The 1954 French flap:

Saucers Specialize in Hitchhiking

A Driver Paralyzed at the Wheel

METZ, October 23.

(Dispatch from "France-Soir")

Mr. JEAN SCHUBRENNER, 25 years old, a driver from Sarrebourg, where he is well known, has just fallen victim to a flying saucer, whose radiant emissions pinned him to his steering wheel. The events, according to his account, took place Wednesday evening around 6:30 PM.

"I was coming back," he said, "via national road 393, when less than a kilometer from the hamlet of Turkenstein (Moselle), I spotted a rather bright light in the distance. I continued on but slowed down. I thus came within about twenty meters of a craft that occupied the entire width of the road."

"Suddenly, my engine stopped abruptly and, at the same time, I felt paralyzed: my hands seemed riveted to the steering wheel. However, I managed to brake. Then, a yellow-orange cloud slowly rose toward the northwest."

"The craft was shaped like an upside-down cone. Its base was phosphorescent; the middle part was rather dull; the tip of the cone was lit and ended in a yellow-orange point. It looked like an antenna."

• A FLYING CIGAR was observed Wednesday evening in Bray-sur-Seine, Moret-sur-Loing, Champagne-sur-Seine, Thomery, Montigny-Lancoup, and in other localities of Seine-et-Marne. It appeared to be 10 meters long and to be traveling at 10,000 kilometers per hour (according to a meteorology specialist).
• A LUMINOUS SPHERE RESEMBLING A CAR HEADLIGHT reportedly appeared six times to two industrialists from Melun traveling on the Melun-Rubelles national road. The appearance of this luminous source reportedly caused a very wide flash each time, illuminating the region. Several riders from an equestrian center in La Rochelle claim to have seen a figure fleeing from their grounds. "He was strange," they said. "It could only have been a Martian." Several young women from Melun spotted an orange-yellow rugby-ball-shaped object in the sky.
• A WHITISH CIRCULAR CRAFT EMITTING VIOLET LIGHTS was seen in Lorient by Mr. Roignant, a retired navy officer.