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The 1954 French flap:

The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.

September 22, 1954, Paris, Paris:

Reference for this case: 22-Sep-54-Paris.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

In the 1986 book by Wendelle Stevens and August Roberts, "UFO Photographers Around the World", these authors claimed that there was a case on September 22, 1954 of a "writer living at the foot of the Eiffel Tower" who became "depressed by the insensitivity of humanity" who "did not want to look into the Saturn-shaped UFO photograph he had taken."

The case of "the depressed writer" is likely this case in Paris on September 22, 1954; but there was never any notion that he took a picture, and never any mention of "a Saturn shape".

Reports:

[Ref. jbs1:] VICENTE-JUAN BALLESTER-OLMOS, "FOTOCAT 1954":

Date: 22 September 1954
Location: Paris (France)
Format: Non-event
Photographer: Not known

EXPLANATION: Not available

REFERENCES: Wendelle Stevens and August Roberts, UFO Photographs Around the World, 1986.

An alleged weird case from a "writer living at the foot of the Eiffel Tower" who became "depressed about the insensibility of humanity" who did not notice the Saturn-shaped UFO he had photographed.

REMARKS: French sources are not aware of any UFO photo being taken that date at the France capital. In Loren E. Gross, UFOs: A History. 1954: September, 1991, pages 38, 43 and 49, some sightings in the area are included. Quoting from Paris journals France-Soir, September 24, 1954 and Le Parisién Liberè, October 1, 1954, it is told that "near the Champ de Mars, a writer spotted a mysterious ball of light... the intellectual walked the streets to study the curiosity of the typical Parisian (to discover that) no one seemed to pay any heed to the motionless spot in the heavens". Further, the writer contacted Aimé Michel "marveling at the indifference of the crowds". It seems it refers to the individual above and the added photographic story is spurious.

[Ref. jbs2:] VICENTE-JUAN BALLESTER-OLMOS, "FOTOCAT 1954":

(56) Date: 22 September 1954
Time: Unknown
Location: Paris, Ville de Paris (France)
Format: Picture
Photographer: Not known
Explanation: Non-event
References: Wendelle Stevens and August Roberts, UFO Photographs Around the World, Volume 1 (Tucson, Arizona, 1986).

An alleged weird case from a “writer living at the foot of the Eiffel Tower” who became “depressed about the insensibility of humanity” who did not notice the Saturn-shaped UFO he had photographed. Remarks: French sources are not aware of any UFO photo being taken that date at the France capital. In Loren E. Gross, UFOs: A History. 1954: September (Fremont, California, 1991), pages 38, 43 and 49, some sightings in the area are included. Quoting from Paris journals France-Soir, September 24, 1954 and Le Parisién Liberè, October 1, 1954, it is told that “near the Champ de Mars, a writer spotted a mysterious ball of light...the intellectual walked the streets to study the curiosity of the typical Parisian (to discover that) no one seemed to pay any heed to the motionless spot in the heavens”. Further, the writer contacted Aimé Michel “marveling at the indifference of the crowds.” It seems it refers to the individual above and the added photographic story is spurious.

Explanations:

Map.

Confusion and exageration around the sighting and events reported by actress Michèle Morgan (see Paris for the same day), around the sighting by writer "M. C." (see here), and probable invention of the photograph.

The Loren Gross reference does not refer to this but to the "M. C." case and other cases in Paris at that date.

Keywords:

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

Paris, photograph

Sources:

[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.

Document history:

Version: Created/Changed by: Date: Change Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross August 9, 2004 First published.
1.0 Patrick Gross January 17, 2010 Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version.
1.1 Patrick Gross April 20, 2018 Addition [jbs2]. In the Explanations, addition of the paragraph "The Loren Gross reference does not refer..."
1.2 Patrick Gross August 29, 2019 Addition of the Summary.

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This page was last updated on August 29, 2019.