The 1954 French flap:

SEVERAL RESIDENTS OF BOVES
saw Sunday evening
a strange glow

Is this a new manifestation of the saucers?

Once again, the flying saucers are making the talhs. The time is right [?] since this autumn, each day brings us new testimonies on the presence of mysterious apparatuses in the Picardy sky.

[Photo caption:] Mrs. DHEILLY, on her doorstep, where she noticed the orange disc. Sitting on her left, Mr. QUIN.

This is how yesterday we were able to interview several people from the Bénigne-Bernard street, in Boves, who, Sunday evening, have, in the south-east of the locality, seen - at a short distance - a strange orange glow moving at a relatively slow speed. The craft - and a craft it was - which emitted this light, probably flew at very low altitude; perhaps it had even just taken off, after a short stop, from the surroundings of the soccer field.

But let's make it clear that this is a free guess and let's keep a cool head to examine the statements made to us.

It was exactly 8:50 p.m. [or 05:30 p.m.]. Mr. and Mrs. Dheilly, having spent some time with friends, were returning to their home on rue Bénigne-Bernard. While her husband searched the darkness for the keyhole, Mrs. Dheilly surveyed the surroundings without thinking of anything.

Suddenly she exclaimed: "that's quite a Moon!" She had just noticed an orange half disc (of a very strong hue) at the end of the street, the other quarter of the "apparition" being probably hidden by the gable of the house of Mr. Quin, carpenter, house located a few hundred meters away.

Her husband having pointed out to her that "there was no moon" these days, Mrs. Delhi stepped forward a few meters on the sidewalk. She had the impression for a moment that it could be a blind or a curtain inflated by the wind and which filtered by reflecting it, the electric light.

But no! this luminescence was strange, and then lo and behold the disc was moving spinning towards the wooded ridge located on the other side of the marshes.

"Do you want to bet it's a saucer?" Mrs. Dheilly called out to her husband, and the two of them walked over to the carpenter's house to point out the phenomenon.

Mr. and Mrs. Quin could thus also admire the orange disc which, seen through the trees, seemed to thin out and lengthen before disappearing.

This change in shape is nothing extraordinary, the appearance of an aircraft can vary infinitely depending on the angle at which it is presented. What we must remember is the color of the "apparition" and nothing else, because in the night, it was obviously impossible to distinguish the slightest dome or other detail of this kind. And moreover the witnesses all agree: it was not necessary to "add" to what they saw! An orange disc and nothing else.

As for Mr. Laurent Laporte, drink reseller at Fouencamps bridge, he too was surprised by the strangeness of the phenomenon:

"I immediately thought of a 'saucer', and not out of professional misrepresentation, he tells us. The strange glow reflected for a moment in the waters of the Avre and the ponds. No wonder that afterwards the fish deserted it!".

This word is excellent: it will be the end word... For the day, because it is quite obvious that this is only a short paragraph in the history of the flying saucers, those saucers that make the ones laugh and start to worry the others.

In any case, these new testimonies which - we must clarify - seems not to be doubted, do not yet provide any very specific elements.

CONFIRMATION OF THE PHENOMENON
BY TWO RESIDENTS
OF DEMUIN

We had just written the lines above, when we received the following information, which vividly confirms the statements of the Dheilly and Quin households.

The two residents of Demuin cited in this confirmation have undoubtedly had no contact with those of Boves. We are only told a slight difference in the shape of the craft. There we must [?] fairplay inasmuch [?] a glow which moves in the night, can give place to various optical interpretations.

So it is neither a "saucer" nor a "cigar" that Mr. and Mrs. Deslandes, farm workers in Demuin saw Sunday evening with a touch of fear, while they were returning from a walk. It was around 9:15 p.m., when the young couple noticed in the sky above the village, in the direction of Montdidier, a kind of "phosphorescent lampshade" which moved silently and seemed to want to land.

