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The 1954 French flap:

The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.

October 1, 1954, Saint-Michel-sur-Meurthe, Vosges:

Reference number for this case: 1-Oct-54-Saint-Michel-sur-Meurthe. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

In their 1979 book, ufologists Michel Figuet and Jean-Louis Ruchon briefly noted, without giving any source, that on October 1, 1954, at 08:30 p.m., in Saint-Michel-sur-Meurthe in the Vosges department, several inhabitants observed a cigar in the sky, shooting bright white lights and heading north.

The ufology group of the North-East of France "CNEGU" then noted, in 1986, in their catalog published by the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit, the observation of Saint-Michel-sur-Meurthe on Friday, October 1, 1954, at 08:30 p.m. local time, witnessed by Mr. Paul Cloarec, 34, of Saulceray, and Mr. René Mathis. Their source is indicated to be an article in the newspaper La Liberté de l'Est for October 4, 1954, whose full text was given as:

"Two inhabitants of SAINT-MICHEL saw a flying saucer. In the evening of Friday between 08:30 p.m. and 08:45 p.m., Mr. Paul CLOAREC, aged 34, mason with the company of public works Charles BRUGHORT in SAINT DIE and domiciled in the hamlet of SAULCERAY in SAINT-MICHEL-SUR-MEURTHE had just gone to bed when he was suddenly called by his neighbor, Mr. Rene MATHIS, husband of the teacher of the hamlet born Marguerite DIEUDONNE. Mr. Rene MATHIS had just seen in the dark sky one of these luminous machines which one took habit to call flying saucer. It was the third consecutive time at appreciably the same hour that Mr. Rene MATHIS returning from taking care of his animals and fearing to be taken for a visionary, he made a point of having a witness with him. Thus the two men could look during 5 to 6 minutes at the machine evolving towards the VOIVRE, high in the sky, "You would have believed", entrusted Paul CLOAREC to us, "an oval lengthened form launching white gleams, very sharp, which flickered. It was as if a workman had made arc welding. But the saucer moved towards the North where it ended disappearing. It did not make any noise." Mr. Paul CLOAREC is decided, besides, to do like René MATHIS. He will watch for it every evening while being surrounded of other neighbors to be sure that it is not a matter of hallucination. (This phenomenon has been occurring at fixed hour for several days.)"

CNEGU commented by pointing out that this was about a repetitive phenomenon at a regular hour, and that the continuation is not known.

Reports:

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

The two authors indicate that on October 1, 1954 at 08:30 p.m., in Saint-Michel-sur-Meurthe in the Vosges, several inhabitants observed a cigar in the sky, which launched very sharp white gleams and moved towards the north.

[Ref. cnu1:] CNEGU:

CNEGU notes that their case F/98/88541001 (01) is in Saint-Michel-sur-Meurthe, on Friday, October 1, 1954, at 08:30 p.m. local time, the witnesses being Mr. Paul CLOAREC, aged 34, of Saulceray, and Mr. Rene MATHIS. The source is an article in La Liberté de l'Est for October 4, 1954, the entire article being:

"Observation in SAINT-MICHEL-SUR-MEURTHE (Vosges)"

"Two inhabitants of SAINT-MICHEL saw a flying saucer. In the evening of Friday between 08:30 p.m. and 08:45 p.m., Mr. Paul CLOAREC, aged 34, mason with the company of public works Charles BRUGHORT in SAINT DIE and domiciled in the hamlet of SAULCERAY in SAINT-MICHEL-SUR-MEURTHE had just gone to bed when he was suddenly called by his neighbor, Mr. Rene MATHIS, husband of the teacher of the hamlet born Marguerite DIEUDONNE. Mr. Rene MATHIS had just seen in the dark sky one of these luminous machines which one took habit to call flying saucer. It was the third consecutive time at appreciably the same hour that Mr. Rene MATHIS returning from taking care of his animals and fearing to be taken for a visionary, he made a point of having a witness with him. Thus the two men could look during 5 to 6 minutes at the machine evolving towards the VOIVRE, high in the sky, "You would have believed", entrusted Paul CLOAREC to us, "an oval lengthened form launching white gleams, very sharp, which flickered. It was as if a workman had made arc welding. But the saucer moved towards the North where it ended disappearing. It did not make any noise." Mr. Paul CLOAREC is decided, besides, to do like René MATHIS. He will watch for it every evening while being surrounded of other neighbors to be sure that it is not a matter of hallucination. (This phenomenon has been occurring at fixed hour for several days.)"

CNEGU comments by pointing out that this is about a repetitive phenomenon at a regular hour, and that the continuation is not known.

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

[Ref. goe1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:

Godelieve van Overmeire indicates that on October 1, 1954, in France, in St Michel sur Meurthe, "towards 08:30 p.m., several residents observe high in the sky a cigar launching white sharp gleams and moving towards the north."

The source is indicated as "M. FIGUET/ J.L. RUCHON: 'Ovni, Premier dossier complet...' éd. Alain Lefeuvre 1979, p. 106".

[Ref. djn1:] DONALD JOHNSON:

[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:

Luc Chastan indicates that in the Vosges in St Michel sur Meurthe, on October 1, 1954, at 20:30 hours, "several residents observe in the sky a cigar launching very sharp white gleams and moving towards the north."

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

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

[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":

Explanations:

The moon set at 7:42 p.m., Venus set at 7:11 p.m., Jupiter set in the afternoon.

Mars, very bright, was at 198° 10' (South-South-East), elevation 14° 21' and set at 230° (East-Southeast) at 11:08 p.m.. It is to the south, and one could have clumsily said that it was going northwards. The setting down hours are to be put into perspective, they are visually earlier, because the village does not have a flat horizon.

The two bright stars, capable of causing misintepretations, are Cappella, at 33° 54' (North-Northeast), elevation 14° 17', and Arcturus, at 287° 25' (North-North-West), elevation 10° 35'.

So, it is possible that it was Mars, or Arcturus; but the data is not specific enough to get any certainty about that.

Keywords:

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

Saint-Michel-sur-Meurthe, Vosges, multiple, night, duration, repetition, Paul Cloarec, René Mathis, mason, luminous, lengthened, white, flickering, silent

Sources:

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

• [----] Article in the regional newspaper La Liberté de l'Est, France, October 4, 1954.
• [fru1] "OVNI, Premier Dossier Complet des Rencontres Rapprochées en France", book by Michel Figuet and Jean-Louis Ruchon, Alain Lefeuvre publisher, France, page 106, 1979.
• [cnu1] "Catalogue Rétroactif 1954 des Cas Vosgiens", article by the ufology group CNEGU, in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #263-264, pp 40-41, May/June 1986.
• [lhh1] "*U* Computer Database", database by Larry Hatch, USA, circa 2002.
• [goe1] "Chronologie OVNI", web page compiled by Godelieve Van Overmeire, Belgium, circa 2003, at users.skynet.be/sky84985/afin54.htm
• [djn1] "Encounters with Aliens on This Day", written by Donald A. Johnson, Ph.D., compiled from the UFOCAT 2003 computer database, www.ufocat.com.
• [lcn1] Base OVNI France, website by Luc Chastan, France, circa 2005, at baseovnifrance.free.fr/detobs.php?numobs=316
• [nip1] List on The NICAP Website, USA, found in 2014, at http://www.nicap.org/reports/1954_ufocat.htm
• [ubk1] Online database UFO-Datenbank, Germany, found in 2016, at ufodatenbank.de

Document history:

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This page was last updated on July 22, 2019.