The 1954 French flap:

Flying saucers in Ivory Coast

The chief administrator of Danane submits an official report to the governor of the territory

Abidjan, 5 October

Flying saucers were seen in Ivory Coast. The news was known by an official report addressed to the governor of Ivory Coast by Mr. Vernhet, chief administrator of the subdivision of Danane, city located at 500 kilometers in the North-East of Abidjan.

The facts go back to September 19, but they were made official only yesterday following precise information and an investigation.

In addition to the population, the chief of the gendarmerie station, the chief consultant of the medical centre, Reverend Father Vyard, of the missions of Lyon, Mr. Vernhet, chief of the subdivision and his wife, joined together in the court of the residence, saw on 19 September from 08:30 p.m. to 09:05 p.m. a machine corresponding exactly to those observed in France, but which did not land.

It was a luminous point, surrounded by a halation which initially grew quickly, moving while approaching or deviating from the horizon. The witnesses saw the machine light a powerful headlight, sometimes directed up, sometimes down. The machine, of ovoid shape, was surmounted by a cupola and luminous beams seemed to move on each side.

When it disappeared, after having moved half an hour, the witnesses clearly saw two luminous halations, of oval shape, formed on the supposed place of the machine. The latter moved without any noise.

Administrator Vernhet joined to his report a detailed sketch of the various observed phases as well as of the shape of the apparatus.

The same day, in Soubre, 250 km in the North-West of Abidjan, and in the same direction, similar phenomena were observed. The chief

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Flying saucers

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The subdivision of Soubre confirmed the existence of the phenomenon which he witnessed.

The epidemic goes on...

In the Territory of Belfort, Mr. Lucien Bourgeois, 58 years old, reamer at the DMC factories was Monday towards 06:45 p.m. in front of his dwelling in Grandvillars. Suddenly his attention was drawn by a sharp gleam in the sky, produced by a luminous machine of lengthened form which moved slowly towards the west. Mr. Bourgeois alerted at once several of his neighbors who managed, during half an hour, to observe this weird phenomenon.

In the Moselle a 19 year old young man, Mr. Pierre Laplace, electrician at the Kuhlmann Co in Dieuze (the Moselle), saw Sunday evening at 08:07 p.m. a large luminous disc, of green color, at the level of the wood of the Brides, between Vergaville and Kerprich (the Moselle).

The machine which emitted sharp gleams lands near Benestroff. About thirty passers by which had stopped on the road to follow the evolutions, formally confirm Mr. Laplace's statements. Several witnesses tried to go by motorbike towards the supposed landing spot of the craft, but then, the apparatus took height again and definitively disappeared at 9 p.m.

In the Nord, a hundred people saw moving in the sky between Annoeuillin and Provins, Sunday evening, three "flying crescents", during 25 minutes.

In Lyon, a journalist claims to have observed using a binocular, above the Sainte-Foy hill, an orange red luminous disc, followed by other brilliant, smaller discs. The phenomenon lasted approximately 20 minutes.

A little everywhere saucers, cigars, discs, balls and other "flying" objects were seen, in particular in Chancelade (Haute-Vienne), Willer (Haut-Rhin), Gouesnach, close to Quimper, Bautignecourt, Ambazac (Haute-Vienne), Dijon, Marcoing, near Cambrai, Pommier (the Indre), Rouen, Ajaccio, La Rochelle, Quimper, Cholet and Vannes.

A "saucers manufacturer" is discovered

Lille, October 5. -- A retired miner, of Beuvry-les-Béthune, known as a prankster, did not miss the opportunity the flying saucers offered to him, to have fun at the expense of the residents of the nearby localities.

Inspired by the Montgolfier principle, the merry pensioner manufactured machines three meters in diameter. The envelope was made of strong gray paper sheets, carefully glued. At the base of the "saucer", there was a small receptacle in which a tuft of packing soaked with a flammable liquid rested. It was then enough to ignite the packing to see the machine rise and disappear with the liking to the winds, surrounded by yellowish and oranges reflections.

It is after the discovery, close to a haystack in which one of these machines had almost set fire, that the gendarmes were brought to suspect the pensioner. In addition, many models of "flying saucers" were found at his home, prototypes which the inventor was getting ready to launch in the sky of the Nord.

The mystifier claims that he already built and launched more than one thousand of these machines, but as he is a prankster he perhaps brags. As for his "saucers", they of course follow the direction and the speed of the wind and they thus cannot comparare with the usual machines which move at high speed in all the directions, stop short, etc...

Anyway, the prankster will be sentenced for dangerous fun.

Finally! Paris had his saucers too!

A few days ago, a French radio broadcaster complained bitterly of the disdain that the "Uranids" and their heavenly vehicles were showing towards the capital. Only the inhabitants of the countryside seemed to interest the interplanetary travelers who approached them willingly and even tried to enter into conversation with them. Well, it was not an arbitrary privilege. Injustice is repaired. Paris, the big city, had its flying saucers!

Several Parisians have indeed said they saw, Tuesday afternoon, a craft moving in the sky. Passersby claimed to have seen one around 04:30 p.m., near the Porte Dorée.

Mr. Pierre Allouis, salesman in cardboard, went to his business by taxi, when the vehicle was stopped by a red light; Hearing, he said, a shrill whistling sound, he looked out of the door and saw a flying craft escaping high, leaving a plume of smoke in its wake.

Mr. Allouis describes the saucer as a disc bigger than a normal plane and silver. The same testimony is given by Mr. Gilbert Bacon and Mr. Paul Julien, a house painter. The latter, however, believe that it is not a saucer but a flying wing that affects the shape of a triangle with rounded edges.

