The 1954 French flap:

A FLYING SAUCER
SPOTTED
IN THE REGION OF LORETTE

A flying saucer was sighted at Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, on the evening of Sunday, October 3, by Mr. Louis Lherbier, general insurance agent, rue Marcel Lancino. The latter, being in his courtyard, was intrigued by the presence of a small reddish ball that seemed to move in the air, in the direction of Villers-au-Bois. He focused his attention on this ball which was moving towards Ablain and growing rapidly. He then called his wife, as well as Mr. Robert Mairesse, employee of the Mines, and the latter's wife.

The four people saw very well the thing that eventually took on the shape of a rotating pot. Then after a few minutes, this strange object quickly rose into the air and disappeared from the sight of the above people.

Also, one of our correspondents tells us that several people, Sunday evening, around 9:30 p.m., were able to realize the presence of "apparatuses" of unknown type. Residents of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire claim to have recognized a saucer that landed between two haystacks.

Mr. J.-B. Lecoq, of Liévin, distinguished in the sky, around the Lorette Lighthouse, a luminous craft in the shape of a crescent which oscillated slightly. He stopped several people to make them see the validity of what he was afraid of being only a vision.

From this oblong-shaped craft the lower part split, descended to the ground and came to resume shortly after its position against the upper part. A black line appeared for a moment at the border of the two parts.

The saucer then descended in the valley behind the high places of Lorette, to reappear shortly after before fyling away towards the horizon.

AFTER THE SAUCERS AND CIGARS

Here come the barrels, discs, pots, crescents, and other flying objects!

Le Havre, October 5. -- Mr. André Lefebvre, a taxi driver, who was parked last night around 8:00 PM at the port, saw a glowing disc that, west of Deauville, rose into the sky, leaving behind a phosphorescent trail and a light smoke. This phenomenon, which was visible for ten minutes, was also witnessed by several sailors returning to their boat.

A "big headlight" in the Haute-Loire

LE PUY. -- Mr. and Mrs. Teyssier, from Saint-Étienne, who were camping in Aurec-sur-Loire (Haute-Loire), saw in the sky a luminous object giving the impression of a large headlight moving at high speed, at about 2,000 meters altitude. The craft emitted a red-orange light beam and followed a north-south trajectory. When it disappeared, a second craft similar to the first and appearing to follow it appeared, followed the same direction, and also disappeared.

Around the same time, several people saw, above the Aurec church tower, similar crafts that, after remaining stationary for a moment, sped across the sky toward the southwest.

"Detachable crescent" in Liévin

LENS. -- On Sunday evening, around 9:30 p.m., in Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, a craft in the shape of a pot, spinning on itself, was seen in the sky by two people. It emitted a reddish glow and moved quickly.

At the same time, a craft that, this time, had the shape of a crescent, was seen in the sky in Liévin. After hovering for a few minutes, the crescent split in two. The upper part remained stationary, while the other landed in a field, between two haystacks, from where it took off shortly after to reattach to the part that remained in the air.

Barrel in the Charente

ANGOULEME. -- On Sunday evening, around 11:15 PM, on the road from Montmoreau-Ville-Bois-Lavalette (Charente), Mr. Jean Allary, 22 years old, clearly saw, in the light of his moped's headlight, a sort of barrel about 1.80 meters high, studded with golden nails, swaying on the roadside. When Mr. Allary passed the mysterious craft, he turned around about 10 meters away but saw nothing.

Witnesses saw, this afternoon, at the location indicated by Mr. Allary, traces about 7 meters long in the grass by the roadside.

Furthermore, on the same night, Miss Bellanger, residing in Cognac, saw, at an altitude of about 300 meters, a cigar-shaped, orange-colored craft moving slowly over the city.

Luminous sphere in the Saône-et-Loire

LYON. -- Several people reported seeing in the Epinac-les-Mines region (Saône-et-Loire), a kind of large luminous sphere moving slowly and strangely through the sky.

Intrigued motorists stopped on the road and were able to observe this sphere for several minutes before seeing it suddenly disappear toward Le Creusot.

A similar phenomenon was observed in Ain and in the northern Rhône department, near the Col des Écharmeaux, as well as in Isère, near Morestel.

CLERMONT-FERRAND. -- Clermont-Ferrand residents saw last night, around 7:00 PM, a luminous point in the sky the size of a large star, which frequently changed color, shifting from white to green with shades of orange. The luminous point appeared to be rotating. Upon disappearing, it left behind an orange plume.

Flying saucer in the Gard

NIMES. -- A flying saucer was seen on Sunday around 8:00 PM, in the sky over Anduze, by Mr. Edmond Nicetta and several members of his family. The craft emitted alternating blue and red lights. It remained almost stationary above Pointe Saint-Félix, though appearing to rotate on itself. It soon began to descend like a falling leaf before disappearing.

Flying saucers in the Paris sky

PARIS, October 5. -- Several Parisians reported seeing flying saucers this afternoon moving through the sky over the capital. Passersby claimed to have seen one around 4:30 PM, near Porte-Dorée.

