The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 5-oct-54-Loctudy.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. ofe1:] NEWSPAPER "OUEST FRANCE":
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QUIMPER (From our editors. -- Without wishing to take a position on a phenomenon which, at the present time, tends to pose a problem, and that citizens worthy of faith and day by day more numerous, observe, it seems that the fashion is with flying saucers and other also flying, also luminous, cigars. Daily, the press relates these discoveries, almost everywhere, in the sky of France.
Our region, of course, could not escape this kind of demonstration on which everyone wonders with a curiosity mixed with uncertainty and skepticism. And now to the already long list of "visionaries" is added a testimony - it is not the first in France, but it is, to our knowledge in the region - a bit special.
From one of these mysterious saucers descended a strange being. Let's give the following story the form that a 20-year-old young man, Pierre Lucas, a baker, in Pen-ar-Prat, some three kilometers from the town of Loctudy, on the side of the Larmo dunes, wanted to keep for it.
It was a little after 4 a.m. yesterday morning. A time when all good people enjoy a restful sleep. However, there are some - good people - who, at this early hour, are busy with daily business. So, at this hour, Pierre Lucas, who had gone down to the bakery to cook the first batch, went out into the yard to draw the water needed to make the dough. It should be noted right away that Pierre Lucas is a serious boy and that, in the opinion of those around him, he has a rather cool head.
In short, he had filled a bucket with water at the well, when, turning around, he saw a strange object, in the shape of a saucer, stop about five meters from him.
Despite the brutality of this appearance, he retained all his composure. The apparatus could be, he specified, of approximately 2.50 m. to 3 meters in diameter. From this celestial apparatus (sic) he saw a strange individual emerge: a kind of dwarf no taller than a seven-year-old child. The visitor approached Pierre Lucas who, of course, had put his bucket on the ground. He tapped him on the shoulder at the same time as he uttered incomprehensible words.
Still keeping his courage, the young baker returned to the bakery. The stranger followed him inside. It was then that in the light, Pierre Lucas stared at the apparition. It was indeed a dwarf of 1.20 m. in size approximately. He had an oval face and his eyes were the size of a crow's egg. In addition, the face was covered with hair. All the same, the young man went from surprise to fear. He shouted, called his boss. But before the latter had time to come down, the nocturnal visitor had turned on his heels, if he had any. The boss, Mr. Le Goff came out, went to the place where the flying saucer had landed. Not the slightest trace, not the slightest clue. There weren't more traces inside the bakehouse.
This is what Pierre Lucas, a serious young man of 20, and, moreover, strong well balanced, told to his entourage yesterday, who, no doubt, were quick to divulge it all around.
We leave it to our readers, who are intrigued daily by these reports of mysterious apparitions, to draw the conclusions they see fit. All the same, we would be very happy if these curious tourists left us their business card. Or one of their craft for display. What do you think?
[Ref. lcx1:] NEWSPAPER "LA CROIX":
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Around 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning, Mr. Pierre Lucas, worker-baker in Loctudy (Finistère), who was busy drawing water in the courtyard of the bakery, suddenly saw in the night a machine in the shape of a saucer of 2.50 m. to 3 meters in diameter. He saw an individual coming out, measuring about 1.20 m., who approached him and tapped him on the shoulder, uttering 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 was able to 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 the latter had time to come down, the stranger had disappeared as well as his saucer of which no trace was found.
Two saucers were seen on Tuesday in the sky of Clermont. The first, 10 kilometers from Beaumont, at 3:45 p.m.. It was moving in a west-east direction, witnesses stated that the craft approached them and became less and less bright. When it was no more than 150 meters, they felt a "curious sensation" and were as if stuck in place. At this time, there was an odor of nitro-benzine. Soon the craft moved away, the discomfort ceased and the saucer disappeared.
Mr. and Mrs. Guillemoteau were in front of their farm, near La Rochelle, when they saw, at about 1 meter from the ground, a spherical saucer that could measure 2 to 3 m. in height and with a diameter of 5 meters. The machine, which produced no noise, stopped for a few minutes, then rose vertically. Mr. Guillemoteau went to the place where he had seen the machine and was able to note oily traces on the grass.
Several Parisians said they saw flying saucers flying in the sky over the capital on Tuesday afternoon. Passers-by said they saw it around 4:30 p.m., near the Porte-Dorée.
Mr. Pierre Allouis, cardboard representative, was going to his business by taxi, when the vehicle was stopped by a red light. Hearing, he said, a shrill whistle, he looked out the door and saw a flying craft escaping high, leaving a plume of smoke in its wake.
Mr. Allouis describes the saucer as a disk larger than a normal plane and silver in color.
[Ref. cdn1:] NEWSPAPER "LA CROIX DU NORD":
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The partial explanation we gave yesterday of "flying cigars" did not stop the round of "saucers". Almost everywhere, mysterious craft still caught the eyes of witnesses who all say they did not dream.
The most extraordinary adventure of the day occurred Tuesday, at 4 a.m., to Mr. Pierre Lucas, a baker from Loctudy, in the Finistère.
Mr. Lucas was busy fetching water from the bakery courtyard when he suddenly saw a craft in the shape of a 2 m 50 to 3 m diameter saucer during the night. He saw an individual about 1 m 20 tall come out of it, who approached and tapped him on the shoulder (no doubt, by hoisting himself on tiptoe), articulating unintelligible words. The worker baker managed to keep his cool and returned 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 the latter could come down, the stranger had disappeared, as well as his saucer, of which no trace was found.
The "Martians" also seem to want to visit Italy. A fisherman from Roverbella, in the province of Mantua, said he was approached, still on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, by a "mysterious individual", dressed in red, who allegedly told "unintelligible words" to him, and quickly went away, before the fisherman had time to call his wife.
In Mantua, moreover, traffic was interrupted for more than an hour by groups of people gathered to observe a strange "white object" which, at a high height, stood out clearly against the background of the blue sky. After having carried out extremely rapid moves, the craft, of spherical shape - and which, according to certain witnesses, was part of "a formation of flying saucers" - remained motionless in the sky for a while, before disappearing on the horizon.
"Saucers" also in the sky of the Massif Central. Tuesday afternoon, a "mysterious craft" was seen 10 km from Beaumont, moving east. 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 nailed to the spot. At that time there was a smell of nitro-benzine. Soon the craft moved away. The discomfort ceased and the "saucer" disappeared.
Another saucer was seen above the Chanturgue hill, near Clermont. It moved vertically and was bright white.
"According to all the available information, the occupants of the saucers draw the map of the entire surface of the earth" said for his part, most seriously in the world, Mr. Fletcher, vice-president of the astronomers of Kenya.
"Visitors from another world are observing the earth. They have recently turned their attention to East Africa. The most encouraging feature of the case is that unidentified flying objects do not appear to be piloted by beings with hostile intentions towards the inhabitants of our planet", Mr. Fletcherestimates, formulating his hypothesis following the deluge of information provided by many Europeans, Asians and Africans established in Kenya, and refusing to believe that all these "witnesses" are victims of hallucination.
Among these "witnesses", a Frenchman, Mr. Jean Allary, farmer in the Charente.
Sunday evening, getting home, around 11:15 p.m., while riding a moped on the Departmental Road 16, he suddenly saw in the beam of his headlight a strange craft on the roadside. He was afraid and did not stop. When he looked back ten meters away, he saw nothing. It was a barrel about 1.50 m. in diameter and 1.50 m. in height, which, he said, swayed as if it had been mounted on a [??]. The barrel was brown in color, studded with yellow "nails" that shone in the light.
