ufo - UFOS at close sight: the 1954 French flap, on a Sunday, Colmar, Haut-Rhin

Reference for this case: Sun-54-Colmar.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

In 2002, on a cable TV channel, an announcer stated that a documentary about UFOs "which are no longer seen nowadays," according to him, was about to follow. I quickly realized that the program that followed, although it dealt with UFOs, did not correspond at all to what the announcer had presented, as if the channel had broadcast the wrong documentary.

The program that followed was in fact a debate hosted by Valérie Expert. The participants were François Biraud, radio astronomer and research director at the C.N.R.S.; Jean-Jacques Velasco, introduced as "head of the S.E.P.R.A.," the "Service for Expertise of Atmospheric Re-entry Phenomena"; Jean-Claude Ribes, astronomer, former director of the Lyon Observatory, former president of the "Astronomical Society"; Pierre Lagrange, "sociologist and ufologist," presented as "one of the rare sociologists not ashamed to take an interest in... UFOs"; and finally Edmond Campagnac, introduced as having seen a UFO in 1954 in Tananarive.

It is the latter who, in the presence of all participants, recounts the case that is the subject of this file.

Edmond Campagnac recounts his own sighting, mentions the interest it sparked in him thereafter, and explains that there is a source of information which in France unfortunately belongs to the Army: the Gendarmerie.

He explains that he found in the gendarmerie archives very detailed observations made by units, teams of gendarmes, "which are a marvel of description."

He proposes to recount one. He explains that at the time when Gaston Palewski was minister, he had been summoned by him because he was then president of the GEPA ufology group. Palewski asked him: "how is it that in France, your journal publishes things like that, but there are no books! In America there are books about flying saucers."

Campagnac explains that he replied: "but Mr. Palewski, it is because in France serious investigations are generally carried out by the Gendarmerie, which belongs to the Army. Therefore, defense secrecy."

Edmond Campagnac recounts that Palewski then tasked him with going to look into the Gendarmerie archives. Campagnac agrees, requests and receives a pass, and goes the next day to see the colonel who "at the time supervised these... how shall I say... these reports, and who was located at 21 avenue de la Tour Maubourg."

This colonel throws his arms around him, kisses him, and with his Corsican accent says: "You are the first to come see me! How is that possible?"

Campagnac then explains this file "briefly": one Sunday morning in 1954, two motorcyclists, in the Colmar region, were "on a little motorcycle ride," and arrived at a place, a crossroads with trees, and on the four branches of the intersection, they saw a line of cars as far as the eye could see.

In the middle of the intersection, they saw "a sort of thing." They approached and saw a saucer-shaped object. Wanting to get closer, they left their motorcycles, and from a certain point, "it was as if there were a wall preventing them from advancing."

The craft then took off, and the motorcyclists stopped everyone, they "asked everyone for passports, where they were from... etc.," and they collected "all the photographs that had been taken, on condition of returning them, and then they went to all the villages and towns to question the... the... officials, the shopkeepers, to find out whether they were dealing with honest people."

He explains that during a broadcast of "Les Dossiers de l'Ecran," he had wanted to talk about this remarkable sighting, but a captain had called him and said: "be careful sir, defense secrecy, you cannot speak about it."

Around 2002, I mentioned this on a ufological discussion list, and published the audio recording of the program for the part relating to this testimony at the head of this catalog. The case was then mentioned by some ufologists, who generally did not indicate its source.

I searched for possible mentions of this case in the press of the time, and to this day have found nothing either in the regional press or in the national press, nor in the ufological literature. An Alsatian journalist interested in UFOs in Alsace, Christian Valentin, indicated in an article in Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace of November 13, 2004 that he had found nothing either.

However, I was able to find the recording of the program "Les Dossiers de l'Ecran" to which Edmond Campagnac had referred. "Les Dossiers de l'Ecran" was a very popular French television program, created by Armand Jammot and broadcast from 1967 to 1991 on the second national TV channel.

The program in question had been broadcast on December 10, 1969, hosted by Joseph Pasteur, and devoted to "flying saucers," with a debate about their "existence" or "non-existence."

