The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 9-Nov-54-Amiens.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The regional newspaper Le Courrier Picard, in the local edition of Amiens, on page 4, on November 10, 1954, reported that Mme Dufour, from 89, rue Delpech, who goes every morning around 6 a.m. at work, went down her street when she reached the crossroads of rue Jeanne-d'Arc, she was literally dazzled by an orange glow that bathed, at the end of the street, the entire district of La Fosse au Lait.
When she looked up, she saw a magnificent and luminous disc, as big as five or six times the moon, which seemed to sway gently about 500 meters high.
She ran to wake up her husband, neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Ditavillain, shopkeepers at 66 rue Jeanne-d'Arc, and Mr. and Mrs. Cauchois, at 60 on the same street.
Everyone agreed: they saw the phenomenon for almost twenty minutes, and according to Mrs. Cauchois of "fire" color. It looked like an orange, but had transformed for a few moments and had "taken the shape of a saucer and also that of an airship", said Mr. and Mrs. Ditavillain, adding that it "swayed limply at this moment from left to right."
Then, said Mrs. Dufour, it advanced slowly over the roofs in the direction of the Abbeville road. Her husband, who had perched at the window of his attic, saw it go away, still slowly, and disappear behind the roofs twenty minutes later.
Mrs. Dufour said it "looked like a magnificent sunset and it was really beautiful."
[Ref. cpd1:] NEWSPAPER "LE COURRIER PICARD":
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It is undoubtedly by principle that we will designate the phenomenon which occurred in our sky, yesterday morning, under the name of "saucer".
But is this the right term if we want to judge the show?
It was 3:35 a.m., let us point out immediately that the moon had set at 3:18 a.m. Mrs. Dufour, who lives at 89, rue Delpech and who goes every morning around 6 a.m. to her work, walked down rue Delpech when, reaching the crossroads of rue Jeanne-d'Arc, she was literally dazzled by an orange glow that bathed, at the end of the street, the whole district of Fosse-au-Lait.
Looking up she saw a magnificent and luminous disc, as big as five or six times the moon, which seemed to sway gently about 500 meters high.
She ran to wake up her husband, neighbors and Mr. and Mrs. Ditavillain, traders at nr 66 rue Jeanne-d'Arc, and Mr. and Mrs. Cauchois, 60 at the same street.
All are now in agreement. They saw the phenomenon for almost twenty minutes. It was "fire" in color, Mrs. Cauchois said. It looked like an orange, but transformed for a few moments and took on the appearance of a saucer and also that of an airship, said Mr. and Mrs. Ditavillain who added:
"It was swaying limply at this time from left to right."
Then finally Mrs. Dufour claims, it advanced slowly over the roofs in the direction of the road to Abbeville. Mr. Dufour, who had perched at the window of his attic, saw it leave, still slowly, and disappear behind the roofs twenty minutes later.
"In any case," said Mrs. Dufour finally, "it looked like a magnificent sunset and it was really very beautiful."
A little poetry in these stories of "saucers" changes us from the bleak and now too traditional aspect of the famous mystery...
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Probable Chinese lantern.
Here is why:
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Above: A modern Chinese lantern. |
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Amiens, Somme, multiple, Dufour, Ditavillain, Cauchois, glow, fire, orange, Fosse-au-Lait, disc, magnificent, bright, large, swaying, high, duration, saucer, airship, slow
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
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| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | February 4, 2020 | First published. |
