The 1954 French flap:

A FLYING SAUCER IN THE LIMOUSIN SKY?

LIMOGES, September 14. -- A resident of Limoges, Mr. Georges Frugier, 30 years old, declares to have seen on September 10, shortly after 8:30 p.m. furrowing the sky from East to West, a red disc letting out a bluish trail.

Indeed, the day and time of this observation coincide with the strange encounter of the farmer of Bugeat (Corrèze), Mr. Antoine Mazaud, who claims to have had an interview with the passenger of a "flying cigar".

Mr. Frugier told his family about the spectacle he had witnessed, but he encountered frank skepticism.

However, the publication in the press of the adventure that occurred to Mr. Mazaud imposed a connection: Limoges is located north-west of Bugeat, direction taken by the mysterious machine, according to the farmer's statements.

A resident of Limoges also claims to have observed the mysterious craft seen by a Corrèze farmer

Limoges, September 14 - A resident of Limoges, Mr. Georges Frugier, has declared that on September 10, around 8:30 p.m., he saw in the sky a red disc flying from east to west, leaving behind a bluish smoke trail. Mr. Frugier described what he had seen to his family, but met with cautious skepticism.

It was this morning, upon reading in the newspapers the account of the event involving a farmer from Bugeat (Corrèze), Mr. Antoine Mazaud - who, as remembered, claimed to have encountered the passenger of a "flying saucer" - that Mr. Frugier decided to report to the authorities what he himself had observed.

Again
the "singular"
craft
of September 10

Limoges, Sept. 14 -- A resident of Limoges, Mr. Georges Frugier, 30, declares having seen, on September 10, shortly after 8:30 p.m., crisscrossing the sky from East to West, a red disc letting a bluish trail escape.

However, the day and time of this observation coincide with the strange encounter of the cultivator of Bugeat (Corrèze), Mr. Antoine Mazaud, who claims to have had a discussion with the passenger of a "flying cigar".

Mr. Frugier told his family about the display he had witnessed, but he encountered frank skepticism.

However, the publication in the Press this morning of the adventure that occurred to Mr. Mazaud, imposed a connection: Limoges is located northwest of Bugeat, direction taken by the mysterious craft, according to the statements from the cultivator.

A MAN FROM THE LIMOUSIN
claims to have seen a flying saucer

Limoges, September 14. -- A resident of Limoges, Mr. Georges Frugier, 30 years old, claims to have seen, on September 10, shortly after 8:30 p.m., a red disc streaking across the sky from east to west, leaving behind a bluish trail.

Interestingly, the date and time of this sighting coincide with the strange encounter reported by the farmer from Bugeat (Corrèze), Mr. Antoine Mazaud, who claims to have spoken with the occupant of a "flying cigar."

Mr. Frugier told his family about the sight he had witnessed, but was met with open skepticism.

However, the publication in the press this morning of the incident involving Mr. Mazaud prompted a connection: Limoges is located northwest of Bugeat, the direction in which the mysterious craft was reportedly headed, according to the farmer's account.

A MAN FROM LIMOUSIN BELIEVES HE SAW
THE "FLYING CIGAR" FROM CORREZE

LIMOGES, 14. -- A RESIDENT OF LIMOGES, MR. GEORGES FRUGIER, 30 YEARS OLD, CLAIMS TO HAVE SEEN, ON SEPTEMBER 10, SHORTLY AFTER 8:30 P.M., A RED DISC CROSSING THE SKY FROM EAST TO WEST, LEAVING BEHIND A BLUISH TRAIL.

NOW, THE DAY AND TIME OF THIS SIGHTING COINCIDE WITH THE STRANGE ENCOUNTER OF THE FARMER FROM BUGEAT (CORRÈZE), MR. ANTOINE MAZAUD, WHO CLAIMS TO HAVE HAD A CONVERSATION WITH THE PASSENGER OF A FLYING CIGAR.

MR. FRUGIER TOLD HIS FAMILY ABOUT THE SPECTACLE HE HAD WITNESSED, BUT HE WAS MET WITH OUTRIGHT SKEPTICISM.

HOWEVER, THE PUBLICATION IN THE PRESS THIS MORNING OF THE ADVENTURE THAT HAPPENED TO MR. MAZAUD PROMPTED A CONNECTION: LIMOGES IS LOCATED TO THE NORTHWEST OF BUGEAT, THE DIRECTION TAKEN BY THE MYSTERIOUS CRAFT, ACCORDING TO THE FARMER'S STATEMENTS.