Frightened, Madame Deslandes hurried to her house, while the husband ran to alert a neighboring farmer. The two men, a few minutes later, had to face the facts. The mysterious craft had disappeared.

The good faith of the [?] of the adventure cannot be questioned. What was this silent "lampshade"?

We could not, in any case, not highlight this curious coincidence which testified to the trustworthiness of all.

New apparitions
of flying saucers
in the sky of Picardy

This time several people from Boves have just seen "flying saucers", or at least a strange glow that moved slowly. In the opinion of these people, the craft seemed to fly away from the surroundings of the football field of Boves. The saucer was therefore seen by Mr. and Mrs. Dheilly and Mr. and Mrs. Quin, as well as by Mr. Laurent Laporte, seller at the Fouencamps bridge.

Soon after, we learned that other people in the village of Demuin had also noticed the craft. According to Mr. and Mme Deslandes it would be a "phosphorescent lampshade" which moved noiselessly and sought to land. When these people alerted neighbors, the craft had disappeared.

According to a astronomer from Kenia

"Visitors from another world
make a map of the earth"

One continues to report everywhere the appearance of mysterious craft that sometimes have the shape of saucers, luminous balls, incandescent discs. But all these testimonies add nothing new to the question. On the other hand, a scientist has just spoken to publicize the result of a personal observation.

Mr. G. Duncan Fletcher, vice-president of the Kenya Astronomical Association, himself recently observed an object flying over Nairobi. He was in his observatory (which is very well equipped), with four friends. It was 7:40 p.m., very low in the East, appeared a great gleam which had nothing to do with astronomy, nor with the planes which had just landed on the airport. The object was at a height of about 700 meters and was stationary. When Mr. Fletcher and his four friends saw it, he emitted a bright orange glow. This glow intensified until light yellow and the object rose, descended and rose again to finally disappear in the clouds.

Mr. Fletcher reports that saucers have been reported by highly experienced observers from all over the world and says "visitors from another world are observing the earth and probably mapping it."

Citing in support of his thesis the opinion of Dr. P. Foyle, professor of astrophysics at Cambridge and that of Sir James Jean, Dr. Fletcher declares that innumerable reasons militate in favor of existence many planets capable of harboring life, but life forms on other planets could be very different from anything we can imagine."

He adds that it may be just a coincidence, but he points out that these beings from other worlds have been interested in terrestrial activities since the first atomic explosion about seven years ago.

"There seems to be no doubt," Mr. Fletcher continues, "that these beings are extremely ahead of us. I think they approach us as we would if we were in their place."

A fireball in Sequedin

In the meantime, other mysterious craft have been reported over our region.

Sunday evening, at 9 p.m., Mr. Ferdinand Millecamps, 21, mason, living in Haubourdin, 22 rue Victor Loridan, on the bridge of Sequedin, saw, about 500 meters, between Sequedin and Hallennes, and on the railway, a ball of light, about the size of a tram. It was 4 or 5 meters above the ground and, after having remained motionless for a while, it set off vertically. Frightened by this fantastic appearance, Mr. Millecamps left the place precipitately, and later, still very moved, told his adventure while arriving at Haubourdin.

Two "Martians"
in St-Amand-les-Eaux

Saturday, Mr. Marcel Sénéchal, 20, living in St-Amand, at the place called "La Pannerie", had as usual spent the evening at Hauteville-Nivelle with his fiancée. He was returning by bicycle to St-Amand along the Scarpe canal, around 1 in the morning.

Arriving at the height of the Vandeville pasture in Nivelle, he suddenly heard a conversation held in an unknown language and seeming to come from his right. He turned his head to this side and to his great agitation then saw a luminous mass in the shape of a haystack as well as two human forms of 1.20 m. approximately in height, covered with a shiny garment. A ray of light came out of the craft.

The mysterious characters were probably unable to see the approach of the young cyclist who was riding in the dark, a breakdown having immobilized his lighting.

The frightened young man, went off with all pedals and returned to his home moved to the extreme and reported these facts to his family and neighbors.

