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The 1954 French flap:

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

September 22, 1954, Paris, Paris:

Reference for this case: 22-Sep-54-Paris.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

Aimé Michel indicated in his 1958 book on the French wave of 1954, that on September 22, 1954, an observation was made in the heart of Paris, 1500 meters from the Invalides, by one of his friends, a writer known with the initials "M. C.", who lived near the Champ-de-Mars, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

That evening, as every evening, the witness was smoking his pipe in front of his window when he saw in the sky a round object, rather weekly luminous and motionless.

He first looked at it for a moment, speechless and pipe in hand, then, seeing that it was not moving, he looked at the passers-by of the street and found that none was looking up, and that the extraordinary display went completely unnoticed.

The witness saw an opportunity to study the behavior of the crowd, he took his pipe, went down the street and walked for a few minutes, keeping an eye on the object which was still there. He found that nobody was looking up, nobody noticed anything.

After a moment the witness returned home, closed his window and "peacefully finished his pipe while meditating on the stupid vanity of men."

Aimé Michel notes that "Mr. C." was at this time little interest in flying saucers, although as a curious mind, the question of the possible plurality of inhabited worlds had caught his attention, but only as a theme of the "traditional myths of metaphysics and poetry."

I think this witness was likely Louis Couturier, the surrealist writer and poet, who under his pseudonym "Michel Carrouges" published a remarkable book on the "flying saucers" in 1963.

Reports:

[Ref. aml1:] AIME MICHEL:

Aimé Michel notes that on September 22, 1954, an observation was made inside Paris, at 1500 meters from Les Invalides, by one of his friends, a writer of initials "M. C.", who lived close to the Champ-de-Mars, at the feet of the Eiffel tower.

That evening like each evening, the witness smoked his pipe in front of his window when he saw a round object, rather slightly luminous and motionless in the sky.

He first looked at it for a while, amazed and the pipe in the hand, then, while noting that it did not move, he looked at the passers by in the street and noted that none was looking up, and that the extraordinary display went completely unnoticed.

The witness saw an occasion to study the behavior of the crowd, he took his pipe, went down in the street and walked a few minutes while keeping a survey of the object, which was still there. He noted that nobody raised the eyes towards the sky, and that thus nobody noticed anything.

After a while the witness returned at his place, closed his window and "peacefully finished his pipe while meditating on the stupid vanity of the men."

Aimé Michel notes that "M.C." was very little interested in the flying saucers, although as a curious mind, the question of the possible plurality of the inhabited worlds had retained his attention, but only as a topic of the traditional myths of metaphysic and poetry.

[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:

Loren Gross adds:

The "105" source is given as: "Michel, Aime. Flying Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery, p 67"

[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:

Luc Chastan indicates that in Paris on September 22, 1954, at an unknown hour "The witness from is home close to the champs de Mars observes a round object, slightly luminous and motionless."

Luc Chastan indicates that the source is "M.O.C. by Michel Aimé ** Arthaud 1958".

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

Explanations:

The object description is fully compatible with that of a weather balloon.

I am close to betting my shirt that the witness, said to be "writer M. C.", was Louis Couturier, poet and surrealistic writer who used the pseudonym Michel Carrouges, resided there at this time and, in 1963, pubslihed a rather remarkable book on the subject of the flying saucers, "Les Apparitions de Martiens," in which the reflexion on the psychological circumstances of the sightings is in good place.

In 2022, I find another clue or even a proof of this in an article by Aimé Michel about the flying saucers published in the bulletin Lumières Dans La Nuit #84 of September - October 1969 on page 9:

A technology of prodigious efficiency and virtuosity maneuvered in 1954 in the skies and on the ground of Western Europe, carrying out a plan whose purpose, origin, and motives do not still allow themselves to be guessed. In the words of the writer Michel C... , himself witness to the passage of an object in the sky of Paris, "each of these small fugitive dots in the sky contained perhaps more knowledge, power and spirit than there will ever be in the history of our planet", but this overwhelming presence on our heads, and sometimes on the ground, very close to us, passed so discreetly that we did not know anything about it and that we still wonder about its reality.

Keywords:

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

Paris, Invalides, Michel Carrouges, Louis Couturier, object, luminous, motionless, round

Sources:

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

• [aml1] "Mystérieux Objets Célestes", book by Aimé Michel, Arthaud publisher, France, 1958.
• [aml1] "A Propos des Soucoupes Volantes - Mystérieux Objets Célestes", book by Aimé Michel, Planète publishers, France, page 84, 1966.
• [aml1] "Mystérieux Objets Célestes", book by Aimé Michel, Seghers publisher, France, page 92, 1977.
• [aml1] "Mystérieux Objets Célestes", book by Aimé Michel, Robert Laffont publisher, France, page 92, 1978.
• [lgs1] "UFOs: A History - 1954 - September", monography by Loren Gross, USA, page 43,49, 1991.
• [lcn1] Base OVNI France, website by Luc Chastan, France, circa 2005, at baseovnifrance.free.fr/listgen.php?typlist=9&page=0&numobs=2306
• [ubk1] Online database UFO-Datenbank, Germany, found in 2016, at ufodatenbank.de

Document history:

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This page was last updated on March 18, 2022.