A German astronomer:

"The flying saucers are only children of lightning ... or of the imagination"

HAMBURG, Sept. 15

According to the German astronomer Hans Haffner, flying saucers are most often fireballs produced by lightning at high altitude. He says his theory fits with all of the sightings reported so far.

"Let's put an end to the flying saucer psychosis," he writes. "It is actually a natural phenomenon that occurs in the layer of air surrounding the earth."

Mr. Haffner, professor of astronomy at the University of Hamburg and head of the astronomy section of Hamburg-Bevgedof, says that all of the flying saucers that have been seen so far can be classified into four groups:

1° Hallucinations (more common than is generally believed).

2° Optical illusions even deceiving the lenses of the camera. The alleged photographs of flying saucers are only reflections analogous to those which appear on certain shots taken against the light.

3° Weather balloons.

4° Unknown flying objects.

Three photos

"All the objects in the fourth category can be explained by what is known about fireballs produced by lightning. This phenomenon occurs rarely and we only have two or three photographs of it. Size, shape, speed, color, brightness, duration, electrical composition and mode of dissolution of these fireballs are "remarkably similar" to descriptions of flying saucers, Professor Haffner writes.

Most fireballs produced by lightning are seen less than 200 meters high and have a diameter of 20 to 100 centimeters. But a greater amount of energy is released when the lightning strikes at high altitude, and of course the higher the fireballs, the larger they are. We saw some that were 260 meters in diameter at ten kilometers above sea level. Pr. Haffner adds that due to their rotation the fireballs are often flattened. However, the descriptions of flying saucers speak of objects which have the shape of discs or cigars and specify that they rotate on themselves.

The disappearance of the American captain

Fireballs often emit very bright rays of light, which still corresponds to the reports of people who say they saw saucers. Likewise they can change shape and direction in less than a second, just like saucers. Their changes of direction are easily explained by the influence of magnetic fields and by the faster cooling of one side of the ball. Finally the fireballs always disintegrate suddenly, sometimes silently, sometimes with a loud detonation. This could explain the mysterious disappearance of an American fighter pilot, Captain T. Mantell, on January 7, 1948, who disappeared with his aircraft after chasing a flying saucer. Professor Haffner suggests that Captain Mantell may have collided with an exploding fireball.

The cigar of
Talkative Martian
flew over Limoges

LIMOGES, September 15. -- A resident of Limoges, Mr. Georges Frugier, 30, said he saw on September 10, shortly after 8:30 p.m., crisscrossing the sky from East to West, a red disc that let out a bluish trail.

However, the day and the hour of this observation coincide with the strange encounter of the farmer of Bugeat (Corrèze), Mr. Antoine Mazaud, who claims to have had a discussion with the passenger of a "flying cigar".

Mr. Frugier told his family about the display he had witnessed, but he encountered frank skepticism.

However, the publication in the press this morning of the adventure that occurred to Mr. Mazaud imposed a connection: Limoges is located northwest of Bugeat, direction taken by the mysterious machine, according to the statements of the farmer.

Such is the World

Mars... or a Dream!

What can I say? All these flying saucer stories are making my head spin... What if Mr. Mazaud of Bugeat (Corrèze) really did receive a kiss from a Martian?... Our skepticism would look pretty foolish...

Especially since there's another witness in the person of Mr. Frugier of Limoges, who saw, at the same time and on the same day as the affectionate interplanetary encounter in Bugeat, a red disc streaking across the sky from east to west. Now, Limoges is northwest of Bugeat - the very direction taken by the mysterious craft, according to the Corrèze farmer's statement.

That's more than a coincidence...

So, eager to speed up contact with Martians, I set out to verify whether the inhabitants of the planet closest to us after the Moon have already begun colonizing our globe.

Thus I looked for Mars - not my Lenten resolution, but around me. And to my horror, I realized that the editorial staff of La Croix surely harbors a Martian sympathizer in the person of Félicien Mars... Who would have thought it!... His language column must be a cover...

The same goes for the singer Colette Mars... Ah! She hides her game well.

Worse still, our formidable neighbor is maintaining, within the very heart of the French army, cohorts ready to intervene: their name is as transparent as interstellar space. What else do you think the *marsouins* (naval infantry) are for?...

I tell you, we've been infiltrated!...