The film preceding the debate was... "The War of the Worlds," an American film from the 1950s inspired by the novel by H. G. Wells, in which "Martians" (with tentacles, not at all humanoid) invade the Earth, killing humans with a "Death Ray."

Taking part in the debate were the author of books on UFOs and on the theory of "ancient astronauts," himself a witness, Guy Tarade, and Edmond Campagnac, polytechnic engineer, former pilot, member of the GEPA ufology group, who would present as best he could during the debate his sighting in Tananarive in 1954.

The four other participants were presented as "scientists," their opinion being that all "flying saucers" are misidentifications that have all been explained, and occasionally a few hoaxes: François Le Lionnais, from the Association of Scientific Writers of France; Paul Muller, astronomer; René Held, psychiatrist [!]; Jean Leclant... Egyptologist [!].

The ufologist René Fouéré, founder of GEPA, was on the list of guests in the TV listings, but learned that his invitation had been canceled.

About two-thirds of the way through the program, Edmond Campagnac said exactly this:

"I would still like to make a small observation, if you allow me. I belong to the GEPA group, which is a research group on aerial spatial phenomena. We are in contact with quite a number of people, and three years ago, I went to see a technical advisor at the Ministry of Research to tell him, 'Look, America is doing this, the Russians are setting up a commission - wouldn't it be possible on our side to have, not an official commission, but at least the possibility of having a somewhat more... how shall I say... more substantial collaboration with specialists from various disciplines? When studying a phenomenon, one must call upon different specialists who can say, "in my opinion this can be explained like this," and thus shed light on what can be rationally explained by our knowledge. But also retain things that have occurred at close range. Because everything that happens very far away, [inaudible].'"

"Now, I was told: 'that's very good, but you would have to bring us official documents, because...' Very well. So I requested authorization, I was granted authorization after consultation with the Ministry of the Armed Forces, and I had the opportunity to consult various files, including those of the National Gendarmerie."

"Well, if people in scientific research really wanted to sift through the files - there are reports made in a remarkable way, with subsequent investigations carried out on all the witnesses, etc. - there is something extraordinary... There is a report I could show you; I will simply describe it, the first one I saw, dating from '54. It begins with a saucer - well, a saucer... a craft blocking the road for motorists at an intersection. And there are, uh, I don't know how many witnesses. So there we can..."

Campagnac is then interrupted, but after a pause, by a "skeptical" debater who explains that testimonies have no scientific value, except perhaps to encourage further research. As the debater reduces the issue to mere "testimonies," Campagnac tries at one point to clarify that there is more than just "testimonies" in the file:

But he is immediately interrupted again with the claim that the UFO question consists only of "testimonies" with no scientific value, even if sincere ("That's not science!").

"Yes, well, I'll ask you a question: I was a pilot until recent years - I had a car accident - [inaudible] fairly severe [inaudible]. Every time I saw an airfield and landed on it, it was a real airfield, and the passengers saw it as I did. And when it comes to these phenomena, which are nonetheless extraordinary, suddenly, the testimony no longer seems to count - that is to say that what one would see would no longer be that."

The debater assures him that he is not saying that, but that "scientists cannot take an interest in these testimonies," "they do not say it exists, they do not say it does not exist."

"Wait, I haven't finished. In these official testimonies, which I hope will one day be published, because [inaudible], there are quite a number of photos and films that have been taken."

The debater replies: "they will have to be studied," and the host, Joseph Pasteur, replies that "when this report is fully [inaudible, 'released?'] perhaps we will do another program."

The debate was then taken over by the psychiatrist, who explained that "extraterrestrials" are "phantasms with a 'ph,' that is to say daydreams, imaginings, which the infant already forms within himself at the age of 6 months," since said "extraterrestrials" have "a head where the foot should be and a foot where the head should be," and that when looking at the sky one uses "sometimes a denser air bubble, sometimes the residue of a satellite," etc., and that one "dresses it in tailor-made emotional clothing," which Joseph Pasteur adopted as the "conclusion" of the debate.

