The article below was published in the daily newspaper La Croix du Nord, Lille, Pas-de-Calais, France, page 8, October 7, 1954.
The partial explanation we gave yesterday of "flying cigars" did not stop the round of "saucers". Almost everywhere, mysterious craft still caught the eyes of witnesses who all say they did not dream.
The most extraordinary adventure of the day occurred Tuesday, at 4 a.m., to Mr. Pierre Lucas, a baker from Loctudy, in the Finistère.
Mr. Lucas was busy fetching water from the bakery courtyard when he suddenly saw a craft in the shape of a 2 m 50 to 3 m diameter saucer during the night. He saw an individual about 1 m 20 tall come out of it, who approached and tapped him on the shoulder (no doubt, by hoisting himself on tiptoe), articulating unintelligible words. The worker baker managed to keep his cool and returned to the bakery where the individual followed him.
In the light, Mr. Lucas was able to stare at the visitor: "He had an oval face, all covered with hair, and eyes the size of a crow's egg".
The young man called his boss but, before the latter could come down, the stranger had disappeared, as well as his saucer, of which no trace was found.
The "Martians" also seem to want to visit Italy. A fisherman from Roverbella, in the province of Mantua, said he was approached, still on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, by a "mysterious individual", dressed in red, who allegedly told "unintelligible words" to him, and quickly went away, before the fisherman had time to call his wife.
In Mantua, moreover, traffic was interrupted for more than an hour by groups of people gathered to observe a strange "white object" which, at a high height, stood out clearly against the background of the blue sky. After having carried out extremely rapid moves, the craft, of spherical shape - and which, according to certain witnesses, was part of "a formation of flying saucers" - remained motionless in the sky for a while, before disappearing on the horizon.
"Saucers" also in the sky of the Massif Central. Tuesday afternoon, a "mysterious craft" was seen 10 km from Beaumont, moving east. The witnesses declared that the object approached them and became less and less brilliant. When it was only 150 meters away, they felt a "curious feeling" and were nailed to the spot. At that time there was a smell of nitro-benzine. Soon the craft moved away. The discomfort ceased and the "saucer" disappeared.
Another saucer was seen above the Chanturgue hill, near Clermont. It moved vertically and was bright white.
"According to all the available information, the occupants of the saucers draw the map of the entire surface of the earth" said for his part, most seriously in the world, Mr. Fletcher, vice-president of the astronomers of Kenya.
"Visitors from another world are observing the earth. They have recently turned their attention to East Africa. The most encouraging feature of the case is that unidentified flying objects do not appear to be piloted by beings with hostile intentions towards the inhabitants of our planet", Mr. Fletcherestimates, formulating his hypothesis following the deluge of information provided by many Europeans, Asians and Africans established in Kenya, and refusing to believe that all these "witnesses" are victims of hallucination.
Among these "witnesses", a Frenchman, Mr. Jean Allary, farmer in the Charente.
Sunday evening, getting home, around 11:15 p.m., while riding a moped on the Departmental Road 16, he suddenly saw in the beam of his headlight a strange craft on the roadside. He was afraid and did not stop. When he looked back ten meters away, he saw nothing. It was a barrel about 1.50 m. in diameter and 1.50 m. in height, which, he said, swayed as if it had been mounted on a [??]. The barrel was brown in color, studded with yellow "nails" that shone in the light.
After the "saucer" and the "cigar", here is the "flying barrel". In the "other world", one seems to appreciate this drink that we call "wine" on earth. Perhaps an astute "Martian" took advantage of the harvest to come to our planet to "fill up" with an adequate machine...
Maybe... But there are better things in "Martian" squadrons than barrels...
A Concarneau beer merchant, claims to have seen on his side, in the sky, two luminous discs "in the form of round tables prolonged of a kind of tail." One of the disks was stationary, while the other was moving nearby. The two discs disappeared after ten minutes, after launching a rocket.
In Saint-Brieuc, several residents saw a "flying saucer" which took the form of a cigar, before disappearing. They were able to observe it for over an hour.
The same phenomenon was observed in Trégueux where a cyclist returned home, frightened by what he had seen.
Near La Rochelle, also, ten "luminous objects" moving at a very high speed, were spotted. Mr. and Mrs. Guillemoteau even saw, about a meter from the ground, just in front of their farm, a "spherical saucer" which could measure from 2 to 3 meters in height and with a diameter of 5 meters. The craft, which produced no noise, stopped for a few minutes, then climbed vertically. Mr. Guillemoteau, the next day, went to the place where he had seen the craft and was able to find oily traces on the grass.