After the "saucer" and the "cigar", here is the "flying barrel". In the "other world", one seems to appreciate this drink that we call "wine" on earth. Perhaps an astute "Martian" took advantage of the harvest to come to our planet to "fill up" with an adequate machine...
Maybe... But there are better things in "Martian" squadrons than barrels...
A Concarneau beer merchant, claims to have seen on his side, in the sky, two luminous discs "in the form of round tables prolonged 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.
In Saint-Brieuc, several residents saw 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.
Near La Rochelle, also, ten "luminous objects" moving at a very high speed, were spotted. Mr. and Mrs. Guillemoteau even saw, about a meter from the ground, just in front of their farm, a "spherical saucer" which could measure from 2 to 3 meters in height and with a diameter of 5 meters. The craft, which produced no noise, stopped for a few minutes, then climbed vertically. Mr. Guillemoteau, the next day, went to the place where he had seen the craft and was able to find oily traces on the grass.
[Ref. lln1:] NEWSPAPER "LE LORRAIN":
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The daily chronicle of the "flying saucers" is becoming increasingly important. Every day, many news dispatches tell about the mysterious craft passing in one or the other region. The question is whether the bad weather that meteorologists are forecasting complacently, has any influence on the graceful evolutions of the visitors from the ether. It does not seem so, so far.
To see a craft in the sky doesn't have anything special anymore and one could fear monotony if, fortunately, the "celestial pilots" would not come from time to time for a walk on dry land and make of their size, their outfit and their doings, extra spice to the current controversy about the reality of the "saucers".
In this context, the ephemeral newsmaker of today is a modest bakery worker from Loctudy (the Finistère), Mr. Pierre Lucas.
Getting up early and in a good mood, the man went to get water into the courtyard of the bakery Tuesday morning when, in the flickering light of a rainy dawn, he saw a vehicle in the shape of a saucer of 2 m. 50 to 3 m. in diameter that was stationed there stupidly. He would probably have been unconcerned if he had not suddenly saw someone get out of it:
"He was 1 m. 20 tall, like [Missing part.]
[... appro]ched me. Before I could recover from my surprise, he tapped me on the shoulder while uttering unintelligible words."
Mr. Lucas showed then a remarkable composure. "Come in, we're going to discuss," he said [...]
Continued on p. 10 (1st and 2nd col.)
SOON TO COME THE INVESTIGATION OF GABRIEL HERES ON THE
"flying saucers"
[Ref. jps1:] NEWSPAPER "LE JOURNAL DU PAS-DE-CALAIS ET DE LA SOMME":
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Quimper, 8. -- Around 4 a.m., Mr. Pierre Lucas, a baker in Loctudy (Finistère), who was busy fetching water from the bakery courtyard, suddenly saw a craft in the shape of a saucer 2.50 meters to 3 meters in diameter.
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 went back to the bakery where the stranger followed him.
In the light, Mr. Lucas was able to 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 come down, the stranger had disappeared, as had his saucer, of which no trace was found.
On his side, A Concarneau beer merchant said that he saw two luminous discs in the sky 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.
[Ref. hmr1:] NEWSPAPER "LE HAUT-MARNAIS REPUBLICAIN":
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Quimper. At about four o'clock on Tuesday morning Mr. Pierre Lucas, a baker at Loctudy (Finistere), who was busy getting water from the bakery yard, suddenly saw in the night a machine in the shape of a saucer of 2 m. 50 to 3 meters in diameter. He saw an individual measuring about 1 m. 20 who approached him and patted him on the shoulder, uttering unintelligible words. The baker's workman managed to keep his cool and went back to the bakery where the stranger followed him.
In the light, Mr. Lucas was able to stare at the visitor: his face was oval, covered with hair, and eyes as large as a corbel's egg. The young man called his boss, but before the latter had the time to come down, the stranger had disappeared as well as his saucer, of which there no trace was found.
A beer-dealer of Concarneau, for his part, declared that he saw in the sky two luminous disks of the form of round tables extended with a sort of tail. One of the discs was motionless while the other was maneuvering nearby. The two disks disappeared after ten minutes after launching a rocket.
Mantua. -- The traffic was interrupted for more than one hour in the center of Mantova by groups of people gathered to observe a strange "white object" which moved, at a high altitude, clearly visible on the background of the blue sky.
After performing extremely rapid maneuvers, the sphere-shaped apparatus - which, according to some witnesses, was part of a "flying saucer formation" - stood motionless in the sky for some time before it sisappeared on the horizon.
On the other hand, the "Martians" seem to want to visit Italy too. Indeed, a fisherman from Roverbella, in the province of Mantua, said he was approached last night by a "mysterious individual", dressed in red, who reportedly told him "unintelligible words", and who reportedly quickly moved away before the fisher had the time to call his wife.
Saint Brieuc. -- Several residents of Saint-Brieuc saw last night, a flying saucer that 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.
Two saucers were seen in the sky of Clermont. The first, 10 kilometers from Beaumont. It moved west to east. Witnesses said the craft moved closer to them and became less and less brilliant. When it was only 150 meters away, they felt a "curious sensation" and were nailed to the spot. At this timet there was an odor of nitro-benzine. Soon the craft moved away, the discomfort ceased and the saucer disappeared.
The other saucer was seen above the hills of Chanturgues, near Clermont. It moved vertically and was of a brilliant white.
A saucer was also spotted in Billom by a group of 30 people. The craft moved over the city. It moved horizontally. It was visible for three or four minutes before disappearing. An intense light emanated from the craft.
The newspaper of Coulommiers "Le Pays Briard" publishes a letter sent by one of its readers, Mr. E. Farnier, member of the Society of Civil Engineers of France, about a flying saucer.
In this letter Mr. Farnier stated that he saw above his property at Jouy-sur-Morin a large disc of 8 to 10 meters in diameter, rotating on the spot, with red-violet lights, making a whistling sound a bit similar to that of the arrival of a jet plane. The craft was about 400 meters high and hovered for more than 20 minutes above me", Mr. Farnier said, "so had all the time to check it out. The machine then disappeared in the direction of Coulommiers."
In his letter, Mr. Farnier specified:
"Former commissioner with the Aero-Club of France, having served in the aviation, I was not the victim of a hallucination and this machine was not a sounding-balloon, but a thick circular wing hovering on the spot and moving at very high speed gradually taking altitude."
[Ref. nmn1:] NEWSPAPER "NORD-MATIN":
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
[Ref. vmr1:] NEWSPAPER "VAR-MATIN REPUBLIQUE":
Quimper, October 6. -- Towards 4 o'clock, yesterday morning, Mr. Pierre Lucas, working baker in Loctudy (the Finistère) who was occupied drawing water in the court of bakery, saw suddenly in the night, a machine of the shape of a saucer of 2,50 m to 3 m of diameter. He saw an individual measuring approximately 1,20 m emerge of it, who approached him and tapped to him on the shoulder while uttering unintelligible words.
The workman baker succeeded in keeping his coolness and returned to the bake house where the unknown followed him.
In the light, Mr. Lucas managed to distinguish the visitor: he had an oval face, entirely covered of hairs and the eyes of the size of a corbel's egg.
The young man called his owner, but before the latter had the time to come down, the unknown as well as the saucer disappeared without leaving a trace.
A beer salesman of Concarneau has, on his side, stated to have seen in the sky, two luminous discs of the form of round tables prolonged of a kind of tail. One of the discs was motionless while the other evolved in the vicinity. The two discs disappeared at the end of ten minutes after having launched a rocket.
