The article below was published in the daily newspaper France Soir, Paris, France, page 1, on October 20, 1954.
See the case file.
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NANCY, October 19 (dispatch "France-soir").
The village of Walscheid (Moselle) experienced a justified scare yesterday when children informed parishioners coming out of an evening service that a Martian commando had taken position in the village. Cautiously, a few men approached the house where, it was said, these strange evening visitors had barricaded themselves.
In the night, under the faint light of municipal bulbs, the tall silhouettes of bizarre beings could indeed be seen on a terrace. While the women retreated into the church, the alert was raised, and the men, armed with whatever they had, surrounded the house. Hunters took cover, fingers on their triggers.
As the besieged did not move, it was decided to flush them out. Two columns formed to mount an assault. The bearers of melee weapons, skillfully protected by the riflemen, advanced in leaps, hugging the walls, in the best military style. When within range, they issued the usual warnings.
The Martians didn’t so much as twitch what might have been their little fingers. But the owner of the house—believed to be, at the very least, tied up and gagged—stuck his head out the window and, still half-asleep, asked what was going on. To everyone's astonishment, which soon turned into laughter, he explained that he had wrapped the chrysanthemums on his terrace to protect them from frost. He had dressed them this way after nightfall, and no one had noticed. The children's imagination had done the rest.
