The 1954 French flap:

MISCELLANEOUS FACTS

"Saucers" and flying cigars still roam our region

From the Puy-de-Dôme and the Haute-Loire came to us some disturbing testimonies

SINCE the mysterious encounter of a farmer from Corrèze with "the man from space" the appearances of flying saucers in the sky of the Auvergne succeeded one another at an accelerated pace.

Not a day goes by without several disturbing testimonies reaching us with new statements from people of good faith on the curious evolutions of these craft which belong more to the field of dreams but not yet to that of the unknown.

Five Clermont residents saw a luminous ball

Two residents of Clermont, MM. Brun and Martsarem [?] saw a flying saucer on Tuesday a few kilometers from Beaumont. Here is their story:

"It was during a walk in the company of Messrs. Dubois and M[?] that we were amazed to see an aerial vehicle moving; which in our opinion is a flying saucer.

"It was exactly 3:45 p.m. when we saw 500 meters from us a ball that was moving like [?] a few kilometers from Beaumont. But what was not our amazement when the craft approached us. It became less luminescent and gained in [...]. Arrived at 150 meters approximately, we felt a very particular sensation and we were like nailed on the ground. All around us there was an odor of nitro-benzene. A few seconds later, we [...] saw the luminous ball moving [...] above our heads. Then it disappeared."

Mr. Baurreux [?] Avenue de la [Braublieu] also witnessed this curious appearance.

"At [03? 05?]: 27 p.m., as I was about to close the shutters in my bedroom, my gaze was caught by two luminous objects which moved with great rapidity in the cloudy sky."

"Intrigued, I observed this phenomenon with intense curiosity."

"These two round-shaped shiny white craft circled over the city for a moment [...] then landed on the Chanturgue hill."

"More and more curious I took a pair of binoculars that I pointed in the direction of the two craft of which I already suspected the origin."

"Against all expectations and to my great disappointment [?] of these craft which hid almost instantly from my sight [...] then disappeared behind the hill at a very high speed."

A strange apparition in the sky of Château-Chinon

NEVERS. -- According to the testimonies of five people whose sincerity cannot be doubted, a flying saucer crossed the sky of Château-Chinon on Sunday evening.

The strange apparition took place around 9 p.m. This time it is an oval-shaped luminous spot remaining motionless at very high altitude.

At one time the spot seemed to separate into two parts and each of the formed discs started spinning at full speed changing color several times, then everything went out and after a few minutes the luminous spot reappeared before splitting again and spinning.

The same phenomenon occurred several times before the eyes, more astonished than frightened, of the five Château-Chinon residents.

A saucer was seen above Billom

Sunday evening at 7:45 p.m. a flying saucer was seen by about twenty people all credible in the Billom sky south of the city in the direction of Coppel.

The craft, extremely bright, remained three to four minutes in its horizontal position while moving quite [...]. Then suddenly stood up vertically and disappeared leaving no trace.

Several people have had time to [...] for [...] the phenomenon because of the intense light that emanated from the saucer.

Shiny objects in the sky of Le Puy

During the night of Monday to Tuesday shining objects were seen in the sky of Le Puy whose nature was not determined exactly.

Around 8:30 p.m. several of our compatriots saw a craft flying above the Place du Breuil and the Place Michelet which looked like a balloon to which a light would have been attached.

This craft which flew appreciably in the east / west direction passed at about fifteen meters above the sauqre and approximately at the same height above the newly built place Michelet buildings. Its speed could be 7 to 8 kilometers per hour.

Several people followed it for a while in its moves.

A little later, leaving the cinema around 11:30 p.m., several people also saw in the sky, another object whose luminous intensity was variable, of an apparent diameter smaller than that of a football. This craft which moved, it seems, rather quickly at high altitude followed a rectilinear trajectory.

Finally during the afternoon of Tuesday around 3:15 p.m. many passers-by and traders on Boulevard Maréchal Fayolle saw a shiny white object above their heads which rose vertically in the sky.