The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Figaro, Paris, France, page 2, on October 7, 1954.
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Cigars, saucers, and flying cylinders are still darting about in all corners of France.
A newspaper from Coulommiers (Seine-et-Marne) published a letter sent by one of its readers, Mr. Farnier, member of the Society of Civil Engineers of France, in which the author declares:
"I saw passing above my property, at Jouy-sur-Morin, a large disk 8 to 10 meters in diameter, rotating in place while emitting reddish-violet glows, with a whistling sound somewhat reminiscent of the arrival of a jet aircraft. The craft was at about 400 meters altitude and hovered for more than twenty minutes above me. I therefore had the leisure to examine it closely. The craft then disappeared in the direction of Coulommiers."
In his letter, Mr. Farnier specifies:
"A former commissioner with the Aero-Club of France, having served in aviation, I was not the victim of a hallucination and this craft was not a weather balloon, but a thick circular wing hovering in place and moving at very high speed while gradually gaining altitude."
Two saucers also made an appearance in the Clermont sky. The first, 10 kilometers from Beaumont, was moving from west to east. Witnesses stated that the object approached to within 150 meters of them and that they felt a strange sensation and were "as if nailed to the spot"... A strong odor of nitrobenzene was perceptible.
The other saucer was seen above the slopes of Chanturgue, near Clermont. It was moving vertically and was bright white.
A saucer was also seen at Billom by a group of thirty people. The object moved above the town. It traveled horizontally. It was visible for 3 or 4 minutes before disappearing. An intense light emanated from the craft.
Near Saint-Brieuc, a luminous cigar-shaped object moved about for more than an hour.
At Thouar%eacute;-sur-Vie (Vendée), about ten elongated objects passed by at great speed and at high altitude.
At La Rochelle, Mr. and Mrs. Guillemoteau were standing in front of their farm when they noticed, about one meter above the ground, a spherical saucer that may have measured 2 to 3 meters in height and 5 meters in diameter. The craft, which produced no sound, stopped for a few minutes, then rose vertically. The next day Mr. Guillemoteau went to the place where he had seen the craft and was able to note oily traces on the grass.
Finally Mr. Pierre Lucas, a bakery worker in Loctudy (Finistère), reportedly received a visit from a Martian about 1.20 meters tall. It apparently had an oval face, covered with hair, and eyes "the size of a crow's egg." The visitor tapped him on the shoulder, uttered a few unintelligible words, and climbed back into his saucer before disappearing into the night.
A beer merchant from Concarneau for his part saw two luminous disks shaped like round "tables" extended by a "tail"...
Italy, after the half-cigar seen in Rome, has in turn been struck by the phenomenon...
The center of the city of Mantua was clogged for an hour yesterday by groups of people gathered to observe a strange "white object" which, at great height, stood out clearly against the blue sky.
Moreover, the Martians also seem to want to visit Italy. Indeed, a fisherman from Roverbella, in the province of Mantua, declared that he was approached last night by a mysterious individual dressed in red, who addressed him with unintelligible words and then quickly moved away before the fisherman had time to call his wife.
