The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 22-Sep-54-Clermont-Ferrand.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The regional newspaper Sud-Ouest for September 24, 1954, mentioned an observation in Clermont-Ferrand, without specifying anything else.
In the local newspaper L'Avenir de l'Artois for September 25, 1954, it was told that on September 22, 1954, several Clermont-Ferrand residents had, according to their statements, seen, flying above the Puy de Dôme, a luminous craft of very elongated oval shape seeming to move rather slowly towards the North-East; in particular, four people said they observed it for 2 minutes before it disappeared while gaining altitude. All witnesses assured that no noise was heard and that it was not an airplane.
Ufologists made with that a case dated September 24, 1954; which seems hardly possible since it would be the date of publication in the press.
Apparently, ufologist Michel Jeantheau found in this same Sud-Ouest for September 24, 1954, that a "luminous flat ruler" was sighted in Clermont-Ferrand on September 22, 1954.
[Ref. avs1:] NEWSPAPER "L'AVENIR DE L'ARTOIS":
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
CLERMONT-FERRRAND
Several residents of Clermont declared to have seen, above the Puy de Dôme, a luminous crafgt of very elongated oval shape fly, seeming to move slowly to the northeast.
Four people in particular claimed to have observed the craft for 2 minutes before it disappeared while gaining altitude. All witnesses are affirmative; no noise was heard. It could not have been a plane.
[Ref. laa1:] "L'AVENIR D'AUCHEL" NEWSPAPER:
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CLERMONT-FERRAND
Several people of Clermont-Ferrand said that they had seen a luminous craft of very elongated oval shape above the Puy de Dôme, seeming to move relatively slowly towards the northeast.
Four people in particular claimed to have observed the craft for 2 minutes before it disappeared while gaining altitude. All the witnesses are affirmative: no noise was heard. It could not have been a plane.
[Ref. jdb1:] NEWSPAPER "LE JOURNAL DE BRUAY":
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22
Several residents of Clermont stated that they saw, above the Puy de Dôme, a very elongated oval-shaped luminous craft that seemed to be moving quite slowly towards the northeast.
Four people in particular claimed to have observed the craft for 2 minutes before it disappeared while gaining altitude. All the witnesses are affirmative: no noise was heard. It couldn't have been a plane.
[Ref. ppe1:] NEWSPAPER "PARIS-PRESSE":
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From the Moselle to the Bidassoa, the "Martian" offensive is developing. It is now by squadrons that saucers and cigars fly over the territory. We counted up to six at a time, yesterday, above Lantefontaine-les-Baroches, in Lorraine. Several dozen workers saw them.
"We first saw," they said, "two 'cigars', then four more craft joined the first two. All of them stood perfectly still for a moment and finally disappeared instantly."
Their statements are confirmed by several other people.
In Bayonne, yesterday afternoon, three were seen. A peacekeeper, Mr. Corrions, who was in the Halles district, observed these three motionless craft, arranged in a triangle and slightly oval in shape. They were, he said, the size of a rugby ball and appeared to be at a considerable height.
In Le Puy, only one cigar, but the end was, it seems, glowing.
In Clermont-Ferrand, the same probably left behind a pink trail; in Langeac (Haute-Loire), it was a white glow.
In Epinal, it is no longer a cigar but a yellow saucer, "surrounded by a paler ring".
In the Charente-Maritime, three fishermen and a customs officer saw the other night a formation of three saucers which was scouring, while that with binoculars, yesterday afternoon, in Villebois-Lavalette (Charente), Mrs. Faubert and Miss Forgeron clearly distinguished a "slightly conical" cigar.
In the Limousin, terror reigns. In Roches (Creuse), the children no longer dare to go to school alone: a man of strange appearance who is hiding in thickets was seen. Two young shepherdesses also saw him near Chamboulève (Corrèze). One wonders whether the "Martian" who, the other day, kissed a Bugeat farmer and left without saying a word on board his saucer, left a companion who wanders through the Limousin maquis. The gendarmes are looking for the "Martian", but have not yet encountered him...
