The article below was published in the daily newspaper Paris-Presse, Paris, France, page 4, on October 21, 1954.
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"The flying saucers? Phew! I know what it is. I held a fragment of it in my hands."
This sensational statement comes from a cinema operator in Pont-l'Evêque, Mr. Blain.
- I was Monday on the airfield of Reventin - Vaugris in the Rhône valley when, shortly after the passage of a stratojet Mme Lelandais, wife of a base monitor believed that a number of "saucers" in the shape of parachutes were moving. They varied in altitude, appearance, color and suddenly disappeared. Half an hour later, a rain of "spider webs" fell heavily on the ground. We picked it up with both hands. It was a whitish material, soft to the touch at the same time as rubbery, agglomerating then melting with the heat of the hand without leaving traces. We were able to keep some of it for five hours in a waterproof box and photograph it.
This material, Mr. Blain affirms, comes from the jet engines of the Stratojets that daily use the Rhône valley (unless it is filanders, better known under the name of Angel Hair, produced in fall by various species of flying spiders).
Usually, the Stratojets jet engines, unlike those of other jet planes, do not leave a trail behind them. On Monday, however, it formed behind the apparatus, moving at nearly 10,000 meters, a very curious trail, light vapor which solidified in thick volutes two or three kilometers from the place of their formation.
The explanation of the formation of this "melting mass" produced under certain conditions by Stratojets leads technicians to formulate this hypothesis: the streaks produced resembling those of ordinary jet airplanes may be due to the injection of water in the reactors. At the origin of this phenomenon, there would be the fact that this water, projected in the combustion chambers at nearly 1,800 degrees undergoes a molecular disaggregation by contact with the combustion gas. As a result, a chemical reaction occurs which would lead to the formation of the curious matter detected on Monday at Reventin-Vaugris.
This perhaps clarified the mystery of the "saucers" observed two years ago in Oloron and Gaillac and which present all the characteristics of the phenomenon observed by Mr. Blain. But cigars? But the scales? But the Martians? Ah! Who will give us the explanation of the Martians kissing the peasants in the name of the inter-sidereal fraternity?
The latest model of flying saucer is paired. A saucer plus a saucer equals a balance, if they are united by a flail. As well it is a balance with orange and red trays that was seen, in Royan, by Mr. and Mrs. Labassière. These two trays, after being immobilized in the air, separated and landed nearby, in a field. Two little men came out of each ball and changed trays. The two trays then tightened together and disappeared in a dazzling flash.
To tell the truth, saucers, cigars and other interplanetary craft were not very active yesterday. Farmers from Villepinte (the Aude) and surrounding areas; natives of Tréveneuc (C.-d.-N.) and of St-Quay-Portrieux; a metallurgist from Aire-sur-la-Lys and the mayor of Nexon (Hte-Vienne) saw some. This is a topic of conversation for evenings. Unfortunately, no "Martians" were on board.
