The 1954 French flap:

The round of saucers
now flies
in the sky of the Basin
of the Sambre

Saucers and other flying cigars hitherto had seemed to ignore the often obscured sky of the Sambre Basin.

Did they take advantage of the nice days that this early Autumn gave us? We cannot say, but dozens of people in turn claim to have seen craft moving. The most curious story was told to us by Mr. Gilbert Mozin, butcher in Louvroil, who is known throughout the region.

A saucer
on the road to Avesnes

"I was coming back from Avesnes, last Saturday, around 11 p.m., said the popular butcher when, a little beyond the cafe run by Mr. Rina, my wife, who accompanied me, pointed out to me that something abnormal was happening far ahead of us. "It was an accident," I replied, and I slowed down. I was going very slowly," continues Mr. Mozin. "About ten meters from where something was actually happening, my headlights went low. In the passing, my wife and I had time to detail this something: in this case, a bizarre apparatus posed on the grass between the ditch and the road. It had no wheels and had no headlights. Inside a dazzling clarity reigned. In front of this craft, it seemed to us, was a man not very tall, but wide. My headlights turned on normally "au Violin." Mr. Mozin added: "Last Sunday, accompanied by a supporter of the soccer team, and passing on this same road, I stopped at this place. We noticed several small holes forming a circle inside which the grass was flattened. I believe, concludes the butcher, in secret craft."

Saturday, a bit everywhere

A trustworthy person, living on rue Anatole-France, in Boussois, saw on Saturday around 9 p.m. in his garden, a silent craft moving at a very fast speed and accompanied by sparks. Several people from the region, notably from Ferrière-la-Grande, from Louvroil, saw a saucer, the same evening and at the same hour.

Monday evening at Ferrière

Monday evening, between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., several people from Ferrière witnessed a rare and dazzling spectacle that could be compared to an atmospheric phenomenon. Mr. Maxime Liénard, a guard-apparitor, accompanied by two neighbors, MM. Decruck father and son, saw, leaving his home, a large luminous ball moving above the city. Shortly after, several people passing by La Digue: Mr. Roneid Maufry, who was accompanied by his sisters-in-law, Solange and Gisèle Sauvage; of her brother-in-law, Pierre Sauvage, and of a neighbor, Mrs. Mireille Buivestre, were dazzled by a ball which gave them the impression that it was bursting, causing a reddish gleam seen by other people circulating at the same time in the streets of the town.

All of this, of course, cannot keep us from thinking about the more down-to-earth problem that plagues us and that it is up to us to fix to get a better life. Saucer or not saucer, the wages have to be increased and the rearmament of Germany not to be accepted.

7) 1,20 m (11-54) Maubeuge: Nord (book to be published).

[Voice] - "We will begin the approach of the humanoïdes, thanks to found witnesses, who agreed to entrust their fantastic adventure at the microphones of France-lnter. So, Mr. and Mrs. Mozin who tell one of our reporters, André Darcheville, what they saw in November 1954..."

[M. Mozin] - "I was returning from Montournère. arrived at the "Belle Hôtesse", at the top of the coast, I saw very sharp lights on the roadside. To me, this was an accident. I was within two kilometers approximately of these huge lights: I thus accelerated. I descended the hill very quickly, to see the accident. Within a hundred meters, suddenly, my headlights die out! I was driving at 120 km/h. At this point in time I saw the being."

[A. Darcheville] - What did it look like?"

[M. Mozin] - "It resembled the bibendum of the Michelin publicity. A large helmet, large gloves, boots, a size of an average man. Its silhouette cut out in a door which made about 1 meter 80 high. Behind the door I saw like controls, sort of stems and electric wires. It should be said that all was perfectly lit, very white. You could see a in daylight. I thus passed in front of the machine. Fifty meters further, the light came back in the car. The headlights again functioned normally. A little further, I stopped because I wanted to go back there. At that time, I had a revolver on board. I said to myself: "We'll see." My wife started to shout: "No, I do not want to go there!" So, I continued. The following day, I was to go to assist a football game, in Rheims. I was the president of the U.S.M., here in Maubeuge. I was go there with a friend, a tobacconist. He died since, otherwise he would have testified. Before leaving I told him: "Yesterday evening, I saw a saucer!" He answers me: "It's not true!" "Good, since you don't believe me, I will show you while going to Rheims." We hit the road, and arrived at the place in the basin, we get out of the car. I show him the ground. Indeed, there were traces. "Looks at this: there are three naked feet, one there and another there and in the middle, that's odd!" My friend was amazed. "It's true, I lost!" he answered me."

