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The 1954 French flap:

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October 17, 1954, Andigné, Maine-et-Loire:

Reference for this case: 17-Oct-54-Andigné.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

A newspaper reported that two days ago on Sunday, October 17, 1954, at an unspecified time, Albert Géraud, aged 15, farm worker in Montguillon, was riding his bicycle on the road from Andigné to Saint-Martin-du-Bois, in the Maine-et-Loire department, when he saw a light which changed from green to yellow.

The light descended jerkily and reached the road. Seized by panic, the young man felt his legs were paralyzed.

Having reached the ground, the light revealed itself to be a "transparent saucer releasing a red gleam."

In the inside of the saucer, was a small being of 1 m 20 height, covered with hair from the head to the feet, and with large eyes, which looked at the witness.

The object rose suddenly, causing a violent blow of air in the back of the witness, and it went away in the direction to Lion d'Angers.

The witness was very frightened and remained in prostration during several days.

It was in 2014 that author Julien Gonzalez published new information on the case. It was not on the 18th or 20th like some ufologists had written, but on the 17th, a Sunday, as told in the newspaper Le Courrier de l'Ouest dor October 21, 1954, the apparent primary source.

Gonzalez said the witness was from in Vault-sur-Oudon, and was before Maison-Neuve when he saw in the sky a disc which passed from the green to the yellow color while going down by jerks towards the ground.

In the Peess, he had told: "The disc was transparent, inside there was a man of small size (1,20 meter according to the second source) seated motionless. His eyes were large like eyes of pigeons and it was covered with hairs, but I do not know if it were not a coat. It stared at me and I was terrified. That lasted at least five minutes. Then the light turned off and the disc flew away. I felt a gush of air on my back."

Thrown into a panic, he fled to the Malaboeuf family, farmers at Maison-Neuve, where it took a few moments before he was able to tell about his adventure.

He asked his boss to leave rather early to return before the night for he was afraid to see the small hairy man in his "saucer" again.

Gonzalez adds that in 1989, investigators of Lumières Dans La Nuit met Albert Gérault at his home. He claimed to be the father of the witness who himself would have died seven years ago, and the conversation was almost impossible as Mr. Gérault repeated that he is not interested.

Reports:

[Ref. agd1:] ALAIN GAMARD:

[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:

The two authors indicate that between Andigné and Saint-Martin-du-Bois, on October 20, 1954, a young farm worker had a strange encounter with a 1.20 meters visitor covered with hairs from the head to toe and with eyes of owl.

They add that "even when it is a bet with buddies, the 'alien mimicry' draws its resources in the feathery fauna of our planet" in Andigné like in Loctudy where the being had eyes like pigeon's eggs.

[Ref. fru1] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:

The two authors indicate that on October 18, 1954, at an unspecified time, Albert Géraud, aged 15, farm worker in Montguillon, was riding his bicycle on the road from Andigné to Saint-Martin-du-Bois, in the Maine-et-Loire department, when he saw a light which changed from green to yellow.

The light descended jerkily and reached the road. Seized by panic, the young man felt his legs were paralyzed.

Having reached the ground, the light revealed itself to be a "transparent saucer releasing a red gleam."

In the inside of the saucer, was a small being of 1 m 20 height, covered with hair from the head to the feet, and with large eyes, which looked at the witness.

Suddenly the object rose, causing a violent blow of air in the back of the witness, and it went away in the direction to Lion d'Angers.

The witness was very frightened and remained in prostration during several days.

The authors indicate that the source is Ouest-France for October 20, 1954, page 1, and that there was no investigation as far as they know.

[Ref. ldl1:] MAGAZINE D'UFOLOGIE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":

[Ref. mft1:] FRANCAT, MICHEL FIGUET:

("B.B." refers to the book by Barthel and Brucker, see [bbr1].)

