such a thing!

As we question Mr. Renard to find out what he would have done if, having continued his run, he had arrived at the craft, he told us:

- I wanted to know what it was because I was intrigued to the highest degree. I cannot say if I would have ventured to touch it, but I might have tried to find out what was inside. How? I do not know.

- Well, for my part, said Mr. de Gillaboz, I would not have touched it and this craft looked nothing good to me...

During their statements, the two men gave us a clear impression of sincerity. They told us that having talked about what they had seen to Lahoussoye residents, they had alerted the gendarmerie. In the course of the day, MM. Renard and Gillaboz were interviewed at length and separately. They were taken to where they had seen the craft. There, no trace was found on the ground.

At the gendarmerie the most complete silence is observed on the encounter made by the two inhabitants of Acheux-en-Amiénois, and one seems to be careful not to confirm or deny too hastily, what remains a mystery for all.

Nevertheless, the statements of the two men are clear and precise, so we deliver them to our readers as they were made to us.

(Le Courrier Picard, September 8, 1954, page 2)

[Photo:] Here are the two residents of Acheux-en-Amiénois who, on Tuesday morning, saw between Harponville and Contay the flying saucer we spoke about yesterday. On the left is Mr. RENARD, and on the right, Mr. de GILLABOZ.

(Le Courrier Picard, September 9, 1954, page 2)

At this point, we know that the sighting took place on September 7 around 7:15 a.m., that the two witnesses first spoke about it to residents of Lahoussoye, that the gendarmes questioned them separately during the day, and that the journalists from Le Courrier Picard came to interview them that same evening at Mr. Renard’s home, which allowed them to publish their article on the 8th.

But that article from the 8th gave a few pranksters some ideas, and by the evening of the 8th, rumors of another sighting were already circulating:

NEW MYSTERY
in the sky of Picardie?

The inhabitants of the Péronne area have seen on the ground, in the evening of yesterday, a flying saucer between Estrées-Deniécourt and Foucancourt-en-Santerre. Like a smoke of gunpowder, the noise ran last night in several neighboring communes, the district of Peronne, a flying saucer would have been seen in the evening, by residents near the wood Foucancourt-en-Santerre.

How much credit is to be given to these new claims?

(Le Courrier Picard, September 9, 1954, page 2)

The other newspapers relayed the information from Le Courrier Picard.

On September 9, various newspapers repeated the information published by Le Courrier Picard on September 8, summarizing it to varying degrees.

Le Nouveau Nord Maritime simply copied the entire text of the article, introducing it with "As read in ‘Le Courrier Picard.’"

La Voix du Nord reprinted the text as well, but in a slightly shortened version:

Did a flying saucer
land
near Amiens?

Two masons say it
with disturbing precision

According to two workers, a mysterious craft took off on Tuesday morning from a field bordering the road which links Harponville to Contay, near Amiens.

Having left his home on a bicycle to go to work in La Houssoye, Mr. Emile Renard, 27, a mason craftsman, living on the road from Doullens to Acheux in Amiénois, was accompanied by his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillaboz, 23, living on the route de Bertrancourt in the same locality.

IN A FIELD

The two cyclists had crossed Harponville and were heading towards Contay, when their attention was attracted by a large apparatus, posed in a field about 200 meters on the right of the road.

"It looked like an unfinished haystack, they say. And the somewhat rounded top looked like an inverted plate."

Intrigued, the two men jumped from their machine, and while running entered the fields in the direction of the gray-colored object, which may have been ten meters in diameter.

It oscillated a little, but made no noise, and on its wall there was a sort of closed door wider than it was tall.

THE CRAFT DISAPPEARS

"However, declares Mr. Renard, while preceding my companion, I had crossed fifty meters, I saw the apparatus rise in diagonal, while a smoke escaped by a kind of pipe placed in its lower part. About fifteen meters high, the machine continued its vertical ascent and faster."

And it ends up disappearing under the eyes of the two men who, dumbfounded, wondered what phenomenon they had just witnessed.

At the gendarmerie of Acheux-en-Amiénois, where the two men were interrogated at length and separately, one remains completely silent, taking care not to deny or confirm what remains a mystery for all.

MM. Renard and de Gillaboz were also taken to the place where they had seen the apparatus. But there, no trace was found on the ground.

(La Voix du Nord, September 9, 1954, page 3)

Nord Matin and Le Journal du Pas-de-Calais et de la Somme printed the same text as La Voix du Nord. La Croix du Nord shortened the article even further:

A mason and his worker
claim to have seen
a flying saucer
in a field

A mason, Mr. Emile Renard, 27, and his worker, Mr. Yves De Gillebez, 23, claim to have seen in a field about 200 meters from the road, near Acheux-en-Amiénois, a craft resembling a truncated haystack, on top of which appeared to rest a sort of large upside-down plate.

The two men, who were riding bicycles, stated that they jumped off their bikes and ran toward the craft, which, they said, was gray in color and about ten meters in diameter. It was oscillating slightly, and on its side could be seen what looked like a closed door. The craft made no sound.

According to the account of Mr. Renard and Mr. De Gillabez, the craft took off when they had already covered about fifty meters. Smoke escaped from a kind of pipe located on its lower part. After an oblique flight of about fifteen meters, the craft rose vertically and disappeared.

The two men were questioned at the Acheux-en-Amiénois Gendarmerie, then taken to the spot where they claimed to have seen the craft. No trace was found on the ground.

(La Croix du Nord, September 9, 1954, page 1)

Le Parisien Libéré shortened it even further:

TWO RESIDENTS OF THE SOMME CLAIM TO HAVE SEEN
A FLYING SAUCER LANDED IN A FIELD

AMIENS, September 8 (from our correspondent)

Two residents of Acheux-en-Amiénois, Mr. Emile Renard, a mason, and his worker, Mr. Yves de Gillaboz, are certain in their statements: they saw, between Harponville and Contay (Somme), a flying saucer resting in a field about 200 meters from the road they were taking to work.

"It looked like a haystack that hadn’t been finished," said Mr. Renard.

"Yes, and the top was somewhat rounded and looked like an upside-down plate," added his worker.

The two men approached to within about 50 meters of the object, which was iron-gray in color and roughly ten meters in diameter.

Suddenly, the craft rose diagonally while smoke escaped from a kind of pipe located on the lower part of the object. At a height of about 15 meters, it stopped ascending diagonally and continued vertically, much more rapidly, before disappearing on the horizon.

(LE PARISIEN LIBERE, September 9, 1954, page 7)

So, on September 9, the various newspapers merely reproduced - copying more or less fully - the information from Courrier Picard, whose journalists were at that time the only ones to have interviewed the witnesses.

But on the same day, journalists from the weekly Semaine du Nord did better: they went to investigate the site of the sighting and took photographs. Their investigations would prove valuable to us.

The Foucancourt-en-Santerre "saucer" is becoming increasingly less credible:

"Flying saucers in the sky of Picardie?
The investigation opened in Estrées-Deniécourt
hits the "wall of silence"

As we told yesterday, the charming town of Estrées-Deniècourt, following "statements worthy of faith", as the saying goes, was in turmoil, the evening of Wednesday because, it seems, a crowd of people had noticed, in a wood, on the way of Soyécourt, between the localities of Estrées-Deniècourt and Foucancourt-in-Santerre, the presence of a flying saucer.

Under the cloak first, then publicly, the assertions of the ones and the others had spread rapidly, even in the town of Assevillers, where a resident of the place, farm worker at the brickyard of Villers-Carbonnel had "pushed the audacity" to touch the curious craft.

The official inquiry provoked by the public rumor first and our article afterwards seems to have momentarily paralyzed the language of the "privileged" who approached "the strange luminous body".

Indeed, including a team of electrical workers of Amiens, working near the "landing area", all the eyewitnesses to the strange phenomenon have kept of the Martian machine only a very fugitive vision and are unable to give, in default of dimensions, even approximate, a very vague idea of this "ghost" craft.