Reports:

"Les Dossiers de l'Ecran" was a popular French TV show, created by Armand Jammot and broadcast from April 6, 1967, on the second ORTF channel - at the time there were only two channels, both state-run - later named "Antenne 2", until August 6, 1991. It was a debate program on social issues, consisting of the broadcast of a film or documentary followed by the debate itself.

The program broadcast on December 10, 1969, lasting 1 hour 14 minutes, produced by Henri Polage and hosted by Joseph Pasteur, was devoted to "flying saucers"; the debate focused on their "existence" or "non-existence".

The film preceding the debate was..."The War of the Worlds", the American movie from the 1950s based on the novel by H. G. Wells, in which the "Martians" (not humanoid but rather blob-like creatures with tentacles) invade the Earth, killing humans with "death rays".

The debate brings together the author of UFO books and proponent of the "ancient astronauts" theory, himself a witness, Guy Tarade, and Edmond Campagnac, polytechnic engineer, former pilot, member of the GEPA ufology group, who presents as best he can during the debate his 1954 sighting in Antananarivo.

The four other speakers are presented as "scientists", their opinion being that all "flying saucers" are misinterpretations that have all been explained, with a few hoaxes on occasion; they were: François Le Lionnais, from the Association of Scientific Writers of France; Paul Muller, astronomer; René Held, psychiatrist; Jean Leclant, Egyptologist.

The ufologist René Fouéré, founder of GEPA, was listed among the guests in TV guides, but later learned that his invitation had been canceled.

Campagnac is then interrupted, after a brief silence, by a "skeptical" debater who explains that testimonies have no scientific value, except that they may, if necessary, prompt research. As the debater reduces the issue to mere "testimonies," Campagnac at one point tries to clarify that there is more than just "testimonies" in the file:

But he is immediately interrupted again with the repeated claim that the matter consists only of "testimonies" with no scientific value, even if they are sincere ("That's not science!").

The debater assures him that he is not saying that, but that "scientists cannot take an interest in these testimonies"; "they do not say that it exists, they do not say that it does not exist."

The debater replies, "they will have to be studied," and the host, Joseph Pasteur, adds that "when this report is fully [inaudible, 'released?'] perhaps we will do another program."

(The debate is then taken over by the psychiatrist, who explains that "extraterrestrials" are "phantasies - with a ph - that is to say, daydreams, imaginings, which an infant already forms within himself at the age of six months," since such "extraterrestrials" have "a head where the foot should be and a foot where the head should be," and that when looking at the sky one sometimes uses "a denser air bubble, sometimes the residue of a satellite," etc., and that one "dresses it in tailor-made emotional clothing," which Joseph Pasteur adopts as the "conclusion" of the debate.)

During a debate on the UFO question on Planète Forum, a private TV channel then broadcast exclusively on cable, Edmond Campagnac stated the following (program recorded by myself in 2002).

What followed was obviously not the announced debate, but another one, hosted not by Jacques Paugam but by Valérie Expert. She introduces the program by mentioning the "Cometa report," which "makes a link between UFOs and extraterrestrials" and, she says, "has sparked a lively controversy among ufologists."

At the moment when Campagnac begins to speak, the host had just said, "I would like us to talk a little about extraterrestrial life as well... about... about..." As is typical in such debate programs, related but not identical topics are mixed together, such as "is there life on other planets?" and "are there extraterrestrial visitors in Earth's skies?" etc.

The host interrupts him: "Because, just a question - did this phenomenon change your perspective? Did it, well... did it give you a particular orientation, or were you already..."

Edmond Campagnac: "No, not at all, because, you see, being a scientist by training, I think I tried to respect scientific fair play, which unfortunately is not the case for many people. Now, there is a source of information which in France unfortunately belongs to the Army: the Gendarmerie.

"Because in the gendarmerie, I can tell you, I have encountered observations made by units, teams of gendarmes, which are a marvel of description. Because... I'm going to tell you one. In 1900... I don't remember, it must have been around 1965, under Pa... Palewski. Gaston Palewski, who was I believe the first minister of research... I was summoned, because I was president of GEPA at the time, the first one, you see, and he said to me, 'but how is it that in France your journal publishes things like this, but there are no books! In America there are books about flying saucers, there are all kinds of books'; and I said, 'but Mr. Palewski, it's because in France serious investigations are generally carried out by the Gendarmerie, which belongs to the Army. Therefore, defense secrecy.'"