[Ref. mft3:] MICHEL FIGUET:

[Ref. mft2:] MICHEL FIGUET:

This ufologist noted:

[Ref. ldl2:] MAGAZINE D'UFOLOGIE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":

[Note: Obviously if this gentleman does not have the "attitude" "of a witness" it may mean that he id really the witness' father and not the witness, as he told. So the LDLN group's argument seems too weak to debunk the Barthel and Brucker ("B&B") explanation... But is would be quite odd that the witness and his father would have shared the same firstname. This is not impossible, but quite unusual.]

[Ref. jsr1:] JEAN SIDER:

The author indicates that on October 18, 1954 at an unknown hour, in Andigne/Saint Martin du Bois, in the Maine-et-Loire, Albert Gérault, aged 15 at the time, rode by bicycle on the D216 and suddenly noticed a light passing from the green to the yellow, which came down by jerks and reached the road.

Very frightened, he felt paralyzed in the legs.

An object landed, there was a small hairy being inside, hairy from head to feet, with eyes like those of an owl.

The object took off suddenly causing a violent wind that the teenager felt in his back, and it disappeared in the direction of the Lion of Angers.

The young man remained prostrate several days.

The author indicates that Barthel and Brucker had explained the incident as being the result of a "bet" thus a joke, but he rejects this explanation by arguing that they faked their investigations and thus no credit is to be given to this one; and that moreover the same evening a schoolboy in the Ille-and-Vilaine lived a similar experience.

[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":

[Ref. goe1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:

The Belgian ufologist indicates that in 1954, on October 18, in France, in Andigné/St Martin du Bois "Albert Géraud, aged 15, circulates by bicycle on the D216 and sees a light which passes from the green to the yellow. It goes down by jerks and reaches the road. Seized by panic the witness feels his legs paralyzed. The saucer is on the ground, a small being covered with hairs of the head to the feet is inside and looks at Albert: its eyes are large. Suddenly the object rises, causes a violent wind in the direction of the witness and disappears in the direction of the Lion of Angers. Prostrate witness during several days."

The source is indicated as "FIGUET/ J.L. RUCHON: 'Ovni, premier dossier complet...' - Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979, p. 182, 183".

[Ref. ars1:] ALBERT ROSALES:

[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:

Luc Chastan indicates that in the Maine and Loire in Andigné on October 18, 1954, "a young man circulates by bicycle on the road of Andigné in Saint-Martin-du-Bois. He sees a light which passes from the green to the yellow. This gleam descends by jerks and reaches the road. Seized by panic, the witness feels his legs paralyzed. The object is on the ground it is a transparent 'saucer' releasing a red gleam. Inside, there is a small being 1 m 20 tall covered with hairs from head to toes who looks at the witness, its eyes are large. Suddenly, the object rises, causes a violent wind in the back of the witness and disappears in direction of the Lion of Angers. The witness, frightened, remained prostrate during several days.

The source is indicated as "Ovni, Premier dossier complet... by Figuet M./ Ruchon J.L. ** Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979".

[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:

The website indicates that on 18 October 1954 on D216, south of St Martin-Du-Bois, France, "Disc lands on road. Hairy dwarf with owl eyes inside. Takes off, flies rapidly to the SSE." "An object was observed. Occupants of the craft were seen. One disc was observed on a highway for two minutes. One hairy dwarf was seen."

The source is indicated as Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002.

[Ref. prn1:] PETER ROGERSON:

[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:

[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":

[Ref. jgz1:] JULIEN GONZALEZ:

The author indicates that there was a close encounter of the third kind between Andigné and Saint-Martin-du-Bois, the Maine-and-Loire, on October 17, 1954, at 07:30 p.m.:

The witness was Albert Gérault, 15 years old, farm employee in Montguillon.

Living in Vault-sur-Oudon, but working in Montguillon, he was riding his bicycle on the road from St-Martin-du-Bois to Andigné when before Maison-Neuve he saw in the sky a disc which passed from the green to the yellow color while going down by jerks towards the ground.