(Le Courrier Picard, September 10, 1954, page 2)

Le Parisien libéré mixes up the cases of Harponville and Quarouble.

The Saucer First Rises Like a Helicopter, Then Accelerates Vertiginously

AMIENS, September 13 - "Le Parisien Libéré" presented yesterday the extraordinary account of M. Marius Dewilde from Quarouble, near Valenciennes, who claims to have seen a flying saucer and two small mysterious beings.

This scene took place on Friday, September 10, around 10:15 PM. Today, we recount the story of two residents, M. Emile Renard and Yves de Gillaboz from Acheux-en-Amiénois, who, as previously mentioned, also claim to have seen a flying saucer.

This event, occurring about 90 km from Valenciennes, happened on Tuesday, September 7, around 7:15 AM. The craft appeared to hover just a few centimeters above the ground in a stubble field, about 200 meters from the departmental road between Harponville and Contay.

The two witnesses are well-known and highly respected in Acheux-en-Amiénois. They recounted the event separately and provided their own sketches of the saucer, which matched closely in details and were consistent with M. Dewilde’s account. Before giving their testimony, we present them briefly.

M. Emile Renard, 27, is a master mason, married with four children, and a diligent worker. Yves de Gillaboz, 23, has worked with him for a year and is a healthy, straightforward young man. Neither seemed inclined to joke about the incident.

A Curious "Haystack"

Renard explained: instead of using their truck, whose engine needed repair, they had gone by bicycle to work. Between Harponville and Contay, Gillaboz’s tire went flat. As Renard stopped to help, his attention was drawn to a sort of disc 250 meters away in a field.

"Look," he said to his assistant, "there’s a haystack with a strange color."

As he observed, he noticed the object oscillating slightly, as if rotating around an imaginary axis.

"Look! This is not a haystack!" he shouted. Both ran across fields toward the mysterious object, which lifted diagonally about fifteen meters, then ascended vertically.

The craft was about ten meters across and three meters high, gray-blue in color but not shiny. It rose silently. Unlike M. Dewilde, the witnesses did not feel any air displacement, likely because they could not approach closer than 150 meters. A small exhaust pipe at the rear emitted smoke at takeoff.

The sight lasted at least three minutes. The witnesses reported the incident to the local gamekeeper, who insisted that it be officially declared to the Corbie gendarmerie. Specialists investigated but found no traces in the field. The craft appeared to hover in place like a helicopter.

Finally, comparing the Quarouble and Acheux-en-Amiénois saucers, the witnesses agreed that the ascent began diagonally, then moved vertically. The initial rise was about the speed of a helicopter, after which the acceleration became vertiginous.

(Le Parisien Libéré, September 14, 1954, page 9)

Note: This article contains some new information compared with Le Courrier Picard, but also includes several inaccuracies, mixing the Harponville and Quarouble cases. It is correct that the witnesses traveled by bicycle instead of using a truck and had to stop because of a flat tire. However, no aeronautics specialists visited the site, and the craft did not take off at vertiginous speed as in Quarouble. On the contrary, the witnesses report observing it for at least three minutes (a few minutes according to Le Courrier Picard, and up to five minutes according to the gendarmerie report). This duration aligns well with the hypothesis of a helicopter, which Le Parisien Libéré seems to be the first to suggest. It is also notable that Yves de Gillaboz is later referred to as M. Guillerboz - likely information from an unspecified secondary source.

Unfortunately, this article became the basis for the work of Aimé Michel, followed by Michel Carrouges and later Michel Figuet.

The weekly Semaine du Nord published its results.

[Cover Illustration]

Many aspects of the cover drawing are accurate: the witnesses’ clothing, the appearance of the sky, the landscape, the fact that M. Renard was closer to the object, M. de Gillaboz’s concern, and even some details of the craft: a top shaped like an inverted plate, a side door, and an exhaust pipe.

However, one major inaccuracy remains: the object was not hovering directly above M. Renard but was farther away and lower on the horizon. Of course, the cover illustration is meant to attract readers.

We will have the opportunity to examine the photographs in the final analysis. The text itself narrates the event very vividly and provides some details not mentioned in Le Courrier Picard, such as the fact that the two masons normally traveled in a B-12 truck but were on bicycles that day.

IN four days, from September 7th to 11th, two bricklayers from Picardy and a metalworker from Quarouble added two new chapters to the fabulous story of flying saucers. The similarities in their statements, given just days apart, are particularly disturbing. Credible testimonies gathered since then have confirmed these accounts. In Quarouble, for the first time, suspicious traces were found. The official services are taking the matter seriously: three inspectors from the Air Police have investigated. For 48 hours in the Valenciennes area, the Amiens gendarmerie now has a "flying saucer" file containing the reports of its investigators and the signed statements of Emile Renard, 28, a stonemason living on Rue de Louvancourt in Acheux-en-Amiens, and his employee, Yves de Gillaboz, 23, living on Rue de Bertrancourt.

The adventure recounted by the two men from Picardy took place on September 7th at 7:15 a.m. The gray, foggy sky gave the countryside the feel of a science fiction novel. On the road between Harponville and Contay, two men pedaled silently, their tool bags on their backs. They struggled up the hill, cursing the breakdown that had deprived them of their sturdy B-12 since the previous day. At the top of the steep climb, Emile Renard abruptly stopped pedaling. His finger pointed beyond the haystacks, 1,500 meters away, to a thicket:

- Strange haystack! Do you see it?

His companion shrugged. He was much more concerned about the worrying demise of his rear tire. Indeed, a kilometer further on, the inner tube... The air breathed its last. The two masons dismounted. Yves de Gillaboz grumbled as he made repairs. His boss waited, hands on his hips. Suddenly, as he handed his bicycle pump to his worker, Emile Renard was overcome by another strange feeling of unease. His eyes fixed on the oddly shaped millstone he had spotted from the top of the hill. It wasn't the golden-brown color the peasants knew so well. It was gray, a dull, dirty gray. And it moves... It wobbles on its base.

- Like an upside-down plate carelessly thrown onto a table, Yves de Gillaboz would later say.

Once the initial shock had passed, Emile Renard didn't hesitate for a second: "Good heavens, that's not a millstone! I'm going to take a look."

The worker, however, was not reassured. Impressed by the legends surrounding mysterious celestial craft, he tried to stop his boss. But Emile Renard was already far away. He advanced toward the strange object, at Long strides across the freshly harvested wheat field. Yves de Gillaboz grew bolder and followed suit. Emile Renard was now only 150 meters from the aircraft.

- It was still swaying silently, about 50 centimeters above the ground.

Suddenly, as the mason boss entered the beet field that still separated him from his destination, the unbelievable happened. The "thing" rose rapidly vertically for about fifteen meters. It slowed, then headed northwest, towards Toutancourt, after flying over the nearby grove. It disappeared into the fog. At the edge of the beet field, Emile Renard, shaken, froze. Unable to utter a single word, he was jolted from his stupor by a playful nudge from his worker, who had reached him, trembling with fear. Slowly, the two men, still silent... returns to the road.

Three Hours of Interrogation

Such is the extraordinary adventure that Emile Renard and Yves de Gillaboz claim to have experienced. This is not a story they are telling over a liter of red wine to impress their friends. On Tuesday at noon, they went of their own volition to explain the facts to the gendarmes in Corbie.

We would have been better off saying nothing! sighs Yves de Gillaboz. Indeed, the gendarmes, conscientious civil servants, were not amused. They telephoned the departmental commander in Amiens. An hour later, the two heroes of the day were received by the headquarters of the Picardy gendarmerie. They returned home at nightfall. They had each undergone nearly three hours of interrogation, separately.

- That'll put you off flying saucers forever, they called out to us from the scaffolding where we surprised them two days later in Bouzincourt. And who's going to compensate us for the lost work hours?