[A. Darcheville] - "You did bet with him?"

[M. Mozin] - "I bet a bottle of champagne and a supper. And I won."

[A. Darcheville] - "Let's go back to this famous night. What was the shape of the craft of have seen?"

[M. Mozin] - "It had the shape of a cigar of three meters in diameter. The door in which the little man was seen had about a meter eighty of height. There remained a space of approximately fifty centimeters between the top of the door and the head of the being. This being, I saw him move. He was going to get out at the time when I arrived. It walked like this. He had difficulties moving. In my opinion, the objects which he had on him were very heavy."

[A. Darcheville] - "The inside was brightly lit I believe, did you see it well?"

[M. Mozin] - "The interior was illuminated with an exceptional strength. White, very white, like those chairs over there."

[A. Darcheville] - How long have you seen it?

[M. Mozin] - "It happened very fast, about fifty seconds."

[A. Darcheville] - "Mrs. Mozin, what impression did it make on you?"

[Mme Mozin] - "I was afraid! All that I can say, is that I was afraid! In the beginning, I believed in an accident, a terrible accident, inasmuch the lights were so strong. But when I saw the being, I was afraid! I did not sleep because of that!"

[A. Darcheville] - "And it is you who saw the being with the maximum of details since you were on the right side of the car, i.e. [the side] of the UFO?"

[Mme Mozin] - "Oh! Yes, I saw him well. I still see him when I close my eyes!"

[A. Darcheville] - "But, in the beginning of your vision, when you realized that this was not a car accident, what did you think of?"

[M. Mozin] - "I thought of a flying saucer! They were discussed at the time. A gate-keeper of the S.N.C.F. [National railway company] had seen a saucer landing on railroad track [See Quarouble Oct. 10.]. I thus thought of a saucer.

[A. Darcheville] - "Why didn't you want your husband to go back?"

[Mme Mozin] - "Oh! no, I didn't want to! I didn't know what was going to happen. Moreover since the car's lights had dies out! Afterwards, when the car's light came back, I said: "No, no! No way we go back there!"

[A. Darcheville] - Mr. Mozin, when did your engine start to function again?"

[M. Mozin] - "It never stopped functioning!"

[Mme Mozin] - "No, only the headlights went out."

[A. Darcheville] - "For how long?"

[M. Mozin] - "It's hard to say. During seventy to eighty meters. I had a new aronde. It was a fast car!"

[A. Darcheville] - "Without the headlights, did you get enough light?"

[M. Mozin] - "Oh! Much more light than if the headlights had functioned!"

[A. Darcheville] - "Were you alone on the road? No other car?"

[M. Mozin] - "No. I was alone at this time. At midnight, there were not many cars which were driving, especially at that time, when there were much less cars than now. It was twenty years ago! But we would have loved to meet another vehicle, believe me!"

[A. Darcheville] - "What was your occupation at that time, Mr. Mozin?"

[M. Mozin] - "I was a butcher."

[A. Darcheville] - "What were you doing so late on a deserted road?"

[M. Mozin] - "I had gone to visit to a relationship which had just given birth. We had started from Maubeuge after my work, around 10 hours of the evening. We returned around 11 and a half, midnight. It is at the return trip that we saw the "thing"."

[... Other cases ...]

It is a small and stoky being that the Mozin husbands saw inside a gigantic shell-shape, in November 1954. "- It resembled the Michelin man", they specified.

[... Other cases ...]

