The article below was published in the daily newspaper Libération, Paris, France, pages 1 and 3, on October 5, 1954.
|
The "flying saucers," which consistently plague Western skies whenever major international events occur, are now extending their range over the African continent.
An official report sent to the government of Ivory Coast by the administrator of the Danané subdivision, 500 kilometers northwest of Abidjan, mentions a "phenomenon" observed on September 19th, from 8:30 p.m. to 9:05 p.m., by the said subdivision chief, Mr. Vernhet, his wife, and Father Yvard, while gathered in the courtyard of the Residence.
It involved a luminous point surrounded by a halo which first grew rapidly, moving closer to or farther from the horizon.
Continued on page 3, Col. 7
|
Continued from P. 1-Col. 7
...at least saw the craft turn on a powerful spotlight, sometimes directed upward, sometimes downward. The craft, ovoid in shape, was topped with a dome, and beams of light appeared to extend from either side. When it disappeared after half an hour, the witnesses clearly saw—according to the report—two oval-shaped luminous halos form at the presumed location of the craft, which moved without any noise.
That same day in Soubre, 250 kilometers northwest of Abidjan, similar phenomena were observed by the subdivision chief.
In France, the outbreak continues, taking on all the shapes of flying crockery: in Vic-sur-Cère, it’s a cigar seen by several people; in Corbigny (Nièvre), an orange luminous disk moving vertically; in Breuil-Chaussée (Deux-Sèvres), a diver standing on a plate frightened an employee at the slaughter center; in Vron (Somme), a haystack around which strange individuals were lurking suddenly takes flight; in Levroux (Indre), a luminous craft 3 meters in diameter was spotted "at building height" by two local widows; and in Vatan (also in Indre), a ball was seen dancing like a bobber by 15 people. In Milly-la-Forêt (S.-et-O.), a half-moon topped with a ring appeared to a restaurant owner.
Finally, yesterday, in Chamonix, for over an hour, officers from the mountain warfare school, numerous gendarmes from Chamonix, and a mountain flight specialist pilot flying over the area at the time, observed the movements of a strange, shiny craft between Mont Lachat and Mont Blanc.
Mr. Evry Schatzman listed, in the interview he gave Saturday to "Libération", the phenomena of vision, misperception, and hallucinations that can explain even the most detailed and complete eyewitness accounts—of which only a tiny fraction exist, and which are always subject to doubt.
No scientist takes seriously the hypotheses put forward by science writers, science-fiction specialists, or members of the Pentagon—who, as revealed in Mr. Keyhoe's latest book, have themselves abandoned the theory of extraterrestrial craft.
The flying saucer museum remains devoid of any physical evidence. And it is hard to believe, if these "saucers" are terrestrial vehicles, that not a single fragment has ever been recovered, no supersonic booms heard, no disturbance in the air detected.
Let us also note in passing that the "saucers" and other "little cigars" seem to consistently avoid the skies of the Soviet Union, China, and the people’s democracies...