[Ref. nll1:] NEWSPAPER "NORD LITTORAL":
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Quimper, October 6. -
- Around 4 yesterday morning, Mr. Pierre Lucas, worker-baker in Loctudy (Finistère), who was busy fetching water from the courtyard of the bakery, suddenly saw in the night a machine in the shape of a 2.50 m. to 3 m. of diameter saucer. 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 went back to the bakery where the stranger followed him.
In the light, Mr. Lucas could 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 go down, the stranger had disappeared, as had his saucer, of which no trace was found.
A Concarneau beer merchant said that he saw two luminous discs in the sky in the shape of round tables extended by 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.
Mantua, October 6. -
Traffic was interrupted for more than an hour in central Mantua by people gathered to observe a strange "white object" which, at a high height, stood out clearly against the background of the blue sky.
After having carried out extremely rapid moves the machine, of spherical shape - and which according to certain witnesses, was part of "a formation of flying saucer" -, remained for some time motionless in the sky, before it disappeared on the horizon.
On the other hand, the "Martians" seem to want to also visit Italy. In fact, a fisherman from Roverbella, in the province of Mantua, said that he had been approached last night by a "mysterious individual", dressed in red, who allegedly addressed "unintelligible words" to him, and who quickly walked away before the fisherman has had time to call his wife.
Clermont-Ferrand, Oct. 6 -
Two saucers were seen yesterday in the Clermont sky. The first, 10 km from Beaumont, at 3:45 p.m. It was moving west-east. 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 nailed to the spot. At that time there was an odor of nitro-benzine. Soon the craft moved away the discomfort ceased and the saucer disappeared.
The other saucer was seen above the hills of Chanturgue, near Clermont. It moved vertically and was bright white.
A saucer was also seen in Billom by a group of 30 people. The craft was flying above the city. It was moving horizontally. It was visible for 3 or 4 minutes before disappearing. Intense light was emitted from the craft.
[Ref. ler1:] NEWSPAPER "L'EST REPUBLICAIN":
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The daily chronicle of the "flying saucers" grows more and more. Each day, numerous newsbriefs report the passage of mysterious machines in this or that region. It remains to be learned whether the bad weather that the complacent meteorologists announce obligingly, will have an unspecified influence on the gracious evolutions of the ethereal visitors. It does not seem to be that way, so far.
To see a machine in the sky thus is nothing extraordinary anymore and one could fear monotony if, fortunately, the "celestial pilots" didn't come from time to pay a short visit on the dry land and to bring with their height, their costume and their actions, more spice to the current controversies on the reality of the "saucers".
"He resembled a man"
In this field, the transitory ephemeral topicality is rightfully to be credited today to a modest bakery worker of Loctudy (the Finistère), Mr. Pierre Lucas.
Standing up early and well awaken, our man was going to get water in the court of the bakery Tuesday morning when, in the wavering gleam of a rainy dawn, he saw a machine of the shape of a saucer of 2 m. 50 to 3 m. in diameter, which stationed there stupidly. He would certainly not have cared that much about it, if he hadn't suddenly seen an individual come out of it!
"He measured 1 m. 20, resembled a man (sic) and approached me. Before I recovered from my surprise, he had tapped on my shoulder while articulating unintelligible words."
Mr. Lucas showed a remarkable coolness. "Come inside, we'll have a chat", he
Continued on p. 10 (1st and 2nd col.)
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(continued from the first page)
must have told him, for the unknown followed him in the bake house. There, one saw all the same a little more clearly and without shame the "Martian" let himself be contemplated.
It is still Mr. Lucas who speaks:
"He had an oval face, entirely covered of hairs and eyes of the size of a corbel's egg!"
The young man called his owner, but the unknown undoubtedly estimated that the interview had lasted long enough. By the time that Mr. Lucas goes into the staircase to alert his owner with cares, the man and the machine had disappeared. Too bad...
First thing thus learn until better information: the strangers that pilot the saucers have a human form, but the size of children, and apparently developed hair.
Confirmation is given to us by Mr. Henri Lehérisé, young farmer of Megrit (Côtes-du-Nord), whose gift of observation did not await the number of the years.
With much off-handedness, his own apparatus, whose diameter did not exceed one meter, was posed in the court of his farm. Two dwarves occupied it, motionless, impassive. They did not condescend to come out and engage the conversation.
These two appearances obviously eclipse the "visions" of the day. Let us note however that the "saucers", threatened for a while by the barrels, balls, crescents and other cigars, launched a counter-attack of great style since there are now only talks of saucers.
The one in Saint-Brieuc let itself be contemplated during one hour; that of the surroundings of La Rochelle hovered in front of the farm of Mr. and Mrs. Guillenoteau, within one meter of the ground, in an impressive silence and the farmer noted oily traces in the grass.
In Lézignan, it was at the same time flying and giant: ten meters in diameter! Three meters only, the one that landed in the garden of Mr. Jean Labonne, in Bergerac, but on three crutches.
Lastly, the "saucers" cannot always be approached: that of Lésignan, again, wrapped Misters André Garcia and André Darzens of a bright gleam before disappearing. The one in Clermont-Ferrand literally nailed the witnesses who wanted to see it closely on the spot and released a strong nitro-benzene odor.
When the machine moved away, faintness ceased with the odor.
Odorous, colored and inhabited, the "saucers" are also international. In Mantova, they passed in tight formations and one of them was detached from the group to make a small air carrousel show which lasted one hour... and blocked the traffic in the center of the city, the witnesses having gone down in the street for better seeing.
In Roverbella, finally, a poor fisherman entered in conversation with a "Martian", dressed in red, but they were unable to understand each other and his interlocutor disappeared when he saw the fisherman's woman appear. Mysoginic [mysogynic], perhaps...
[Ref. lml1:] NEWSPAPER "LE MERIDIONAL":
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In La Rochelle, M. and Mrs. Guillemoteau were in front of their farm when they saw within one meter approximately from the ground, a spherical saucer that might have measured 2 to 3 meters in height and a diameter of 5 meters. The machine which did not produce any noise stopped a few minutes, then went up vertically.
Mr. Guillemoteau, the next day, went to the place where she had seen the machine and affirms she noted oily traces on the grass.
MONTGENEVRE (C.P.). -- Many people were able to follow Sunday from 09:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. the moves of a "flying cigar".
Observed with the binocular the machine which seemed to station at a very high altitude, disappeared finally behind the ridge of Montbrisson, after nine hours of flight.
QUIMPER. -- Around 4 o'clock, Tuesday morning, Mr. Pierre Lucas, bakery worker in Loctudy (the Finistère) who was busy drawing water in the court of the bakery, suddenly saw in the night a machine in the shape of a saucer of 2 m. 50 to 3 meters in diameter. He saw come out of it an individual measuring approximately 1 m. 20 who approached him while articulating unintelligible words.
The bakery workman managed to stay calm and returned to the bakery house where the unknown followed him.
In the light Mr. Lucas managed to check out the face of the visitor. He had the face covered of hair and the eyes of the size of a corbel's egg.
The young man called his owner but, before the latter had enough time to come down, the nocturnal unknown had disappeared as did his saucer, no trace of which was found.
A beer merchant of Concarneau had, on his side, stated to have seen in the sky, two luminous discs of the form of round tables prolonged of a kind of tail.
One of the discs was motionless while the other moved in the vicinity. The two discs disappeared at the end of ten minutes after having launched a rocket.
MANTOVA. -- The traffic was stopped during more than one hour in the center of Mantova by groups of people gathered to observe a strange "white object" which, at a high height, was clearly detached on the background of the blue sky.
After having carried out extremely fast maneuvers, the machine, of spherical form - and which according to certain witnesses formed part "of a formation of flying saucers" remained motionless for some time in the sky, before disappearing at the horizon.