Informed by public rumor, the Commissioner of St-Amand, Mr. Gravet and two inspectors in charge of the Air Police attached to Lesquin aerodrome went to the scene and carried out searches; but they couldn't find any traces.

A strange phenomenon
in the Somme

Residents of Boves in the Somme witnessed a strange phenomenon on Sunday evening.

It was 8:50 p.m., Mr. and Mrs. Dheilly who had visited friends, were going home. As Mr. Dheilly sought in the dark to open his door, Mrs. Dheilly suddenly noticed an orange half-disc, low in the sky, towards the end of the street. She alerted her husband and both could see the disc slowly moving towards a wooded ridge.

Two of their neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Quin, in turn warned, could also see the mysterious half-disc which, still slowly, moved away and disappeared behind the trees of the nearby marsh.

Confirmation, in indirect manner, of this "appearance" was given by residents of Demuin, Mr. and Mrs. Deslarides, workers farmers, who claim to have seen around 9:15 p.m., a kind of phosphorescent "flying lampshade" that moved silently and seemed to want to land.

A luminous ball in a
garden in Saint-Souplet

A resident of St-Souplet, in the Cambrai area, received an odd visit during the night from Sunday to Monday.

Awakened by a dry clickink sound, the witness said: "I first thought of a fire in the opposite building, but it was in fact a luminous ball, which rose to the sky. A door window was blown and the glass reduced to hundreds of small pieces was scattered in the adjoining room. At the place where the craft had just left, the vegetables from the garden were all lying in the same direction, a few being uprooted, just where the ball had landed. Apart from the broken glass which can be explained by the movement of air from the craft, no other damage was done to the property."

The waltz of the saucers
continues

A BAKER
OF THE FINISTERE
CLAIMED TO HAVE MEET
A "MARTIAN"
WITH THE FACE COVERED WITH HAIR

Around 4 a.m. yesterday morning, M. Pierre Lucas, a baker in Loctudy (Finistère) who was busy fetching water from the bakery courtyard, suddenly saw a machine in the shape of a 2 m saucer overnight. 50 to 3 meters in diameter. He saw an individual about 1 m tall come out of it. 20 who approached him and tapped him on the shoulder, articulating unintelligible words. The worker-baker managed to keep his cool by going back to the bakery where the individual followed him.

In the light Mr. Lucas was able to stare at the visitor: he had an oval face, all covered with hair and eyes the size of a crow's egg. The young man called his boss but, before he had time to come down, the stranger had disappeared as well as the saucer of which no trace was found.

A Concarneau beer merchant stated that he saw in the sky two luminous discs in the shape of round tables extended of a kind of tail. One of the disks was stationary while the other was moving nearby. The two discs disappeared after ten minutes after launching a rocket.

Saucers ... everywhere

Two saucers were seen on Tuesday around 6:45 p.m. near Clermont-Ferrand, the first, 10 kilometers from Beaumont. The witnesses declared that the object approached them and became less and less brilliant. When it was only 150 meters away, they felt a "curious feeling" and were frozen on the spot. At that time there was a smell of nitro-benzine. As soon as the craft moved away, the discomfort ceased and the "saucer" disappeared.

The other saucer was seen above the Chanturgue hill, near Clermont. It moved vertically and was bright white.

A saucer was also seen in Billom by a group of 30 people.

- Several residents of Saint-Brieuc saw on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, a flying saucer which took the shape of a cigar before disappearing. They were able to observe it for over an hour.

The same phenomenon was observed in Trégueux where a cyclist returned home frightened by what he had seen.

- Several people from Thouare-sur-Vie (Vendée) also saw in the sky a dozen luminous objects having an elongated shape and passing at a very high speed and at high altitude.

IN THE REGION

White glow... in Dunkirk

Last Monday, around 8:10 p.m. while he was maneuvering the American S8, doctor Leven, in the airlock of the Watier lock in Dunkirk, captain Emmanuel Dubois, 20-year-old, 34 rue Carnot in Mers-les-Bains saw a white glow that ran along the coast, heading from East to West.