Just think: the second-largest city in France is called Mars-eille! And we give our young people a novel by Vigny titled Cinq-Mars... Just like that. It's unbelievable!...

And then there are the cryptos: Jean Mars...ac, Karl Mars, the Mars Brothers, etc. I'm devastated!...

It's time to react! Unless these creatures of the Good Lord are truly peaceful... And have only good intentions...

The very name Mars, god of war, is certainly not reassuring...

But wasn't it we Earthlings who gave him that name?...

LE PASSANT.

THE STRANGE ENCOUNTER OF THE CORREZE FARMER TAKEN SERIOUSLY

Who was piloting the "flying cigar"?

TULLE. -- It is no longer this time about flying saucer or strange being appearing to belong to another world. The encounter, which we reported yesterday, made by Mr. Mazaud, a strong peasant of Bugeat (Corrèze) in his fifties is quite different. He is very certain. In his declarations there is an indisputable accent of sincerity. He has not, far from it, the reputation of a joker or an illuminated, and the investigators did not identify the slightest flaw or the slightest contradiction in his statement.

The man he met on a desert plateau on September 10, around 8:30 p.m., was not abnormal in his clothes or appearance, except for the rather peculiar shape of the helmet he wore on his head. When he found himself face to face with the Corrèze peasant, he nodded several times to greet him, held out his hand and gave him a hug.

The mysterious passenger mistaken for a simpleton

He did not reply otherwise to M. Mazaud's good-night, and did not utter a syllable, so much so that the farmer took him for some simple-minded person, and would certainly soon have forgotten this encounter. But a few seconds after the disappearance of the unknown, Mr. Mazaud, who continued on his way, heard a slight rustle. He turned around and it was at that moment that he saw a craft that was rising from the ground obliquely in the same way as a plane takes off. The machine quickly took the shape of a cigar (that of a jet plane seen in profile approximately). It was flying west very fast, gaining height. The noise was very light. One could not see any smoke or light.

Mr. Mazaud was careful not to speak of this phenomenon in the neighborhood, fearing that they would make fun of him. Only, as we have said, the indiscretion of his wife allowed the gendarmes to be informed. They heard him at home and went to the place, but two days had passed and it had rained a lot. There was no trace of anything on the ground.

(See more in the 6^th page.)

The strange encounter...

(Continued from the first page)

Tulle's general information commissioner also heard Mr. Mazaud at length and went with the farmer to the encounter place. He was struck as everyone by the seriousness of the one who was the involuntary witness of this strange phenomenon.

Seen in Limoges

It seems that Mr. Mazaud was not the only one. An inhabitant of Limoges, Mr. Georges Frugier, 30, said yesterday, to have seen on September 10, shortly after 08:30 p.m., crisscrossing the sky from east to west, a red disc letting out a bluish trail.

Now, the day and the hour of this observation coincide with Mr. Mazaud's strange encounter.

Mr. Frugier told his family of the display he had witnessed, but he was met with outright skepticism. However, the publication in the press yesterday morning of the adventure that occurred to Mr. Mazaud, brought a connection: Limoges is located north-west of Bugeat, direction taken by the mysterious machine, according to the statements of the farmer.

HE ALSO SAW THE MARTIAN!

[Photos of Marius Dewilde, with the caption:]

Mr. Marius Dewilde, squatting, shows traces on a railway track passing near his house, at Quarouble, where a cigar-shaped craft reportedly landed recently. From this craft, says Mr. Dewilde, two human-looking beings, dressed in diving suits, had come out, while a ray emanating from the apparatus paralyzed him. When he found, he said, the use of his limbs, the craft was already rising in the sky and the two beings had disappeared (AP photo) ("L'Ardennais" photo)

THE MARTIAN SIGHTINGS ARE HOAXES...
which should no longer fool anyone

But it is not absurd to think that atomic explosions may be causing atmospheric phenomena previously unknown

Among the overabundant harvest of flying household object sightings that, for several days now, Agence France-Presse (unofficial) has been tossing our way all day long - and which the so-called sensationalist press eagerly amplifies (as if a mystery were better than the truth) - we came across the following dispatch yesterday:

Châteaubriant, October 13 (A.F.P.)

