The 1954 French flap:

SAUCERS (continued):

In Biot (A.M.) a "saucer" on the road

NICE, October 16 (dispatch "France-Soir")

There was much excitement yesterday on the Côte d'Azur, particularly in Biot, a small village between Nice and Antibes, where a 19-year-old young man, José Casella, living with his parents at 2 rue de la Poissonnerie, came "face to face" with a flying saucer.

José Casella works at the municipal revenue office in Antibes. Twice a day, morning and evening, he bicycles between home and work. Here is what he says:

"On Thursday, around 6:15 p.m., as I was riding along the wall of the former property of the sculptor Bouraine, I suddenly came face to face with an oval-shaped, aluminum-colored mass. Instinctively, I braked. At that exact moment, without a sound but with incredible speed, the craft rose vertically and disappeared.

"I was about ten meters away," he added. "I clearly saw the circular shape of the object. The upper part was slightly domed and the lower part spherical. I noticed no sign of life, no protrusions, no portholes. The object was completely smooth and shiny. Judging by the width of the road, the saucer must have been five to six meters in diameter and a little over one meter high. After it left, it left no trace on the road."

Several other residents of Biot claimed to have seen the craft.

The "diver" of Perpignan was afraid of dogs

PERPIGNAN, October 16 (dispatch "France-Soir"). -- A retired customs officer from Perpignan, Mr. Damien Figuères, 56 years old, living in the Saint-Assiscle district, was out walking his dogs last night and was about 100 meters from his home when he saw a red, luminous sphere land less than thirty meters from him and a figure dressed like a deep-sea diver walking around the craft.

When the dogs started barking, the mysterious figure got back into the sphere, which flew off at dizzying speed, without making a sound or releasing any flame.

NEAR LAVARANDE (Algeria), a large red disk, dazzling like molten metal, terrified Mr. Gaston Mayer, a tanker truck driver, and his assistant, Mr. Amora, as it swooped down toward their vehicle. The craft then ascended silently.

IN PARIS, four bricklayers working on a construction site in Pigalle saw, yesterday at 4:40 p.m., four shiny discs flying in single file at high altitude. The first was yellow, the second orange, the third blue-green, and the last red. It was a young apprentice mason, Mr. Bleuse, a resident at the Masons' Home on rue Saint-Lambert, who alerted his coworkers.

IN AIX-EN-PROVENCE, LE PUY, TULLE, MURAT (Cantal), IN HAUTE-MARNE AND IN BRITTANY, more or less extraordinary craft were observed by numerous witnesses.

ABROAD, flying saucers also made several appearances yesterday, particularly IN ITALY, where one burned six poplar trees near Rovigo, and IN GREAT BRITAIN, where a young girl saw a craft land in a park in Southend (mouth of the Thames).

Official: no saucer in the Vaucluse

The State Secretariat for the Armed Forces (Air) clarified that, contrary to some reports, the two pilots from the Orange base who flew at various altitudes over Fontaine-de-Vaucluse on October 14 in the afternoon observed no unknown craft during their search. The two pilots are experienced officers, and their report is conclusive.

October 15 [, 1954]

[... other cases...]

daytime: Southern France:Briançon,Digne,Le Puy,Lyon,Murat,Saint Céré,Toulouse,Tulle,Ardèche,Aveyron,Basses-Alpes

[... other cases...]

THE OTHER SHAPES

The "Saucers with a volume of revolution"

[... other cases...]

No. 3. 10/15/1954 Le Puy (Haute Loire) 6 p.m.; size unknown.

[... other cases...]

N° 2 is the perfect type of the "Compact Saucer", [...] as for N° 3 [...], they are undeniably "Structured Saucers".

10/15/1954 Le Puy (Haute Loire)

Around 6 p.m., Mr. X was able to observe a shiny object whose color turned red and which quickly disappeared. The craft looked like a straight olive with a kind of black antenna at the top. At 1/3 in the vertical direction, the craft had a black stripe. (J. Giraud; "Centre Matin" for 17/10/1954)

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.