? November 1954 MONTOURNERE

Mr. and Mrs. MOZIN, in the car, go down a hill and see very bright lights on the edge of the road; at a hundred yards, the headlights go out. The aforementioned witnesses saw a bizarre silhouette standing out in front of a "door" which was approx. 1.80 m high. Five hundred meters further on, beyond the scene of the incident, the headlights are working normally again...

(ref. JC. BOURRET "La nouvelle vague de soucoupes volantes")

1954 Addenda

November, 1954 2400 Maubeuge (Nord), France Type A

M. & Mme. Mozin were traveling to Maubeuge by car when they saw a light by the road ahead. As they approached, they saw that it came from the interior of an object shaped like a fat shell. This object was about 6 ft m diameter and 7.5 ft high, and rested on 3 1-foot legs. It was of a whitish metallic color. A wide opening gaped in it on the side facing the road; within could be seen thick cables and a very stout space-suited being about 4 ft tall, apparently about to step out. He was encased in "rolls" like the "Michelin tire man" and wore boots & a very broad helmet. (Source has sketch.) His face was not seen. The Mozins passed within 15 ft of the object. The car's headlights went out when it came within 300 ft of the object, and came on again 300 ft past it.

The next day, at the site, M. Mozin found an 8" carbonized spot "giving off an odor reminiscent of benzine" & surrounded by 3 inprints 4" deep, on a circle of about 4.5 ft diameter.

Investigators: MM. Bigorne & Mathieu.

Source: Fernand Legarde, Mystérieuses Soucoupes Volantes (Albatros, 1973), pp. 110-122.

November 1954 - MAUBEUGE type I

The Mozin couple returned by car around midnight. Perceiving a gleam in the distance Mr Mozin thinks of an accident. Arrived at the top of a small hill, they discover at 100 meters from there, on the edge of the road a posed craft, and by a kind of door they perceive inside a "Michelin snowman" appearing to move slowly on the threshold of this door. The shell-shaped object rested on feet and had a white metallic appearance with vertical lines visible on the walls. The being, about 1 m 20 tall, looked like a "bibendum", he was very big, had big boots and wore a bulky helmet. The light inside was an intense white not dazzling. Arrived at 4 or 5 meters from the craft the headlights of the car went out; the engine did not stop. The headlights came back at a hundred meters after passing the craft.

The next day back on the place with a friend Mr. Mozin found 3 footprints and in the center of the triangle they formed was a charred circle of 15 to 20 centimeters giving off an indefinable odor.

(Mystérieuses S.V. - LDLN page 119)

Beaufort - Nord -

Telephone inverstigators:

October 16, 1954

An erroneous statement runs and prints, regarding the case cited in title. The latter would be "phony" and to be put out of the 1954 wave, like all its brothers! Objection! Error changes sides!

This observation by Mr. and Mrs. Mozin, of a humanoid in an unknown object, and the discovery of traces on the ground the next day, remain solid...

Two counter-investigators, who have a reputation for using the phone, wrongly questioned a journalist, taking him for the investigator who had observed with me in 1970. Fatal error, they had a simple negative opinion, but purely gratuitous, which they transformed into certainty. I was the main interested party, seeing the witnesses very closely for 10 years, to find a possible flaw: they failed to consult me. Yet, I would have facilitated their counter-investigation work by bringing them to the scene and to the witnesses...

You don't sign a contract over the phone, nor do you counter-investigate by telephone, you go on site, and you try to work objectively. It was not done for Beaufort. Being there, I can testify; I have the witnesses, my investigator friend at the time, the journalist interviewed, all that remains is to translate the "counter-investigators" to reconstruct the miscarriage of justice!

Anyone can use error and lies.

Here the conclusion is simple: investigate on the spot, you will avoid wallowing in prefabricated conclusions, unless it suits you! Where is the objectivity then?

Beaufort, October 16, 1954, remains unidentified to this day.

J.M. BICORNE

(Note: Text of the field investigation in "Mystérieuses Soucoupe Volantes", Albatros publisher, 1973, p 119 to 122).

