The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 15-Oct-54-Aurillac.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In their 1979 book "La Grande Peur Martienne" ("The Great Martian Scare"), the "skeptical" ufologists Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker claimed to quote the newspaper La Montagne for October 16, 17 and 19, 1954, from the "Lumières Dans Na Nuit" file, indicating that in Aurillac, Cantal, the population noticed a strange object immobile in the sky at high altitude, 6000 to 7000 meters.
At 5 p.m., it was still visible.
"Luc", (a journalist) and his friend Mr. Marthe, took off at 3:00 p.m. from the Tronquière airfield, climbed at 2500 meters, and the craft they observed for an hour seemed to them increasingly transparent and also smaller than seen from the ground, as if it had moved away from the approaching plane.
Seen in the binoculars, it had an ovoid shape with two incandescent spots opposite. A corolla in the colors of the rainbow seemed to gravitate around it. The plane returns to the ground.
At 5 p.m., a second approach was attempted, the plane climbed at 2600 meters, and the observation was identical to the first but lasted less.
At night, they made a third attempt, approached, and found that the craft appeared illuminated. In the binoculars, they noticed the presence of the multicolored luminous halo around this "very big" craft. At its altitude, there was a wind of 5 to 15 knots but the craft remained motionless for 12 hours.
Barthel and Brucker "specified" that "whatever the nature of the observed phenomenon was", the multicolored halo is explained because it is sufficient to use "a pair of improperly set binoculars!"
In fact, Barthel and Brucker were simply unable to understand that this was the famous Italian stratospheric balloon seen in those days, particularly in this area, reported by Aimé Michel in his 1958 book.
In 2026, I found in the archive of the ufology group SOS OVNIS a transcription of an article from the regional newspaper L'Eveil de la Haute-Loire dated October 18–19, 1954, in which the wanderings of this balloon were reported, including over Aurillac on October 15, 1954.
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors quote an article of the newspaper "La Montagne" indicating that in Aurillac, in the Cantal...
"The population noticed a strange motionless object in the sky at high altitude (6 to 7 000 m. At 5 p.m., was still visible. Luc, (a journalist) and his friend Mr. Marthe, took off at 3 p.m. from the Tronquière airfield. They went up to 2500 m (3150). The machine appeared then increasingly transparent to them and especially smaller than seen from the ground, as if it had moved away from the plane which approached it. Seen with the binoculars, it had an ovoid shape with two opposite incandescent points. A corolla with the colors of the rainbow seemed to revolve around ir. The plane landed again... At approximately 5 p.m., a second attempt at approach was carried out. The plane went up to 2 600 m (3 250). The observation was identical to the first attempt but lasted less longer (1 hour the first time). The two observers waited the night for their third attempt, when it was effective, they approached and noted that the apparatus appeared illuminated. In the binoculars they could note the presence of the multicolored luminous halation. The apparatus was very large. At its altitude, a wind from 5 to 15 knots blew but the apparatus however remained motionless during twelve o'clock."
The two authors "specify" that "whatever the nature of the observed phenomenon", the multicolored halation is explained, because it is enough to use "poorly adjusted binoculars!"
In a footnote they indicate that their source is the newspaper "La Montagne" for October the 16th, 17th and 19th of 1954 "according to the Lumières dans la nuit file".
[Ref. sos1:] NEWSPAPER "L'EVEIL DE LA HAUTE-LOIRE" - SOS OVNIS ARCHIVE:
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Quotidien "L'EVEIL DE LA HAUTE-LOIRE" (LE PUY,43) du lun 18 mar 19-10-54 p.1:
SAUCERS AND MARTIANS CONTINUE TO MAKE HEADLINES
TWO FARM WOMEN FRIGHTENED BY A BEING WITHOUT EARS
Two farm women from Livry-sur-Seine stated that, while walking in the woods of Usselle, near the commune, they saw a strange being lying on the path, deep in the forest.
It was the size of a man, but its body was covered with abundant brown hair. It had a round, hairy head, but no ears and extremely piercing eyes.
"It made a sign to us twice with its arm," they added, "but as we were not reassured, we did not dare pass in front of it and we made a detour of nearly 2 kilometers to avoid it."
Two children who were with the farm women also provided testimony and a very precise description.
Alerted by their cries, the farmers armed themselves with their hunting rifles and carried out a search, but in vain.
IT WAS DOUBTLESS THE MILAN WEATHER BALLOON
In many places throughout Haute-Loire and in the Massif Central, the luminous craft seen at Le Puy between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening was observed. Thus it was seen, around 5:40 p.m., at St-Maurice-de-Lignon, on the side of La Montagne and La Madeleine.
Our correspondent described it as follows: "a bright, motionless and very luminous point, above all resembling a star."
The craft was also seen, in the same appearance, at Aurillac and in the Cantal, the Puy-de-Dôme, Corrèze, the Lot, Aveyron, the Creuse. It seems to be confirmed that it was the weather balloon launched from Milan, which our newspaper had announced as possibly heading toward Haute-Loire.
[Ref. mlr1:] MARC LEMONNIER:
Ten appearances of UFO in the French sky in 1954
[... Other cases ...]
4 - Aurillac (Cantal)
On October 16, 1954, the daily newspaper La Montagne tells: "The population noticed a strange motionless object in the sky at high altitude (6 to 7 000 m. At 17 o'clock it was still visible. Luc, (a journalist) and his friend Mister Marthe, took off at 15 o'clock from the Tronquière airfield. They went up to 2500 m (3150). The craft appeared then increasingly transparent to them and especially smaller than seen from the ground, as if it had moved away from the plane which approached it. Seen though the binocular, it had an ovoid form with two opposite incandescent points. A corolla with the colors of the rainbow seemed to revolve around it."
[... Other cases ...]
More about this:
Le Dictionnaire de la France Insolite et Bizarre, Marc Lemonier, City Publishers, 2009
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It was obviously the high altitude balloon of the University of Padua.
The multicolored halo is not caused by "poorly adjusted binoculars", but is caused by the diffraction of light on the transparent envelope of the balloon. Its apparent immobility despite the wind was due to the fact that it was much higher than the witnesses thought; it was a stratospheric balloon, floating at a height at which the winds are not necessarily the same as those indicated by the witnesses.
The photo of the balloon by the Haute-Provence Observatory:
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See also what Aimé Michel wrote about this in 1958, and the 1968 note by Raymond Veillith on the same affair.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Aurillac, Cantal, object, motionless, duration, colors, rainbow, pilot, multiple, oval, points, corolla, weather, halation, luminous, night, day
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | December 7, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 1, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | April 5, 2010 | Addition [lm1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | December 15, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | March 4, 2026 | Addition [sos1]. Case date changed from October to October 15. In the Summary, addition of the paragraph "In 2026, I found..." |
