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The 1954 French flap:

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October 16, 1954, Moulins, Allier:

Reference number for this case: 16-Oct-54-Moulins. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Reports:

[Ref. mo1] "LA MONTAGNE" NEWSPAPER:

The luminous ball observed Saturday
in Montlucon, Nevers and Clermont
was also seen in Moulins

SAINT-POURCAIN-SUR-SIOULE (Allier). -- Mr. Michard, president of the Syndicat d'Initiatives [Tourism Office] of Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule informs us:

On Saturday, October 16, at 20:27 p.m., I was waiting on platform number 3 of the Moulins Train Station.

As I watched the lights that are placed very high behind the station (west side), I suddenly saw in the sky, a circle or a red sphere, 18 to 20 cm in apparent diameter, that is, slightly less big as the moon, that was moving at a very high speed, in a direction which I will explain later.

Immediately, the thought came to me to scream "A saucer!", but the jokes on this matter are becoming more frequent, I said nothing not to look like a prankster among people around me that I did not know.

But at the sharpness of the phenomenon and the fact that the object rapidly diminished in size, I said loud enough: "But it is a saucer!" pointing at it with my arm.

Immediately, the people around me began to observe, but the object disappeared very quickly and only Mr. Fousse, of the equipment School of Fontainebleau, had the time to see it.

I did not communicate the information to the press, but several people saw a saucer in Creuzier-le-Vieux, one hour later, I think it is perhaps the same object and that communication can be used as confirmation.

The object I observed in Moulins must have been at a great distance, yet it seemed to move at a speed which one can say that it was 6 to 10 times that of a jet seen at about 2 km.

What makes me assume that it was more a sphere than a circle, is that at the beginning of my observation, when the object appeared the biggest (18 to 20 cm.) the color was not the same on the perimeter, almost vermilion, than in the center, brighter and more orange.

The object followed in the sky a straight line, rising slightly and certainly going away since it decreased rapidly and very gradually in size to disappear completely, until it did not look bigger than a walnut.

Its color, too, has gradually diminished in intensity from bright red to yellow ocher, and ultimately bright chrome yellow before disappearing.

My observation lasted from 8 to 10 seconds.

Following his presentation, Mr Michard, of Saint-Pourçain, specified to us:

"I accepted, without checking, the information by a person who was close to me in the Moulins Train Station, on the position and direction of the luminous object that I had seen on Saturday night, 08:27 p.m..

"In reality, it is East of the station that I saw the object and its true direction was that from the southwest to the northeast.

"I added that it produced no perceptible noise and left no luminous trail."

[Ref. my1] "LES MYSTERES DES OVNIS" WEB FORUM:

vincente
Membre Confirmé
Masculin Age : 51
Nombre de messages : 8
Inscription : 12/03/2012
Localisation : Paris
Emploi : Ingénieur
Passions : Musique Classique

Subject: On 10/16/1954 in Moulins Mon 12 Mar 2012, 05:14 p.m.

Hello all,

I have been interested for a few months only in the UFOs and extraterrestrial life, following the show of a video of the researcher Jean-Pierre Petit on Youtube on the subject of the MHD (Magneto Hydro Dynamic). Engineer by training, I am scientifically minded and have a large broadmindedness, which enables me to approach this kind of matter without prejudices but with the amount of scepticism necessary to try to reject the numerous many trickeries which do not miss in this field.

Last week, by getting some news, by telephone, about one of my aunts aged of more than 80 years living in the Allier, my native area, the latter asked me whether I had watched at the show about the UFOs aired recently on the Direct 8 channel. I was a little surprised, ignoring that my aunt could be interested in this kind of topic and me having never spoken with any member of my family about my recent interest for this matter. She explained to me then, that her father (my grandfather of the father side thus) had observed, himself, on October 16, 1954, at 08:27 p.m. precisely from the station platform of Moulins in the Allier where he awaited a train, an orange luminous ball of a diameter slightly lower than that of full moon, moving at very high speed without any noise from the south-west towards the North-East. this phenomenon was observed by another witness on this same platform, and an hour later by many other witnesses in another city of the area. the testimony of my grandfather was collected by a journalist of the newspaper "La Montange", my aunt sent to me the photocopy of the article (attached) to this message. I had a vague memory of this story about which my parents had talked to me when I was child and that I had forgotten since, but I had never read the testimony of my grandfather. This testimony has for me a great value because my grandfather, that I knew well as I did live with him in the large family house until his death when I turned 14, was a serious man, educated, trustworthy. Head of a business, former plane pilot, having a great sense of observation, never speaking for nothing. I thus deliver herewith this article of October 1954. a year obviously loaded in UFO observations.

Explanations:

Not looked for yet.

One could obviously think it was the meteor of October 16, 1954, but there are three problems:

Firstly, the witness specified that there was no trail.

Then, the direction is not exactly that of the meteor; which went from East to West above the north of France, while this ball comes from the South-West, going towards the North-East. It should be noted that the witness checked this direction.

Lastly, it is not the correct hour since the famous meteor was seen elsewhere at approximately 09:30 p.m.. The witness, awaiting a train, in the station platform, had only little chances to be one hour wrong. Besides, he gives an hour "to the minute", "27" instead of the usual "at approximately xx:30" or "xx:15", estimates rounded of at least 5 minutes. This strongly suggests that he had quite simply consulted the station platform clock to get the exact hour of passage of the luminous ball.

Keywords:

(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)

Moulins, Allier, luminous, ball, circle, sphere, red, yellow, straight, Michard, Fousse, station, fast, saucer, vermilion, orange, distant, duration

Sources:

[---] indicates sources which I have not yet checked.

[mo1] Article in the regional newspaper La Montagne, Clermont-Ferrand, France, October 19, 1954.
[my1] Told on the ufology web board Les Mystères des OVNIS, France, March 12, 2012, at www.forum-ovni-ufologie.com/t14609-le-16-10-1954-a-moulins?highlight=1954

Document history:

Version:	Created/Changed by:	Date:	Change Description:
1.0	Patrick Gross	October 17, 2016	First published.

This page was last updated on October 17, 2016.