In addition, the "Martians" also seem to want to visit Italy. Indeed, a fisherman of Roverbella, province of Mantova, stated to have been approached by a "mysterious individual", dressed in red, which would have spoken "unintelligible words" to him, and which would have quickly moved away before the fisherman had the time to call his wife.
BARCELONNETTE (C.P.). -- During the day of Tuesday, four people residing in Barcelonnette, extremely known and esteemed in the city, saw at 11:15, a mysterious metallic object, which was shining in the sun, in the area ranging between the higher part of the forest of Gaudissart and below the Chapeau de Gendarme.
This machine, very odd, disappeared later, during the afternoon, as mysteriously as it had come.
[Ref. pce1:] NEWSPAPER "LE POPULAIRE DU CENTRE":
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Around 6 o'clock in the morning, Mr. Pierre Lucas, a baker in Loctudy (the Finistère), who was busy getting water from the bakery yard, suddenly saw in the night a machine in the shape of a saucer of 2 m. 50 to 3 meters in diameter. He saw an individual measuring about 1 m. 20 who approached him and patted him on the shoulder, uttering unintelligible words.
The bakery workman managed to keep his cool and went back to the bakery where the stranger followed him.
In the light, Mr. Lucas was able to stare at the visitor. His face was oval, covered with hair and eyes the size of a raven's egg.
The young man called his boss, but before the latter had time to come down, the nocturnal unknown had disappeared as well as his saucer of which no trace was found.
A beer-dealer of Concarneau, for his part, stated that he had seen in the sky two luminous disks of the form of round tables extended with a kind of tail.
One of the discs was motionless while the other was maneuvering nearby. The two discs disappeared after 10 minutes after launching a rocket.
Two saucers were seen yesterday in the sky of Clermont [missing part]
In Beaulieu, the Corrèze, a mysterious machine was seen Monday by several people worthy of faith.
On the other hand, one of our readers in the Charente, M. Hubert de Saint-Just, asks us to rectify an information to which his name has been associated by mistake, or as a result of a dubious joke. This, moreover, is what M. de Saint-Just writes:
"In the issue 228 for October 6th, 1954, of the" Populaire du Centre", you published on page 3 (5th column) an information according to which I would have written to you to have seen a "luminous object" evolving in the sky above the Montrollet village.
"My wife and I were amazed to read this information because we never wrote to you about this, for the simple reason that we did not see anything like that.
"I do not know who borrowed our identities and for what purpose this was done - I would like to know!
"But I want to formally deny this information which is totally unfounded and would be glad that you would publish this denial, stating that I had nothing to do with the information that provoked it. I am persuaded that your good faith was abused and that this same good faith will lead you to give a favorable result to my request.
"I do not mean to take a position on the problem of the "flying saucers": I know only what the newspapers publish.
[Ref. ads1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ARDENNAIS":
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!(Continued from the first page.) 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 invasionMANTUA. -- 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." |
[Ref. ner1:] NEWSPAPER "NORD-ECLAIR":
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THE ROUND OF THE SAUCERS continues to describe graceful interlacing, from Mantua, Italy, to Peros-Guirec [sic], and from Clermont to Dunkirk. Can we put all these testimonies on the account of the hallucination? Or are jokes spreading in all directions?
In Mantua, traffic was interrupted for more than an hour in the center by groups of people gathered to observe a strange "white object" which, at a high height, stood out clearly against the background of the blue sky.
After having carried out extremely fast moves, the craft, of spherical shape, remained motionless for some time in the sky, before disappearing on the horizon.
Two saucers were seen yesterday in the Clermont sky. The first one was moving west-east. The witnesses declared that the object approached them and became less and less brilliant. When it was no more than 150 meters away, they felt a "curious feeling" and were as if nailed on the spot. At that moment, a smell of nitro-benzine was released and the craft went away. The discomfort ceased and the saucer disappeared.
The other saucer moved vertically above the Chantorgues [sic] hills and was of a brilliant white.
Farmers from La Rochelle also found after the departure of a spherical saucer, 2 to 3 meters high and a diameter of 5 meters, traces of oily origin on the grass, not far from their farm.
In the same region, several people saw a squadron of elongated luminous objects passing at very high speed and high altitude.
Two residents of Lézignan who were driving in a truck claimed to have seen a disc-shaped object landing in a field between the village of Lagrasse and the hamlet of Villemagne (Aude).
The craft, they said, was about ten meters in diameter. But before they could get close, it wrapped them in a bright glow and disappeared.
Luckier, a young cultivator of Mégrit (Côtes du Nord) said he had seen a craft in his farm of a diameter of about a meter inside which were lined two human forms, immobile, the size of a child. However, he did not have the chance to experience the adventure of another Britton.
Mr. Pierre Lucas, a baker's worker in Loctudy (Finistère) suddenly saw in the night a craft in the shape of a saucer from 2.50 to 3 meters in diameter, he saw an individual about 1.20 meter tall come out and it approached him and tapped him on the shoulder, articulating unintelligible words. The baker succeeded in keeping his in cold blood and returned to the bakery where the unknown followed him.
In the light, Mr. Lucas could stare at his 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 go down, the stranger had disappeared, as had his saucer, of which no trace was found.
A merchant from Dunkirk had, several days ago, declared to have seen strange luminous objects in the sky of Bray-Dunes. An investigation had been opened which concluded that these were two military aircraft whose metallic coating had given the illusion!!!
And the other testimonies accumulate. In Bergerac, a firefighter claims to have seen a luminous disc supported by three crutches land in his garden.
In Paris, a saucer leaving in its wake a plume of smoke, like a rocket, was seen near the Porte Dorée, in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, rue de la Pompe.
At Le Bourget, one explained that it is impossible, given the intensity of air traffic, to confirm by radar the passage of the craft.
Finally, saucers, discs, cigars, spheres of all diameters and other flying objects were seen at Quend, Grandvillars (Belfort), at Forges (Corrèze) and Perros-Guirec (Côtes du Nord).
Coulommiers' newspaper, "Le Pays Briard", publishes a letter from one of its readers, Mr. E. Farnier, member of the Society of Civil Engineers of France, regarding a flying saucer.
Mr. Farnier specifies that he saw above his property, in Jouy-sur-Morin, a large disc 8 to 10 meters in diameter, "turning on the spot while letting escape red-violet gleams, with a whistling reminding a little the arrival of a jet plane. The craft was about 400 meters high and hovered more than twenty minutes above me. I therefore, says Mr. Farnier, had the leisure to examine it. The object then disappeared in the direction of Coulommiers."
In his letter, Mr. Farnier adds:
"Former commissioner with the Aero-Club of France, having served in aviation, I was not the victim of a hallucination and this craft was not a sounding balloon, but a thick circular wing hovering over the place and moving at very high speed gradually gaining height."
[Ref. ppe1:] NEWSPAPER "PARIS-PRESSE":
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... While in Paris, a cardboard salesman sees a "flying disc" above the Porte Dorée
AGAIN a Martian. Each department will soon have its own. It was in the Finistère that the last specimen of the species appeared. This time, he showed himself without a helmet, with his face uncovered. He was not pretty.
A baker from Loctudy, Mr. Pierre Lucas, saw him disembark yesterday at 4 a.m. in a saucer flying three meters in diameter, in the courtyard of the bakery.
- He was no more than 1 m. 20 tall, he says. He approached me and tapped me on the shoulder with unintelligible words.
"I managed to keep my cool," continues the courageous bakery apprentice. The visitor followed me into the bakery. In the light, I could stare at him. His face was covered with hair and eyes the size of a crow's egg. I called my boss, but the Martian, when he arrived, was already gone. And the saucer was gone."
