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URECAT - UFO Related Entities Catalog

JANUARY 17, 1978, AND ON, BOUXIERES-AUX-DAMES, MEURTHE-ET-MOSELLE, FRANCE, TEENAGERS:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

Confused summaries with somehow confused dates indicate three occurrences in Bouxières-aux-Dames, the Meurthe-and-Moselle, France, in 1978 on January 17 and October 12 and 15 apparently.

The witnesses are teenagers, not named, more or less the same ones on each occasion, repotring "figures" or "a phosphorescent character", or "wearing a transparent tunic" floating above ground-level in the countryside, under a power line on one occasion, and moving away when they direct a flashlight or headlights towards it.

Basic information table:

Narratives:

[Ref. mf1:] MICHEL FIGUET:

The ufologist noted in a version of his FRANCAT listing, as additions to FRANCAT in a category refering to possible "apparitions of the Blessed Virgin or Humanoids" all noted "case 969":

Il note encore:

Et enfin:

[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:

Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Bouxieres aux Dames, France, on October 12, 1978, at 2310, three adolescents were traveling in a small motor scooter near the village when they noticed a white phosphorescent human like figure floating by the side of the road. It wore a transparent tunic like outfit; it then floated towards the witnesses without touching the ground. Before leaving the area at high speed, one of the witnesses shone a flashlight at the figure.

Albert Rosales indicates that the source is "Denys Breysse, Project Becassine."

Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Bouxieres-aux-Dames, France, on October 15 1978 , at 2200, two young people involved in the previous encounter at the "La Pelouse" woods returned to the scene on their moped and park at the edge of the woods. As they watched, suddenly two "vertical" white forms leave the woods passing under some high-tension wires. The identical apparitions appear not to touch the ground. Frightened but curious at the same time, the witnesses shine their headlights on the figures and attempt to catch up with the figures dodging large oak trees in the ahead of them, however the figures move away very quickly and disappear from sight.

Albert Rosales indicates that the source is "Raoul Robe Regional Catalogue, GPUN October 1978."

Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Bouxieres-aux-Dames, France, on October 17, 1978, at 2300, three young people involved in previous encounters this time accompanied by two girls drive to the woods in order to see the mysterious figures again. One of the boys is armed with a flashlight and drives along the edge of the wood. Suddenly from behind a nearby large tree, a phosphorescent form appears in front of them. The boy directs his flashlight towards the figure and the driver tries to direct the headlights towards it also. The silhouette then flees into the thick woods at high speed and vanishes from sight.

Albert Rosales indicates that the source is "Raoul Robe Regional Catalogue, GPUN October 1978."

Points to consider:

Village of about 4000 inhabitants in 1978 and as much in 2008, Bouxières-aux-Dames comprised an abbey in the Middle Ages (the "dames" or "ladies" being nuns) with a pilgrimage with the goal of having one's hair combed with a liturgical ivory comb to remove tineas, a "miraculous water source" stopped at the Revolution. In 1936, two women claimed to have seen the Blessed Virgin, the clergy investigated and dismissed the appearance. The next one occurred in 1938: a woman claimed to have seen the Blessed Virgin when she fetched wood in an old gallery of an abandoned mine.

The most controversial appearance was that told by Lucien Césard, abbot and priest of Bouxières-aux-Dames, in company of several adults, in 1938. The "Blessed Virgin" allegedly appeared to them in 1938, and allegeldy predicted a big war for a precise day of March 1939. Lucien Césard then founded an unauthorized cult of "Our-Lady of the Poor Small Tunnel", but when the predicted day of 1939 arrived, the war did not burst. Lucien Césard, undeterred, then explained at the following mass that he is thankkful to the Virgin "for having retained the arm of his Son and saved this plague to France", alas the war soon burst all the same. The "Our-Lady of the Poor Small Tunnel" was eventually banned by the local bishop, in 1943, which did not prevent Lucien Césard from publishing a 32-page booklet, "In defense of the truth. Appearances of Our-Lady of Bouxières at the Tunnel and in the sanctuary of the church" and "Towards a New World".

The Church did not recognize any of these appearances; which created controversies among parishioners of the community, with "pros" and "cons".

In all these stories, there seems to be no such thing as a "UFO", no flying saucer or the least spaceship, and no alien or UFO occupant; but rather a local folklore started from the long religious set of themes at the premises, with a group of youngsters feeding stories of repeated encounters that to my knowledge were never the subject of true investigation with the alleged witnesses, the whole engin as "humanoid encounters" in a catalogue and as "links with the sects" in a skeptical ufology article.

List of issues:

Evaluation:

Possible confusion ou hoax. Insufficient credibility, insufficient data.

Sources references:

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

• [---] ? "Catalogue Régional", catalogue by Raoul Robé, GPUN ufology group, France, October 1978.
• [---] ? Ufology bulletin Spécial CNEGU, ufology group CNEGU, France, #1.
• [---] ? "Projet Bécassine", CE3 catalogue by Denys Breysse and others, unpublished, France, circa 1980.
• [mf1] * "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 23, May/June 1986.
• [---] ? "Liaisons Entre Apparitions et Sectes: Bouxières-aux-Dames et Clémery", article in the ufology magazine Les Mystères de l'Est, CNEGU, France, #4, circa 1999.
• [ar1] * "1978 Humanoid Reports", compiled by Albert Rosales, circa 2007, at www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1978.shtml

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This page was last updated on November 18, 2008