He was terrified and said: "The disc was transparent, inside there was a man of small size (1,20 meter according to the second source) seated motionless. His eyes were large like eyes of pigeons and it was covered with hairs, but I do not know if it were not a coat. It stared at me and I was terrified. That lasted at least five minutes. Then the light turned off and the disc flew away. I felt a gush of air on my back."

Thrown into a panic, the young Albert Gérault fled to the Malaboeuf family, farmers at Maison-Neuve, where it took a few moments before he was able to tell about his adventure.

He asked his boss to leave rather early to return before the night for he was afraid to see the small hairy man in his "saucer" again.

Julien Gonzalez notes that the case was often dated from October 18 by the ufologists (M. Figuet, J. Sider), but the Courier de l'Ouest for October 21, 1954, clearly specifies that it was on "Sunday evening" thus on October 17.

He adds that in "La Grance Peur Martienne", Misters Barthel and Brucker affirm that the case is a hoax, but in 1989, investigators of Lumières Dans LA Nuit met Albert Gérault at his home. He claimed to be the father of the witness who himself would have died seven years ago. The conversation was almost impossible, Mr. Gérault saying on several occasions: "This does not interest me", an attitude which we [?] found more to be that of a witness who wishes to forget that the attitude of a merry prankster.

The sources are said to be Le Courrier de l'Ouest for October 21, 1954; Ouest France for October 20, 1954; Michel Figuet and Jean-Louis Ruchon, OVNI: le premier dossier complet des rencontres rapprochées en France, pages 182-183; Jean Sider, Le dossier 1954 et l'imposture rationaliste, page 208.

[Ref. prn2:] PETER ROGERSON - "INTCAT":

Note: The source reference "Gross URECAT" is my file as it appears in my CE3 catalogue URECAT; the file content is the same as this page of my France 1954 catalogue. rogseron provided no lin, and its content is not really reflected.

Explanations:

Here is again a case of the 1954 French saucers flap that the duet of self-proclaimed "rationalists" Barthel and Brucker seem to have treated oddly, in an almost laughable manner.

Let's note that, significantly, they were mistaken in the date, giving that of the publication of the newspaper reporting the encounter instead of the date of the encounter - the sort of error they used to blame on ufologists.

But even more interesting: whereas, ironically, they are the only to mention that the entity had the eyes of an owl, which is the probable key of the case, instead of deducing that it was perhaps a confusion in which a young 15-year-old farm hand, perhaps impressionable or little educated, had mistaken an owl for a creature of space, in the night, they ensure us without any other sort of information that it was "a bet between buddies."

But bet about what? A bet what the young man would make a confusion in the evening? Prophecy, then, undoubtedly. A bet that one of the "buddies" disguised in owl would be called a Martian by the victim buddy? Does this hold any water? I don't think so.

Knowing how often these two authors sometimes purely and simply invented explanations suiting their needs, which in other cases was proven, contrary to Michel Figuet who became a "skeptic" except when it came to the "investigations" by Barthel and Brucker, I do not believe one second that this encounter had anything to do with a "bet between buddies", and I much rather suspect that the testimony is sincere, and that only the interpretation of the entity could be erroneous, an owl sometimes looking quite impressive, especially by night and especially if the witness had just seen or believed to see one of these much-spoken flying saucers that filled the newspaper at the time in France.

An owl passed by in the night at an unspecified distance by a teenage might well appear to him as being a rather small creature, covered of "hair" - i.e. feathers - with eyes like those of an owl.

This being said, I also see that this explanation can be put forth only if the account given by Figuet apparently based on the journalistic source was very distorted by the journalistic source: it is indeed specified that the creature was inside the saucer. Perhaps was this saucer, said to be "transparent", only some gleam of some car's headlights? But headlights that change color? Who knows? Not me, therefore I cannot really conclude.

Above: Region of anger, the terrain heights. The blue line indicates the road segment between Saint-Martin-du-Bois above and Andigné below, a 6 kilometers segment where the sighting is said to have taken place.