Observing this phenomenon for several seconds, he suddenly thought of the flying saucers and called his crew to make them check out what he saw. But when the first sailor arrived, the glow had suddenly disappeared.

Reddish disc... in Cassel

Yesterday around 10:15 a.m., while waiting for the bus, 3 residents of Cassel, MM. Guy Ver[?]ghe, 27, Grand-Place, Romain Scheerf, rue de Lille and Guy M[?] rue Constant Moncelay, saw a reddish disc in the shape of a saucer which moved a few hundred meters above their heads.

After observing the phenomenon for a good minute, they saw it suddenly disappear on the horizon.

... and orange in the Picard sky

In the evening of Sunday an orange "disc" moving at near ground level was seen and observed at length by several residents of Boves and Demuin near Amiens. The statements of these individuals, collected separately, are absolutely consistent. The "orange disc" followed almost at ground level, a west-east direction.

Another testimony confirms the presence of this saucer in the Picardy sky. It is a baker from Moreuil, this time, who reports it. Mr. and Mrs. Dedier, indeed returned from Moreuil, with their children Mr. and Mrs. Quenneben, when, around 9:15 p.m., between Foucaucourt and Estrées, they saw the luminous object.

Same description as that given by previous witnesses, same observations on the direction of travel.

Amazing story
from a shopkeeper from Amiens

But the most astonishing tale is that of a shopkeeper from Amiens, Mrs. Nelly Mansart, grocer, 8 rue de la Mari[]e who, Sunday returned from Hérissart. Mrs. Mansart was accompanied by neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Delaf[?]rée.

Motorists had just left Hérissart when they saw a bright ball in the sky which, when better observed, then appeared to them like a rim of a bright orange mushroom. The diameter was about 6 to 8 meters. The "mushroom" let escape from its upper part, flames turning from purple to greenish, while some kind of cables hung below.

Mrs. Mansart, who was driving the car, was frightened, all the more so since the "saucer" seemed to follow the progress of the car, standing at a distance of about 130 meters and flying at low speed.

When we crossed a village, Mrs. Mansart said, the craft bypassed it and reappeared at the exit, It followed us like this for ten kilometers approximately.

When I left Pierregot, I stopped. The saucer stopped and waited, turning in a spiral for three or four hundred meters. As I restarted, it followed us again.

It was only in Raineville, near Amiens, that the craft left us definitively, heading west to get lost in infinity at a prodigious speed."

You will agree that this is an impressive story. We must also add that of a butcher of Rue (Somme), Mr. Galland who with his wife and son, was returning from Berck by car. They too were followed, for a time, by a mysterious craft of elongated shape and orange in color.

The object was flying at low altitude at a speed not exceeding 30 per hour. It finally disappeared in the direction of St-Quentin-en-Tourmont, towards the sea.

Other people also observed the phenomenon, always at the same time, around 9 p.m., Sunday evening.

Did the facetious resident of Beuvry
who had not planned
THE SAUCERS PROBLEM
commit Code violations?

The discovery of generous distributions of (fake) saucers by a Beuvry retiree caused a stir and the police, like the gendarmerie, endeavored to seek yesterday the disturbances which could have been caused by the persistent joke of Mr. D'Oliveira.

How many people have mistaking the paper balloons, cleverly adjusted by the Portuguese, for mysterious spacecraft from Mars? We will probably never know.

It was possible that the numerous Sunday appearances throughout northern France were caused by the Beuvry resident. But no, we have to find another explanation for these. Because, that Sunday, Mr. D'Oliveira had not devoted to his favorite pastime. This point could be quickly verified. What could have troubled the brave Santennese?

Certainly, if one of these craft had struck against a haystack, it caused the risk of causing a fire. Mr. D'Oliveira protested moreover forcefully: he uses, as he says, asbestos, thus taking all precautions. And yet the hot air balloon landed at Sailly-Labourse was indeed starting to burn, three meters from a haystack by the way.