They will undoubtedly lose many more if, as is said, they are to be questioned by the specialists who have been investigating the mystery of flying saucers for some years now. For their part, the gendarmes were able to establish that the two men's accounts matched perfectly, down to the smallest detail. They learned from their colleagues in Acheux that Renard and Gilleboz were well-regarded, sober, and hardworking. They went with them to the site of the apparition, but no trace has yet been found. They also went to Estrée-Deniécourt, near Péronne, where residents claimed to have seen a craft on Wednesday evening. But their arrival silenced any further talk, and it is likely that they were hoaxers inspired by the Acheux case.

"This thing was not on the ground"

Emile Renard and Yves de Gillaboz accompanied us to the field from which the mysterious craft was said to have taken off.

"As I got closer, I never took my eyes off it," Emile Renard told us. "It looked like an unfinished millstone."

It was about ten meters in diameter and about three meters high...

- Did the craft rotate on its axis, like a disc?

- No, it oscillated on its base, but it didn't rotate, since I clearly saw, on the left side of the wall facing us, a kind of door that was wider than it was tall. But it was closed.

- Still, it seems incredible that the craft hadn't left no trace, and made no sound as it fled.

The stonemason tightened his lips and exclaimed:

"What do you want? I can't tell you what I haven't seen or heard! I think that this thing wasn't on the ground. I should also point out that I noticed a light smoke escaping from a sort of pipe located at its base."

"I saw it too," confirmed Yves de Gilleboz, who continued, worried: Do you think there was someone inside?

The boss, for his part, wanted to get to the bottom of it: "I was extremely intrigued. And if the aircraft hadn't flown away, I would have tried to find out what was happening inside. How? I don't know..."

A collective hallucination? The two men are not at all the visionary type. They know nothing of fantasy literature, and the film "War of the Worlds" hasn't yet been released in this region. Flying saucer or secret craft from an unknown nation? The mystery is undoubtedly far from being solved.

"All this is too complicated for me!" Emile Renard told us. "I'm not a scientist."

"For me, at least, it doesn't bode well," concluded Yves de Gillaboz. "This darn saucer is a waste of my time." And my sleep: I can no longer sleep at night...

But on the very day that the inhabitants of Origny-en-Tiérache came to describe to the gendarmerie a luminous object they had seen pass by on September 7th – a description that confirms the statement of the two masons – the news resonated in the police station of a village in the Valenciennes area where, in the middle of the night, a terrified man came to recount a new and no less extraordinary adventure...

Note: In fact, the Origny affair is irrelevant, because not only did it take place on the 8th, around 12:30 a.m., but it was probably the moon.

(SEMAINE DU NORD Magazine, September 16, 1954, pages 12-13)

New information about the flying saucer in the Foucancourt-en-Santerre woods definitively puts it to rest:

THE FLYING SAUCER
OF ESTREES-DENIECOURT

On September 8, the village of Estrèes-Deniècourt was in turmoil: several electricians from company of Amiens assured that a saucer had landed near a wood, 600 meters from the road Paris - Saint-Quentin.

Most of the inhabitants wisely stayed at home. The boldest and most curious went to the place indicated; the gendarmerie itself was alerted, and did not notice any trace of the famous saucer, but noticed inconsistencies in the assertions of the electricians.

Finally, one of them admitted:

- All this is not true: there was no flying saucer at Estrèes-Deniècourt. We invented this story to fool the population, but we did not think that the case would be so important.

It was then established that it was Serge Grimbert, 20, 43, rue Rembault, Amiens, who had launched the "hoax": he recognized it willingly. With him passed confessions his comrades Christian Coulevern, 24 years old, living 29, rue de Job, in Amiens, Roland Gourguechon, 22 years old, 31, rue Bazin, in Doullens and René Cléret, 20 years old, 40, rue de l'Abreuvoir, in Albert.

In such circumstances, the gendarmes thought it necessary to write up a report which was sent to the prosecutor of the Republic office of Amiens. Will the magistrates decide to prosecute the young people who "fooled everyone"? We will know it soon. But one fact is certain: no flying saucer landed in Estrèes-Deniècourt, but even an imaginary saucer can cost a lot.

(LA VOIX DU NORD, Artois-Somme edition, September 17, 1954, page 5)

Note: Already considered suspicious on September 10, this case was definitively closed on the 17th, and yet it would be used as evidence by Jimmy Guieu, Aimé Michel, Michel Carrouges, and Charles Garreau.

Radar shows the witnesses "in situ."

Radar journalists went to the scene with the witnesses. Unfortunately, instead of photographing the landscape in which the craft was supposedly visible, as SEMAINE DU NORD did, they photographed the witnesses in one of the two prescribed poses.

Here it is: "it was in this direction" (the other, with both arms outstretched, is "it was this big"). We're hardly any further ahead, especially since it seems the witnesses exaggerated the craft's angular height.

AMIENS. Yves de Gillaboz (left) and Emile Renard point to the direction taken by the flying saucer they surprised upon landing. On their way to work, they saw, in a field by the side of the road, a large dome shaped like an upturned bowl. They ran towards it. They easily distinguished its color: "dirty gray," they asserted, and its dimensions: 10 meters by 3. It swayed on its base but made no sound. On the wall, a closed door, wider than it was tall. Long before they could approach, the craft rose diagonally while thick black smoke billowed from a pipe attached to its underside. It climbed to a height of 15 meters and then became vertical. Its speed increased noticeably. The two men, astonished, watched him for a moment. The gendarmerie, alerted, found no suspicious traces at the indicated location. But the seriousness of the two men is beyond question. Furthermore, near Hirson, Mr. Robert Chovel and his family saw, in the middle of the night, a luminous disc resembling the Amiens flying saucer.

(Radar, September 26, 1954, page 3)

Later newspapers tell us nothing more about Harponville's observation. Several newspapers simply copied the dispatch from the Central Press Agency (ACP) of September 8, which reprinted information from the Courrier Picard.

The only reliable investigations are those by the Courrier Picard, conducted on the evening of the 7th, and by SEMAINE DU NORD, conducted on the 9th.

But there are also those by the gendarmes, conducted on the afternoon of the 7th, but which will only become known much later.

[PG Note: Following is a transcript of the gendarmes' report, which I am not reproducing here, available at the top of my file.]

Ufologists enter the scene.

From In 1956, ufologists would tell the story in their own way, none of them having read either Le Courrier Picard or SEMAINE DU NORD.

Jimmy Guieu gets confused and duplicates the case:

On August 8, 1954, near Acheux-en-Amiénois, a bricklayer, Mr. Emile Renard, and his worker, Mr. Yves Degillabez, saw a saucer-shaped object in a field. The two men ran towards the craft, whose shape resembled "a truncated haystack covered with a huge inverted plate." The device was oscillating slightly (proof that it was not stationary), and a "door" was visible on its side. As the witnesses approached, smoke escaped from the underside of the saucer, which then took flight and disappeared. The police, who opened an investigation, found no trace at the location indicated by the two construction workers.

This detail is not surprising given that the craft was not resting on the ground and was "slightly oscillating."

This information, which amused the skeptics, was just a prelude to the most fantastic series of landings ever recorded!

Note: Jimmy Guieu is off by a month, and more importantly, he duplicates the case.

(Jimmy Guieu, Black Out sur les Soucoupes Volantes, Fleuve Noir 1956, page 68)

On the morning of September 7th, a flying saucer landed in a field near Amiens, between Harponville and Contay.

Mr. Emile Renard, 27, a bricklayer, and his worker, Mr. Yves Gillabez, 23, claim to have seen in a field, about 200 meters from the road near Acheux-en-Amiénois, a craft resembling a truncated millstone on which a kind of large, inverted plate had been placed. The two men, who were traveling at They jumped off their bicycles and ran towards the craft, which was gray and about ten meters in diameter. It was swaying slightly (so it wasn't resting on the ground), and a sort of closed hatch was visible on its side.