The host: "So that, that is part of the Cometa report, right? Uh... excuse me, I interrupted you..."

Edmond Campagnac: "And... and then he tells me, could you go and take a look, go and see what's in there. I said yes, provided I get a pass to... go and see the colonel who... at the time supervised these... how shall I say... these reports, and who was located at 21 avenue de la Tour Maubourg. The next day, I get the authorization, I go there, and I meet the good colonel, who looks at me, throws his arms around me, kisses me. With his Corsican accent - he was Corsican - he says to me, 'you are the first to come see me! How is that possible?' Well I say, that's because... well. Ah, he was happy, he showed me. The first case he showed me, he said, 'ah, this one is remarkable!' It's the following story, briefly: one Sunday morning, in '54 - by the way that's curious..."

Edmond Campagnac: "...two motorcyclists, in the Colmar region, are out on a little motorcycle ride, and they arrive at a place, a crossroads with trees, and on the four branches of the crossroads, a line of cars as far as the eye can see. And in the middle, they see some kind of thing. So they approach and see something shaped like a saucer. Then they want to get closer, they leave their motorcycles, and then - a phenomenon later observed again - from a certain point, it's as if there is a wall preventing them from advancing. Well then, the craft takes off, they stopped everyone, asked everyone for their passports, where they were from, etc., they took all the photos that had been taken on condition of returning them, and then they went to all the villages and towns, questioning the... the... officials, the shopkeepers, to find out whether they were dealing with honest people. You see how far that went. So the report was at least a meter high. That's what I wanted to say. But it's remarkable. Now, once there was a program... 'Les Dossiers de l'Ecran,' and I wanted to talk about this observation, which was remarkable, but a captain called me: 'be careful sir, defense secrecy, you cannot talk about it.'"

The host: "So was it fantasy or not? Because you... in the Cometa report there is a bit of a mix between 'they're hiding everything from us,' a sort of conspiracy..."

Pierre Lagrange: "Yes, no, but in the United States it was the same problem! It was the military who handled the matter. And not just any military - those in technological intelligence."

Call for witnesses

Thus, the phenomenon described above was apparently not the subject of any publication or information before its revelation by Edmond Campagnac in 2001. This former responsible for the GEPA (Aerial Phenomena Study Group) tells on a cable channel that in 1954, a flying saucer would have landed at the intersection of two roads near Colmar, in front of several motorists and two motorcyclists of the gendarmerie. The object, in the shape of a saucer, would have occupied the middle of the crossroads, and an invisible wall prevented anyone from approaching it. After the saucer took off, the gendarmes would have identified the identity of all the witnesses and recovered the photos taken by certain motorists (**).

Any information likely to support or contradict the facts reported will be welcome. Any witnesses are invited to contact Christian Valentin through the newspaper, or by email to alsacovni@[---].fr

(**) Information taken from the net and in a recent article by Gildas Bourdais published in a Special Paranormal issue of a popular weekly (VSD).

Note 1: the "the phenomenon described above" quoted in the introduction here probably has nothing to do with the case treated in this dossier. Maybe the newspaper confused different things during the editing process?

Note 2: "Information taken from the net" is obviously the audio recording of the "cable channel" that I then proposed at the top of my catalog; which is also the unreferenced source of the "recent article by Gildas Bourdais" (see the Summary).

Latest News

In the V.S.D. Special Issue devoted to the Paranormal, August 2004, page 33, Edmond Campagnac, manager of Air France in Madagascar noted, during a Planète Forum TV program in 2001 in which Mr. Velasco and Mr. Lagrange participated, a spectacular UFO sighting near Colmar in 1954. A saucer reportedly landed on a road, seen by several dozen witnesses, and by the Gendarmerie dispatched on the spot. The Gendarmes had "debriefd" [sic] all the witnesses and confiscate [sic] the photos they had take [sic], still according to Campagnac. This investigation file has never been disclosed, and one wonders wether there are many others of the same caliber in France.

