The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Télégramme de Brest et de l'Ouest, Brest, France, pages 1 and 2, on September 27, 1954.
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The flying saucer epidemic continues to rage across France.
In Tulle, Mr. Besse, a draftsman at E.D.F., clearly saw a flying saucer above the city. Using powerful binoculars, he was able to follow the object's movements for a few moments. It changed color three times in just a few seconds, he said.
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In Le Puy, Mr. Mallet, a hotelier, saw an object to the east of the city that changed color and moved slowly without making any noise, seemingly with a slight oscillation.
Near La Rochelle, three fishermen and a customs officer saw a group of flying saucers flying very low and skimming over the shoreline before disappearing.
The flying cigars are providing stiff competition to the saucers. A resident of Gelles (Puy-de-Dôme) saw a luminous, elongated object in the sky "like a cigar." The craft moved silently.
A resident of Clermont-Ferrand was picking mushrooms when he saw a luminous trail in the sky at high altitude, "slightly pink in color" and shaped like a cigar.
Rugby players training at the Vichy stadium saw a "flying cigar."
Residents of Bayonne claim to have seen, high in the sky to the northeast, three mysterious light-colored objects standing out against the clear sky at that time.
A police officer, Mr. Corrions, who was in the market district, observed the three motionless objects arranged in a triangle and slightly oval in shape. He said they were about the size of a rugby ball and appeared to be at a considerable altitude.
Near Nancy, several dozen workers from "Sidelor" saw six flying cigars in the sky between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m.
"At first we saw two 'cigars'," they said, "then four more joined the first two. All remained perfectly still for a while, then disappeared instantly."