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URECAT - UFO Related Entities Catalog

October 16, 1954, Neuilly-l'Evêque, Haute-Marne, France, César:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

Mr. César, 61 years-old Polish resident of a small house since 17 years in the top of Neuilly-L'Evêque, was employed as mason in Chalindrey and went from construction site to construction site. But every morning at the same hour, it went to the Chermude quarters in Chalindrey. He did just so on Saturday, October 16, 1954, at 6 o'clock, by bicycle.

He was under a thick fog which covered the valley and the road of Andilly, pedaling, when, arrived at some hundred yards of the railway crossing of the exit of Neuilly-l'Evêque, he saw, on his left, in a grazing ground, within 150 meters approximately, a strange "homunculus", who was "only" 1.50 meters tall. Surprised, he slowed down, and then saw the small individual moving towards a machine having the shape of a reversed bowl, high of a 2.50 meters meter and broad of 1 meter.

César was adamant about the precision of these various dimensions, specifying that the small man exceeded of more than one head the disc in which he took seat. As soon as the small man had settled there, his machine slipped gently on the grazing ground on 20 to 30 yards, then, suddenly, rose in the airs without emitting a noise.

Scared, César did not try to see some more, and passed the railway crossing as soon as possible.

Such are the facts reported at the time by the regional newspaper, in which we are also told that César's colleagues stated he is a serious person and a hard worker whom they much appreciated. His story was listened to with more or less seriously, which angered César, and he insisted: he saw what he told he saw, and it gave him one of the biggest frights of his life.

The case was then lost in oblivion, and was only exhumed in 1986, more than 30 years later, by ufologist Fernand Lagarde, in the form of the newspaper's article he found in his file.

Then in 1997, ufologist Jean Sider discusses the case again, adding that another newspaper had given the following explanation: Mr. César had actually seen a 4CV car and his driver was a gendarme who came to pick up mushrooms, and the fog allowed the misinterpretation. But Jean Sider rejects this explanation as due to an alleged jealousy between the two newspapers, and vituperates against some "socio-psycho of the East" of France who are said to have dared to accept the explanation.

I, from the East of France but not one bit of a "socio-psycho", had the chance in 2004 to be contacted by a resident of Neuilly L'Evêque who was aged 11 at the time of the event and remembers it perfectly. The affair caused a big fuss at the time, he told, and the gendarmes of the Rolampont squad were sent. My correspondent confirms that César, in all good faith, had indeed been deceived by the fog. It was indeed a person from our own planet whom my correspondent knows, who had left in 4CV car to pick up mushrooms, and who was not recognized as such under the very heavy fog that reigned on the location.

César had not lied one bit, he gave rather probable dimensions when the 150 meters observation distance is remembered, a 4CV is indeed a machine, it does look a bit like a saucer, and one does sit inside. Probably because of the flap of stories of flying saucers in the newspapers then and not knowing exactly what a flying saucer was supposed to be, Cesar had let himself been impressed by the ghostly and distant display, the silence due to the fog probably contributed, the car being in a pasture and not on the road adding to the confusion, and the newspaper probably added the "homunculus" notion for the man that Cesar specified to be one meter fifty all the same.

All this does not prevent the case from surviving without mention of the explanation in ufological catalogues here and there.

Basic information table:

Narratives:

[Ref. hml1:] NEWSPAPER "LA HAUTE-MARNE LIBEREE":

[Ref. g521] "5255" UFOLOGY GROUP:

[Ref. g522] "5255" UFOLOGY GROUP:

[Ref. fle1:] FERNAND LAGARDE:

Ufologist Fernand Lagarde presented the case in Neuilly-L'Evêque on October 16, 1954, in the magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit within an article compiling previously unknown cases found in his archive.

He presents it in the form of an integral transcription of the newspaper article in La Haute Marne Libérée for October 19, 1954, indicating it as source, without additional comments.

[Ref. mft1:] MICHEL FIGUET:

The ufologist noted in a version of his FRANCAT listing, as additions to FRANCAT:

[Ref. rre1:] RAOUL ROBE:

[Ref. mft1:] MICHEL FIGUET:

[Ref. rre2:] RAOUL ROBE - CNEGU:

[Ref. jsr1:] JEAN SIDER:

Jean Sider indicates that on October 16, 1954 at 6 o'clock in the morning in Neuilly-l'Evêque in the department of the Haute-Marne, Mr. César, then 60 years old, was riding a bicycle to go to his work in Chalindrey, in the fog, which did not prevent it from seeing a "homunculus of 1 m 50" in a pasture at the edge of the road at the exit of Neuilly-l'Evêque.

He slowed down for better seeing it and noticed that "the small character" moved towards a "machine in the shape of an inverted bowl of one meter height" on two meters broad, that "the homunculus" exceeded by more than one head in height. The homunculus seated himself in the machine which gently slipped on the meadow on a distance from 30 to 40 meters then rose without noise and disappeared in the fog.