That same night, a Concarneau beer merchant saw two luminous round tables in the sky, extended by a sort of tail.
In the Nord, one did not see a Martian, but the gendarmes of Beuvry-les-Béthune wrote up a report against a manufacturer of flying saucers. He is a pensioner, named d'Oliveira. He is not Martian, but Portuguese. A whole stock of saucers was found in his attic. In fact, they were paper balloons 1 m. 50 to 5 meters in diameter, and of all colors.
I launched thousands of them, he said. It was so beautiful. In the evening, it looked like fireballs...
The saucer factory is now closed. The industrialist will be prosecuted for "having set off flaming devices within 100 meters of the homes".
Bad day yesterday for the saucers in the Nord: an investigation, carried out at Bray-Dunes, near Dunkirk, allowed to establish that the craft seen in this region were jet planes from the Belgian base of Coxide.
A resident of Haubourdin however observed a "flying tram", and a child saw a saucer land at Cheny, near Lille; which left traces "like that, he said, of a frog man". The gendarmes examined these traces; they looked very similar to those of horse hooves.
Paris, which the saucers have neglected until now, was favored by an appearance yesterday afternoon. A flying disc, followed by a plume of smoke, flew at 4:30 p.m. over the Porte Dorée under the eyes of Mr. Allouis, cardboard salesman. Several other people confirmed his testimony. But a spoilsport suggests that the flying disc, which he also observed, was, it seemed, a flying wing.
One saw yesterday a good twenty saucers, cigars, fireballs, light globes, at Limoges, at Brive, at Azat-le-Ris and at Magnac-Laval (Haute-Vienne), at Forgès and Le Mazin (Corrèze), at Payzac (Dordogne), at Chàteau-Chinon, at Nassier, in the Poitou marshes, at Vix (Vendée), at La Rochelle, at Albi.
Near Clermont-Ferrand, two saucers which, in passing, gave off a smell of nitro-benzine; near La Rochelle, another one that left oil stains when it landed in a meadow.
Finally, a technician from the weather station at Mans-Arnage observed yesterday morning at 6:08 a.m. two strong dark red lights.
- They were, he said, neither planes, nor sounding balloons, nor meteors. But I will not go so far as to claim that these are flying saucers...
[Ref. vdn1:] NEWSPAPER "LA VOIX DU NORD":
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Definitely, the abundance of materials will push us to create a new chronicle: that of flying saucers. It seems that they are no longer just flying. They land, level off, change shape, leave oil traces on the ground, give off a smell of nitro-benzine, let out purple, greenish flames. They are one meter in diameter, 2,3, 10. They move horizontally, vertically, immobilize, vanish.
They have furry passengers like monkeys who enter a baker's bakery, tap a cultivator on the shoulder; beings the size of children. This time, we have more details. Let us rejoice deeply: they have not yet caused harm to anyone. Our visitors, for sure, are almost ready to break the ice.
Let's wait with serenity.
But before this historic hour strikes strong souls no longer dare to look up at the sky without emotion: "It it my turn to see a saucer?"
Planes of Koksijde, which run along the coast, balloons - meteorological probes, fanciful meteors of which Sénèque - already - had described the whims, shooting stars, full or half-full moon when you find yourself gathered in the big celestial concert you must laugh at the people of the earth!
Because today the testimonies are such that nobody is thinking about you anymore.
Go pretend that the orange disc identified by Mr. Julien Bédié, Mr. and Mrs. Quennehen was not a saucer; go pretend to Mrs. Nelly Mansart that she was not literally chased on the road from Hérissart, to Amiens by a dazzling ball which followed her car, bypassing the villages, resuming hunting at their exit, stopping when the car stopped, leaving at the same time as it, that its terrors were in vain... Might as well promise the moon.
In the Somme where sky users become invasive, from Saint-Just to Boves, from Montières to Dreuil, from Rainneville to Amiens, in Brittany, to Saint-Brieuc and Trégueux, in the Vendée, at Thouare-sur-Vie, in the Finistère in Quimper, the daily quota of new visions fuels the myth. Once again let us do so, let us welcome with a wide smirk the accumulation of this new form of testimonies from the beyond.
If it were to be true that beings from other planets would be busy raising, as a scientist from Kenya put it - that's all that far! - the map of the earth, let's not bother them in their work.
Better, shave our mountains, divert the course of our rivers to the best of our industrial aspirations, fertilize the deserts, in short, let us work hard for the good of humanity to change the appearance of this earth. No doubt this will not go unnoticed by the Martians. And that they will take all the time they want to play this card.
Lady, you have to be sure of yourself to change the planet.
And above all, let's take a serious look at our astrology.
Jean HAUTEFEUILLE
[Ref. rln1:] NEWSPAPER "LE REPUBLICAIN LORRAIN":
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Quimper. -- Around 4 o'clock in the morning, Mr. Pierre Lucas, a bakery worker in Loctudy (Finistère), who was busy drawing water from the courtyard of the bakery, suddenly saw in the night a craft in the shape of a saucer of 2 meters 50 to 3 meters in diameter.
The baker managed to keep his cool and returned to the bakery, where the stranger 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 nocturnal stranger had disappeared, as well as his saucer, of which no trace was found.
A beer merchant from Concarneau, for his part, declared having seen in the sky two luminous discs in the form of extended round tables with a kind of tail.
One of the discs was stationary while the other was moving nearby. Both disks disappeared after 10 minutes after launching a rocket.
A "curious sensation in Clermont
Clermont-Ferrand. -- Two saucers were seen in the Clermont sky. The first ten kilometers from Beaumont, at 4:45 p.m.. It was moving in a west-east direction. Witnesses said the craft approached them and became less and less bright. When it was only 150 meters away, they felt a "curious sensation" and were like rooted to the spot. At this moment there was a smell of nitro-benzine. Soon the craft moved 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 of a brilliant white.
A saucer was also seen in Billom by a group of thirty people. The craft was flying above the town. It was moving horizontally. It was visible for three or four minutes before disappearing. An intense light emanated from the device.
A group of ten
La Rochelle. -- Last night, several people from Thouare-sur-Vie (Vendée) saw about ten shiny objects in the sky [...?...] MM. André Gardin and André Darsens, who were driving in a truck on the road [...?...] claimed to have seen a disc-shaped craft 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 approach it, it surrounded itself with a blinding glow and disappeared.
Everywhere
Bergerac. -- Mr. Jean Defiz, firefighter in Bergerac, and Mr. Jean Labonne, claimed to have seen landing in the garden of the latter, a luminous disc about three meters in diameter, [...?...] by three crutches.
Dinan. -- In Mégrit (Côtes-du-Nord), a young farmer, Mr. Henri Lehérissé, claimed to have seen in the yard of his farm a craft with a diameter of about one meter inside which appeared two human shapes, motionless and the size of a child.
Nevers. -- At [?], Five residents of Château-Chinon (Nièvre) declared having seen, at very high altitude, a sort of luminous spot; which split into two disks. The object, they say, began to rotate, changing color several times.
Dunkirk. -- A resident of Dunkirk had, several days ago, declared having seen strange luminous objects in the sky of Bray-Dunes. An investigation had been opened. It concluded that they were two military aircraft whose metallic coating could have caused the illusion.
Finally, saucers, discs, cigars, spheres and other flying objects were seen at Granvillars (Territoire de Belfort), at Magnac-Laval (Haute-Vienne), at Saint-Jean-d'Assé (Charente-Maritime), at [...?...], (Côtes-du-Nord).
