The article below was published in the daily newspaper La Voix du Nord, Valenciennes local issue, France, page 5, on October 23, 1954.
See the case file.
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Thursday around 10 p.m., several people circulating on avenue Anatole-France, and arriving near the Roger-Salengro square, had their attention drawn by luminous dots moving in the sky above the Household School and seeming, at first sight, be located quite far in the direction of Cambrai.
The alert was immediately given, a trembling North African went to look for the night service agent, then the firefighters on duty in a cinema, so that a few minutes later about fifty people observed this apparition and all believed in an arrival of flying saucers in groups. Immediately the reflections went their way, some people stated that they saw the saucers spinning at high speed, others said that they approached more and more, a firefighter rose in indignation against the motorists driving with all headlights on.
It was only about ten minutes later that one realized that it was simply a reflection of light acting on the glass insulators placed at the top of a pylon of a high voltage line.
The laughter followed the emotion and everyone withdrew, thinking that the invasion of the Roger-Salengro square by the Martians was not yet for tonight.
