France 1954 -> Home 

Cette page en françaisCliquez!

The 1954 French flap:

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

January 26, 1954, Saulon-la-Chapelle, Côte-d'Or:

Reference for this case: 26-Jan-54-Saulon-la-Chapelle.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

The ufologist and journalist Charles Garreau, in his newspaper La Bourgogne Républicaine, from Dijon, had called for witnesses about a luminous phenomenon - in fact a meteor - seen from Dijon on the morning of January 26, 1954. He published in this newspaper on page 5, January 28, 1954, collected testimonies, among which that of Mr. Gaston Dijoux, night watchman at the barrier of the Saulon-la-Chapelle railway station, and his companion, Mr. Sezandase.

Around 4:50 a.m., they had seen "a weird purple ray piercing the clouds, then the ray disappeared, giving way to a very bright light which illuminated" all of Saulon-la-Chapelle.

They had been, said the newspaper, "deeply struck by this somewhat fantastic spectacle!"

Garreau, because in Dijon the thing was supposed to fly "under the clouds" - he did not understand that a very bright meteor could be visible even above a clouds layer - had decided that it could not be a meteor.

He, like others afterwards, mixed up these observations of January 9, 1954, without realizing that it was the meteor which had flown over the Côte-d'Or and the Vosges that morning.

Reports:

[Ref. bre1:] NEWSPAPER "LA BOURGOGNE REPUBLICAINE":

Scan.

Did you see the saucer?

This is the title of a program by Jimmi Guieu, investigator of an international commission of investigation of the flying saucers; which is aired every day around 4:30 p.m., on the antenna of Radio Monte-Carlo.

This is also the question we asked our readers yesterday, following the luminous phenomenon observed Tuesday morning in the sky of Dijon.

Thus, yesterday, two of them called us.

One, Mr. Gautherot, of Aiseray, saw a rather large disc, orange-red, which disappeared leaving a luminous trail.

"It was going very fast", he said, "coming from Dijon and going towards Saint-Jean-de-Losne!" Mr. Gotherot woke his wife, who had time to see the trail.

Another observation: that of Mr. Gaston Dijoux (night watchman at the barrier of Saulon train station) and his companion, Mr. Sezandase.

Around 4:50 a.m., they saw a weird purple ray piercing the clouds. The ray disappeared, giving way to a very bright light that illuminated all of Saulon.

Both were deeply struck by this somewhat fantastic spectacle!

The question remains: what object crossed the sky in our region on Tuesday morning?

In any case, it was completely covered, and the ceiling was at 1,400 meters!

[Ref. via2:] "VIMANA 21" UFOLOGY BULLETIN:

54 01 26 / DIJON / 4H50 / NL / P /

Around 4:50, several people saw in the sky a lightning trail that moved noiselessly over the city.

Duration: a few seconds and low altitude. Observed in numerous places in the Côte d'Or: Pontailler, Saulon la Chapelle, Til Châtel, St Maurice sur Vingeanne and Nuits st Georges.

(Source: Alerte dans le ciel, Ch. Garreau, p. 104 to 106, Bien Public, 1/27/54)

[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:

The webmaster indicates that on January 26, 1954 at 04:50 a.m. in Saulon la Chapelle in the Côte-d'Or, an intense gleam suddenly illuminated the sky. It was so bright that it lighted the inside of the houses through the shutters.

The source is indicated as "Alerte dans le ciel by Garreau Charles ** Alain Lefeuvre 1981".

Explanations:

Map.

The meteor of January 26, 1954, at 04:50.

It is remarkable that in this case, the witnesse apparently did report that the light seemed to be piercing the clouds...

Keywords:

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

Saulon-la-Chapelle, Côte-d'Or, night, light, intense, illuminated, bright

Sources:

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

Document history:

Version: Created/Changed by: Date: Change Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross July 12, 2007 First published.
1.0 Patrick Gross February 24, 2010 Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version.
1.1 Patrick Gross January 31, 2019 Additions [via2], Summary.
1.2 Patrick Gross January 29, 2021 Addition [bre12]. Summary chnaged, was ""Ufologist and journalist Cahrles Garreau had reported from press sources that on January 26, 1954, at 04:50 in the morning, in Saulon-la-Chapelle in the Côte-d'Or, an intense glow had suddenly illuminated the sky, so bright that even the inside of the houses was lit through the shutters. He and others later did not realize that it was the meteor that passed over the Côte-d'Or and the Vosges that morning."

Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict



 Feedback  |  Top  |  Back  |  Forward  |  Map  |  List |  Home
This page was last updated on January 29, 2021.