[Ref. nnm1:] NEWSPAPER "LE NOUVEAU NORD MARITIME":
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There is novelty on the flying saucer horizon. The mystery remains, but some of the cases were explained. And, for those, the story ends there.
We now know that the craft that were seen in the Beuvry-les-Béthune region were "Paper hot air balloons", sent by a retiree, Mr. Oliveira, passionate about "lighter than air" gear. We announced it in our previous issue.
On the other hand, Mr. Antoine Bonte, I.D.N. engineer, professor of applied geology at the Faculty of Sciences of Lille, gave a scientific explanation of the phenomenon observed by dozens of people, Sunday evening, in the Lille region. Mr. Bonte himself saw the "flying saucer" which was only a lunar phenomenon.
Finally, rockets had been seen Sunday evening, off Calais. "It was like the luminous wake of flying saucers", some said. In fact, it was the signals of distress launched by the spherical balloon of Mrs. Paulette Weber.
So that's a series of solved cases. The others remain. They are disturbing. We will see it below. And we will not fail to compare them with the statements made by Mr. G. Duncan Fletcher, vice-president of the Astronomical Association of Kenya.
This eminent astronomer believes that "visitors from another world are observing the earth and probably mapping it."
But that's just a guess. We are not satisfied yet!
Quimper, 6. -- Around 4 a.m., yesterday morning, Mr. Pierre Lucas, worker-baker in Loctudy (Finistère), who was busy drawing water in the courtyard of the bakery, suddenly saw in the night a craft in the shape of a saucer of 2.50 m. to 3 meters in diameter. He saw come out of it an individual measuring about 1.20 m. who approached him and tapped him on the shoulder, mouthing unintelligible words. The baker managed to keep his cool and returned to the bakery where the stranger 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 the latter had time to come down, the stranger had disappeared along with his saucer, of which no trace was found.
A beer merchant of Concarneau, for his part, declared having seen in the sky two luminous disks in the form of round tables extended of a kind of tail. One of the discs was stationary while the other moved nearby. The two discs disappeared after ten minutes after launching a rocket.
Lezignan, 6. -- Two residents of Lezignan, MM. André Gardia and André Darzens, who were driving in a truck on the D-3 departmental road, claimed to have seen a disc-shaped craft 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 approach it, it enveloped them in a bright glow and disappeared.
Bergerac, 6. -- Mr. Jean Defix, firefighter in Bergerac, and Mr. Jean Labonne claimed to have seen land in the garden of the latter a luminous disc about three meters in diameter, supported by three crutches.
Dinan, 6. -- In Mégrit (Côtes-du-Nord), a young farmer, Mr. Henri Lehérisse claimed to have seen in the yard of his farm a craft of a diameter of about 1 meter inside which appeared two human shapes, motionless and the size of a child.
La Rochelle, 6. -- Mr. and Mrs. Guillemoteau were in front of their farm when they saw, about one meter above the ground, a spherical saucer that could measure 2 to 3 meters in height and with a diameter of 5 meters. The craft, which produced no noise, stopped for a few minutes, then rose vertically. Mr. Guillemoteau, the next day, went to the place where he had seen the craft and was able to find oily traces on the grass.
Valenciennes, 6. -- Mr. Marcel Sénéchal, 20-year-old, from Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, was along the Scarpe canal, in the night from Saturday to Sunday. He was coming up to a pasture when he suddenly heard a conversation held in an unknown language and seeming to come from his right. He turned his head in this direction and to his great astonishment then saw a luminous mass in the shape of a haystack as well as two human forms of 1.20 m. in height approximately, covered with shining garments. A ray of light was coming out of the craft.
Mr. Sénéchal pedaled away at full speed.
Amiens, 6. A grocer from Amiens, Mrs. Nelly Mansart returned to Amiens on Sunday evening, around 9 p.m., coming from Hérissart in the company of her neighbors. She saw, in the sky, a glowing ball from which hung some kind of cables hung and letting out flames. The "saucer" flew low, about 150 meters above the ground, and followed the car for 10 kilometers.
"When we passed through a village, said Ms. Mansart, the craft bypassed it and reappeared at the exit.
It was making no noise and was definitely watching us. On leaving Pierregot I stopped at the last houses. The "Saucer", which had bypassed the village, was waiting for us and hovered then it moved away as I started again. It began to spiral for three or four hundred meters and changed shape to take that of an elongated, inverted crescent with a molten ball at the upper horn. At Rainneville the "Saucer" increased its gyration then moved away in the direction of the west of Amiens, to lose itself in infinity, in the space of a few seconds, at an incomparable speed."
Mantua. -- 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 great height, stood out clearly against the background of the blue sky.
After performing extremely rapid moves, the spherical craft - which, according to some witnesses, was part of "a formation of flying saucers" - remained motionless in the sky for some time, before disappearing at the horizon.
Also, the "Martians" seem to want to visit Italy as well. A fisherman from Roverbella, in the province of Mantua, said he was approached last night by a "mysterious individual", dressed in red, who would have said "unintelligible words" to him and who would have quickly moved away, before the fisherman had time to call his wife.
[Ref. lqh1:] NEWSPAPER "LE QUOTIDIEN DE LA HAUTE-LOIRE":
[...]
But the most sensational observation, a little too sensational, but ultimately we are not used anymore to be afraid of the most incredible, was made yesterday in the Finistère.
Around 4 hours of the morning Mr. Pierre Lucas, bakery workman in Loctudy, who was occupied to drawing water in the court of bakery, suddenly saw in the night a craft of the shape of a saucer of 2,50 to 3 meters in diameter. He saw individual measuring approximately 1,20 meters come out of it, who approached him and tapped him on the shoulder while uttering unintelligible words.
The bakery workman succeeded in keeping his coolness and returned to the bake house where the unknown followed him. In the light, Mr. Lucas managed to see the face of the visitor: he had an oval face, entirely covered of hair and the eyes of the size of an egg of corbel. The young man called his owner, but before the latter had the time to go down, the unknown had disappeared, as its saucer of which no trace was found.
[Ref. avs1:] NEWSPAPER "L'AVENIR DE L'ARTOIS":
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Thursday, October 7
FINISTERE. -- The flying saucers multiply every day. The meneuvers of ultra-fast craft are reported almost everywhere...
A hairy and affable Martian allegedly touched the shoulder of a baker in the Finistère.
[Ref. fso1:] NEWSPAPER "FRANCE-SOIR":
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The most recent testimonies of the strange passengers of saucers, cigars, and various apparatuses that landed in different regions of France agree on one point: the supposed Martians are small and different from those who appeared in Portugal and measured 2 m. 50.
We summarize the witnesses report that can give an idea of what might be the "average Martian":
Mr. Marius DEWILDE, 34, metallurgist in Quarouble (Nord), saw two beings measuring one meter, with wide shoulders, but apparently without arms. They were dressed in diving suits and fitted with helmets. They pointed at the witness a ray that paralyzed him for a few seconds.
Mr. Pierre LUCAS, a baker in Loctudy (Finistère), saw an "individual" measuring 1 m 30 come out of a saucer and patting him on the shoulder uttering unintelligible sounds. His face was oval and hairy and his eyes were "the size of a raven egg".
Mr. André NARCY, 48 years old, a roadmender in Mertrud (Haute-Marne), saw a 1.20-meter-tall being disembarking from a saucer "dressed in a coat covered with hairs".
Mr. Antoine MAZAUD, from Bugeat (Corrèze), saw a "medium-sized" being wearing a motorcycle helmet.