At Le Bourget, it is explained that given the intensity of the air traffic, it is impossible to confirm by radar the passage of the craft at the insufficiently specified time. On the other hand, the radar cannot record the passage of a heavier than air more than by a bright spot regardless of the nature of the craft.

Finally! Paris had his saucers too!

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LEZIGNAN. -- Two inhabitants of Lezignan, Messrs. André Garcia and André Darzens, who were driving in a truck on the departmental road D3, claimed to have seen a disc-shaped machine land in a field between the village of Lagrasse and the hamlet of Villemagne (Aude).

The craft, they said, was about ten meters in diameter. Before they could get close, it surrounded them in a bright glow and disappeared.

BERGERAC. -- Mr. Jean Defix, firefighter at Bergerac, and Mr. Jean Labonne, said that they saw a luminous disk about 3 meters in diameter, supported by three crutches, in the garden of the latter.

DINAN. -- In Megrit (Côtes du Nord), a young farmer, Mr. Henri Leherissé, said he saw in the yard of his farm a craft with a diameter of about 1 meter, around which appeared two human forms, immobile and the size of a child.

NEVERS. -- In Nevers, five residents of Château-Chinon said they saw Monday evening, at very high altitude, a kind of bright spot that split into two discs. These, they say, began to turn by changing color several times.

DUNKIRK. -- A Dunkirk merchant had, several days ago, said to have seen strange luminous objects in the sky of Bray-Dunes. An investigation had been opened. It concluded that they were two military planes whose metal coating had been misleading.

CLERMONT-FERRAND. -- Two saucers were seen Tuesday in the sky of Clermont. The first 10 kilometers from Beaumont at 03:45 p.m. It was moving west-east. Witnesses testified that the craft got closer to them and became less and less brilliant.

When they were only 150 meters away, they felt a "curious sensation" and were nailed to the spot. At that moment there was a smell of nitro-benzene. Soon the machine moved away, the discomfort ceased, and the saucer disappeared.

The other saucer was sighted over the hills of Chanturgue, near Clermont. It was moving vertically and was bright white.

A saucer was also sighted in Billom by a group of 30 people. The craft was moving over the city. It was moving horizontally. It was visible for 3 to 4 minutes before disappearing. An intense light emanated from the craft.

SAINT-BRIEUC. -- Several residents of Saint-Brieuc saw, during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, a flying saucer that took the shape of a cigar before disappearing. They could watch it for over an hour.

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

LA ROCHELLE. -- In the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, several people from Thouare-sur-Vie (Vendée) saw in the sky a dozen luminous objects having an elongated shape and passing at a very high speed and high altitude.

LA ROCHELLE. -- Mr. and Mrs. Guillemoteau were standing in front of their farm when they saw about one meter from the ground, a spherical saucer measuring 2 to 3 meters in height and 5 meters in diameter.

The machine, which produced no noise, stopped for a few minutes, then climbed vertically. Mr. Guillemoteau went to the place where he had seen the machine the next day and was able to note oily traces on the grass.

QUIMPER. -- Around 4 o'clock Tuesday morning, Mr. Pierre Lucas, baker worker in Loctudy (Finistère), who was busy drawing water from the bakery yard, suddenly saw in the night a craft of the shape of a saucer 2 m 50 to 3 m in diameter. He saw an individual about 1m20 come out of it and hit him on the shoulder while uttering unintelligible words.

The baker's worker managed to keep his cool and returned to the bakehouse where the stranger followed him. In the light, Mr. Lucas could stare at the visitor. His face was hairy and his eyes were the size of a raven'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, for his part, said he saw in the sky two luminous discs of the shape of round tables prolonged by a kind of tail. One of the disks was motionless while the other was moving nearby. Both disks disappeared after ten minutes after having launching a rocket.

Italy does not stay on the sidelines of this invasion

MANTUA. -- The traffic was interrupted for more than an hour in the center of Mantua by groups of people gathered to observe a strange "white object" which, at a high height stood out clearly on the background of the blue sky.

After making extremely rapid maneuvers, the spherical machine - which according to some witnesses, was part of "a flying saucer formation" - remained motionless for some time in the sky, before disappear on the horizon.

On the other hand, the "Uranids" seem to want to visit the whole peninsula. Indeed, a fisherman from Roverbella, in the province of Mantua, said he was approached during the night by a a mysterious individual, dressed in red, who would have told him "unintelligible words" and who would have moved away quickly before the fisherman had time to call his wife.

Finally, a host of testimonials of saucers, disks, cigars, spheres and other flying objects having been seen in Quend (Somme), in Grandvillars (Belfort territory), in Magnac-Laval (Haute-Vienne), in Saint-Jean-d'Angely (Charente-Maritime), in Forges (Corrèze), in Perros-Guirrec (Côtes-du-Nord).

Finally, to a host of testimonials that may be doubted can be added some information such as the one we produce below, the indisputable seriousness of which leaves the most skeptical speechless.

MELUN. -- The Coulommiers newspaper, "Le Pays Briard", publishes a letter sent by one of their readers, Mr. Eugène Farnier, a member of the Society of Civil Engineers of France, about a flying saucer.

In this letter, Mr. Farnier states that he saw above his property, in Jouy-sur-Morin, a big disc of 8 to 10 meters in diameter "turning on itself", letting out red-violet gleams, with a tail reminding a little of the arrival of a jet plane. "The craft was about 400 meters above the ground and it was more above me for than 20 minutes," said Mr. Farnier, "so I had the opportunity to examine it well." The craft then disappeared in the direction of Coulommiers."

In his letter Mr. Farnier said: "Former Commissioner of the French Flying Club, having been in the aviation, I could not be a victim of hallucination. This machine was not a balloon but a thick wing hovering on the spot and moving at a very high speed while gradually taking height."