And that's why Mr. D'Oliveira will "benefit" from a fine. Could this be the end of his invention? An old law of May 31, 1924, rules the use of aircraft, establishing that they can only be launched into the sky with the authorization of the prefect, on the advice of the mayor.

And the legal requirements define that any object capable of rising in the air must be considered as an aircraft.

These are therefore 5,000 aircraft that Mr. D'Oliveira has delivered to the clouds!

Rest assured that he will not be a fined for all of them, he began his exploits before 1918, at a time when that law did not exist. And there is prescription for crimes prior to 1931.

This being stated very seriously, of course.

Short chronicle
of the
Flying Saucers

Appearances in the region

Martians spend their weekends on earth. They are reported everywhere, from North to South, from the shores of the Ocean to the banks of the Rhine.

Besides, they are not Martians, because according to our most learned astronomers, neither Mars nor Venus can be inhabited. Mars is too cold and lacks oxygen. As for Venus, it is currently in the middle of the carboniferous period, much like Earth, 300 million years ago.

The unknown beings, piloting the diabolical crockery, are Uranians, the German professor Hermann Oberth, rockets specialist, revealed recently.

The whole world is lost in guesswork. There are supporters of the thesis of craft coming from another planet. There are those who believe them to be terrestrial, something like improved V2s. Finally, there are those who see it as the object of hallucinations.

We are looking for explanations: fireballs, false suns, false moons, refraction phenomena, comets, meteors, rockets. Nothing satisfactory. Nothing final.

There are many testimonies. Many are fragile. Some apparently solid do not always resist observation or lack precision which can guarantee authenticity.

The enigma is complete, the file of the saucers remains open but the windows of the museum of unknown objects remain empty.

***

After the Abbeville region, it's several people from Boves who have just seen "flying saucers", or at least one strange glow that moved slowly. According to these people, the craft seemed to fly off from the edge of the Boves soccer field. The "saucer" was therefore seen by Mr. and Mrs. Dhelly and Mr. and Mrs. Quin, as well as by Mr. Laurent Laporte, seller at Pont de Fouencamps.

We learned shortly after that other people from the village of Demuin had also noticed the craft. According to Mr. and Mrs. Deslandes, it was a kind of "phosphorescent lampshade" which moved without noise and sought to land. When these people alerted neighbors, the object was gone.

Sunday evening, a resident of Moreuil, Mr. Julien Béder, baker, rue Thibeauville, came back, with his wife and children, Mr. and Mrs. Quenehen, butchers in Péronne, by car, on the Amiens-Saint-Quentin road when between Foucaucourt and Estrées, he saw, around 9:15 p.m., a luminous object moving at ground level, towards Montdidier, at a distance which was, it will be understood, impossible to assess.

The shape and (apparent) size of a "four pound loaf" (sic) curved on the top, the "thing", the color of minium, was motionless, and the occupants of the car, after stopping, were able to observe it at leisure, while making the most diverse assumptions. A dark vertical bar, occupying about 1/5th of its width, appeared in the middle of the luminous dot, and remained there all the time that the observation lasted, about 10 minutes.

On the Amiens-Roye road
a driver was also a witness
of similar visions

Also, we learn that a retired miner from Beuvry-les-Béthune confessed to have made flying saucers himself made of paper that functioned like hot air balloons.

The hoaxer claimed that he had already built and launched more than a thousand of these devices.

***

Finally, a young man from Montdidier returning to Etelfay, on September 30, was reportedly dumbfounded when he saw a strange craft, around 11 p.m. o'clock, above Faverolles.

Weekly "LA TRIBUNE D'ALBERT" (ALBERT, 80) for Sat 10/09/1954,p.3:

SMALL CHRONICLE OF THE FLYING SAUCERS

APPARITIONS IN THE REGION

Martians spend their weekends on earth. They are reported everywhere, from North to South, from the shores of the Ocean to the banks of the Rhine.

