Cette page en français
The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference number for this case: 29-Sep-54-Saint-Dizier. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. ler1:] "L'EST REPUBLICAIN" NEWSPAPER:
"It will be said that I am a joker", told us George Guillemin, baker. "Wednesday evening September 29, whereas I was in Commercy to spend my Thursday of rest there, and that the crowd was going to another direction to see the Super Circus, I was with the Berthemy district at about 08:30 P.M. with my young daughter Jocelyne, aged 10. In the sky, we saw a luminous tube, about of the diameter of the Moon, during at least ten seconds, in the direction of Couzance-St-Dizier."
Since then we read in the newspapers that Mr. the Mayor of St-Dizier and a railwayman of Ancerville had also seen it at the same hour this same Wednesday. A person told us, as well as his wife, to have seen a luminous object like the Moon, but a little smaller, hovering in the direction of Bar-le-Duc.
[Ref. fde1:] "FRANCE-DIMANCHE" NEWSPAPER:
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Mr. RAOUL LAURENT (left) is the mayor of Saint-Dizier. Last Wednesday, September 29, about eight in the evening, when he had just left the City Hall, he saw in the starry night sky a bright light that was moving at a very high speed. He clearly distinguished an elongated shape similar to that of a cigar, leaving behind a trail of light (see the drawing above). The craft must have been at a probable altitude of several thousand meters.
[Ref. fle1:] FERNAND LAGARDE:
This ufologist reproduces the [ler1] source.
[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN E. GROSS:
No. 4. Le maire a vu un cigare... [In French in this source.]
The mayor saw a cigar.
M. Raoul Laurent is the mayor of Saint-Dizier. Last Wednesday (Sept. 29), about 8:00p.m., when he had just left the city hall, he saw in the stormy [sic] sky a bright light moving at high speed. He could plainly distinguish an elongated, cigar-like shape. Leaving a luminous trail.
The craft must have been at an altitude of several km.
Loren Gross indicates that the source is the newspaper France Dimanche, for October 10, 1954, and provides a copy of the article [fde1].
[Ref. lgs3] LOREN GROSS:
The French newspaper France Dimanche published brief accounts of various UFO sightings accompanied by drawings in its October 10, 1954 issue. These were included in the monograph UFOs. A History 1954 September, pages 31-33. Translations by "ADNf' of the French text exist in NICAP files and are provided here for the reader's perusal. (See below)
[... Other cases...]
No. 4. The mayor saw a cigar.
M Raoul Laurent is the mayor of Saint-Dizier. Last Wednesday (Sept. 29), about 8:00 p.m., when he had just left the city hall, he saw in the stormy sky a bright light moving at high speed. He could plainly distinguish an elongated, cigar-like shape. Leaving a luminous train. The craft must have been at an altitude of several km.
[... Other cases...]
These French cases can be found on page 75 of the monograph UFOs: A History 1954 September. Translations of the French text were also done by NICAP's "ADM." [Alexandre Mebane]
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Haute Marne in St Dizier on September 29, 1954 at 23:30 hours "The mayor of the city observes a luminous object. "
The source is indicated as "Lumières dans la Nuit numéro 259/260".
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 29 September 1954 at 20:00 in St-Dizier, France, "An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One object was observed by six witnesses for a few seconds."
The source is indicated as Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073).
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK.DE:
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip code | Place of observation | Country of observation | Time of observation | Classification | Note | Identification |
| 19540929 | 29.09.1954 | St. Dizier | France | 20.00 | NL |
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The September 29, 1954, meteor about 08:30 p.m.
The sketch in France-Dimanche seems dubious: the City Hall in Saint-Dizier does not have a building on the side with this tower, and there is a square in front of it, and no visibility to it from 50 meters inside rue de la Victoire. The "old Middle-Age Castle", which became the Sous-Préfecture in 1959, has two towers but was never used as the city hall, the building being the same since it was built in 1824.
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The sketch shows a crossing of "rue de la Victoire" and "rue des Alliés", but though the latter seems to have existed, in Saint-Dizier, I am unable to locate it now. From the "rue de la Victoire", I am not in front of the city hall but behind it and it is hidden from view by other buildings.
So I wonder whether the Mayor of Saint-Dizier, Raoul Laurent (he was indeed the Mayor then) was really in Saint-Dizier when he made the observation; maybe he was coming out of the city hall of another city... And I am thus unable to find the direction of observation.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Saint-Dizier, Haute-Marne, mayor, unique, object, luminous, night
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | September 17, 2007 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | February 18, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Addition [uda1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | September 30, 2014 | Additions [fde1], [lgs1], [ubk1]. Explanation changed from "Not looked for yet." |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | December 16, 2016 | Additions [lgs3]." |
