The 1954 French flap:

A dispatch informed us recently that flying saucers had performed a new ballet in the Ardèche, at Lemps, not far from Tournon. Mr. Habrat, from that locality, saw a saucer that was also moving at great speed and seemed to dance in the sky. He called his daughter Yvette, who had to admit the evidence. A sort of luminous curtain advanced toward the farm, to within about 500 meters. A faint hum of engines could be heard. Around 11 p.m., about ten luminous craft gathered in the sky and described various figures before heading off toward the east.

This information opens the (significant) series of October saucers:

Bessèges, Pau, Nevers, Perpignan, Mulhouse, the Limousin, the Vendée, the Auvergne and the Hérault have had their visit. But none of the current “sightings” yet equals those that marked the end of September.

- ARRAS (Pas-de-Calais). - Mr. Eugène Cordier, 24 years old, found his wife watching the sky on September 22. He also looked and saw a flying cigar moving without noise, very gracefully.

- ALLEYRAT (Corrèze). - Mr. Elie Cisterne, a farmhand, while returning home at night with a tractor, saw a luminous object rushing down from the sky in his direction. Mr. Cisterne fled in terror, abandoning his tractor. When he returned, all light had disappeared.

- AUGE (Deux-Sèvres). - A flying saucer was seen by several residents, several days in a row.

- BANYULS-SUR-MER (Pyrénées-Orientales). - Three boys aged 16 to 17 saw in the sky an oblong object spewing flames from the rear and moving at very high speed.

- BAYONNE (Basses-Pyrénées). - On September 24, several people, including a peace officer, Mr. Corrions, claimed to have observed a formation of motionless objects arranged in a triangle in the sky, gradually disappearing.

- BORDEAUX. - Mr. Bolacid, from Tarence, saw on September 22 in Bordeaux a motionless disc in the sky. A few seconds later, the object disappeared.

- CHARRON (Charente-Maritime). - At five o'clock in the morning, three mussel-park workers were dazzled by a bright light in the sky, which moved and disappeared quickly.

- CHATEAUROUX (Indre). - Two gendarmes from the local brigade, Messrs. Couraud and Peninon, were on their usual patrol on September 21. Around 9 p.m., on the road to Issoudun, they saw successively three greenish luminous points that lit up and went out, moving in jerks. The gendarmes stopped a motorist and a cyclist to have them witness the phenomenon (and not to give them a ticket!). They drew up an official report for their superiors.

- CLERMONT-FERRAND (Puy-de-Dôme). - Cigars were seen in the hamlet of Gelles, around September 19. On the 21st, three people, Miss Delaire and the sisters Marie-Christine and Madeleine Gauthier, saw them again, as did at Rougires [sic] a resident of Moulin who saw a cigar and then a flying globe. On the 26th, an engineer also claimed to have seen a flying cigar.

September 21, 1954 7 a.m. Talence VI

Witness: J. Olacia. Luminous disc-shaped object.

Duration: several seconds. Disapears at high speed.

S.O. September 22, 54

SEPTEMBER 21, 1954 07:00 a.m. Talence V 1

Witness: OLACI[?]. Luminous disc-shaped object visible for a few seconds before disappearing at high speed.

(S.O. October 09, 1954)