The article below was published in the daily newspaper L'Alsace, France, on October 26, 1954.
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Rome, Oct. 25. -- Many "flying saucers" were again observed today in Italy. From Catanzaro, in the south of Calabria, to Pesaro, on the Adriatic in the north of Italy, strange flying machines were reported.
Fishermen cruising off San Benedetto, Fiano, Pesaro and even Ostie [Rome's harbor] near Rome, stated to have seen a red and green "object" crossing the sky at a terrifying speed.
"Saucers" [or meteors, according to the descriptions] were also observed in Urbino, Chieti, and Forlimpopoli.
According to some witnesses, they were followed of a green trail. According to others, they had the shape of a mushroom with a tail.
In Chieti, the observed craft was circular, of a diameter of ten meters and moved at low altitude.
In Pesaro, in the north of Anconia, on the Adriatic, many people stated to have seen an incandescent red sphere, with a bluish trail.
In Trieste, about twenty witnesses stated to have observed this morning a flying disc at high altitude, in direction of the North-East and leaving a luminous trail behind.
The testimonys collected since more than one month about the "flying saucers" and flying "cigars" seen in the sky of the peninsula, were the topic of an official statement from the Italian ministry of the air forces.
"Until now, the official statement specifies, the radar devices did not detect any machine of this kind, except for the planes and weather balloons, whose characteristics are known."
Special instructions were given to the chiefs of the detection stations, in order to intensify the monitoring during the twilight and nocturnal hours, during which according to the witnesses, the "flying discs" were seen, the official statement adds.
As of documentation on the "flying discs" that the Italian Air Force owns, it is only, the official statement specifies, some testimonies coming from officers who reportedly saw these machines above the thyrrenian littoral, moving in a south-north direction at a speed higher than 2.000 kilometer-hour".
Vienna, Oct. 25. -- This morning at 0:20, a kind of flying cigar, of yellow and violet color and leaving in its wake a trail of fire, flew over the septentrional part of Vienna, moving at high speed towards the east.
Scores of Viennese saw it, and they are ready to testify about this.
At the observatory, the possibility of a weather balloon is discarded, and it is thought it is a meteor.
Angouleme, Oct. 22. -- A mason from the Charentes, Mr. Filloneau, resident of Critreuil-la-Magdeleine, saw yesterday evening, towards 8 p.m., an enormous ball of fire as he was driving his car.
The headlights died out at once and the engine stopped while the ball rose slowly without noise.
"I felt a violent draught", the mason, still under the blow of the emotion, said.
"When I was able to restart my car, the battery was completely empty and all the light bulbs were roasted."
The Segonzec gendarmerie opened an investigation.