[Photo caption:] Mr. MOZIN one of the main witnesses of the landing with a humanoid in Beaufort (Nord) on October 16, 1954, Photo taken in May 1979 during a new counter-investigation by Mr. BIGORNE.

5. Beaufort (Nord), October 16, 1954. B&B version [bbr1]: ... we did extensive research.. the opinion of an investigator as in Beaufort... there was nothing serious. (p. 100). LDLN Version B&B interviewed a journalist with the same name as the lead investigator at the time; the journalist, who does not believe in UFOs (it is his right) and who knows nothing about the case of Beaufort, expressed his skepticism to them on the subject. They neither questioned Mr. Mozin, still alive at the time, and who confirmed his observation, nor the investigator J.M. Bigorne, who took the trouble to meet the witness. (LDLN 191 January 1980).

Mr. Mozin, photographed by Jean-Marie Bigorne in May 1979. He confirms! But it was not with him that B&B investigated, it was with someone who knew nothing about the case!

72 - October 16, around midnight, near Beaufort, Maubeuge.

The Mozin couple.

The couple returns to their home by taking the RN2, towards Maubeuge. Suddenly, Mr. Mozin draws his wife's attention to lights visible at 800m along the road, suggesting that an accident occurred. Approaching, the couple see that it is something quite different: a kind of huge shell resting on feet, of metallic white, stands on the right side of the roadway. About a hundred meters from the "shell", the car's headlights go out, but the engine continues to run, which allows Mr. Mozin to continue his journey and pass four or five meters from the thing before going beyond it. Arriving at the height of the "shell", Mr. Mozin noticed that an opening, like a door, gaped in the object, revealing a strange figure resembling a Michelin man. One hundred meters after passing the craft, the headlights came back on by themselves. Mr. Mozin wanted to stop for a moment to see the spectacle more closely, but the fright shown by his wife dissuaded him. The next day, the witness returned to the scene and discovered three triangular holes in the center of which was a charred circle fifteen to twenty centimeters in diameter.

Source: Mystérieuses soucoupes volantes, Fernand Lagarde, Albatros publishers, Paris 1973, p. 119-122. See O.D. 4 to 7.

Note: Case rehabilitated chapter 1 #4, following the nonsense by Barthel & Brucker. Another Michelin man was described in June 1970 about an incident that took place in May 1955 in Dinan. In addition, on July 31, 1968, a third "bibendum" was seen by Luce Fontaine in the plain of Caffres, on the high plateau of Reunion Island. A description provided twice, therefore, before the publication of the Beaufort affair.

The Beaufort investigators are MM. Mathieu and Jean-Marie Bigorne, the latter being a researcher recognized for his great seriousness who has been collaborating with the journal LDLN for many years.

1954, November

FRANCE, Belle Hôtesse near Beaufort.

The Mozin couple were on their way back to Maubeuge around midnight. In the distance there were lights at the top of a small hill: they thought there had been an accident. They quickly cross the distance that separates them from this light and they discover, placed 100 m away, on the edge of the R.N.2, a craft, door open, and inside a "Michelin man" appearing to move slowly on the doorstep. The craft, a sort of large shell, rested on feet, was of a metallic whitish color like galvanized sheet metal and on the walls vertical lines 10 cm apart. The being, about 1.20m high, looked like the Michelin bibendum: it was very big, with sausages around its arms and legs. Wearing heavy boots, he wore a bulky helmet almost as wide as his shoulders, which gave him a big head. The light came from the open door and diffused on the road. The interior was non-glare white. The witnesses saw conduits or large cables there which descended into the craft with sorts of handles or switches. They began their observation from a distance of 100 m and passed in the immediate vicinity, either at 4 or 5 m. The car's headlights stopped working as soon as they got a hundred meters away, the engine did not stop. The driver braked lightly but did not stop. When they had passed the thing a hundred meters, the headlights came back on without the intervention of the driver. (L.D.L.N. "Mystérieuses Soucoupes Volantes" - ALBATROS-ETAPES 1973 - p. 119 to 122)

4166: 1954/10/16 23:40 3 3:58:20 E 50:14:00 N 3333 WEU FRN NRD 8:7

nr BEAUFORT,FR:2/Car:BULLET-UFO ^/3 LEGS/DITCH:LITES OUT:FIG.EXITS:/r30p206

Ref#194 LUMIERES dans la NUIT.(LDLN France) Issue No. 191 : PASTURE

213.

