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The 1954 French flap:

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October 4, 1954, Arnage, Sarthe:

Reference for this case: 4-Oct-54-Arnage.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Reports:

[Ref. ppe1:] NEWSPAPER "PARIS-PRESSE":

Scan.

Descended from his "saucer" in Loctudy (Finistère)

A MARTIAN, SMALL, HAIRY AND UGLY, TAPPED ON THE SHOULDER
OF A COURAGEOUS BAKERY APPRENTICE

... While in Paris, a cardboard salesman sees a "flying disc" above the Porte Dorée

AGAIN a Martian. Each department will soon have its own. It was in the Finistère that the last specimen of the species appeared. This time, he showed himself without a helmet, with his face uncovered. He was not pretty.

A baker from Loctudy, Mr. Pierre Lucas, saw him disembark yesterday at 4 a.m. in a saucer flying three meters in diameter, in the courtyard of the bakery.

- He was no more than 1 m. 20 tall, he says. He approached me and tapped me on the shoulder with unintelligible words.

"I managed to keep my cool," continues the courageous bakery apprentice. The visitor followed me into the bakery. In the light, I could stare at him. His face was covered with hair and eyes the size of a crow's egg. I called my boss, but the Martian, when he arrived, was already gone. And the saucer was gone."

That same night, a Concarneau beer merchant saw two luminous round tables in the sky, extended by a sort of tail.

In the Nord, one did not see a Martian, but the gendarmes of Beuvry-les-Béthune wrote up a report against a manufacturer of flying saucers. He is a pensioner, named d'Oliveira. He is not Martian, but Portuguese. A whole stock of saucers was found in his attic. In fact, they were paper balloons 1 m. 50 to 5 meters in diameter, and of all colors.

I launched thousands of them, he said. It was so beautiful. In the evening, it looked like fireballs...

The saucer factory is now closed. The industrialist will be prosecuted for "having set off flaming devices within 100 meters of the homes".

Bad day yesterday for the saucers in the Nord: an investigation, carried out at Bray-Dunes, near Dunkirk, allowed to establish that the craft seen in this region were jet planes from the Belgian base of Coxide.

"Flying tram"

A resident of Haubourdin however observed a "flying tram", and a child saw a saucer land at Cheny, near Lille; which left traces "like that, he said, of a frog man". The gendarmes examined these traces; they looked very similar to those of horse hooves.

Paris, which the saucers have neglected until now, was favored by an appearance yesterday afternoon. A flying disc, followed by a plume of smoke, flew at 4:30 p.m. over the Porte Dorée under the eyes of Mr. Allouis, cardboard salesman. Several other people confirmed his testimony. But a spoilsport suggests that the flying disc, which he also observed, was, it seemed, a flying wing.

One saw yesterday a good twenty saucers, cigars, fireballs, light globes, at Limoges, at Brive, at Azat-le-Ris and at Magnac-Laval (Haute-Vienne), at Forgès and Le Mazin (Corrèze), at Payzac (Dordogne), at Chàteau-Chinon, at Nassier, in the Poitou marshes, at Vix (Vendée), at La Rochelle, at Albi.

Near Clermont-Ferrand, two saucers which, in passing, gave off a smell of nitro-benzine; near La Rochelle, another one that left oil stains when it landed in a meadow.

Finally, a technician from the weather station at Mans-Arnage observed yesterday morning at 6:08 a.m. two strong dark red lights.

- They were, he said, neither planes, nor sounding balloons, nor meteors. But I will not go so far as to claim that these are flying saucers...

[Ref. fso1:] NEWSPAPER "FRANCE-SOIR":

Scan.

Petrifying rays, flying eggs throughout France

[Ref. jgu1:] JIMMY GUIEU:

The author regrets that the testimony of a technician is not taken into account more than testimonies of ordinary people, that the facts reported by specialists do not impress the learned assemblies more. He gives in example the following case, quoting the newspaper "Le Maine Libre":

"Yesterday (October 5), at 6:08 a.m., whereas he observed the sky (as his profession requires) the technician of the weather station Mans-Arnage officially noted the presence at the zenith of two strong gleams of a dark red; they were at a very high altitude, moved without any noise. No smoke was apparent; the observation was made on several occasions in a very clear sky. An official report was made by the observer and the information forwarded to Paris which, in its turn, alerted all the stations; we believe that the same phenomenon was recorded in the Yonne. Here is thus information worthy of faith, made and consigned by a person who cannot be mistaken."