M. Lucien BORDET, storekeeper, 9 rue Lapérouse, Paris, saw at the Bois de Boulogne three "beings" of 1 meter in height, dressed in luminous outfits and wearing helmets whose portholes concealed their eyes. One of them, who appeared to be the chief, had "six rotundities on the abdomen".
[Ref. pcs1:] "LE PROGRES DE CORNOUAILLES" NEWSPAPER:
(Page 1)
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Since the saucers start to fly, one has always wondered who could operate them. By an association of ideas, as mean as it is inaccurate, some bad spirits implied that it was by alcoholics!
In Loctudy, this week, a bakery workman saw one of these famous Martians. Similar to the hero of antiquity as for his single eye [*], he moreover had in the face covered with hair, except the chin (beneficial action of Gilette Bleue [**] undoubtedly).
It is a shame that this Martian considered convenient to disappear, himself and his saucer, at the moment when the boss came running, alerted by the shouting of his workman...
Pierre Lucas, the bakery workman of Loctudy, won the honor of the Press from his adventure - or his mishap. Here, he is seen on the spot of the appearance, between his owners.
Photo Studio Kérisit - Quimper
[*] The Cyclop.
[**] Very popular brand of shaving blades.
[Ref. las1:] NEWSPAPER "LIBRE ARTOIS":
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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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
[Ref. ssr1:] NEWSPAPER "SAMEDI-SOIR":
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[...]
Loctudy (Finistere), Tuesday October 6, 1954, 4 hours of the morning:
PIERRE LUCAS, bakery workman, had almost finished his task. The paste is in the furnace and while waiting that it cooks, it is necessary to clean the kneader. Pierre takes a bucket and leaves in the bakery's courtyard to get water from the well.
However, what's that, that master Pierre sees right in the middle of the courtyard? A machine of the shape of a saucer of 2 m. 50 to 3 meters in diameter, from where an "individual" measuring approximately 1 m. 20 suddenly gets out. This individual, without any fear, approaches Pierre, hand puts the hand on his shoulder and tells him:
- Oombrrr... Grabotrri Trozi... Brroophphialoq...
What do you think Pierre Lucas did? Did he start to yell? Does he flee at full speed? It's not that usual all the same, in Loctudy, to see a flying saucer and a Martian in the court of the bakery.
But no! Pierre is a real tough guy. Quietly, he returns in the bake house with the "individual" on his steps. There, in the light, he sees the facial features of the visitor: an oval face, much covered of hairs, and eyes of the size of an eye of crow.
Good golly! Sure that the boss would like to see that.
- Boss! Boss! Come see this!
But the Martian, if he does not speak French, undoubtedly understands it, because here he goes springing out of the bake house, crossing the courtyard, climbing in his saucer and whoopee! Gone... Pierre Lucas's boss will not see the being with the eyes like crow eggs. Too bad... Really too bad, because two pairs of eyes are better than one.
[Ref. ins1:] INS:
Loctudy, France, Oct. 11 (INS). -- The young man in the photo here is Pierre Lucas, a 20-year-old baker in the village of Loctudy, and he's pointing to the spot in the village street where he says he saw a "flying saucer" parker. It was like this: early Wednesday morning Pierre left the bakery to go to the village pump for water. On his return with a pail of same, Pierre was about to open the door when he felt a touch on his shoulder. He look [sic] around and there was a four foot something with huge head, big eyes and a bearded face. Behind this creature on the street was a round contraption, about nine feet in diameter. the four-footer talked, but Pierre was unable to understand, He dropped his pail of water and took off into the bakery yelling for his employer. When the boss came out, no little man with a huge head, big eyes and a beard. No nuttin. However, from at least five parts of the world today came stories similar to Pierre's. From Germany, Belgium, Egypt, Argentina, Lebanon and the French Cameroon, came stories of disks, cigar-shaped craft, mysterious blue lights and little men.
[Ref. lfe1:] "LA FRONTIERE" NEWSPAPER:
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The gazettes have, this week again, brought us their short column concerning the flying saucers. Our fellow Radar with a title big like that, announcing that they are offering a million to anyone who brings them the photo of a "real" flying saucer, publishes drawings of truly sensational reconstituted Martians.
***
Everyone has their own opinion on this and Sunday, the great radio pundit, Jean Nonain [Nohain], in his program "Flying Saucer" interviewed a high personality of the aerial world.
According to this gentleman - who does not believe in Martians - it would be a "craft", a new weapon more precisely, currently at the testing stage and put into service by a "power". He believes that the saucer is made up of two cabins, one of which is fixed, and is powered by a "nuclear" mechanism.
???... Let's wait for the rest.
***
This week was marked with us by the vision of a saucer above the Bois de Boussières by two people who, on Saturday, returned to their home in Vieux-Mesnil.
You see that with us too, there is no longer a week without seeing anything abnormal.
***
But the last word was given by a metalworker from Lisse.
They were several like that speaking about this enthralling affair and they evoked the famous Brittany baker assistant wo, the first, saw a Martian at his sides... And who reported seeing a bearded and hairy being, with corbel's eyes...
The conversation then comes on the possibility of another world much more advanced than us in terms of technique.
- Not so, said the chap, they ain't no more advanced than us, they don't know about the electric shaver!
Jean MARCEL
[Ref. rdr1:] "RADAR" MAGAZINE:
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QUIMPER -. Yes, Sirs, yes, declares the workman baker Pierre Lucas, of Loctudy (Finistère) to the reporters of "Radar", it was high as this the character I saw the other night. I went out for a while to go to seek water at the fountain. Suddenly, I see a ball of fire which goes down from the sky. No noise at all. In a wink, it lands in the meadow on the other side of the road. I distinctly saw the three feet which retained it on the ground. A yellow light enlightened the higher part. And then it happens that this individual (our illustrator represents it opposite) gives me a tap on the shoulder. I saw it as I see you. It had a bearded face and only one eye, but perhaps he had a mask. On his head, a helmet which resembled that of the motorcyclists. Wires like those of the radio antennas came out of it. Frankly, I was afraid. I let my bucket ball. I returned. My boss came out. There was nothing any more...
[Ref. fso2:] "FRANCE-SOIR" NEWSPAPER:
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VALENCIENNES, October 23 (A.F.P). - The "War of the Worlds" has not occurred in Anzin, where many people believes the other night, in an invasion of Martians.
It was about 10 p.m. when some walkers circulating on the Anatole France avenue saw "luminous dots" in the sky. A person seized with fear, gave the alarm to the police station, while firefighters, on duty in a movie theater, flocked to the cries of witnesses in the street.
The saucers were going faster and faster and led a hellish round at the great excitement of passersby who expected their landing. A firefighter even prevented motorists to drive with their headlights on.
Ten minutes later, it was discovered that it was luminous reflections on glass insulators placed at the top of the mast of a high voltage power line.
BREST, October 23 ("France-Soir" telegram). -- The mystery of the hairy Martian of Loctudy (Finistère) is finally solved. And the bakery worker who, at night, was followed in the courtyard of the bakery by a being with a face covered in hair and enormous eyes, recovered from his emotions, as well as the people of the town. The Martian was a learned goat belonging to a circus passing in the area and it had wandered into the yard of the baker.
[Ref. tie1:] "TIME" MAGAZINE:
The article below was published in Time magazine, USA, for October 25, 1954.
One morning last October, Jean Narcy, a road mender of Haute-Marne, France, was riding to work on his bicycle. In a wheat field he saw a little whiskered man just under 4 ft tall, who wore a fur coat, an orange corset and a plush cap.
"Bonjour, [Hello]" said Mr. Narcy.
The little man muttered something like "I'll be seeing you." Then he jumped into a small (10 ft. in diameter) flying saucer, took off with a buzzing sound and disappeared into the clouds.