Latest News

V.S.D. Special Issue Paranormal August 2004 Page 33.

Edmond Campagnac, head of Air France in Madagascar releaved [sic, revealed], during a TV show on Planète Forum in 2001 in which Mr. Velasco and Mr. Lagrange took part, a spectacular observation of UFO close to Colmar in 1954. A saucer would have landed on a road, seen by several tens of witnesses, and by the Gendarmerie dispatched on the spot. The gendarmes had "debriefed" all the witnesses and confiscated the photos they had taken, still according to Campagnac.

This investigation file has never been disclosed, and one can rightly wonder if there are many others of the same caliber in France.

Rumor or extraordinary information

I mention here another case with the hope that it arouses the interest of the first two that and the reader as a great specialist can confirm or reject what follows. It all started when Edmond Campagnac, head of Air France in Madagascar, said in a televised debate (Planète Forum) in 2001, with the presence of Jean-Jacques Velasco (head of GEPAN) and Pierre Lagrange. He recounted an extraordinary UFO sighting near Colmar in 1954, where a "flying saucer" was about to land on a road with several dozen eyewitnesses, some of whom took photographs. According to his testimony, when the gendarmerie arrived on the scene, the witnesses were questioned and their photos were confiscated.

I spoke about it to Lagrange, who "has only a vague memory of what Campagnac said." I also consulted other French researchers like Claude Maugé: "sorry, this story does not remind me of anything," he replied. Another French ufologist, Gilles Munsch, provided a link where the original readings can be listened to: http://www.ufologie.net/1954/snd/colmar1954campagnac.mp3 [Old URL to my Website]

I also consulted the aviation journalist THOUANEL Bernard, director of VSD Horsserie, who confirmed the information and added: "the case is highly classified, numerous witnesses, photographs and a pile of documents"

Nobody else in the camp of French ufologists seems to know the event, however, even the most informed researchers and I would like to know if we can question Mr. Campagnac's testimony. Who is his source, where is the documentation in question, where is the gendarmerie report?

On the other hand, perhaps it is still possible to conduct the survey among old inhabitants of Colmar to see if anyone remembers something like this.

These types of stories with explosive content are often told by people who very often cannot provide us with any proof of what they are saying. Without any evidence between the corroboration of witnesses and the journalistic trail, it becomes a rumor nothing more and nothing less. I am appealing to try to find out more.

Explanations:

Although these additions do not intrinsically concern the case which is the topic of this file, they will give some ideas about the context of the time, a context which will not change much thereafter.

The debate sparked protests from many ufologists at the time. Here are some reactions explaining why:

Date	Approx		UFO			Nation		Photo Film				Media	Duration		Blue Book
01-01-54	M.D	UFO (landing)	Colmar, Haute-Rhin [sic] (France)	FRA	68	PHOTO	CE	Gendarmerie						Edmond Campagnac http://www.ufologie.net/1954/colmar1954campagnac.mp3 VSD Hors Série, August 2004, p 33, Bernard Thouanel	1954

For many viewers who attended the long debate on "Les Dossiers de l'Ecran" on Wednesday, December 10, 1969, on the 2nd channel, there is a kind of conspiracy of silence at the O.R.T.F. in broad daylight, during the discussion on Unidentified Flying Objects, which followed the presentation of the film "War of the Worlds".

The freedom of information dear to the President of the Republic [Georges Pompidou] was not respected. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS STATE OF FACT BE BLAMED ON THE PRODUCERS MESSRS. ARMAND JAMOT AND GUY DARBOIS. Indeed, before the opening of the debate, Messrs Jamot and Darbois affirmed before Messrs Paul MULLER, astronomer, Jean Laclant, professor of history at the Sorbonne, René Held, psychiatrist, Le Lyonnais [sic], scientific journalist, Edmond Campagnac, polytechnician pilot and myself, that pressure had been exerted on them, so that Mr. René Fouéré of the Groupement d'Etudes des Phénomènes Aériens would not participate in this program.

