The article below was published in the daily newspaper Combat, Paris, France, page 8, on October 13, 1954.
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The question is now posed: unknown objects cross our sky. They astonish, intrigue, sometimes worry. It's not yet a matter of concern, but it is a subject of conversation.
- Do you believe in it or not?
- In what?
- Flying saucers...
- Well... Uh...
The question will be resolved, soon, later or never... But it exists. These extraordinary phenomena manifesting in our sky and multiplying pose an entertaining or distressing enigma.
Mirage? Hallucination? Lights from another world? People wonder. Hypotheses are exchanged, but none are convincing, given on one hand the allure of dreams and on the other the materialist good faith that tries to clear away the mystery.
But the fact remains.
Dozens of people, each day, declare—under oath if required—that they have seen, with their own eyes, what is undeniably seen: these mysterious crafts. These good souls would swear on it. Unless a hoax is revealed when a good "pandore" (a slang term for policeman) steps in, there's a series of testimonies that must be taken into account.
Consistent testimonies? Oh no... Infinitely varied.
The "craft" is always luminous. Day and night. It is most often strangely silent. But sometimes it "whistles." It is small in size—just a few meters in width or diameter. But it takes on the aerodynamic and varied forms of a saucer, cigar, or barrel.
"Ad libitum" [sic]...
It is capricious in its maneuvers. Sometimes fixed like the moon. Fast as lightning. It shoots upward vertically, descends like a falling leaf, as if piloted by aeronauts who know all the secrets of joystick flight.
Aeronauts? They have been seen. In the North and in Corrèze, notably. Very small or very tall. Odd-looking or normally built. Dressed like ordinary men or covered in a kind of diving suit. In short, men or characters straight out of a comic book.
"Ad libitum," again...
But always peaceful. Even fearful. As soon as someone approaches or tries to be friendly—fraternize—poof! they return to their shiny craft and disappear with three rotations of the saucer...
Fearful and wary. Peaceful, but ready to use secret and all-powerful defensive weapons. In one case, "the one in the North," "THEY" used a "paralyzing ray," the famous "green ray" that left a curious crossing guard stunned.
"Si vis pacem, para bellum..."
These beings know the pink pages of the Larousse by heart. They don't wish harm on poor Earthlings, but, like us, they've learned the advantage of armed peace. And the "green ray" is worrying if one wishes to make (friendly) contact.
Where do they come from? Pardon: where would they come from? In Europe, in France, people readily talk of "Martians." In America, in the United States, they prefer to speak of "Venusians."
No doubt that, on the other side of the Atlantic, people vaguely dream of a new Marilyn Monroe or a second Jane Russell, who would be a hit in Chicago burlesques and on Broadway stages.
We're not there yet. Miss Venus won't be competing in the next "Miss Universe" elections, and the Martian team won't be breaking world records at the Melbourne Olympics.
No, we're not there yet. But everything is happening, truthfully, as if the inhabitants of another planet were multiplying their "reconnaissance flights" toward Earth.
It was first talked about in 1947 in America. Everyone knows the U.S. prides itself on always being on the cutting edge of progress... Back then, the craft flew in squadrons at high altitude.
They grew bolder, the craft.
They performed impressive low-altitude flybys, which left rural populations bewildered. Then they dared, here and there, to attempt furtive landings.
Witnesses multiplied. The first were only greeted with serious headshakes, like those in Marseille when the "madman's house" was built. One has the right to be skeptical—reserved—about the future.
And when more witnesses came forward, credible ones, one wondered what to believe.
For now, all hypotheses are still valid. But the one based on the existence of another inhabited planet gains ground every day.
Why not?
Who says there isn't, "elsewhere," a land where the Creator God placed men? These men, with nothing against the idea, could be from an "era" more advanced than us poor little Earthlings. It wouldn't be outrageous if they weren't "in our image and likeness," as the Bible says.