Mr. Pierre Allouis was going about his business in a taxi when the vehicle stopped at a red light. Hearing, he said, a high-pitched whistle, he looked out the car door and saw a flying craft fleeing upwards, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake.

Mr. Allouis described the saucer as a disc larger than a normal plane and silver in color.

The same testimony is provided by Mr. Gilbert Bacon and Mr. Paul Julien. The latter, however, believes that it was not a saucer but a flying wing shaped like a triangle with rounded edges.

In the North of France, it was the mining country which was, in 1954, the seat of a great activity of the "M.O.C." [Mysterious Celestial Objects]. Yet only Ablain-Saint-Nazaire is actually located on a fault, Valenciennes being only on the edge of the mining basin. It is little indeed to justify such an activity! But everything becomes clear to us when we learn that the earthquake of June 11, 1938, took place at 25 kilometers deep between Lille and Courtrait! As in Normandy, an uneventful surface on a dislocated basement.

The weekend of October 2-3 appears on all graphs as the maximum-maximorum of the 1954 wave. Although the work of counting the press of the time is not yet finished, the 118 various issues of newspapers and magazines I have been able to analyze for this period gives us an almost complete overview, in any case very broadly representative of the regional observations which were reported in the press for Sunday, October 3. I included the observations of the Somme which seemed to me inseparable from those of Nord - Pas-de-Calais and which also appear in the chapter entitled "Zigzag on the mining country" of the book by A. Michel: "Mystérieux Objets Célestes."

I count, as one case, each observation made by an independent group of witnesses. The astonishing quantity of observations reported below, shows once again the interest of thoroughly searching the newspaper archives.

OCTOBER 3, 1954:

36) 09:30 p.m. ABLAIN-ST-NAZAIRE _52_: witnesses reportedly saw a saucer land between too haystacks. (VdN-Lens, p.5, 5/10)

The Fabulous day of October 3, 1954

[...]

Chronology of the observations of October 3.

We give here only a summary of what was published in the press of the time, for the nord region, regardless of what the ufologists could later say. We have numbered all these observations, the first of which have nothing to do with the setting of the moon, in order to be able to study them globally in a table. Some are already the subject of a special file.

[... other cases...]

36) 09:30 p.m., ABLAIN-ST-NAZAIRE (62)

- Witnesses reportedly saw a saucer land between two haystacks.

(La Voix du Nord-ed. Lens 5/10 page 6)

[... other cases...]

All this is only a compilation of the information given by all newspapers of the time, including local editions, and of which ufologists only used a part.

We will see that the analysis of this information makes it possible to eliminate the hypothesis of a flying saucer, in favor of those of multiple observations of the moon, whose image was reddened and deformed by clouds, which also gave it a illusory apparent movement.

Analysis of the observations of October 3, 1954

[... other cases...]

36) 09:30 p.m., ABLAIN-ST-NAZAIRE (62)

Same apparent behavior than the moon.

[... other cases...]

In Liévin and Ablain-St-Nazaire, two other moon saucers

La Voix du Nord gives a detailed version.

A FLYING SAUCER
SPOTTED
IN THE LORETTE REGION

A flying saucer was seen in Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, in the evening of Sunday October 3, by Mr. Louis Lherbier, general insurance agent, rue Marcel Lancino. The latter, being in his court, was intrigued by the presence of a small reddish ball, seeming to move in the air, towards Villers-aux-Bois. He focused his attention on this ball which moved towards Ablain and grew rapidly. He then called his wife, as well as Mr. Robert Mairesse, an employee of the Mines, and his wife.

The four people saw very well the thing which ultimately took the shape of a pot turning on itself. Then after a few minutes, this strange object rose quickly in the air and disappeared at the sight of the people above.

On the other hand, one of our correspondents informs us that several people, on Sunday evening, around 9 p.m. 30, were able to realize the presence of "craft" of unknown type. Residents of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire claim to have recognized a saucer which landed between two millstones.

Mr. J.-B. Lecocq, of Liévin, distinguished in the sky, around the lighthouse of Lorette, a luminous craft having the shape of a crescent which oscillated slightly. He stopped several people to make them see the merits of what he was afraid of being only a vision.

From this oblong-shaped machine, the lower part detached, and descended to the ground and came to resume shortly after its position against the upper part. A black line appeared for a moment on the border of the two parts.

The saucer then descended into the valley behind the high places of Lorette, to reappear soon after before spinning towards the horizon.

(La Voix du Nord, Lens issue, October 5, 1954, page 6)

The other sources are Nord Matin 10/5 page 10, La Croix du Nord-Arras issue 10/5 page 2, Libre Artois 10/6 page 3, Le Journal de Doullens 10/6 page 1, who say nothing more.

At Ablain-St-Nazaire we have two observations. For one, we have the description and the direction, but not the time. For the other, we have the time, but no other details.

Making the reasonable assumption that this is the same phenomenon, one observed around 9:30 p.m., a reddish object in the southwest, which changed in size and shape, and eventually disappeared as if it were landing, that is, lowering itself on the horizon.

This is indeed the behavior that the other witnesses attributed to the moon, that evening, and the hypothesis of the moon is therefore largely possible.