The article below was published in the daily newspaper Lib&eaacute;ration, Paris, France, pages 1 and 4, on October 4, 1954.
See the case file.
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We didn't have to wait long to obtain proof that spectacularly confirms the judgment expressed about the current proliferation of "flying saucers" by Mr. Evry Schatzman, research director at the Institute of Astrophysics, in the interview the eminent scientist gave to "Lib&eaacute;ration" (1): The descriptions given are, in the majority of cases, incomprehensible, in all cases distorted, and the good faith of the "witnesses" must always be called into question. But every time there is a precise and complete observation — which is rare — it is possible to get an idea of the natural phenomena actually involved, which can mislead the overheated imagination of the public.
This is how we were curious enough to verify the latest story coming from road workers near Coulommiers, which we briefly mentioned Saturday morning.
Jacques DEROGY
Continued on page 4, Col. 2
(1) see Lib&eaacute;ration of Oct 2 and 3.
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Continued from Page 1, Col. 7
Mr. Bernard Goujon, 30 years old, a road maintenance worker living with his mother in Faremoutiers, near Morcef, claimed on Friday to have seen, along with his colleague Armand Pichet, who lives in Tresmes, a flying saucer landed at the edge of the woods of Maisoncelles.
Here is the account he gave to our special correspondent, to the journalists who rushed over, to the gathered public, and finally to the alerted gendarmes:
"It was Thursday evening, at 5:10 p.m. It was raining. Pichet and I were digging on the road from Maisoncelles to Meaux, near the Quincy-Voisins airfield. Suddenly, 500 meters in front of us in the fields, I saw a sort of enormous mushroom shining like aluminum, and I said to Pichet: ‘That really looks like a flying saucer!' Breathless, my companion immediately hid in a ditch and asked me to go check. I ran across the field and saw the saucer more and more clearly. It really looked like a big mushroom about three meters wide. On the top part was a cabin with three portholes, and the craft rested on three struts arranged in a triangle. I approached, but when I got to about 150 meters, I suddenly stopped, as if paralyzed. I felt tingling from head to toe, as if I was being electrocuted. This lasted thirty to forty seconds. Then I saw the saucer slowly rise, spinning like a falling leaf up to 25 meters, and suddenly disappear as if sucked into the clouds. I heard no engine noise and saw no flame, trail, or smoke. But on the ground, the imprint of the three struts was clearly visible."
Bernard Goujon claimed that several cyclists passing on the road at that moment also saw the mysterious craft, just like his companion Armand Pichet. The latter clarified, however, that he had ducked down and did not witness the saucer-mushroom taking off.
The Pichet family soon admitted to us that Armand had, in fact, seen nothing at all: Goujon had simply told him he had a rendezvous with a flying saucer at the edge of the woods.
We were easily able to confirm that the imprints at the indicated spot, arranged in a triangle, had indeed been dug by hand. Furthermore, the description provided by Goujon matched point by point a drawing published last week in a Paris daily based on the fictional story told by EDF employees in Amiens, who, as one might recall, had staged a hoax.
At the same time that we were making these findings, the Coulommiers gendarmes brought Bernard Goujon before the public prosecutor. Confronted with the evidence, the road worker admitted he had completely made up the story, thinking it sounded quite plausible. He now faces charges of contempt of court. In any case, he no longer dares to show himself in the public square of Faremoutiers, where his parents now keep tightly shut the door they had been eager to open the other night for journalists and gendarmes.
This shows how testimonies can multiply when the atmosphere is primed, and what role certain segments of the press play in carefully nurturing this environment and soliciting accounts. The saucer operation is an ideal diversion from causes of popular concern.
Another event has also confirmed Mr. Schatzman's assessment: After a detailed study of the photograph taken last Tuesday in Sweden by photographer Toed Olsson, Swedish military experts concluded it simply showed condensation trails left by an ordinary aircraft flying at high altitude and speed. It wasn't even a drone or guided missile.
In a written question, Mr. Jean Nocher, an independent MP for the Loire, shared with the Secretary of State for Air the public concern stirred by the many and varied reports regarding flying saucers.
"He asks whether his predecessors at the Secretariat of State for Air had, like in the United States and USSR for many years, taken any steps to investigate the presence of unidentified flying objects in our atmosphere."
"If so, he asks for any publishable results of those investigations; if not, he requests the formation of a commission including all relevant scientific fields, to objectively study the phenomenon and separate truth from error or possible hoaxes."
Perth (Scotland), October 3. – Apart from cigars, all the mysterious flying objects in the skies of the world had, until now, adopted shapes resembling tableware: soup tureens, coffeepots, cups, and saucers — but today, Scotland reports a new and rather unexpected twist: the flying snail.
Two women from Perth, who insisted before telling their story that they were not drunk, claimed to have seen two objects flying in the sky last night. They said the objects had a round shape followed by a tail and moved in the same way as snails… except they were extremely rushed snails.