Jean Sider indicates that his local source is the newspaper "La Haute Marne Libérée" of Chaumont on page 3, for October 19, 1954.

He specifies that the rival newspaper "Le Haut-Marnais Républicain" had maintained a controversy on another case and had taken a revenge in their October 21, 1954 issue, on page 4 by writing that what Mr. César had seen was a 4CV car and its driver a gendarme who came to pick up mushrooms, the fog having maintained the mistake.

He charges that tenants of the sociopsychological theory ("socio-psychos") of the East (of France) have jumped on this explanation without seeking of to know more, but that their reducing version does not hold for two reasons:

He writes that a gendarme can absolutely not be mistaken for a homunculus or a dwarf, and in addition, a car cannot fly away.

[Ref. rre3:] RAOUL ROBE:

[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":

[Ref. pgs1:] PATRICK GROSS:

I received this e-Mail; which explains the case:

[Ref. ars1:] ALBERT ROSALES:

[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:

This catalogue indicates that in Neuilly L'Evêque in the Haute Marne on October 16, 1954 at 06:00 hours, a witness was on bicycle on the road going to Chalindrey. The fog covered the valley. A hundred meters before the level crossing, he observed on his left the presence of an entity of human form of approximately 1 m 50 size. He was surprised and slowed down. The entity then joined an object in the form of a reversed bowl of 2 m 50 broad by 1 m in height. He clearly saw that the entity had a size higher than the height of the object. After he took seat, the object slipped gently initially on a distance from 20 to 30 m, then rose suddenly in the airs without any sound.

The source is noted "Lumières dans la Nuit by **".

[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:

The website indicates that on 16 October 1954 at 06:00 in Neuilly L'Eveque, France, "Humanoid in road runs to 2.5m diameter disc. UFO glides 30m, then shoots straight up. Silent." And: "Close encounter with an unidentified craft and its occupants. One disc, about 10 feet across, was observed in a pasture for over one minute. No sound was heard."

The source is indicated as "Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002".

[Ref. jgz1:] JULIEN GONZALEZ:

The author indicates that there was a close encounter of the third kind in Neuilly-l'Evêque, the Haute-Marne, on October 16, 1954, at 06:00, the witness being Mr. César, 60 years old at the time.

He drove by bicycle towards Chalindrey where he worked, there was fog, but this handicap did not prevent it from seeing in a pasture at the edge of the road, at the exit of Neuilly-l'Evêque, a "homunculus" of only 1,50 m.

He slowed down for better seeing and noticed that the small being moved towards a machine in the shape of a bowl turned upside down of a height of one meter by two meters fifty broad.

The homunculus exceeded his machine of more than one head, and it took seat inside. The machine slipped gently on the meadow on thirty to forty meters, then it rose without noise and disappeared in the fog.

The sources are indicated as Haute-Marne Libérée for October 19, 1954; Jean Sider, Le dossier 1954 et l'imposture rationaliste, pages 204-205.

[Ref. prn2:] PETER ROGERSON - "INTCAT":

Note: The source reference "P Gross URECAT" is my file as it appears in my CE3 catalogue URECAT; the file content is the same as this page of my France 1954 catalogue. Rogerson presents the case as if the "evaulation" was his own, and does not reflect the content of my file.

Points to consider:

See case summary at the top of this file, and a Renault 4CV car photograph underneath:

Confusion in the fog:

Mr. César, 61 years-old Polish resident of a small house since 17 years in the top of Neuilly-L'Evêque, was employed as mason in Chalindrey and went from construction site to construction site. But every morning at the same hour, it went to the Chermude quarters in Chalindrey. He did just so on Saturday, October 16, 1954, at 6 o'clock, by bicycle.

He was under a thick fog which covered the valley and the road of Andilly, pedaling, when, arrived at some hundred yards of the railway crossing of the exit of Neuilly-l'Evêque, he saw, on his left, in a grazing ground, within 150 meters approximately, a strange "homunculus", who was "only" 1.50 meters tall. Surprised, he slowed down, and then saw the small individual moving towards a machine having the shape of a reversed bowl, high of a 2.50 meters meter and broad of 1 meter.

César was adamant about the precision of these various dimensions, specifying that the small man exceeded of more than one head the disc in which he took seat. As soon as the small man had settled there, his machine slipped gently on the grazing ground on 20 to 30 yards, then, suddenly, rose in the airs without emitting a noise.

Scared, César did not try to see some more, and passed the railway crossing as soon as possible.

Such are the facts reported at the time by the regional newspaper, in which we are also told that César's colleagues stated he is a serious person and a hard worker whom they much appreciated. His story was listened to with more or less seriously, which angered César, and he insisted: he saw what he told he saw, and it gave him one of the biggest frights of his life.

The case was then lost in oblivion, and was only exhumed in 1986, more than 30 years later, by ufologist Fernand Lagarde, in the form of the newspaper's article he found in his file.

