The 1954 French flap:

Numerous flying craft continue their rounds over France

A general councilor of Alpes-Maritimes witnessed their first appearance on the Côte d'Azur

Reports of flying craft that have been appearing across France for the past month seem to be increasing in number.

It was a true squadron of saucers that flew over the Côte d'Azur.

On Friday, a hotel employee, Mr. Albert Grassi, 28, standing on the terrace of a hotel in La Colmane [sic], was drawn to an unusual sound. He then saw an orange disk making intricate patterns, ascending at a dizzying speed before veering toward Boreon.

Mr. Grassi called Mr. and Mrs. Chagnot, owners of the hotel, who arrived in time to see the mysterious phenomenon as it hovered over the La Balona and Fréna mountains.

On Saturday, Mr. Soulié, an employee at Electricité de France, saw at 8:15 p.m., above Boulevard Victor-Hugo in Nice, a disk that, he said, resembled the full moon and left a luminous trail behind it.

That same day, around 11 p.m., Mr. Béranger, commissioner of Saint-Laurent-du-Var, a general councilor, witnessed a similar phenomenon that left a red and green trail in the sky.

Mr. Vallicale, inspector of the mobile brigade, also saw at 11:15 p.m., in the sky over Nice, a luminous craft heading south at full speed.

Several residents of Calais saw yesterday, around 9:15 a.m., a bright craft moving in the sky.

Additionally, a motorist from Calais saw last night, above the road to Boulogne-sur-Mer, an unidentified craft that he believes was a flying saucer.

"It was 9:15 p.m.," the motorist recounted, "when, to my left, I noticed a glow coming from the fields, like that produced by a bicycle dynamo. Suddenly, the glow shot toward the road, in my direction, and a very large craft appeared. It was bluish, like the tinted blue windows used during the war. I braked sharply and turned off my headlights. The craft passed over the road. It was clearly a blue disk, with a dome above it that stood out distinctly. The craft moved silently. It flew over the road, turned, and sped toward Calais. I saw it disappear, and at that moment the original bluish glow was replaced by a white light, as it had appeared initially."

A Martian with a mustache...

A laborer from Lavoux (Vienne), Mr. Roger Barrault, was riding his bicycle on Saturday around 7 p.m. when he was stopped by a double beam of light emanating from a strange being, a sort of "diver" about 1.5 meters tall, wearing heel-less boots, with very bright eyes and a prominent mustache. The diver walked along the road for a minute before disappearing into the nearby forest.

Near Uzerches (Corrèze), two young men, Messrs. Charles and Alphonse Beaujou, driving on the Eyburie road, saw around 11 p.m. a huge shining sphere. For fifteen minutes, the object moved across the sky, changing colors, before disappearing.

On Saturday afternoon, around 4 p.m., Mr. Jean Bertrand, a mechanic in Carcassonne, saw a metallic spherical craft flying at low altitude. The upper part of the sphere, made of transparent material, allowed him to distinguish two human-like forms inside.

Namur, October 10. -- A flying cigar was seen by the rural postman in a village near Huy, between Namur and Liège. The postman stated that the craft rose into the sky as he approached but that he was still able to clearly make out human-like silhouettes on board.

Three children from Pournoy-la-Chétive (Moselle) saw a 'Martian in a cassock' emerge from a 'three-legged saucer'

METZ, October 11 (dispatch "France-Soir").

In POURNOY-LA-CHETIVE, near Verny (Moselle), three children claim they saw a flying saucer and its passenger.

They told their parents, the mayor, and their teacher Mr. Martignon. One of them swore he had a conversation with a Martian, and since Saturday, Pournoy-la-Chétive has been divided into two camps: those who believe it and those who laugh at it.

As for the three children - Gilbert Calba, 12 years old, Daniel Hirsch, 9 years old, and his brother Jean-Pierre, 5 and a half - here is what they declared:

- It was 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The three of us were roller-skating when suddenly, near the cemetery, we saw something luminous. It was a round object, about 2.5 meters in diameter. It landed very close to us. The craft had yellow and white stripes. It landed on three legs.

"Soon, a man came out of it. He was holding a lit flashlight in one hand. This light blinded us, but we clearly saw that the man had large eyes, a hairy face, and was very small - about 1.2 meters tall. He wore a sort of black cassock, like the priest's. The man looked at us. He said something we didn't understand. He turned off his light and, scared, we ran away.

"As we turned back, we saw something in the sky flying away, very high, very fast, and very bright."

Another resident of Pournoy-la-Chétive, Robert Maguin, 16 years old, also said he saw the mysterious craft, but he wasn't close enough to see the details.

Coincidence: a "Martian" matching the same description (shiny eyes, thick mustache, and a flashlight, but no cassock) was seen in Lavoux (Vienne) by Mr. Roger Barrault, a laborer.

In All Colors

• A STRANGE GLOW moving slowly and changing colors (white, yellow, red) was seen by six people for three minutes in Dienville (Aube).
• A BLOODY MOON was seen above Nice by Mr. Léon Béranger, General Councilor of the Alpes-Maritimes and Mayor of Saint-Laurent-du-Var, along with two other witnesses. The "flying moon" left a luminous trail behind it.
• DESCRIBING ARABESQUES, a very noisy orange disc rose above Colmiane, a winter sports station 60 kilometers from Nice.
• A TRANSFORMING SAUCER was seen by several residents of Calais. The mysterious craft was blue and luminous but turned white after circling above the Calais road.
• A BRIGHT BALL, that changed from white to red, then to orange, was seen yesterday by two young men near Espartignac (Hte-V.).
• TWO HUMAN FORMS inside a spherical object, part-metal, part-plastic, were reportedly seen yesterday afternoon by a motorist, Mr. Jean Bertrand, a mechanic from Carcassonne.
• RUE DE ROME, at the corner of Rue des Dames, Mrs. Mathelin saw, on Sunday at 10:30 PM, a white disc, similar to a full moon, moving from NW to SW "faster than a plane."
• FOUR SILENT "MARTIANS" WERE REPAIRING THEIR "CIGAR" on Saturday night near Münster (Westphalia), according to Mr. Hoge, a cinema projectionist by trade.
  Mr. Hoge, stunned and not daring to approach, watched them work for ten minutes. Eventually, the "Martians" returned to their craft using a ladder. Then the "cigar" took off and transformed into a saucer, projecting a dazzling light.

4023: 1954/10/08 23:20 1 7:16:00 E 43:42:00 N 3333 WEU FRN AMR 7:6

NICE,FR:ORG SCR DANCES/SKY:BACK 9OCT+IN St-CHAMAS/2000-2315hr >S

Ref# 30 FIGEUT[sic]&RUCHON: OVNI: Le 1er Dossier Page No. 135: COASTLANDS