Location. Maubeuge Nord France

Date: November 1954

Time: 2400

M & Mrs Mozin were traveling to Maubeuge by car when they saw a light by the road ahead. As they approached, they saw that it came from the interior of an object shaped like a fat shell. This object was about 6 ft in diameter and 7.5 ft high, and rested on 3 1-foot legs. It was a whitish metallic color. A wide opening gaped in it on the side facing the road; within could be seen thick cables and a very stout space suited being about 4 ft tall, apparently about to step out. He was encased in "rolls" like the "Michelin tire man" and wore boots & a very broad helmet. His face was not seen. The Mozins passed within 15 ft of the object. The car's headlights went out when it came within 300 ft of the object, and came on again 300 ft past it. The next day, Mr. Mozin found an 8" carbonized spot "giving off an odor reminiscent to benzene" & surrounded by 3 imprints 4" deep, on a circle of about 4.5 ft diameter.

Humcat 1954-34

Source: Jean Marie Bigorne & Fernand Legarde [sic]

Type: A

November 16, 1954 Beaufort 59

The fact occurred around Maubeuge on the R.N. 2 (Paris-Brussels), between Avesnes (59) and Louvroil (59), Michelin map #53, fold 6.

The Mozin couple had gone, this Saturday, November 16, 1954, to visit a patient at parents in Dourlcrs (59). About midnight, they were on the road of the return in direction of Maubeuge. The road was deserted, dry weather, rather frosty. It was daylight. They crossed kilometers briskly, when Mr. Mozin called to his wife: "Hey, look at the gleams over there! What is it? You would say" a serious accident!" They saw this gleam on the top of a small hill, approximately 800 meters of their car.

Driving at 120 km./hour, they cross the distance quickly and arrived at the top of the small hill, they discover within 100 meters from there, on the right edge of the R.N. 2. a craft posed, an open door and inside the craft a "Michelin man" appearing to move slowly on the threshold of the door.

The craft, a kind of large shell, which rested on feet, had a metallic white aspect, kind of coated metallic sheet and on the walls of the visible, distant vertical lines between them of 10 cm. The approximately 1 m 20 tall being resembled the "Michelin man".. It was very large, with rolls around the arms and legs. Fitted with large boots. it carried a bulky helmet, almost as broad as its shoulders, which made him a large head.

The light seen came from the opened door, and was diffused on the road. The inside was of an intense white not dazzling. The two witnesses saw there what they supposed being pipes, where large cab1es which went down in the craft with kinds of handles or switches.

The Mozin couple managed to begin their observation a hundred meters before arriving near the object, where they passed in the immediate vicinity, i.e. at 4 or 5 meters.

The headlights of the car ceased functioning as soon as they were at a hundred meters, at the time when the witnesses saw the object. The engine did not stop.

The driver then slowed down, and it is more slowly than he crossed 1he craft: at 70 km./h. approximately. One hundred meters further, the headlights were suddenly re-ignited without his intervention. Mr. Mozin stopped with the intention to go to see the strange object more closely. At the insistence of his frightened wife, he continued his travel towards Louvroil and reached his Maubeuge home.

The next day, a Sunday, going to Rheims to attend a soccer game with his friend Mr. Houssières (deceased), he stopped at the place of the landing to seek traces, and to prove to his incredulous friend that had not dreamed. Three prints were visible, and in the center of the triangle which they formed a carbonized round from 15 to 20 cm. of diameter was seen releasing an indefinable odor, a bit like benzine. The three traces, laid out on a circle of more or less 1 m 40 in diameter, was in the shape of a half-circle, deep from 8 to 10 cm. The spacing of the traces seemed smaller than the diameter of the craft evaluated as 2 meters. The machine was posed on a narrow space between the ditch and the road.

