This article was published in the daily newspaper L'Oise-Matin, France, pages 1 and 10, on October 20, 1954.
See the case file.
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Read on page 10 the investigation by our special envoy Jacques GUILLAUME
Mr. and Mrs Vasseur, who "saw" the passage of a flying cigar explain the circumstances of their encounter. "That's where he was" says Mrs Vasseur, still afraid,
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After the paralyzed worker of Quarouble, the affectionate Martian of the Auvergne, the flying saucers of la Chapelle-en-Serval, the mysterious landing of St-Crepin-Ibouvillers, not to mention the hundreds of strange demonstrations of diabolic crockery, here is the flying cigar of St-Samson-la-Poterie and its passenger straight out of "the war of the worlds."
There, as for St-Crepin, we went to the site. The appearance was recent and the witnesses talkative. We were granted the first interview and were the first to... investigate. We have to say, almost in vain, which will not deter us to renew this kind of investigation.
Monday evening, the sky was clear, the stars were shining. It was 08:45 p.m. when Mr. André Vasseur, aged 25, worker at the brickyard of St-Samson-la-Poterie, returned to his home on bicycle. He was accompanied by his wife. Both had just spent a few moments at André Vasseur's step-family at Fontenay-Torcy.
They were just approaching the descent which precedes Héricourt-St-Samson when their attention was drawn by a red gleam in the shape of a cigar, motionless in the sky at an important altitude.
All of a sudden, André Vasseur told us, the gleam plunged towards the ground at a terrific speed, leaving behind it a red trail forming like a tail.
The craft disappeared behind a hedge at a few hundreds from meters from the road."
The young people were not at the end of their surprise. Arrived at the top of the hill, Mrs. Vasseur pushed a dreadful cry.
- "An animal's scream," specified her husband.
On the edge of the road, at a few centimetres of her handlebar, a strange being darted an impressive glance at her.
- "I saw it, too, but I did not have the force to scream. It had one meter approximately. Of human shape, but squat, the head capped with a helmet inserted in the shoulders, its eyes struck me. A pencil of light of orange color escaped from them, which followed us.
- "My wife did not have any more the force to shout. She fell, loosing consciousness. I raised her and holding the two bicycles in the hand I fled.
- "If it had happened upwards in the hill, I would have been unable to continue my way.
- "I turned round, the beam still followed me. The "small man" had not moved. Returned at the house we could neither eat nor to sleep. Two hours later I was still broken up in pieces.
We came back "on the premise" in company of Andre Vasseur, whom accompanied his wife and her employer, Mr. André Briard.
- "Vasseur, told us the latter, is a sober boy, hard-working, perfectly balanced. He is particularly courageous and it is necessarily something really sensational that happened, for him to have lost is cold blood."
We went back the path followed by the witnesses the day before.
- "The being was at this place, claims Mrs. Vasseur, still frightened."
The gendarmes of Formerie, inspector Dejean, of the General Intelligence, the forest-keeper of St-Samson who joined them inspect the surroundings. At a few meters of the place indicated, two round footprints of a few centimetres of diameter were noted. It is of course impossible to attach any importance to that. We crossed the meadows under the indifferent glances of a herd of bovines. Not the least trace of a landing, not the weakest clue.
- "I will not visit my mother anymore in the evening, concludes Mrs. Vasseur. The million prize does not interest me. I would not see again what I saw, for anything in the world."
We insist to know whether the Vasseur husbands already saw airliners above their village - they provide us with accurate descriptions of that -, if they had celebrated some event on Monday evening:
- "We had drunk a cup of coffee and we had not dined!"
Other people saw the flying cigar: Mr. Edmond Nantier, Mr. Dael, Mr. Lair. They provide an identical description of it - the time of the appearance is concordant. And they did not meet before their report.
One more testimony to add to our already imposing file but not the least bit of proof. The flying cigars of Beauvaisis maintain their secrecy.