America and Russia are preparing rockets "for the moon." They may have already been beaten in the interplanetary race. It might not be Earth that achieves contact with Mars or Venus, but rather Mars or Venus that achieves contact with Earth sooner than we think.
Fiction, all of this?
Maybe. Time will tell.
But the "natural" hypotheses considered are increasingly insufficient.
Meteorological phenomena, electrical effects, weather balloon incidents, collective hallucinations, ramblings of village "simpletons"—none of this really holds attention anymore.
The saucers "exist"...
At least for those who now claim to have seen them. And just read the now-daily column in the press dedicated to the topic to see that they are becoming more numerous.
QUIMPER. -- Mr. Corentin Couarch, 38, residing in the village of Elliant (Finistère), a farm worker, saw in the sky at 200 meters altitude a luminous craft, the shape and size of which he could not determine.
TOULOUSE. -- In the night from Saturday to Sunday, a baker from Bompas (Pyrénées-Orientales), Mr. Sebelli, saw, parked in a street of the village, a cigar-shaped object about two meters long, surrounded by iridescent lights. Mr. Sebelli woke neighbors who witnessed the craft's quick departure.
RIOM. -- Policemen Roger Thévenin and Albert Daury, while on patrol, saw a cigar-shaped craft. Three red fireballs detached from it and briefly lit up part of the sky.
LA ROCHELLE. -- A colonial schoolteacher, on leave on Oléron Island, Mr. Martin, claims to have encountered two beautiful Martian women on the island, about 1.70 m tall, wearing boots, gloves, and leather helmets. The two Martian women took Mr. Martin's pen and drew incomprehensible signs in his notebook while trying to communicate. Mr. Martin reportedly kept this manuscript safely.
MELUN. -- Mr. Jules Lefranc, a bank employee living in Paris, saw in the sky near François de Tessan Stadium in Meaux, for about three minutes, a brightly lit object from the inside that he said resembled a small football. The craft vanished, leaving a luminous trail behind.
Residents of Trilport reportedly saw an identical stationary craft.
MELUN. -- Mr. Demarcy, a butcher in Seine-Port, and a friend, while driving in Nandy, claimed to have seen a luminous disc flying at about 300 meters altitude.
ALBI. -- A driver from Briatexte (Tarn), Mr. Jean-Pierre Mitto, a technical agent, said he encountered passengers of a flying saucer at dusk on National Road No. 631.
"Returning from Toulouse with two relatives," he said, "I suddenly saw in my headlights two little figures crossing the road, just meters from my car. I stopped immediately, and to our great astonishment, we then saw a large red disc—about six meters in diameter—take off vertically from a nearby field. The craft disappeared in a few seconds."
NANCY. -- Residents of a farm in Moncourt (Meurthe-et-Moselle) were alarmed by an unusual whistling sound outside. Through the shutters, they saw a blinding light fixed on a hillside, which disappeared soon after by rising vertically. Investigations in the indicated area uncovered intensely scorched marks on a dirt road. Samples of stones and soil were collected for expert analysis.
The Gazette de Lausanne published this "special dispatch" yesterday:
(Dpa). -- Mr. Hoge, a film operator in Muenster, Westphalia, claimed to have observed, during the night from Saturday to Sunday, for about ten minutes, a flying cigar that had landed in a field about sixty meters away. On Sunday, Mr. Hoge told a Dpa agency representative: "I was returning home after the evening's last show when, near Rinkerode in the Muenster district, I saw a bluish light in a field beside the road. I approached and saw a cigar-shaped object, surrounded by a bluish light, hovering a meter and a half above the ground. Around it were four living beings about 1.20 m tall. They wore clothes that looked like rubber, but made no noise. I watched the flying object and these beings for ten minutes, from about sixty meters away. I didn't have the courage to get closer. Suddenly, the beings, with thick bodies and oversized heads on spindly legs, climbed into their craft using a kind of ladder. The cigar tilted sideways, turned diagonally in a flash, and took off. Within a few meters, it had already taken the shape of luminous discs."