"However," declared Mr. Renard, "while I had traveled about fifty meters ahead of my companion, I saw the craft rise diagonally, while smoke escaped from a sort of 'pipe' located at its base." Then, at a height of about fifteen meters, the craft continued its vertical ascent and quickly disappeared. Yves and I thought we were dreaming!

Interrogated separately by the gendarmerie in Acheux-en-Amiénois, the two men gave exactly the same account and provided the same details.

Note [by Dominique Caudron]: It was at the Amiens gendarmerie that the witnesses were questioned separately.

On site, the gendarmes were surprised to find no trace of the saucer. This was not surprising, however, since the witnesses stated that the device "It was oscillating slightly," which obviously proves that it wasn't touching the ground!

However, further confirming the presence of the spacecraft in the region, many residents of the Péronne district reported seeing, at the time indicated by the two witnesses, above the Foucancourt-en-Santerre woods, a craft whose description exactly matched that provided by Messrs. Renard and Gillabez.

Note: Jimmy Guieu systematically considers UFOs to be spacecraft. Here, he's out of luck; not only did this second sighting supposedly take place the following evening, but it was soon learned that the saucer in the Foucancourt-en-Santerre woods was nothing more than a hoax inspired by the Acheux sighting.

(Jimmy Guieu, Black Out on Flying Saucers, Fleuve Noir 1956, page 107)

Aimé Michel takes up the information from Le Parisien Libéré and has it confirmed by the electricians' hoax.

The "landing" at Contay. The region where this incident occurred is the Amiens area, less than 200 kilometers north of Paris.

Around 7:15 a.m., two bricklayers from Acheux-en-Amiens, Mr. Emile Renard, 27, and his employee, Mr. Yves Degillerboz, 23, were cycling to work when, between Harponville and Contay, on departmental road 47, they witnessed a surprising sight.

Here is their account, as recorded in the report filed by the gendarmerie.

It should be noted that the two men were questioned separately by the police and the military authorities in Amiens, that their accounts are entirely consistent, and that all the details reported by each of them corroborate each other.

"Instead of taking the van as usual, whose engine was due for servicing, my worker and I had set off on our bicycles," recounts Mr. Renard. "We were going to work for the game warden in the commune of Lahoussoye. Suddenly, between Harponville and Contay, one of Degillerboz’s bicycle tires went flat." I stopped to lend him my pump, and my eyes were drawn to a sort of disc, 200 meters away, in a field. It looked like an unfinished millstone, its top covered by an inverted plate.

"Look," I said to my worker, "don’t you think this millstone has a curious color?"

"Intrigued, I examined the object when I noticed that it was moving slightly with a barely perceptible sway, like an oscillation."

"But look! Look! It’s not a haystack!" I shouted to my companion.

"So we both rushed across the fields toward the mysterious object. To reach it, we had to cross a wasteland, then a beet field. We had barely reached the latter when the object took off at an angle, flew diagonally for about fifteen meters, then began to climb vertically. In all, the sighting lasted perhaps three minutes, after which the object disappeared into the clouds."
"The object flew away" It moved silently, releasing a small plume of smoke to the right, underneath. It was bluish-gray in color. It was about ten meters in diameter and three meters high, and, as I said, resembled an upside-down plate. On the lower left, we could see a kind of plate, wider than it was tall, like a door. It was about 150 meters from us when it took flight. The game warden from Lahoussoye insisted that we report our sighting to the Corbie gendarmerie. »

Having received this double statement, the gendarmerie went to the scene at the same time as the aeronautical specialists.

Note [By Dominique Caudron]: But it was not the Corbie gendarmerie that went there, but the Amiens gendarmerie, notified by the Corbie gendarmerie. And the aeronautical specialists only come from Le Parisien Libéré, which confused this case with that of Quarouble.

She discovered no traces other than those of the two men, which, moreover, in the hypothesis of a craft, is easily explained, since witnesses saw it oscillate: it was therefore not touching the ground.

Faced with such an account, given by two men who knew each other well and who were together at the time of the supposed incident, the gendarmerie initially thought it was a joke, a setup. by two mischievous young men.

Note [By Dominique Caudron]: The police report shows, on the contrary, that the captain believed the two witnesses were not hoaxers.

The affair was therefore not publicized: the first newspapers to mention it were Le Figaro, Paris-Presse, and France-Soir on September 9th.

Note [By Dominique Caudron]: The first newspaper to It was Le Courrier Picard of the 8th that reported on it, without which the aforementioned newspapers would have known nothing.

However, during that same day, September 7th, when the number of people aware of the situation barely exceeded ten, many inhabitants of the Péronne district, in several villages spread over a 30-kilometer radius, reported that they had seen an object flying over the Foucaucourt-en-Santerre woods. And the description they gave corresponded exactly from one to the next. the other and with the account of the two masons: same time, same details, same dimensions, same color, etc.

Note: There's no truth to it. It wasn't the 7th, but the evening of the 8th. The supposed witnesses were spread out over 3 kilometers rather than 30. The object was supposedly seen on the ground, not above the woods. It wouldn't have had the same dirty gray appearance, but would have been luminous, and above all, it never existed, since it was a hoax.

(Aimé Michel, Mysterious Celestial Objects, Arthaud 1958, pp. 49-51)

Michel Carrouges trusts Aimé Michel.

Two years later, on September 7, 1954, the first incident in the long series occurred.

At 7:15 a.m., Mr. Emile Renard, 27, and Mr. Yves Degillerboz, 23, a bricklayer and his partner, were cycling on the road between Harponville and Contay (Somme), on their way to the construction site.

It was broad daylight.

Suddenly, Degillerboz noticed that one of his tires had gone flat. The two men stopped, and while Degillerboz worked to reinflate his tire, Renard idly gazed at the scenery. It was then that the greatest unforeseen event occurred, seemingly innocuous at first:

"My eyes," Mr. Renard recounts, "were drawn to a sort of disc, 250 meters away, in a field."

"Look," I said to my assistant, "there’s a haystack with a strange color!"

"Completely busy inflating, he didn’t answer me."

"But look, look, it’s not a haystack!" I shouted to my companion.

"And both of us, seized by some premonition, rushed across the fields to approach the mysterious craft. After a first patch of wasteland, we had to cross a beet field. We had scarcely begun to run across it when the saucer - for now, we were certain, it was one - took off at an angle for about fifteen meters before rising vertically. (Le Parisien Libéré, September 14, 1954).

Mr. Degillerboz confirms Mr. Renard's account and adds that the bluish-gray craft It had a wingspan of about ten meters and was approximately three meters high.

They initially limited themselves to telling the story to the game warden they were visiting; it was he who insisted that the two witnesses go and make a statement at the Corbie gendarmerie. Aimé Michel adds that, in turn, after the gendarmes, the journalists were able to observe how clearly bored the two witnesses were with "publicity they hadn't sought and were desperate to escape." (M. II., p. 53).

This last detail is important from a psychological point of view, but even more important is the way in which the observation begins. Fox doesn't think of a flying saucer; he first sees a haystack. Why would he dream of saucers? He simply sees fields all around him and, immediately, he interprets everything he sees as elements of agricultural life. He instinctively applies the concept of a haystack to this shape he glimpses at 250 meters, because it resembles one.

To the account we have reproduced, Aimé Michel adds this explanation provided by the same witness: "It looked like an unfinished millstone" (M. 11. p. 50)

But this appearance of a millstone, which forms the first representation of the object in the witness's mind, almost immediately receives a first blow: this color does not agree well with the color reasonably accepted for millstones. Hence Renard's first exclamation.

Then, his attention sharpened, he looks more closely and this time, he takes care to This new detail: the supposed millstone was swaying very slightly on the ground. This was no longer compatible with the peaceful, rustic object he had imagined.

Hence the second exclamation: "It's not a millstone!" It was then that, carried away by curiosity, the two men abandoned their bicycles, jumped off the road, and ran to Across the fields, certain this time that they had before them, resting on the ground, one of those incredible flying saucers the newspapers talk about, but which no one, except a few crackpots, had ever seen descend from their lairs of clouds and stars.