All the friends of Mr. Mozin laughed a lot at what they thought of being an enormous joke and the gendarmerie did not intervene.

The witnesses never forgot that night, it remained engraved for ever in their memory. Mrs. Mozin "suffered insomnia during eight days and always saw again "the Michelin man" at the foot of her bed. Each time that she crosses a gaz service station showing the Michelin advertisement she recalls their strange meeting to her husband.

The credit to be granted to this account appears total. The Mozin couple is known in the vicinity for their kindness and their good moral and intellectual behaviour. They are simple people to whom a cat is a cat and a F.s. is a D.s.. They enjoy a very good sight and never had a serious illness.

Sixteen years later, day for day, the witnesses lived again their adventure for us. Their account has notes of sincerity which would be quite difficult to imitate. They become again astonished, curious or apprehensive and contrary to her husband, his wife says that she would not like to see this again, so much frightened she had been by it.

Some additions to the investigation.

The craft was on the edge of the road, between the road and the 1 meter broad and 50 cm deep ditch. The car passed between 3 and 5 meters from there.

Its form was cylindrical ended by a cone of low height. Its diameter was to be 2 meters approximately. and its height cone included 2 m.30 to 2 m. 40. It seemed to have undulations or vertical lines of approximately 10 cm distance between them. It comprised it seems an open opening, almost as large as the object, but no door was noticed only the opening.

It rested seemingly only on two feet (there were three of them which actually were observed thanks to traces found). The traces were compared with those of a bath-tub feet.

The height of the feet between the ground and the machine was evaluated as of 30 cm. The size of the occupant was to range between 1 m. 20 and 1 m. 40. It appeared very broad between 0 m. 90 and 1 meter. The arms were stuck to the body and close to the edges of the opening. Large boots broad feet, no memory of the hands. Large helmet almost as broad as the shoulders, nonapparent face. It appeared to move very slowly, by trailing the feet to move as if it wanted to come out.

The witnesses did not attend the departure of the machine.

The craft was located at a few meters near near a geodetic spot indicated on an 1/40.000th English map of 1918 with the denomination of "conspicuous trigono­metrical spot". The place was deserted at the time and at the crossing of two roads.

Reference: Investigation by Mssrs. BIGORNE and MATHIEU L.D.L.N.
Book: "Mystérieuses soucoupes volantes" par LDLN éditions Albatros 1973

Saturday, October 16, 1954

24:00 Between Avesne and Louvroil, around Maubeuge on the Road RN 2 which joins Paris to Brussels, on October 16, 1954, about midnight, a couple returned by car of a visit at relatives in Dourlers. The road was empty, the weather was close to cold and dry, the sky was clear, they drive at 120 kmh. The man draws the attention of his wife to gleams in the countryside, on top of a small coast, at a distance which they estimated as 800 meters of them. The witness indicates to his wife that it thinks that there was an accident.

The distance is quickly crossed by the car and when they are at the top of the hill, they discover within 100 meters of them on the right side of the road a craft posed on the ground, which has a cylindrical form about two meters in diameter with a cone of low height at the top.

The witnesses in the car managed to see that when their car was still at a hundred meters of the object, and at this time, the headlights of the car died out spontaneously while the engine continued to function normally. The driver however slowed down at this time and the speed of the car is brought back to 70 kmh. While continuing to drive, they arrived at some four or five meters of the object. From this distance, they can see that the object rests on feet. The feet seem to have about thirty centimetres in height. It has a white aspect like coated sheet and vertical lines separated by 10 centimetres on its wall. The machine has a broad opening, and in the framing of this one which seems deprived of door, a silhouette appears to move slowly and it will evoke for them the silhouette of the "Michelin man." This being seems to them high of one meter twenty, very large, broad of 0m90 by 1 meter, with rolls around the arms and legs, fitted with large boots and wearing a bulky helmet almost as broad as its shoulders. Its face is not apparent. It seems to move slightly and very slowly, like preparing to come out, by trailing its feet which appear fitted of heavy boots. Its hands are not distinguished.