[Ref. lml1:] NEWSPAPER "LE MIDI LIBRE":
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of a rugby ball and appeared to be at a considerable height."
In the Meurthe-and-Moselle, several tens of workmen of "Sidelor", living the area of Lantefontaine-les-Baroches (M.-and-M.). claim to have seen six flying cigars between 04:30 and 05:00 in the sky .
"We initially saw, they said, two "cigars", then afterwards, four other craft came to join the two first. All remained motionless one moment for finally disappearing instantaneously."
In Le Puy, Mrs. Chaumard, resident of the district of La Girète, saw in the sky a machine having the shape of a cigar reddish glowing at an end, silent and appearing motionless. She managed to observe the machine during nearly a quarter of hour, then the "cigar" suddenly disappeared by taking altitude.
The same observations were made by six inhabitants of Langeac (Haute-Loire) and several inhabitants of Gelles (Puy-de-Dome) or Clermont-Ferrand.
In this area, rugby players training at the Vichy stadium saw a "flying cigar".
From Villefranche-of-Rouergue in Aveyron, it is reported that an owner of Vabre-Tézac, Mr. Marre, saw a yellowish mass of color which moved away towards the south, without leaving behind any trace of smoke.
The attention of Mr. Marre had been drawn by the noise of an engine.
Other inhabitants of the locality also heard, from the inside of their house, the same noise, but not having come out, they did not see the weird "mass."
[Ref. aml3:] AIME MICHEL:
Writing about the alignment of observations Bayonne-Vichy for September 24, 1954, he thought he discovered, Aimé Michel noted:
I had, at the end of my investigation in 1957, found nine points in all. Searching for years, Jacques Vallée found five others.
It turns out that on five additional observations one (Sierra de Gardunha, Portugal) is situated on Bavic, which thus becomes a seven-point alignment of enormous improbability, and that the other four (Vierzon, Clermont-Ferrand, Besançon and Grenoble) form two new alignments.
[Ref. mju1:] MICHEL JEANTHEAU:
While browsing his documentation to check the cases allotted to the September 24 of 1954 that presumedly formed an line with Bayonne and Vichy as reference points, Michel Jeantheau checks on a case that Jacques Vallée indicated as of September 24, 1954 in Clermont-Ferrand.
He notes that it is impossible to know which observation in Clermont-Ferrand Jacques Vallée intends to refer to since he does not give any source or description.
He finds out in the regional newspaper Sud-Ouest, of Bordeaux, for September 24, 1954, that a "flat luminous ruler" was seen in Clermont-Ferrand on September 22, 1954.
[Ref. goe1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:
The Belgian ufologist indicates that in 1954, on September 24 in France, in Clermont-Ferrand "unspecified hour: a luminous machine of lengthened form."
The source is indicated as "M. FIGUET/J.L. RUCHON: "Ovni, le premier dossier complet.." - éd. Alain Lefeuvre 1979, p. 85."
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the "Puy de Dômes" in Clermont Ferrand on September 24, 1954 at an unknown hour "a luminous craft of lengthened form is observed. "
The source is noted as "Ovni, Premier dossier complet... by Figuet M./ Ruchon J.L. ** Alain Lefeuvre 1979 pub."
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Possible slow meteor or jet plane.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, flat, luminous
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | April 11, 2006 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 17, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | February 10, 2010 | Addition [goe1], [lcn1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | August 30, 2019 | Additions [aml3], Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | March 26, 2020 | Additions [avs1]. In the Summary, addition of the paragraph "In the local newspaper L'Avenir de l'Artois..." Explanations changed, were "Totally insufficient information." |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | May 19, 2020 | Addition [laa1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | March 15, 2021 | Addition [ppe1]. |
| 1.6 | Patrick Gross | March 8, 2022 | Addition [jdb1]. |