It was there, in the field, but not for long: as the two men approached, it sped off.

The proof was there that it wasn't a haystack.

[Note by D.C.:] So many arguments for that! The craft didn't take off at at full speed, and there is no proof that it is not a land-based craft.

No less remarkable is the fact that there are two witnesses whose statements are consistent (1)

At the moment they are closest to the object, they are still 150 m away. (P. L. of 14-9-54). This estimate agrees with the fact that the road is 200 m from where the object was parked. 150 m is the distance between the two ends of the Concorde Bridge in Paris. You don't need to be an astronomer to see a car at this distance and be sure of its color. Strictly speaking, one could doubt the reality of the slight oscillating movement, but the takeoff that completes it is a decisive indication.

It could, admittedly, have been a helicopter that had broken down. But the saucer left "without making the slightest noise." But we know that noise is one of the most troublesome aspects of helicopter operation.

[Note by D.C.:] Carrouges is unaware that sound propagation is not isotropic: it depends on temperature gradients, especially in the morning and evening, and can make a noise audible or inaudible, provided it is not very close.

No one has ever reported a single helicopter landing in the indicated location.

Nor has anyone ever claimed that helicopters with malfunctions always land in the same spot.

Finally, it should be noted that the incident occurred in the morning at 7:15 a.m. That day, September 7th, the sun had been up since 5:16 a.m.; It was therefore broad daylight.

[Note by D.C.:] Note: In reality, it is 5:16 AM Universal Time (Greenwich Mean Time), but 6:16 AM Civil Time.

(1) The incident was also corroborated by numerous eyewitness accounts reporting a similar object, during the same hour, thirty kilometers away, at Foncaucourt in Santerre (M. II. p. 51).

Carrouges copies Aimé's error; Michel: the observation of Foncaucourt in Santerre was just a hoax.

(Michel Carrouges, Les apparitions de Martiens, Artheme Fayard 1963, page 86-89)

Jacques Vallée summarizes in a concise manner almost exact.

142) September 7, 1954, 7:15 a.m. Harponville (France)

Between this town and Contay, two bricklayers, Emile Renard (27 years old) and Yves Degillerboz (23 years old), saw an object floating at a certain height above a field: "It resembled an unfinished haystack with an inverted plate on top." As they approached, it flew away. Diameter: 10 meters, height: 3 meters. A sort of door was visible. The observation lasted more than three minutes. The object emitted smoke as it left (p. 6, m. 35).

P.6: Le Figaro, Sept. 9, 1954; M.35: Michel, F.S. and the Straight-line mystery p.35

Note: It's De Gillaboz, not Degillerboz. The object was seen to oscillate slightly, but not really float.

(Jacques Vallée, A Century of UFO Landings, in Chronicle of Extraterrestrial Appearances, Denoël 1972, page 281)

Charles Garreau claims to be citing information from the gendarmerie.

- Contay (Somme), September 7, 1954, around 7:15 a.m. References: police report, personal files.

That morning, two bricklayers from Acheux-en-Amienois, Emile Renard, twenty-seven years old, and his worker, Yves Degillerboz, twenty-three years old, were heading to a construction site in Lahoussoye. They were riding their bicycles on the departmental road 47, because the van they usually use is out of service for engine repairs.

Between Harponville and Contay, Yves Degillerboz had to stop because one of his bicycle tires had gone flat. Emile Renard also got off his bike to lend his pump to his friend. While Degillerboz reinflated the flat tire, Emile Renard absently gazed at the landscape.

"Two hundred meters from us," he told the police, "I saw something in a field that intrigued me." It looked like an unfinished millstone, topped with a sort of inverted plate. Staring at it, I realized it was moving slightly with an imperceptible sway. I exclaimed in surprise. Yves stood up. He saw it too. We ran towards this mysterious object. We had to cross a wasteland, then a beet field. Just as we reached the beet field, the craft took off at an angle, about fifteen meters, then climbed vertically and disappeared into the clouds. Not a sound. There was a faint trail of smoke.

The two men had time to observe the craft closely, as they were only about 150 meters away when it lifted off the ground. They gave the police a fairly good description: a disc, or more precisely a kind of inverted plate, bluish-gray in color, about ten meters in diameter and three meters high. On the left side of the lower section, they thought they saw a kind of door.

Note [by D.C.:]: There is an inconsistency with the previous passage where the object resembled a millstone topped with an inverted plate. Here, it is simply an inverted plate, which is more consistent with the mythology of flying saucers.

The testimony of the two masons was largely confirmed by numerous others who, within a radius of 15 kilometers, reported At the same time, an object identical in every respect to the Peronne region was seen flying over it.

Note: And then there's the Estrées-Deniécourt hoax, known to the police, concerning an alleged object, not identical, and claimed to have appeared the next day, at a different time!

(Charles Garreau, Raymond Lavier, Facing the Extraterrestrials, Jean Pierre Delarge 1975, pp. 189-190)

Michel Figuet is not using the right sources

September 7, 1954, 7:15 AM Between Harponville and Contay 80920 C5, 80920 C4 M52/9, RD47.

WITNESSES. Mr. Emile Renard, 27 years old, stonemason, resident of Acheux-en-Amiénois. Mr. Yves de Gillaboz, 23 years old, stonemason.

OBSERVATION. A disc in a field "like a millstone," an inverted plate about ten meters in diameter oscillating around an imaginary axis. On its side, a sort of door, wider than it was tall, was visible and closed.

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS. The witnesses were on their way to work when they saw the object two hundred meters from the main road. They saw the craft rise diagonally, while smoke escaped from a kind of pipe located in its lower part. Then, at a height of about fifteen meters, the object continued its vertical ascent more rapidly and disappeared.

NOTE. The Acheux-en-Amienois gendarmerie brigade maintains that it never dealt with this UFO case (letter to the authors dated April 3, 1976), contrary to the claims made by the press at the time. The Corbie brigade gave the same response.

Note [by D.C.]: It wasn't the press at the time, but ufologists who alleged an investigation by the Acheux gendarmerie (Jimmy Guieu) or the Corbie gendarmerie (Aimé Michel). The Courrier Picard newspaper reports that the game warden insisted that witnesses notify the Corbie gendarmerie. He doesn't say that the gendarmes who came to the scene were from Corbie. SEMAINE DU NORD specifies that the Corbie gendarmes notified the gendarmerie commander in Amiens. It was the Amiens gendarmes who investigated and consulted with their colleagues in Acheux.

THIS SAME DAY.

0:30 a.m., Origny-en-Thiérache (02550 E2). A luminous disc runs alongside the railway line. Was this a case of the witness mistaking the object for an SNCF (French National Railways) aircraft? It should also be noted that this same location witnessed a landing with objects on February 28, 1974.

Note [by D.C.]: This observation took place on the 8th. It was probably the moon.

8 p.m., Marseille (13000). Three witnesses observed a luminous sphere for seven minutes; it remained in the sky for thirty seconds. (Le Provençal, September 9, 1954.) [Note by Patrick Gross: explainable as a balloon.]

SOURCES. Vallée catalog, case no. 142. - La Montagne, Sept. 1954. - Le Parisien Libéré, Sept. 9, 1954 and Oct. 14, 1954. - Nice-Matin, Sept. 9, 1954. - Le Figaro, Sept. 9, 1954. - M. Carrouges: The Apparitions of Martians, pp. 86-87. - A. Michel: Regarding the S-V, p. 47.

Note [by D.C.]: The two periodicals that investigated on site, Le Courrier Picard and SEMAINE DU NORD, are not cited.

(Michel Figuet, UFOs: The First Complete File of Close Encounters in France, Alain Lefeuvre 1979, p. 73)

The other authors simply copy one of the previous sources. This can be seen on Patrick Gross's page.