Besides, they are not Martians, because according to our most learned astronomers, neither Mars nor Venus can be inhabited. Mars is too cold and lacks oxygen. As for Venus, it is currently in the middle of the carboniferous period, much like Earth, 300 million years ago.

The unknown beings, piloting the diabolical crockery, are Uranians, the German professor Hermann Oberth, rockets specialist, revealed recently.

The whole world is lost in guesswork. There are supporters of the thesis of craft coming from another planet. There are those who believe them to be terrestrial, something like improved V2s. Finally, there are those who see it as the object of hallucinations.

We are looking for explanations: fireballs, false suns, false moons, refraction phenomena, comets, meteors, rockets. Nothing satisfactory. Nothing final.

There are many testimonies. Many are fragile. Some apparently solid do not always resist observation or lack precision which can guarantee authenticity.

The enigma is complete, the file of the saucers remains open but the windows of the museum of unknown objects remain empty.

***

After the Abbeville region, it's several people from Boves who have just seen "flying saucers", or at least one strange glow that moved slowly. According to these people, the craft seemed to fly off from the edge of the Boves soccer field. The "saucer" was therefore seen by Mr. and Mrs. Dhelly and Mr. and Mrs. Quin, as well as by Mr. Laurent Laporte, seller at Pont de Fouencamps.

We learned shortly after that other people from the village of Demuin had also noticed the craft. According to Mr. and Mrs. Deslandes, it was a kind of "phosphorescent lampshade" which moved without noise and sought to land. When these people alerted neighbors, the object was gone.

Short chronicle
of the
Flying Saucers

Appearances in the region

Martians spend their weekends on earth. They are reported everywhere, from the Nord to the Midi, from the shores of the Ocean to the banks of the Rhine.

Besides, they are not Martians, because according to our most learned astronomers, neither Mars nor Venus can be inhabited. Mars is too cold and lacks oxygen. As for Venus, it is currently in the middle of the carboniferous period, much like Earth was, 300 million years ago.

The unknown beings, piloting the diabolical crockery, are Uranians, revealed recently the German professor Hermann Oberth, rocket specialist.

The whole world is lost in guesswork. There are supporters of the thesis of craft coming from another planet. There are those who believe them to be terrestrial, something like improved V2s. Finally, there are those who see it as the object of hallucinations.

We are looking for explanations: fireballs, false suns, false moons, refraction phenomena, comets, meteors, rockets. Nothing satisfactory. Nothing final.

There are many testimonies. Many are fragile. Some apparently solid do not always resist observation or lack the precision which can guarantee authenticity.

The enigma is complete, the saucers file remains open but the windows of the museum of unknown objects remain empty.

***

After the Abbeville region, it's several people from Boves who have just seen "flying saucers", or at least one strange glow that moved slowly. According to these people, the craft seemed to fly off the edge of the Boves football field. The "saucer" was therefore seen by Mr. and Mrs. Dhelly and Mr. and Mrs. Quin, as well as by Mr. Laurent Laporte, coffee shop manager at Pont de Fouencamps.

We learned shortly after that other people from the village of Demuin had also noticed the craft. According to Mr. and Mrs. Deslandes, it was a kind of "phosphorescent lampshade" which moved without noise and tried to land. When these people alerted neighbors, the object was gone.

The waltz of the flying saucers

A BAKER OF THE FINISTERE CLAIMS HAVING MET A "MARTIAN" WITH A FACE COVERED IN HAIR

Around 4 a.m. yesterday morning Mr. Pierre Lucas, a baker in Loctudy (Finistère), who was busy fetching water from the bakery courtyard suddenly saw a machine in the shape of a saucer 2.5 to 3 meters in diameter in the night.

He saw an individual about 1.20 m tall come out of it, who approached him and tapped him on the shoulder, articulating unintelligible words. The worker baker managed to keep his cool and returned to the bakery where the stranger followed him.