WHO HAD AN INTEREST IN THUS DISTORTING THE VERY QUALITY OF THIS DEBATE, BY PUTTING FOUR DENIERS OF THE "SAUCER PHENOMENON" AGAINST TWO RESEARCHERS, CONVINCED SUPPORTERS OF THE EXISTENCE OF UFOs?

BY ISOLATING THE LATTER, ONE HOPED HOPE TO GET RID OF THEIR AFFIRMATIONS.

IN A CONCERN OF INTEGRITY AND IN ORDER TO ENSURE TO THE VIEWERS AN ACCURATE PRESENTATION OF THE DISCUSSED PHENOMENON, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NECESSARY AND CORRECT TO REPLACE MR. FOUERE, NOT BY MR. FRANCOIS LE LYONNAIS, BUT BY ANOTHER SPECIALIST OF THE UFO PROBLEM: AIME MICHEL, FERNAND LAGARDE or RAYMOND VEILLITH.

Source: Extracts, text by Guy Tarade, in the ufology bulletin Vimana of January 1970.

We are scandalized by the way this program was presented and it is unacceptable to compose a team, in order to debate a problem, in front of more than a million televiewers, in this case the problem of flying saucers, by presenting only two specialists in the matter opposed to four scientists.

We were surprised at the explanations and assertions presented to us by Mr. Le Lionnais, scientific journalist, about the observations. Indeed, he affirmed, during the broadcast, that all the cases had been identified, perhaps he did not read the Condon report, of which we dispute the mnner in which the analyzes were carried out but which, however, remains the most serious scientific study in the world. Even this report leaves nearly 5% of sightings unexplained.

We do not advise Mr. Le Lionnais, if he wishes to continue to present these assertions, to read the reports of Project Blue Book, which contains more than 10,000 files of which more than 700 remain classified as unidentified.

Source: Extrait, texte de Gérard Lebat, in the ufology bulletin Vimana of January 1970.

It is a fact that Mr. Le Lionnais had affirmed from the outset in the debate that "100% of the observations have been explained" (as misinterpretations and hoaxes), on the one hand, and that it would be the Condon report that makes it possible to claim this since it explained "100%" of the observations; which is atrue, and therefore either a blatant lie or "hearsay" that he took over without verifying it himself.

Mr. Campagnac and I were to appear [in the debate] and our names had been published, from Wednesday December 3 on, in the specialized press organs [TV guides].

On Thursday, December 4, Mr. Darbois telephoned me to tell me that, on the orders of the general management of the O.R.T.F. [State TV], I was forbidden to participate in the program for which I had been summoned. Scientific notables had intervened, according to Mr. Darbois, near the management.

The head of Mr. Campagnac, still according to Mr. Darbois, should also have been cut, it seems, were it not for Mr. Jamot, who would have saved him at the last minute, by mentioning, in higher circles, the latter's scientific titles and more still, and of the quality of witness of the guest that one had decided to sacrifice.

One or two days before these expulsion measures, an engineer-doctor, Mr. Troublé, had been asked to take part in the program. One did not dare, initially, to exclude him, because he had been introduced by an official organization which had perhaps mistakenly believed that he would be part of the "anti" team. On Friday the 4th, one managed to have him notified, by his own administration, that he is banned from appearing in rue Cognacq-Jay [the studio of the show].

We now have good reason to believe that it was at the behest of a well-known member of the Rationalist Union that these expulsion measures were taken. [...]

No real explanation was given to me by the O.R.T.F., and no written notification was sent to me by this organization.

Ironically, Mr. Darbois, to whom previous candidates had just refused their competition, had told me at the beginning: "you, at least, you are not going to let me down!"

As for my complete availability, it could be attested by Mr. Darbois himself, whom I saw the evening of the broadcast, and also by Mr. Le Lionnais, whom I strongly reproached, rue Cognacq-Jay, on his way out of the studio, for the grossly inaccurate statements he presented to viewers about the Condon Report.

Source: Extract, text by René Fouéré, G.E.P.A. Secretary General, Director of the Phénomènes Spatiaux review, in the ufology bulletin Vimana of January 1970.

The 1954 French flap:

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