ANALYSIS

We have just seen that while the local press provided important information, the books by ufologists only served to muddy the waters: They used the flying saucer theme as a proven fact serving as a plausible explanation, transformed the millstone into an inverted saucer-like object, and ignored The abnormally long disappearance time of the craft was replaced by a "very fast" disappearance, more in line with UFO mythology, and the observation was reinforced by a hoax, which was nevertheless denounced in the following days.

In short, their prose is worthless.

Fortunately, we still have the more objective investigations carried out at the time. These are:

- the police report, written the same day, based on investigations conducted on site that afternoon.

- the article in the Courrier Picard of September 8, based regarding the investigations carried out on the evening of the 7th at Emile Renard's home.

- The article in SEMAINE DU NORD of September 16th, based on the investigations carried out on the 9th, with supporting photos of the premises.

Circumstances of the Observation

The so-called Harponville sighting was the first landing known to the public during the 1954 wave, but it occurred after several aerial sightings reported in the press and on the radio. It's worth remembering that a wave of flying saucer sightings had already taken place in 1952, and that discussions about them began again in July, and especially in August. To stick to what was reported In the Courrier Picard, we find:

- The Vernon sighting, reported on August 25th.

- The landing at Mosjoeen, Norway, reported on the 26th.

- The sightings at Bludenz, Austria, and Obersuessbach, Bavaria, reported on September 6th.

It is therefore not surprising that Mr. Emile Renard, observing what was clearly a craft, thought of a flying saucer.

According to the three primary sources, Messrs. Renard and De Gillaboz were coming from Acheux in the Amiens region, where they had left around 7 a.m., and were heading towards their worksite in La Houssoye, riding their bicycles because their B-12 van had broken down.

According to SEMAINE DU NORD, they stopped because one of Mr. De Gillaboz's bicycle tires had gone flat, and while his worker reinflated the tire, Mr. Renard observed... To the right of the road, a curious object, a sort of millstone, but dirty gray, which he noticed was oscillating.

It was then 7:15 a.m., according to Le Courrier Picard and SEMAINE DU NORD, but rather 7:30 a.m. according to the gendarmerie report. This time seems more likely, as they had traveled 7.8 km since their departure from Acheux at 7:00 a.m.

Mr. Renard pointed out the object to his worker, then ran towards it across a stubble field. His worker hesitated, then followed him.

According to Le Courrier Picard, Mr. Renard had walked about fifty meters, and according to SEMAINE DU NORD, was about to enter a beet field, when the object took off at an angle. According to the police report, he was 100 meters from the object, but this estimated distance is much less reliable than the actual distance traveled.

Thanks to the photos from SEMAINE DU NORD, we can find the location where the witnesses were.

(We had to rotate the photo 3.5° counter-clockwise).

The grove in the background is 660 m from the road. The one on the right is just a screen of trees bordering a dirt track. In the foreground is the beet field. To the left is the stubble field into which Mr. Renard plunged, and whose boundary with the beet field indicates a change in slope. The cross marks the estimated position of the vehicle, but this position is not certain, as we shall see.

Indeed, when compared with a 2018 Google Street View image, the perspective appears strange:

In the foreground, there is now only one plot of land, and the screen of trees... The right side has disappeared, but that's a classic effect of land consolidation.

The trees in the grove at the back have grown, especially those on the left side, which had been cut down at the time; that's still normal.

What isn't normal, however, is that since our witnesses were on foot, and the Google camera is perched at 2.75 meters, the landscape should be seen from a more vertically compressed perspective, whereas it's the opposite, as if the photo had been taken from Approximately 5 meters above the road.

The explanation lies on the other side of the road: there is an embankment that the photographer climbed to get a better overall view. But in doing so, he deprived us of having exactly the same perspective as the witness.

We can, however, find the location in aerial photographs from that period, where the screen of trees is in place, and where the plots are the same.

Thanks to the position of the grove, the screen of trees, and the fields in the photograph, we can pinpoint the exact location of the photographer.

It is less easy to determine the witness's position. We know that he was initially in front of the stubble field and was about to enter the beet field after traveling approximately fifty meters when the object flew away. If the azimuth of the object's position in the photograph is correct, and if it was indeed 50 meters that he traveled, we can determine the position that forced him to Walk 50 meters to the beet field, heading towards the object. We have represented its position with a tiny figure.

We therefore know roughly where the witness was located and in which direction he saw the craft. But could he actually see the craft's position? Remember that if the photographer from SEMAINE DU NORD climbed onto the embankment, it was to get a good overview, which means that the exact location of the craft was less clearly visible. the device from the actual position of the witness.

The second photograph draws our attention to this point: it shows, from a low angle, the two witnesses retracing their path across the fields, and this time nothing is visible above the apparent horizon. It's important to remember that the first photo showed a change in slope. We therefore need to establish the elevation profile along the witness-object direction. The diagram provided by Géoportail is revealing: From the point where The witness saw the craft take off; the change in slope obscured the rest of the landscape.

Therefore, the craft's position in the photo is entirely arbitrary. It could just as easily have been beyond the dirt track as below it.

One detail leads us to believe that the craft could have been beyond the track: the gendarmes arrived in a team of 12, with a dog, and found no trace of it. But they probably searched where the witness believed he had seen the craft, that is to say... say below the path.

Note that even if the craft had been located where the photo places it, it would have been discovered by the witness when he was at an altitude of 340 meters, not 150 or 200 meters.

We still need to examine the craft's behavior. It takes off at an angle, then, having reached an altitude of 12 or 15 meters, it descends vertically. We should not conclude from this that the craft ascended towards the zenith, because the witnesses would have had to crane their necks to continue. They saw it ascend, and they would have seen it disappear above them, not towards Toutencourt. It should rather be understood that it took a direction where it was moving away from the witnesses while remaining in the same vertical plane, after having flown over the grove, which corresponds well to the direction of Toutencourt indicated in SEMAINE DU NORD. It remained visible for several minutes, nearly 5 minutes according to Yves De Gillaboz, before disappearing into the sky.

So, what was the state of the sky?

Clear and fog-free weather, according to the police report drawn up 16 days later.

Gray and foggy skies, according to SEMAINE DU NORD, which investigated two days later.

At 7:00 AM, cloud cover of 8/8, visibility of 4,000 meters, according to the Abbeville weather station. Visibility increasing to 15,000 meters at 10:00 AM.

At 7:30 AM, we can therefore expect gray skies, with visibility of less than 10 km. If the aircraft… It took all those minutes to cover those few kilometers, so its speed could hardly have exceeded 2 km/min, or 120 km/h.

And the craft is emitting smoke from an exhaust pipe, a very terrestrial behavior.

Such behavior - an oblique takeoff, then a vertical one, smoke emission, moderate speed - is that of a helicopter, and absolutely not that of an interplanetary craft.

One might object, with Michel Carrouges, that a helicopter is noisy, yet the witnesses heard nothing.

We have It has already been stated that sound propagation is not isotropic. In fact, both wind and temperature gradients create "shadow zones" (areas of silence, actually), as explained on this page, this page, and this page.

Now, the police report clearly states: "Mr. Renard specifies that it was not a helicopter because he had already seen these aircraft up close."

But which aircraft? Mr. Renard won't have us believe that he knew all the helicopter models in service at the time. And in fact, helicopters have a much wider variety of appearances than airplanes. If Mr. Renard has only ever seen aircraft...

Without a canopy, he couldn't recognize a large helicopter without one, especially from several hundred meters away.

Bell 47

Sikorsky S 51

We then know that the aircraft must be a large helicopter, without a canopy, domed on top, with a wide side door, and in a dirty gray color, or the color of a railway car (of the time).

Now, such a helicopter existed at At the time: it was the Sikorski S-55.

The S-55, with its wide door and railway-car color.

Specifications: Length: 13.84 m, Height: 4.07 m, Maximum speed: 163 km/h, Range: 652 km

These values are consistent with what the witnesses reported, who, let's not forget, misjudged its position and therefore misestimated its distance, and thus its dimensions:

But was this aircraft actually in service in France at the time?