Then in 1997, ufologist Jean Sider discusses the case again, adding that another newspaper had given the following explanation: Mr. César had actually seen a 4CV car and his driver was a gendarme who came to pick up mushrooms, and the fog allowed the misinterpretation. But Jean Sider rejects this explanation as due to an alleged jealousy between the two newspapers, and vituperates against some "socio-psycho of the East" of France who are said to have dared to accept the explanation.

I, from the East of France but not one bit of a "socio-psycho", had the chance in 2004 to be contacted by a resident of Neuilly L'Evêque who was aged 11 at the time of the event and remembers it perfectly. The affair caused a big fuss at the time, he told, and the gendarmes of the Rolampont squad were sent. My correspondent confirms that César, in all good faith, had indeed been deceived by the fog. It was indeed a person from our own planet whom my correspondent knows, who had left in 4CV car to pick up mushrooms, and who was not recognized as such under the very heavy fog that reigned on the location.

César had not lied one bit, he gave rather probable dimensions when the 150 meters observation distance is remembered, a 4CV is indeed a machine, it does look a bit like a saucer, and one does sit inside. Probably because of the flap of stories of flying saucers in the newspapers then and not knowing exactly what a flying saucer was supposed to be, Cesar had let himself been impressed by the ghostly and distant display, the silence due to the fog probably contributed, the car being in a pasture and not on the road adding to the confusion, and the newspaper probably added the "homunculus" notion for the man that Cesar specified to be one meter fifty all the same.

All this does not prevent the case from surviving without mention of the explanation in ufological catalogues here and there.

Last but not least, the case is very similar to another such confusion in which a witness mistook a man and a car in foggy conditions for a flying saucer.

List of issues:

Evaluation:

Confusion, car and driver in fog at 150 meters.

Sources references:

* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.

• [hml1] * Article in the regional newspaper La Haute Marne Libérée, France, October 19, 1954.
• [hmr1] ? Article in the regional newspaper Le Haut-Marnais Républicain, France, October 19, 1954.
• [g521] * "Archives", newspaper clipping compiled by Jean-Charles Azzopardi, in the ufology bulletin Groupe 5255, of the "Groupe d'Etude et de Recherche sur les OVNI Haute Marne / Meuse", France, #1, February 1980.
• [g522] * "Les Humanoïdes en Haute-Marne et en Meuse", catalogue compiled by René Thome, Groupe 5255, in the ufology bulletin Groupe 5255, of the "Groupe d'Etude et de Recherche sur les OVNI Haute Marne / Meuse", France, #2, December 1980.
• [fle1] * "De l'Inédit Dans Nos Archives de 1954 et 1956", article by Fernand Lagarde, in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #259-260, pp 42-43, January/February 1986.
• [mft1] * "Catalogue Francat des Rencontres Rapprochées en France (Listing 800 - 1982) (5 - Suite)", compiled by Michel Figuet, in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #262-263, page 21, May/June 1986.
• [rre1] * "Catalogue Régional des Observations d'Humanoïdes du Nord-Est de la France et du Luxembourg (1)", compiled by Raoul Robé, Alain Gamard, M.L. Blaise, M.D. Bleux, in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans la Nuit (LDLN), France, #267-268, page 41, September - October 1986.
• [mft2] * "Additif à FRANCAT", list by Michel Figuet, in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #263-264, page 21, May / June 1986.
• [rre2] * "Catalogue Régional d'Observations d'Humanoïdes - 3^ème édition", compiled by Raoul Robé, in the annual ufology magazine Les Mystères de l'Est, CNEGU, France, #1, page 15, 1995.
• [jsr1] * "Le Dossier 1954 et l'Imposture Rationaliste", book by Jean Sider, Ramuel publisher, France, page 204, 1997.
• [rre3] * "Catalogue régional des apparitions d'humanoïdes dans le Nord Est - Réponse des "débunkers de l'Est" à Jean Sider", article by Raoul Robé, in the annual ufology magazine Les Mystères de l'Est, CNEGU, France, #4, pp 142-143, 1998.
• [lhh1] * "*U* Computer Database", database by Larry Hatch, USA, circa 2002.
• [pgs1] * Personal e-Mail to the author of this website, France, May 31, 2004.
• [ars1] * "1954 Humanoid Reports", compiled by Albert Rosales, circa 2001, at www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1954.shtml
• [lcn1] * Record on the web site Base OVNI France, par Luc Chastan, France, circa 2005, at baseovnifrance.free.fr/detobs.php?numobs=2042
• [uda1] * "16 Oct 1954 - Neuilly L'Eveque, France", web page by the website UFOdna, circa 2008, à ufodna.com/uf16/uf2/162559.htm
• [jgz1] * "RR3 - Le Dossier des Rencontres du Troisième Type en France", book by Julien Gonzalez, Le Temps Présent publishers, France, page 142, 2014.
• [prn2] * "INTCAT 1954", catalogue compiled by Peter Rogerson, U-K., circa 2016, at https://intcat.blogspot.com/search?q=1954

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This page was last updated on December 8, 2019.