In the light, Mr. Lucas could stare at the visitor: his face was oval, all covered with hair and eyes the size of a crow's egg. The young man called his boss but, before he had time to go down, the stranger had disappeared as well as his saucer, of which no trace was found.

A Concarneau beer merchant said that he saw two luminous discs in the sky of the shape of an extended round table with a kind of tail. One of the disks was stationary, while the other was moving nearby. The two discs disappeared after ten minutes after launching a rocket.

SAUCERS ... EVERYWHERE

Saucers were seen on Tuesday around 3:15 p.m., near Clermont-Ferrand, the first, 10 kilometers from Beaumont.

The witnesses said that the craft approached them and became less and less brilliant. When it was only 150 meters away, they felt a "weird sensation" and were like nailed in place. At this time a smeel of nitro-benzine was released. Soon the craft went away, the discomfort ceased and the saucer disappeared.

The other saucer was seen above the hill of Chanturgue, near Clermont. It moved vertically and was bright white.

A saucer was also spotted in Billom by a group of 30 people.

- Several residents of Saint-Brieuc saw in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, a flying saucer which took the form of a cigar before disappearing. They were able to observe it for over an hour.

The same phenomenon was observed in Trégueux where a cyclist returned home frightened by what he had seen.

Several people from Thouars-sur-Vie (Vendée) also saw in the sky a dozen luminous objects having an elongated shape and passing at very high speed and high altitude.

IN THE REGION
WHITE GLOW...
IN DUNKERQUE

Last Monday, around 8:20 p.m., while he was maneuvering the American S.S. "Doctor Lyren" in the lock of the Wattier lock in Dunkirk, captain Emmanuel Dubois, aged 30, 34, rue Carnot, in Malo-les-Bains, saw a white glow running along the coast, heading east to west.

Observing this phenomenon for several seconds, he suddenly thought of the flying saucers and called his crew to make them check what he was seeing. But when the first sailor arrived, the glow had suddenly disappeared.

RED DISC...
IN CASSEL

Yesterday around 10:15 a.m., while waiting for the bus, three residents of Cassel, MM. Guy Verbruggue, 17, Grand'Place; Romain Schoerf, rue de Lille, and Guy Hennion, rue Constant-Moncelay, saw a reddish disc in the shape of a saucer which moved a few hundred meters above their heads.

After observing the phenomenon for a good minute, they suddenly saw it disappear on the horizon.

... AND ORANGE
IN THE PICARDY SKY

In the evening of Sunday, an orange "disc" moving at near ground level was seen and observed for a long time by several residents of Boves and of Démuin, near Amiens. The statements of these individuals, collected separately, are absolutely consistent. The orange disc followed almost at ground level, an west - east direction.

Another testimony confirms the presence of this saucer in the Picardy sky, the evening of last Sunday. It is a baker from Moreuil, this time, who brings it. Mr. and Mrs. Dédié, indeed returned from Moreuil, with their children, Mr. and Mrs. Quenehem, when, around 9:15 p.m., between Foucaucourt and Estrées, they saw the luminous object.

Same description as that given by previous witnesses, same observations on the direction of travel.

AMAZING STORY OF AN
AMIENS MERCHANT

But the most astonishing tale is that of a shopkeeper from Amiens, Mrs. Nelly Mansart, grocer, 5, rue de la Marlière, who returned from Hérissart on Sunday. Mrs. Mansart was accompanied by neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Delarouzée.

The motorists had just left Hérissart, when they saw, in the sky, a dazzling ball which, better observed, appeared to them enormous like a rim of bright orange mushroom. The diameter was around 6 to 8 meters. The mushroom let escape from its upper part, flames turning from purple to greenish, while some kind of cables hung below.

Mrs. Mansart, who was driving the car, was frightened, all the more since the "saucer" seemed to follow the moves of the car, standing at a distance of about 150 meters and flying at near ground level.

