The 1954 French flap:

Quotidien "L'EVEIL DE LA HAUTE-LOIRE" (LE PUY,43) du lun 18 mar 19-10-54 p.1:

SAUCERS AND MARTIANS CONTINUE TO MAKE HEADLINES

TWO FARM WOMEN FRIGHTENED BY A BEING WITHOUT EARS

Two farm women from Livry-sur-Seine stated that, while walking in the woods of Usselle, near the commune, they saw a strange being lying on the path, deep in the forest.

It was the size of a man, but its body was covered with abundant brown hair. It had a round, hairy head, but no ears and extremely piercing eyes.

"It made a sign to us twice with its arm," they added, "but as we were not reassured, we did not dare pass in front of it and we made a detour of nearly 2 kilometers to avoid it."

Two children who were with the farm women also provided testimony and a very precise description.

Alerted by their cries, the farmers armed themselves with their hunting rifles and carried out a search, but in vain.

IT WAS DOUBTLESS THE MILAN WEATHER BALLOON

In many places throughout Haute-Loire and in the Massif Central, the luminous craft seen at Le Puy between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening was observed. Thus it was seen, around 5:40 p.m., at St-Maurice-de-Lignon, on the side of La Montagne and La Madeleine.

Our correspondent described it as follows: "a bright, motionless and very luminous point, above all resembling a star."

The craft was also seen, in the same appearance, at Aurillac and in the Cantal, the Puy-de-Dôme, Corrèze, the Lot, Aveyron, the Creuse. It seems to be confirmed that it was the weather balloon launched from Milan, which our newspaper had announced as possibly heading toward Haute-Loire.

ANGLARS-JUILLAC. - A spherical craft remained in the sky all afternoon on Friday 15 and was sighted from Anglars-Juillac, as well as from Prayssac and Castelfranc.