"We visited the technicians of the Mancelle station. Prudence reigns there, for no error is allowed there."

"- We saw an unknown phenomenon; it was neither a plane, neither a weather balloon, of a meteor; that is not to claim that they were flying saucers or flying cigars, not at all; we do not affirm nor deny anything: it will rest to the men of science to tell (if it is possible) the exact nature of our observations".

Jimmy Guieu says that he extremely well understands the prudence of this weather technician, that even if he had seen, within three steps of him, a spacecraft on the ground, the same prudence would not have surprised him because the technician would have incurred dangers by telling the truth, for there would have always be scientistic people to overpower him with sarcastic remarks.

He adds that the scientists sufficiently proved, for 9 years, their open hostility towards all that touches with the problem of the flying saucers, and that the fear of "reprisals" - i.e. the charges of trickery, of gentle madness or others criticize aiming at "harassing" the witness - is such that technicians themselves are the first to fear them.

[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:

October 5 [, 1954]

[... other cases...]

06:08 a.m.: Le Mans-Arnage(7 km S.Le mans--Sarthe): 2 red lum.obj.

[... other cases...]

[Ref. gep1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "GEPO":

10/04/54 () Le Mans Arnage 007V3 x

[Ref. gep2:] "GEPO" UFOLOGY GROUP:

10/05/54 (06.30) Le Mans Arnage 4 09 (envol) 006XV YP

[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:

The two authors investigated on this case and tell it was published in the newspaper "Le Maine Libre" as:

"Yesterday (October 5, 1954) at 06:08 of the morning, whereas he observed the sky (as his profession requires), the technician of the weather station Mans Arnage officially noted the presence at the Zenith of two strong gleams of a dark red; they were at a very high altitude, moved without any noise. No smoke was visible; the observation was made on several occasions in a very clear sky. A formal report was established by the observer and the information transmitted to Paris, which in their turn alerted all the stations; we believe it that the same phenomenon was recorded in Yonne. "We saw an unknown phenomenon; it is neither a plane, neither a weather balloon, nor of a meteor; that is not to claim that they are flying saucers or flying cigars, far from it; we do not affirm nor deny anything; it will rest upon the men of science to tell the exact nature of our observations."

Barthel et Brucker found out that the witness indeed logged his sighting, like this:

"5 h 08 mn UTC. Observation at the zenith of two strong gleams of dark red color."

[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:

Base nr: 1287 No known official investigation
Place of observation: Arnage Department: Sarthe (72) Lat. 47.933 Long. +0.183
Date of observation: 04 October 1954 Time: 06:08 a.m.
Type of observation: Visual: Distant Number of witnesses: 1
A technician of the weather station had his attention drawn by two strong gleams, dark red, which moved at the zenith. They seemed to be located at high altitude. No noise was heard. The sky was very clear.
Number of object: 2 Type of object: Not-defined
Main color: Dark red No indication on luminosity Clear weather, bright sky
Physical effects: No
Effects on the witness: No
Presence of entities: No

Sources

by **

[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:

The website indicates that on 3 October 1954 in Arnage, France, "Unidentified objects were sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. Two objects were observed."

The sources is indicated as: Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073).

[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":

This database recorded the case twice:

Case Nr. New case Nr. Investigator Date of observation Zip Place of observation Country of observation Hour of observation Classification Comments Identification
19541003 03.10.1954 Arnage France NL
19541005 05.10.1954 Le Mans-Arnage France

Explanations:

Map.

Not looked for yet.

Keywords:

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

Arnage, Sarthe, light, red, high, zenith, technician, silent

Sources:

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

Document history:

Version: Created/Changed by: Date: Change Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross May 6, 2005 First published.
1.0 Patrick Gross March 15, 2009 Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [bbr1], [uda1].
1.2 Patrick Gross March 12, 2010 Addition [jgu1].
1.3 Patrick Gross January 3, 2017 Additions [fso1], [ubk1].
1.4 Patrick Gross December 25, 2019 Addition [ppe1].
1.5 Patrick Gross April 27, 2022 Additions [gqy1], [gep1], [gep2].

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This page was last updated on April 27, 2022.