The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 16-Oct-54-Ternoise.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The newspaper L'Aisne Nouvelle of October 19, 1954, reported that on October 16, 1954, around 9:30 p.m., a glow crossed the sky over the Ternoise region, appearing to come from the direction of Laon and moving rapidly toward Frières-Faillouël.
The residents wondered whether it was a "simple atmospheric phenomenon" or a flying saucer.
Reliable witnesses confirmed the event. Mr. Joseph Thiéry told the newspaper that he had seen "a craft shaped like a funnel, leaving behind an intense glow."
Dr. Cerf, Mr. Bouché, and several other people who were on the road to Frières were also witnesses to the phenomenon.
[Ref. ain1:] NEWSPAPER "L'AISNE NOUVELLE":
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On Saturday evening, around 9:30 p.m., a light streaked across the sky in the Ternois region. It seemed to come from the direction of Laon and was moving rapidly toward Frières-Fallouel.
Everyone immediately wondered: "Was it just a simple atmospheric phenomenon or one of those famous flying saucers?"
Credible witnesses confirmed the sighting. Mr. Joseph Thiéry told us he saw a craft shaped like a funnel, leaving behind a bright glow.
Dr. Cerf and Mr. Bouché also observed the phenomenon, along with several others who were on the road to Frières.
A neighbor of Mr. Marcel Faisant, living in Sinceny, came to get him the other evening, claiming he had seen strange lights in a field near the Chemin de Soude; the night before, he had already noticed those suspicious lights.
Martians or poachers?
Mr. Faisant wanted to find out for sure; he grabbed his shotgun and the two men went outside. Mr. Faisant saw the lights, whistled, took aim, and fired. A cry answered the gunshots, and the two men ran off.
The next day, they learned from Mr. Maurice Ruaut, a farmer in Sinceny, who had been fixing his car in a field on the Chemin de Soude, that his vehicle had been hit by buckshot, with marks visible on the body. The pellets had struck very close to Mr. Ruaut’s head.
The gendarmes, continuing their investigation, discovered that the lights seen by Mr. Faisant’s neighbor were not imaginary and had actually been caused by a farmer tending to a sick animal in his field.
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Probably the 09:30 p.m. meteor of that day.
The direction "from Laon and moving rapidly toward Frières-Fallouel" would indicate an approximate path from the Southeast to the Northwest, consistent with the directions given for some of the other observations of this meteor.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Ternoise, Pas-de-Calais, Laon, Frières-Fallouel, saucer, Joseph Thiéry, Cerf, Bouché, craft, funnel, trail, intense
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
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| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | July 30, 2025 | First published, [ain1]. |