The luminosity of the opening is diffused on the road, the inside of the machine seems of an intense white not dazzling. Kinds of conduits or large cables go down in the machine in its inside and kinds of handles or switches are seen.

When the car exceeded the object by a hundred meters, its headlights are re-ignited spontaneously. The driver stops the car then, decided to go to see the object closely by foot, but his frightened wife dissuades him and they resume the trip and reach home in Maubeuge. They thus do not attend the departure of the machine. The next day, the witness, while going to Rheims to attend a football game with a friend, stops at the place where he saw the object the day before to check if there are traces, hoping to prove to his friend that he had not dreamed In a narrow space between a one meter broad ditch and 50 centimetres of depth and the road, three prints in half rings and 8 to 10 centimetres deep were visible with in the center of the imaginary circle of approximately a meter forty formed by these three prints, a carbonized round 20 centimetres in diameter releasing an odor that the witness compared to bemzine odor.

November 1954. 0005hrs.

MAUBEUGE (NORD : FRANCE)

Mr and Mrs Mozin were driving back to Maubeuge from Montourners, when, as they reached the ‘Belle Hotesse’ inn, they saw some very bright lights by the side of the road, about 2km away. Thinking it was an accident, they hurried to the scene at 120kph. Suddenly, at a distance of 100m or so from the spot, the car lights went out. Silhouetted in a doorway in a cigar shaped machine, 3m long, was a little man, 1.3m tall. He was dressed in a very big helmet, with big gloves and boots, and a “Michelin Man” suit. The being walked towards them, with a clumsy gait, like that of a diver. From the 1.8m high doorway came a light that illuminated the countryside. Through the opening they saw various controls and wires. The couple drove rapidly away, and 50m on, their lights came on again. The observation perhaps lasted for only 10 seconds.

Bourret 1977, p.81, citing Andre Darchville.

Location: Maubeuge Nord France

Date: November 1954

Time: 2400

M & Mrs Mozin were traveling to Maubeuge by car when they saw a light by the road ahead. As they approached, they saw that it came from the interior of an object shaped like a fat shell. This object was about 6 ft in diameter and 7.5 ft high, and rested on 3 1-foot legs. It was a whitish metallic color. A wide opening gaped in it on the side facing the road; within could be seen thick cables and a very stout space suited being about 4 ft tall, apparently about to step out. He was encased in “rolls” like the “Michelin tire man” and wore boots & a very broad helmet. His face was not seen. The Mozins passed within 15 ft of the object. The car’s headlights went out when it came within 300 ft of the object, and came on again 300 ft past it. The next day, Mr. Mozin found an 8” carbonized spot “giving off an odor reminiscent to benzene” & surrounded by 3 imprints 4” deep, on a circle of about 4.5 ft diameter.

Source: Jean Marie Bigorne & Fernand Legarde

October 16 1954. 0005hrs.

MAUBEUGE (NORD : FRANCE)

Mr and Mrs Mozin were driving back to Maubeuge from Doulers, after visiting sick relatives, when, as they reached the "Belle Hotesse" inn, they saw some very bright lights by the side of the road, about 2km away. Thinking it was an accident, they hurried to the scene at 120kph. Suddenly, at a distance of 100m or so from the spot, the car lights went out. Silhouetted in a doorway in a cigar shaped machine, 3m long, was a little man, 1.3m tall. He was dressed in a very big helmet, with big gloves and boots, and a "Michelin Man" suit. The being walked towards them, with a clumsy gait, like that of a diver. From the 1.8m high doorway came a light that illuminated the countryside. Through the opening they saw various controls and wires. The couple drove rapidly away, and 50m on, their lights came on again. The observation perhaps lasted for only 10 seconds.

• Bourret 1977 p81 citing Andre Darchville
• Gross 1954. citing J M Bigorne in Lumieres dans le [sic] Nuit 191 p34 + Lagarde [sic] 1976 p119 Figuet and Ruchon 1979 p206 + Sider 1997 p1 + various [sic] websites [And more, actually!]