The article below was published in the daily newspaper L'Ardennais, France, page 5, on October 26, 1954.
See the case file.
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NIORT. -- A farming family from Saint-Hilaire-des-Loges in Charente-Maritime, terrorized by the appearance of a flying saucer, lived through a dramatic night and was only freed from fear at dawn thanks to the intervention of neighbors.
Mrs. Bœuf had just finished milking her cows at dusk when, upon leaving the barn, she saw above her field a luminous disc hovering, motionless and at an indeterminate altitude.
"The saucer seemed to be watching me," the unfortunate farmer's wife later said. Momentarily paralyzed by fear, Mrs. Bœuf abandoned her milk pails and ran to alert her husband and three children. They too were able to observe the phenomenon, whose brightness was such that it lit up the area like a full moon.
As the saucer seemed to show signs of descending, Mrs. Bœuf concluded that Martians might emerge from it. Panic-stricken, she decided to barricade the family inside the farmhouse. "Let's not attract them," said Mrs. Bœuf, "let's turn off all the lights."
So it was done. In darkness, with all shutters closed, the family took refuge in a common room, and it was only at the first light of day that the neighbors, surprised by the silence reigning in the house, dared to approach the farm.
After calming the Bœuf family and comforting the farmer's wife with a cordial, she returned to her chores. The threatening disc had, in the meantime, disappeared without a trace.