Above: 2007 satellite picture of the area between Saint-Martin-du-Bois and Andigné. The blue line is next to the road segment.

So: probable bet or joke or owl.

Keywords:

(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)

Andigné, Maine-et-Loire, Vault-sur-Oudon, Maison-Neuve, hoax, Albert Gérard, prank, bet, occupant, humanoid, furry, yellow, green, light, saucer, frightened, paralyzed, large eyes, fast, landing, road, bicycle, owl

Sources:

[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.

• [----] Article in the regional newspaper Ouest-France, Bordeaux, France, page 1, October 20, 1954.
• [----] Article in the regional newspaper Le Courrier de l'Ouest, France, October 21, 1954.
• [agd1] "Further Contributions to a knowledge of French humanoid cases", catalog compiled by Alain Gamard, in The UFO Register, by J. Bernard Delaire, Contact International U.K., U-K., Volume 10, parts 1 and 2, page 6, 1979.
• [bbr1] "La Grande Peur Martienne", book by Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker, Nouvelles Editions Rationalistes publishers, France, page 77, 1979.
• [fru1] "OVNI, Premier Dossier Complet des Rencontres Rapprochées En France", book by Michel Figuet and Jean-Louis Ruchon, Alain Lefeuvre publisher, France, pp 182-183, 1979.
• [ldl1] "Geographical coordinates according to different plotters French UFO landings September 26, 1954 - October 18", liste dans le magazine d'ufologie Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, N° 209, page 18, novembre 1981.
• [mft1] "Catalogue Francat Des Rencontres Rapprochées En France - Listing 800", catalogue by Michel Figuet, France, 1982.
• [mft3] "ATTERRISSAGES D'UFO sur le continent français du 26 septembre 1954 au 18 octobre 1954", list by Michel Figuet in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #249-250, page 27, March / April 1985.
• [mft2] "Catalogue Francat des rencontres rapprochées en France (Listing 800 1982) (2 - Suite)", list compiled by Michel Figuet, in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #257-258, page 19, November / December 1985.
• [ldl2] "La Grande Peur Martienne - Canular après enquête!", article par le "Groupe d'Enquête sur 1954 de Lumières Dans La Nuit", dans le magazine d'ufologie Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, N° 299, page 34, septembre - octobre 1989.
• [jsr1] "Le Dossier 1954 et l'Imposture Rationaliste", book by Jean Sider, Ramuel publisher, France, pages 208,259, 1997.
• [lhh1] "*U* Computer Database", database by Larry Hatch, USA, circa 2002.
• [goe1] "Chronologie OVNI", compiled by Godelieve Van Overmeire, Belgium, circa 2003, at users.skynet.be/sky84985/afin54.htm
• [ars1] "1954 Humanoid Reports", compiled by Albert Rosales, circa 2001, at www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1954.shtml
• [lcn1] Base OVNI France, website by Luc Chastan, France, circa 2005, at baseovnifrance.free.fr/detobs.php?numobs=1119
• [uda1] "18 Oct 1954 - St Martin-Du-Bois, France", web page by the UFOdna website, circa 2008, at www.ufodna.com/uf16/uf2/162601.htm
• [prn1] "Intcat 1954 - International Catalogue of Entity Reports", compiled by Peter Rogerson, U-K., circa 2012, at intcat.blogspot.fr/search/label/1954
• [tai1] "1954: October Sightings", catalog on the UFO website Think About It, USA, not dated, found 2014, at http://www.thinkaboutitdocs.com/8-1954-october-sightings
• [nip1] List on The NICAP Website, USA, found in 2014, at http://www.nicap.org/reports/1954_ufocat.htm
• [jgz1] "RR3 - Le Dossier des Rencontres du Troisième Type en France", book by Julien Gonzalez, Le Temps Présent publishers, France, pp 144-145, 2014.
• [prn2] "INTCAT 1954", catalogue compiled by Peter Rogerson, U-K., circa 2016, at https://intcat.blogspot.com/search?q=1954

Document history:

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