A 13-year-old boy, young Gilbert Lelay, claims to have seen a mysterious craft last night around 10:30 p.m. in a field about 600 meters from his parents' home in the village of Sainte-Marie-en-Erbray, near Châteaubriant. The child says he observed the craft for ten minutes from about ten meters away. It had the shape of a glowing cigar. A passenger - an individual dressed in a suit and gray hat, wearing boots - reportedly told him in French: "Look, but don't touch." He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder while holding in the other hand a ball emitting purple lights. He then entered the craft through a door that he slammed shut. On what seemed to be a dashboard were several multicolored buttons. Still according to the child, the craft slowly rose vertically, shooting lights in all directions, circled twice in the air, and suddenly disappeared.

This story is no nastier or more original than the others. But is A.F.P. now going to publish every story children tell, on any subject whatsoever? Surely not - there soon won't be room left to print actual "information," which is supposed to be the role of a news agency.

Irony no longer applies

So why this rush to broadcast all these dispatches from correspondents, indiscriminately, without

Jacques DEROGY

Continued on page 5 - Col. 7

FLYING SAUCERS

Continued from P.1-Col. 7

...verification, without control, without investigation into the authenticity of the "testimonies" or the good faith of the "witnesses"? Is it really informing the public to scatter in all directions, indiscriminately, village gossip, pranks by well-meaning jokers, and the anxieties of crowds facing one phenomenon or another? Isn't it more likely contributing to the spread of a collective psychosis?

We believe it's time to break free from this cascade of descriptions, from this epidemic that is reaching implausible proportions and may lead us to a general case of stiff neck - or worse, to the brink of collective madness.

We've made enough jokes about the "Martians" and other little, hairy, good-natured "Uranids" who visit a few lucky country folk, mistake orchards for landing strips, come to warm themselves at the local bakery, lose their bearings near Limoges, and pose in ultra-flexible suspenders for the amateur photographers of a certain weekly. It could become tiresome for our readers to keep listing the more or less wacky testimonies we receive daily - sometimes hourly. Yesterday, it was two fairground workers in Clamecy who, seeing a cylindrical object 50 meters away, said they felt an electric shock, while the engine of their truck stalled; a local councilor, a café owner, a rugby player, and a swimming champion reported a fireball above the chapel of Brouilly in Belleville-sur-Saône; a milk transporter from Saint-Etienne saw his headlights go out under the effect of a mysterious green ray streaking across the sky; a math teacher from Lisieux said he tracked the jerky movements of a silver disc, between 200 and 300 meters in altitude... There's no reason to believe this flying dish carousel will stop spinning our contemporaries' heads. But at least, we could stop the avalanche of false testimonies, fabrications, hoaxes, and descriptions made in bad faith, which undoubtedly represent the vast majority of recent reports - simply by questioning the witnesses, as we did last week with the gendarmes from Coulommiers, to unmask the hoax of a local road worker.

The need for an investigation

What would remain is to conduct a rigorous investigation into the credible sightings - such as the one launched by the military authorities into the phenomenon reported by numerous visitors to the Metz trade fair and by army spotlight operators who, on Sunday evening, were sweeping the Metz sky with their searchlight beam. For several hours, both groups saw a luminous circle motionless at high altitude, caught in the spotlight's beam. The radar service, also set up at the army stand, tried in vain to "contact" the strange circle. Based on preliminary information, the phenomenon might be explained by the presence of a stabilized cumulus cloud illuminated by the full moon, which at that time was hidden behind a curtain of clouds.

There is no doubt that there are things in the sky we do not understand. But this we does not uniformly include all individuals. For a shepherd in the Massif Central who has never seen a helicopter, such a craft might appear to be a "flying saucer" - especially when that's all people talk about. For city dwellers unfamiliar with certain natural phenomena - perhaps better known to shepherds - such as halos, sundogs and mock moons (parhelia), the rising of Venus, or the Brocken spectre (a person's shadow projected onto mist and surrounded by an iridescent halo, usually observed in the mountains), such things are enough to fuel "unidentified flying object" reports. Who can confidently say they've seen ball lightning or recognized the dazzling brightness - brighter than the moon - of a weather balloon lit by the rays of the setting sun beyond the lower cloud layer? Who can guess the speed of the iridescent blotch created by car headlights hitting a cloud ceiling on an incline? Who has truly followed a meteor's fall?

There would thus not be one type of flying saucer, but 10 or 20 types. For if flying saucers exist, why would they come in so many colors and shapes? The truth is, we do not yet understand all the anomalies of the sky.

