The article below was published in the daily newspaper La Montagne, de Clermont-Ferrand, France, le 22 septembre 1954.
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Clermont-Ferrand, September 22 (from our own correspondent). -- As one could expect, the statements of the four people who affirmed to have seen, in the evening of last Friday, a "flying cigar" in the sky of Clermont-Ferrand provoked an influx of testimonies.
These testimonies confirm the passage of "something" in the Auvergne atmosphere. But almost all observers give the relevant reasons why they believe it was simply a jet plane.
"Whereas it is true that a machine passed over the puy de Dôme, Friday at 7:15 p.m., said one of these witnesses, the first, I could not observe the aircraft in the half-darkness, which was flying at a very high altitude, leaving behind a trail of condensation typical of jet planes.
And this precision:
- At a time when one says that a jet plane was seen over Giat, a jet plane was flying over this area. Given the altitude of this aircraft, we could not see it, but the condensation of the gases it left behind formed a trail that actually had the shape of a cigar and was red, as it was in the rays of the setting sun. So I think witnesses who claim to have seen an interplanetary craft are in good faith, but had mistaken that red trail for the craft.
A third, finally, confirms these two statements:
- Last Friday, I was at my home, rue Champleury, in Clermont-Ferrand. I saw, around 7:15 p.m., a little pink cloud above the puy de Dôme. It intrigued me by his shape. Taking landmarks by means of the power lines, I saw that it was moving. I have directed upon this cloud a small telescope I possess, and which gives a magnification of about twenty-five times. Unfortunately, I did not have time to put it on its foot, and the tremor produced by my hand prevented a good observation. However, I realized that it was undeniably a flying craft. I could see a big black dot before the luminous tail. It was impossible for me to assess the distance and speed. I thought for a moment that it was a jet aircraft whose trail was illuminated by the declining sun. However, I was perplexed because I never saw a jet plane produce such a luminous trail and it disappeared suddenly.
Metz, Sept. 22 (from our own correpondent). -- Several inhabitants of the Moselle claim to have witnessed the moves of a mysterious apparatus - saucer or flying cigar - but it was only after three days of silence that the spectators decided to make their observations public.
It is Mr. Louis Moll, a rural guard at Oberdorf, who informed the gendarmes of what he had seen.
"I did not want to say anything sooner," said the rural guard, "for fear of passing for a visionary among my fellow-citizens. But what I saw seemed so extraordinary to me that I could not keep quiet any longer.
"It was Sunday evening," he said, "and I returned to my home at about 9:15 p.m. when my attention was attracted by a strange gleam coming from the east and approaching the ground a few hundred yards from the road, towards Tromborn, where the craft, which was at a very low height, stayed in place for about forty seconds before rising vertically and disappearing in a southeasterly direction.
