The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 5-Nov-54-Molliens-Vidame.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In the 1970s, before taking the lead of the official French ufology group GEPAN, Claude Poher had compiled a list of observations, in summary form, either coming from official sources or having official witnesses.
In this list, he noted an observation for November 5, 1954, at 11:15 p.m. in Molliens-Vidame, in the Somme department.
There would have been two official witnesses with one whose name was known, an official investigation would have been conducted, the upper sky was overcast, a single object had been seen for 1 to 19 minutes.
The object had a shape of the type "oval, egg, ovoid", an angular dimension of 30 minutes of arc, it was luminous or fluorescent, slow or very slow, immobile or in a straight line with stops, there was no sound heard coming from the object.
[Ref. cpr1:] CLAUDE POHER, UFO RESEARCH GROUP "GEPA":
In 1968-1969, before the official GEPAN ufology effort started, its future head Dr Claude Poher was a member of the unofficial GEPA ufology group, and gathered a computer coded listing of more than 700 UFO reports on which multiple factors statistical computation could be run. In the file were a number of 1954 French UFO reports, among those this one.
For readability, a decoded interpretation of the data is provided here under the original 80 character encoded string. Decoding was done according to the original indications, the code number and its generic meaning is given. Please not that the generic meaning of each code is a predefined category, not the real specific details of the case. For example, if the main witness' age was 33, the coding would result in a number "3" which corresponds to a category "Adult from 21 to 59 years."
| Original code: | 0643550511195423151JA2104013400014AA300020C0217000000000000000000000000000000000 |
| Location: | Molliens-Vidame (Somme) - France |
| Case number: | 0643 |
| Source code: | 55 |
| Nature of the source: | Reports from official French sources: Police, Gendarmerie, Army, Pilots |
| Day: | 05 |
| Month: | 11 |
| Year: | 54 |
| Hours: | 23 |
| Minutes: | 15 |
| Type of Time: | 1 = local time |
| Number of witnesses: | 2 = 2 |
| Main witness named: | 1 = name(s) indicated |
| Main witness age: | 0 = no indication |
| Main witness occupation: | 4 = army, police, fireman, constable |
| Official investigation: | 1 = an official investigation was made |
| Weather: | 3 = sky covered at high altitude |
| Duration: | 4 = from 1 to 19 minutes |
| Minimal distance witness - phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Method of observation: | 0 = no indication |
| Number of "objects" observed simultaneously: | 01 = 1 |
| Shape of the "object" (terminology of witness(es)): | 4 = oval, egg, ovoïd, "like a rugby ball" |
| Dimensions of the phenomenon: | AA = angular size, 30 = 30 arc minutes |
| Color of the observed phenomenon: | 00 = no indication |
| Luminosity of the phenomenon: | 2 = luminous, fluorescent |
| Lights or projectors on the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Moving speed of the phenomenon: | C = "slow" or "very slow" |
| Acceleration of the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Trajectory of the phenomenon: | 2 = motionless or straight line with stops |
| Sounds perceived during observation: | 1 = no noise, total silence, object noiseless |
| Maximum angular height of observation (horizon = 0°): | 7 = altitude is indicated |
| Nature of the landing place: | 0 = no indicatio |
| Number of contact points with ground: | 0 = no indication |
| Traces of landing: | 0 = no indication |
| Observation of "occupants": | 0 = no indication |
| Height of the occupants observed: | 00 = no indication |
| Garment of the occupants: | 00 = no indication |
| Garment: | 0 = no indication |
| General behavior of "occupants": | 0 = no indication |
| Interaction of "occupants" with witness: | 0 = no indication |
| Head, hair: | 0 = no indication |
| Voice, breathing, chin: | 0 = no indication |
| Skin: | 0 = no indication |
| Eyes: | 0 = no indication |
| Mouth: | 0 = no indication |
| Various details: | 0 = no indication |
| Thermal effects: | 0 = no indication |
| Luminous effects: | 0 = no indication |
| Magnetic effect (or electromagnetic): | 0 = no indication |
| Odor perceived by witness: | 0 = no indication |
| Physiological effects on the witness(es): | 0 = no indication |
| Psychological effect on the witness(es): | 0 = no indication |
| Effects on animals: | 0 = no indication |
| Other effects reported: | 0 = no indication |
| Nebulosity: | 0 = no indication |
| Oscillations, emission of matter: | 0 = no indication |
| Spin, formation flight: | 0 = no indication |
| Immediate disappearance: | 0 = no indication |
| Halo surrounding the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Interaction witness / phenomenon (complement to the other rubrics): | 0 = no indication |
| Drawing or photo: | 0 = no indication |
| Structural details observed: | 0 = no indication |
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates in his database that in the Somme in Molliens Dreuil on November 5, 1954 at 23:15 hours, "at the location Vidame two witnesses certainly gendarmes observed during several minutes an ovoid object having a size of thirty minutes of arc. It was luminous and moved very slowly, making stops."
The source is noted: "Les Universons by Poher Claude ** http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/universons/".
[Ref. wia1:] WIKIPEDIA:
Local events: November 5, 1954, a U.F.O was observed in Molliens-Vidame.
The source is noted as being my website: "ovni - Les OVNIS vus de près: France 1954, 5 novembre, Molliens-Vidame, Somme".
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541105 | 05.11.1954 | Molliens | France | 23.15 |
|
Insufficient information.
In 1972, the commune of Molliens-Vidame was joined to Dreuil-lès-Molliens to become Molliens-Dreuil.
The angular dimension of 30 minutes of arc would correspond for an object at 10 meters if a width of 8 cm; or to an object at 100 meters of a width of 80 cm.
This angular size also corresponds to the angular size of the Moon.
It turns out that the Moon was in the visible sky in this place and on that date and time, at the 227° azimuth and the elevation of 24°. The Moon is thus a possible explanation, but the data is too meager to say more than this.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Molliens-Vidame, Molliens-Dreuil, Somme, official, multiple, oval, luminous, slow, silent
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | March 20, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 4, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1], [wia1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | February 2, 2017 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | November 6, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