Yesterday, we met with scientists and highly qualified technicians. Some display a form of indifference - perhaps scientifically justified, but contemptuous toward public opinion. Others, though equally skeptical, admit - without concern - that while they are familiar with weather balloons, jet planes, new experimental devices, fireballs, parhelia, and high-altitude mirages, they may never have seen some rarer phenomena, which are becoming more frequent today.

"Who's to say that the radioactive clouds drifting through the sky in recent years aren't producing new electrostatic phenomena, for example? We are far from understanding all meteorological and atmospheric phenomena."

In any case, one thing is certain: publishing, indiscriminately, every dispatch from every town in France will not help us detect a genuinely new phenomenon - if such a phenomenon exists. Nor will we get anywhere by asking an array of technicians - if not outright scientists - to analyze vague and incomplete "testimonies."

Some have called for the creation of an investigative committee to review reported sightings. The role of such a committee should be, first and foremost, to dismiss and expose hoaxers, those who encourage them, and those who exploit them - and to retain only those statements that are truly usable and objectively meaningful.

And we do not hesitate to call for sanctions against charlatans and bad-faith witnesses.

Only then - only then - will science maintain its dignity by addressing a problem that is finally being framed in clear terms.

J. DEROGY.

September 10 [1954]

08:32 p.m.: Limoges (Hte. Vienne)

On the same day [September 10, 1954], but at 8:30 p.m., a third observation was made in Mouriéras, municipality of Bugeat (Corrèze): meeting of an Uranian and departure of a discoid CRAFT, recalling one and the other the description made by Marius Dewilde. This is the famous Mazaud affair, famous in the annals of "ouranology".

The object disappears in the direction of Limoges. A few seconds later, a red disc followed by a bluish trail, moving from east to west, appears above this city; several witnesses describe it.

In addition, thus coming to confirm the presence of an "unknown" machine in the area, Mr. Georges Frugier, thirty years old, inhabitant of Limoges, precisely towards 20:30 affirmed to have seen a red "disc" furrowing the sky from the East to the West and letting a bluish trail escape. Limoges is precisely located at the North-West of Mourieras (community of Bugeat) from where the cigar took off, its powerful luminosity in flight could have taken the aspect of a luminous sphere hiding the real shape of the apparatus which was then taken for a "disc".

Chronology of the events that occurred in France, in Quarouble and its area, on September 10, 1954

[... other cases ...]

2nd witness, a little after 08:30 p.m. Limoges, Haute-Vienne, several witnesses watch pass over the city (east to west) a red disk followed by a bluish trail.

[... other cases ...]

Limoges.

Within minutes of M. Mazaud's experience, a strange aerial body was reported passing over Limoges, having come out of the east. East, where on the Millevaches Plateau the French peasant claimed to have encountered his "strange being" on a path near the hamlet of Mourieras, so one wonders if the vague report of an overflight at Limoges confirms the weird assertion of M. Mazaud.

On this Day

September 10

[...]

1954 - Mourieras, France. A farmer, Mr. Mazaud was walking home when he was suddenly confronted with a helmeted being of average height who made friendly gestures, then went back into the brush, entered a cigar-shaped object about four meters long, which took off toward Limoges. A few minutes later witnesses in Limoges reported a disc-shaped, red object leaving a bluish trail. (Sources: Le Parisien, September 14, 1954; Aime Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 40; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, p. 209).

- 10 Septiembre 1954 - Mouriéras

20:30. Un campesino, Msr. Mazaud, regresaba a su casa cuando se tropezó de pronto con un hombre de estatura normal y tocado con un casco, que le hizo gestos amistosos, se adentró después en la espesura, y entró en un objeto ahusado de unos 4 m de largo, que despegó en dirección a Limoges. Unos minutos después, varios habitantes de esta última ciudad vieron pasar un objeto rojo y discoidal, que dejaba una estela azulada.

Fuentes:

- Catálogo MAGONIA n°142 -> Le Populaire du Centre (Limoges), 15 de septiembre de 1954.

- September 10, 1954 - Mouriéras

08:30 p.m. A peasant, Mr. Mazaud, was on his way home when he suddenly passed a man of normal height and wearing a helmet, who made friendly gestures to him, then he entered the thicket, and entered a tapered object about 4 m long, which took off in the direction of Limoges. A few minutes later, several inhabitants of the latter city saw a red discoidal object pass, leaving a bluish mark.

Sources:

- Catalogue MAGONIA nr142 -> Le Populaire du Centre (Limoges), September 15, 1954.