The answer is yes. Arriving in France in September 1952, it was received in Indochina in September 1953, and used from March 1954 onwards for transporting the wounded. Its massive silhouette earned it the nickname "the happy elephant." It was in metropolitan France that it was trained pilots and mechanics. In 1953, a flight test center was created in Buc, near Versailles. There were therefore a few helicopters of this type in France, mainly for training student pilots.

Now, where was this aircraft going? Towards the Northwest. However, it so happens that 19 km to the North-Northwest, there was Air Base 922, Doullens-Lucheux, without an airfield and primarily dedicated to radar detection, but which accommodated helicopters until 2004. As the aircraft was clearly a military helicopter, it is quite likely that it was heading towards this base.

Conversely, extending its trajectory southward, it passes near the Montdidier-Fignières aerodrome, a former military airfield, since converted into a civilian airfield, but which was still in service at the time.

The distance between the two airfields is 58 km, which would be perfectly suitable for a training mission, and the observed position of the helicopter is only 1.1 km from the line connecting them.

Conclusion

It is now almost certain that the aircraft seen by Messrs. Renard and De Gillaboz was a Sikorsky S-55, an aircraft that was new to France, and which it is logical that Mr. Renard had never seen.

It is likely that this aircraft was heading towards Air Base 922 at Doullens-Lucheux. A curious detail is that, on the same day, the gendarmes from Amiens interrogated the radar station at Lucheux, that is to say... to say this same base, which could provide no information whatsoever... even though the alleged saucer had probably landed there.

It is likely, but not at all certain, that it came from the Montdidier-Fignières airfield. But, if it came from elsewhere, it certainly wasn't from the planet Mars.

We can now try to reconstruct the takeoff of the craft, but in today's landscape, as seen from the road, correcting the perspective according to what we saw from the altitude profile. We therefore assume that the S-55, having to land, chose to land on the track, which is level, aligned with the track, and thus seen from the side by the witnesses.

Unfortunately, we cannot reconstruct the phase of its departure with the decrease in its apparent size.

We can also imagine what the front page of SEMAINE DU NORD would have looked like, if the journalists had understood that the "saucer" was in fact a Sikorsky S-55.

Note that the headline is still not wrong: For our two witnesses, it was indeed a mysterious craft.

1954 September 7

around 7:30 a.m.

CD47 from Harponville toward Contay

Two witnesses were on their way to work by bicycle along communal road 47. The weather was clear with no fog. They observed on the ground, in a field 200 meters from the road, a circular shape with an oscillating movement. The two witnesses described a dark-colored cylinder with a slightly domed upper surface and an opening around the edge. (7)

Note: The source reference "7" points to http://www.cnes-geipan.fr/index.php?id=202&cas=1954-09-00008 In 2025, this source and its cited source no longer existed; the same is true on Wikipedia, where information is constantly being modified, added, deleted, without history.

The page was supposed to be a "Chronology of UFO sightings in France," and mentioned only 4 sightings for the year 1954. No mention of my catalogue was given.

Explanations:

Keywords:

Harponville, Somme, Contay, Acheux-en-Amiénois, Emile Renard, Yves Degerbilloz, Yves Degillerboz, object, door, smoke, masons, grey, blue, blue grey, bicycle, road, field, low, low altitude, fast, silent, gendarmes, police

Acheux en Amiénois		08 August 1954	Latitude	Longitude
Acheux en Amiénois		08 August 1954	Department 80	Somme
Witnesses	Objects	Shapes	55,637	0.218
2	1	Saucer	50° 04' 27''	02° 32' 01''
Type	Duration	Colors	Source
			Jimmy Guieu

[CD47] FROM HARPONVILLE (80) TO CONTAY (80) 07.09.1954
Observed on:	08/07/1954
Region:	Picardie
Department:	Somme
Class:	D1
Summary:	Observations of a circular object on the ground with a movement of oscillation. Silent takeoff in oblique then vertical while letting escape a smoke; no trace on the ground: unidentified strange phenomenon.
Description:	On September 7, 1954, at approximately 7:30 a.m. two witnesses go to their work by bicycle on the communal way 47 between Harponville (80) and Contay (80). The weather is clear and without fog. They observe on the ground in a field within 200m of the road, a circular form with an oscillatory movement. The two witnesses describe a cylinder of dark color slightly convex on the upper surface and with an opening on the lathe. Intrigued, the witnesses approach to a hundred meters and see the object rising without noise in oblique on about fifteen meters then to the vertical. During the rise the witnesses notice blue gray smoke escaping from a pipe. The observation lasted between 4 and 5 minutes before the phenomenon disappeared in the sky. The frightened witnesses leave immediately to go to the gendarmerie. The same day, the investigation do not note any trace on the ground in the field. One of the witness having already seen helicopters, he affirms that it is not such an apparatus. No other testimony is collected. The credibility of the witnesses is not in doubt. GEIPAN classes this case D1: strange unidentified phenomenon.
Report:	None.

Details of the testimony
Witness
Date of the observation	07-09-1954
Numéro de pièce
Age	Adult (more than 18)
Profession	Employees, Workers
Sex	Male
Reaction	Active curiosity
Credibility	Normal credibility
Conditions
Environment	Departmental ways,Roads
Weather conditions	Clear Sky
Hour of the observation	Numbered: 6 hours - 8 hours
Reference frame	Other; sky or clouds
Distance between phenomenon and witness	Close (from 40 to 200 m);Close (from 40 to 200 m);Not-specified
Start of the observation	Start of the observation by witness
End of the observation	End of the observation by phenomenon
Localization
Angle of the site	Others;Not-specified
Direction of observation	Geography landmarks (Name of city, village, numbered, etc.)
Heading	None
Trajectory	Motionless;Ascending;Ascending
Nature of the observation	Object;Craft
Characteristic of the observation	Unique
Global shape	Cigar, cylinder
Color	Other (other colors)
Apparent size	Numbered
Apparent speed	Null;Variable (accel
Noise	No noise;No noise
Effect on the environment	Nor-specified
Number	1

Details of the testimony
Witness
Date of the observation	09/07/1954
Document number
Age	Adult (more than 18)
Profession	Employees, Workers
Sex	Male
Reaction	Active curiosity
Credibility	Normal credibility
Conditions
Environment	Departmental ways, Roads
Weather conditions	Clear Sky
Hour of the observation	Numbered: 6 hours - 8 hours
Reference frame	Other;Sky or Clouds
Distance between phenomenon and witness	Close (from 40 to 200 m)
Start of the observation	Start of the observation by witness
End of the observation	End of the observation by phenomenon
Localization
Angle of site	Other;Not-specified
Direction of observation	North-West
Heading	North-West
Trajectory	Motionless;Ascending;Ascending
Nature of the observation	Object;Craft
Characteristic of the observation	Unique
Global shape	Cigar, cylinder
Color	Black (dark)
Apparent size	Numbered
Apparent speed	Null;Fast, high
Noise	No noise;No noise
Effect on the environment	Not-specified
Number	1

Case Nr.	Date of observation	Place of observation	Country of observation	Hour of observation	Classification
19540907	07.09.1954	Contay	France		CE I
19540907	07.09.1954	Amiens	France	07.00	DD
19540907	07.09.1954	Amiens	France		CE I
19540907	07.09.1954	Amiens	France		CE I
19540907	07.09.1954	Contay Harponville	France		CE I
19540907	07.09.1954	Contay Harponville	France		CE I
19540907	07.09.1954	Contay	France		CE I
19540907	07.09.1954	Contay	France		CE I
19540907	07.09.1954	Harponville	France		CE I
19540907	07.09.1954	Harponville	France		CE I
19540907	07.09.1954	Harponville	France		CE I
19540907	07.09.1954	France	France		CE I
19540907	07.09.1954	Amiens	France	07.00	DD
19540907	07.09.1954	Harponville	France		CE I
19540909	09.09.1954	Amiens	France		CE I
19540907	07.09.1954	Acheux Amienois	France	Morning	CE I
19541107	07.11.1954	Contray [sic, Contay]	France		CE I