"When we passed through a village, declared Mrs. Mansart, the object bypassed it and reappeared at the exit. It followed us like this for approximately 10 kilometers.

"On leaving Pierregot, I stopped. The saucer stopped and waited, turning in a spiral, for three or four hundred meters. As I started again, it followed us again.

"It was only in Rainneville, near Amiens, that the craft left us definitively in the direction of the West to get lost in infinity at a prodigious speed."

You will agree that this is an impressive story. We must also add that of a Rue (Somme) butcher, M. Galland, who with his wife and son returned from Berck by car. They too were followed, for a time, by a mysterious craft of elongated shape and orange in color.

The object was flying at low altitude at a speed not exceeding 50 per hour. It finally disappeared in the direction of Saint-Quentin-en-Tourmont, towards the sea.

Other people also observed the phenomenon, always at the same hour, around 9:00 p.m., Sunday evening.

The weekend of October 2-3 appears on all graphs as the maximum-maximorum of the 1954 wave. Although the work of counting the press of the time is not yet finished, the 118 various issues of newspapers and magazines I have been able to analyze for this period gives us an almost complete overview, in any case very broadly representative of the regional observations which were reported in the press for Sunday, October 3. I included the observations of the Somme which seemed to me inseparable from those of Nord - Pas-de-Calais and which also appear in the chapter entitled "Zigzag on the mining country" of the book by A. Michel: "Mystérieux Objets Célestes."

I count, as one case, each observation made by an independent group of witnesses. The astonishing quantity of observations reported below, shows once again the interest of thoroughly searching the newspaper archives.

OCTOBER 3, 1954:

[... other cases...]

32) 09:15; DEMUIN, _80_ Mr. and Mrs. Deslandes observed towards Montdidier a kind of phosphorescent lampshade moving without noise in the sky and seeming to want to land. (Courrier Picard, 5/10, p.3 - 6/10: VdN-Somme,p.6, N.M.,p.10 - 8/10: Libre Artois,p.4; Journal de Santerre, p.3 - 9/10; Tablettes de Peronne, p.3.)

[... other cases...]

The Fabulous day of October 3, 1954

[...]

Chronology of the observations of October 3.

We give here only a summary of what was published in the press of the time, for the nord region, regardless of what the ufologists could later say. We have numbered all these observations, the first of which have nothing to do with the setting of the moon, in order to be able to study them globally in a table. Some are already the subject of a special file.

[... other cases...]

32) 21 h 15, DEMUIN (80)

- M. et Mme Deslandes ont observé vers Montdidier une sorte d'abat-jour phosphorescent qui se déplaçait sans bruit et semblait vouloir atterrir.

(Le Courrier Picard, 5/10 page 3, La Voix du Nord-ed. Somme 6/10 page 6, Nord Matin 6/10 page 10, Le Journal du Santerre 9/10 page 5, Les Tablettes de Péronnes 9/10 page 3)

[... other cases...]

All this is only a compilation of the information given by all newspapers of the time, including local editions, and of which ufologists only used a part.

We will see that the analysis of this information makes it possible to eliminate the hypothesis of a flying saucer, in favor of those of multiple observations of the moon, whose image was reddened and deformed by clouds, which also gave it a illusory apparent movement.

Analysis of the observations of October 3, 1954

We saw a list of 50 observations from the northern region for October 3, 1954. This was just a compilation of information from the newspapers

[... Other cases...]

32) 21 h 15, DEMUIN (80)

Même mode de disparition que la lune ce soir là.

[... Other cases...]

Matrice de test pour l'identification avec la lune

Nr	Identification	Possible identi[fi]cation
	certain	first idea of the witness	same aspect	samebr>direction	same movements	same disapearrance	proximity and iindentical with identified case	number oy yes	Final Identication
[... Other cases...]
32							yes	1	possible
[... Other cases...]

[... Other cases...]

15 observation[s] where it was possible that it was the Moon: [... Other cases...] Demuin, [... Other cases...]

[... Other cases...]