The article below was published in the daily newspaper France Soir, Paris, France, page 1, on September 22, 1954.
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(From our permanent special correspondent J. NEUVECELLE)
ROME, September 21 (via special wire).
The passage of the mysterious "flying cigar" that crossed the sky over Rome last Friday afternoon is the subject of confidential studies at Rome's large astronomical observatory.
In the city, the "cigar" was observed for a long time by several thousand people. It was perfectly visible from the city's busiest neighborhoods. As soon as it appeared, the observatory, airfields, and police stations received hundreds of phone calls from witnesses who had seen the strange phenomenon.
At Pratica-di-Mare, where there is an Italian Air Force base, the alert was raised by the Ciampino airfield, whose commander immediately informed the radar technicians at the base. At 6:49 p.m., the object was detected within the radar's field. The cigar's recorded positions included Fiumicino, a small port at the mouth of the Tiber, and a wide area east of Ostia. Radar technicians observed an antenna in the middle of the larger end of the craft.
There are many hypotheses regarding the nature of the mysterious object. Some scientists in Rome lean toward the following theory: the cigar is not a celestial body, but an aircraft of an unknown type. The object had a cigar-like shape, bulging toward the middle. It traveled over Rome at an altitude of 10,000 meters, then descended much lower. It left a faint trail of white smoke behind it. The smoke came from the narrower end of the cigar. At one point during its flight over Rome, the object suddenly dropped about 400 meters. Clearly attempting to regain altitude, it shifted from a horizontal to a vertical position and easily climbed higher. It then accelerated and quickly disappeared into the horizon. The farther it went, the brighter it appeared to the observers.
SAINT-ETIENNE, September 21 ("France-Soir" dispatch). -- Several residents of Paray-le-Monial clearly observed, on Sunday, a large reddish tube with small fins, coming from the southeast and heading north at a slow pace. The object had multicolored reflections.