Version:	Created/Changed by:	Date:	Change Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	March 20, 2003	First published.
1.0	Patrick Gross	January 4, 2010	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [goe1], [jbu2], [lcn1], [uda1], [uda2], [uda3].
1.1	Patrick Gross	March 4, 2010	Addition [vmr1].
1.2	Patrick Gross	March 12, 2010	Addition [jgu2].
1.3	Patrick Gross	June 16, 2010	Addition [dcn1].
1.4	Patrick Gross	July 14, 2010	Additions [jve1], [lif1].
1.5	Patrick Gross	October 19, 2014	Additions [nip1], [tai1].
1.6	Patrick Gross	October 12, 2016	Addition [fas1].
1.7	Patrick Gross	December 7, 2016	Additions [gen1], [jin1], [ldl3], [lgs1], [ubk1], [ge2].
1.8	Patrick Gross	December 21, 2016	Addition [jve3].
1.9	Patrick Gross	September 4, 2019	Additions [prn1], [ldl1], [mft1], [pha1], [fkb1], [rlt1], [lhh1], [prn2], [dcn2], Summary.
2.2	Patrick Gross	December 15, 2019	Addition [ton1].
2.3	Patrick Gross	January 13, 2020	Addition [les1].
2.4	Patrick Gross	January 26, 2020	Additions [cpd1], [cpd2].
2.2	Patrick Gross	March 13, 2020	Additions [cdn1], [lbl1].
2.3	Patrick Gross	March 29, 2020	Additions [non1], [jps1], [ipc1].
2.4	Patrick Gross	April 2, 2020	Addition [nll1].
2.5	Patrick Gross	April 18, 2020	Addition [vdn1].
2.6	Patrick Gross	April 26, 2020	Additions [aut1], [cpe1].
2.7	Patrick Gross	April 28, 2020	Addition [cdv1].
2.8	Patrick Gross	May 14, 2020	Addition [lpn1].
2.9	Patrick Gross	January 29, 2021	Additions [bre1], [els1].
3.1	Patrick Gross	February 19, 2021	Addition [gqy1].
3.2	Patrick Gross	April 11, 2022	Addition [hdt1].
3.3	Patrick Gross	June 14, 2022	Additions [sme1], [lex1].
3.4	Patrick Gross	July 7, 2022	Additions [aml2], [gab1], [gab2].
3.5	Patrick Gross	April 12, 2025	Addition [lmn1].
3.6	Patrick Gross	April 29, 2025	Additions [tdb1], [csl2].
3.7	Patrick Gross	May 10, 2025	Addition [brn1].
3.8	Patrick Gross	May 16, 2025	Addition [csl1].
3.9	Patrick Gross	June 5, 2025	Addition [fso1].
4.0	Patrick Gross	September 13, 2025	Additions [wre1], [wia1].

The 1954 French flap:

September 7, 1954, between Harponville and Contay, Somme:

Summary:

Reports:

Mystery in the Picardy sky

Two workers claim having seen a flying saucer between Harponville and Contay

NEAR AMIENS

Two men claim to have seen a flying saucer in a field

Can a flying saucer land without leaving traces?

A flying saucer landed in the Somme

Did a flying saucer land near Amiens?

Two masons say it with disturbing precision

IN A FIELD

THE CRAFT DISAPPEARS

NEW MYSTERY in the Picardy sky?

- MYSTERY IN PICARDY -

Two workers state to have seen a flying saucer and describer it in an impressive manner

The craft was on the ground and rose in diagonal, then vertically

Did a flying saucer land in the Somme?

SAUCERS

BETWEEN HARPONVILLE AND CONTAY IN THE SOMME

A MYSTERIOUS CRAFT takes off from a field

A flying saucer landed in the Somme

A mason and his worker claim to have seen a flying saucer in a field

BETWEEN HARPONVILLE AND CONTAY IN THE SOMME

A MYSTERIOUS CRAFT flies away from a field

"200 m. away from us: a flying saucer"

... but "the thing" disappeared when the two men approached it

In the Amiens region:

A mason and his worker saw a flying saucer in a field

But no trace was found on the ground

"We saw a flying saucer at a distance of 100 meters"

DECLARE TWO BRICKLAYERS FROM ACHEUX-EN-AMIENOIS

LIKE IN FAIRY TALES

The "flying saucer" took off in front of the eyes of the mason and his worker

We saw a flying saucer at a distance of 100 meters

HARPONVILLE

News from Everywhere

Flying saucers are the talk of the town

New details reported by new witnesses

"The flying saucer takes off at the speed of a helicopter then the acceleration becomes vertiginous"

Across everything

Phantasms of the night

Epidemic

The kiss of the Saucerian

In the Amiens region:

A mason and a worker saw a flying saucer in a field

All this happened... this week

Flying saucers in the sky of France?

BRIEF NEWS

FRANCE

MYSTERIOUS CRAFT IN THE SOMME AND IN THE NORD

SEPTEMBER 7: A NEW CHAPTER IN THE SAUCERS AFFAIR, IN PICARDY

Three hours of interrogation

"That thing wasn't on the ground"

GILLABOZ AND RENARD: AN INVERTED PLATE

Flying saucers

SIMILARITIES WITH HELICOPTERS

The observation of Harponville

Two workers say they saw a flying saucer between Harponville and Contay

NEW MYSTERY in the sky of Picardie?

Did a flying saucer land near Amiens?

Two masons say it with disturbing precision

A mason and his worker claim to have seen a flying saucer in a field

TWO RESIDENTS OF THE SOMME CLAIM TO HAVE SEEN A FLYING SAUCER LANDED IN A FIELD

"Flying saucers in the sky of Picardie? The investigation opened in Estrées-Deniécourt hits the "wall of silence"

The Saucer First Rises Like a Helicopter, Then Accelerates Vertiginously

A Curious "Haystack"

Three Hours of Interrogation

"This thing was not on the ground"

THE FLYING SAUCER OF ESTREES-DENIECOURT

ANALYSIS

Circumstances of the Observation

Conclusion

Explanations:

Keywords:

Sources:

Document history:

Two workers claim
having seen a flying saucer
between Harponville and Contay

A flying saucer
landed in the Somme

Did a flying saucer
land
near Amiens?

Two masons say it
with disturbing precision

NEW MYSTERY
in the Picardy sky?

Two workers state
to have seen a flying saucer
and describer it in an impressive manner

The craft was on the ground and rose
in diagonal, then vertically

Did a flying saucer
land
in the Somme?

BETWEEN HARPONVILLE AND CONTAY
IN THE SOMME

A MYSTERIOUS CRAFT
takes off from a field

A mason and his worker
claim to have seen
a flying saucer
in a field

BETWEEN HARPONVILLE AND CONTAY
IN THE SOMME

A MYSTERIOUS CRAFT
flies away from a field

"200 m. away
from us: a
flying saucer"

... but "the thing"
disappeared when
the two men
approached it

The "flying saucer"
took off in front of the eyes
of the mason and his worker

A mason and a worker saw
a flying saucer in a field

MYSTERIOUS CRAFT
IN THE SOMME
AND IN THE NORD

Two workers say
they saw a flying saucer
between Harponville and Contay

NEW MYSTERY
in the sky of Picardie?

Did a flying saucer
land
near Amiens?

Two masons say it
with disturbing precision

A mason and his worker
claim to have seen
a flying saucer
in a field

TWO RESIDENTS OF THE SOMME CLAIM TO HAVE SEEN
A FLYING SAUCER LANDED IN A FIELD

"Flying saucers in the sky of Picardie?
The investigation opened in Estrées-Deniécourt
hits the "wall of silence"

THE FLYING SAUCER
OF ESTREES-DENIECOURT