With Narcy's "Hairy Martian" as a starting point, the French press run wild, and a deluge of Martians have been raining down ever since. They have come in flying cigars, crowns, comets, winged mushrooms, even a flying chamber pot. Unlike Americans who have seen flying saucers, the French "sighters" paid little attention to the vehicles. They were interested in the people from space.
The Martians were anything but standardized. One who stopped Mr. Roger Barrault near the town of Lavoux had brilliant eyes, an enormous moustache, wore rubbers and spoke Latin. Another asked Mr. Pierre Lucas, a Breton baker, for a light. He was bearded and had a single eye in the middle of the forehead. Mr. Lucas could not remember what language he spoke.
Paralysing Pygmies. As the Martian invasion of France proceeded, the invaders became more bizarre. A troup of pygmies in plastic helmet gamboled down a railroad track near Quarouble and transfixed Mr. Dewilde with "a paralyzing beam of light." Some Martians were blue, others were yellow or pink. A traveling salesman of the Côte du Nord saw a wonderful sight: a deep rose flying cigar from which stepped a zebra-stripped Martian. As he alighted, he changed color, chameleon-like, from yellow to green.
The Martians marched en masse into French affairs. Cartoonists welcomed them delightedly (see cuts). As they multiplied, they even gained respectability. Le Figaro reported: "Counsellor General of Alpes Maritimes greets flying saucers' first appearance on the Côte d'Azur." France Soir announced that "a daily flying-saucer service seems to have been established between Marais-Poitevin and La Rochelle." A man from space even made the social columns of Paris-France: "Mustached Martian spends weekend at Vienna." Angry deputies asked questions in Parliament. Air Force Authorities (even as in the US) were badgered for explanations.
Before the many-colored Martians rained down on France, fames Swiss Psychiatrist C. G. Jung was asked what he thought about the saucer epidemic.
"Something is being seen," said Jung. "What is seen may be, in the case of a single observer, a subjective vision (hallucination). In the case of many observers, it may be a collective vision. Such a psychic phenomenon... could be a spontaneous reaction of the subconscious to the present conscious situation; the fear of an apparently insoluble political situation in the world... At such times eyes turn heavenwards ... and miraculous forebodings of a threatening or consoling nature appear from on high."
No More Dreams. Dr. Jung blames the U.S. air Force for mishandling the saucer epidemic and for permitting irresponsible journalists to pump it for bits of sensational-sounding information. He does not believe that the saucers are space ships. Those that are not hallucinations, he thinks, are probably misinterpretations of physical objects or effects. But he was willing to speculate about the effect on the human race of an invasion by beings from another world.
"Should the origin of the phenomenon turn out to be an extraterrestrial one," said Dr. Jung, "it would prove an intelligent interplanetary link. The impact of such a fact on humanity is unforeseeable. But, without doubt, we would be placed in the very questionable position of today's primitive societies that clash with the superior culture of the white race. All initiative would be wrested from us. As an old witch doctor once said to me, with tears in his eyes: We would 'have no more dreams.'
Our sciences and technology would go to the junk pile. What such a catastrophe would mean morally we can gauge by the pitiful decline of the primitive cultures that takes place before our eyes. The capacity to manufacture (interplanetary space ships) points to a technology towering sky high over ours."
"Just as the Pax Britannica made an end to the tribal warfare in Africa, so our world could roll up its Iron Curtain and use it for scrap ... This might not be so bad. But we would have been 'discovered' and colonized."
[Ref. lqh2:] "LE QUOTIDIEN DE LA HAUTE-LOIRE" NEWSPAPER:
The mystery of the hairy Martian of Loctudy (Finistère) is finally over. And the workman baker who, in middle of the night was followed from the bakery's courtyard to the bake house by a being with a face covered of hair and enormous eyes, recovered from his emotions, as well besides as inhabitants of the commune. The Martian was only a savant goat belonging to a circus of passage and which had ventured in the court of the baker.
[Ref. lie1:] "LIFE" MAGAZINE:
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MARTIAN MEN'S HEIGHT is shown by two bakers. Pierre Lucas (left) of Loctudy was going to well when, he said, orange ball fell from the sky. Suddenly a small bearded figure with one eye in the middle of his forehead tapped him on the shoulder. Serge Pochet (right) of Marcoing was approached by two small shadows.
[Ref. tbg1:] NEWSPAPER "THE BOSTON GLOBE":
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Craze Matches Witch-Hunting
PARIS (Reuters) -- Frenchmen have taken to the flying saucer craze with all the enthusiasm that their medieval forebears devoted to witch-hunting.
Not a day passes without reports from all over France of "flying saucers," "flying cigars," "flying mushrooms," and "flying bells" piloted by 20th century sorcerers.
Villagers seize shot guns and pitchforks and sally forth valiantly to meet any saucer reported landing nearby. Police spend hours following up reports.
Flying saucer stories and speculation about their origin fill the national press. They have even driven sex from the front pages of some popular weekly newspapers. One has offered a reward of 1.000,000 francs (about $2800) to the reader who sends in the first authentic photograph of a flying saucer.
The Mayor of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, a wine village of 1600 people has decreed that any flying saucer which lands in his village will be impounded.
Flying saucer stories come from all levels and ages of the population.
A select few claim that they have actually seen the creatures who pilot the saucers over France. They generally agree that the creatures, usually referred to as Martians, are shorter than human beings in size and appear to be very hairy. Most of these creatures, if they speak, utter unintelligible sounds, but some have made themselves understood in French and even Russian.
Thirteen year-old Gilbert Lafay [sic], of Chateaubriant, said that he saw in a field a flying saucer piloted by a man who spoke to him in French.
Baker's assistant Pierre Lucas of Loctudy claimed that he met a four-foot flying saucer pilot with a hairy oval face and eyes as big as crow's eggs.
A workman, Louis Ujvari, met a flying saucer pilot near Epinal who spoke Russian and asked how far it was from the German frontier.
The saucers seem generally to be piloted by males. One exception was reported by a schoolmaster, Mr. Martin, who said he met two beautiful Martian girls on the island of Oloron [sic] off the French Atlantic Coast. They were about four feet, four inches, and wore leather helmets, gloves and boots.
The strange visitors from outer space are said to be equipped with "ray guns" which stop witnesses in their track with an electric shock effect and temporarily immobilize automobile engines, but no really unfriendly act by them has so far been reported.
Frenchmen are less well disposed towards their uninvited guests and some accidents have occurred in the hunt for Martians. At Sinceny, Jean Faisan fired two shots at his farmer neighbor, Maurice Ruan, who was repairing his car one night, narrowly missing his head but damaging the radiator.
Faisan explained that when he saw a figure illuminated by two lamps he thought he was in the presence of a "Martian repairing his flying saucer." He ran for his shotgun and fired.
In the village of Troussey, sugar beet gatherer Alexandre Ronneji, who had not had a haircut for several months, was manhandled by a crowd who mistook him for a hairy Martian.
At Tain-l'Hermitage, in central France, a wineyard worker decided that his neighbor, M. Neyret, looked "extraordinary" in the dusk and attacked him savagely, beating him so severely that one ear was torn off. Only then did he find that Neyret was not a Martian.
Press cartoonists and practical jokers are having a field day over the whole affair. Newspapers and popular weekly magazines fill their cartoon pages with saucer jokes.
A worker at a Paris railway depot started his mates on a Martian hunt by capering about in a welder's helmet with a green light inside.
But the king of the saucer jesters was a retired miner of the village of Beuvry-Les-Bethunes, near Lille, who built some flying saucers in his backyard. He made his "saucers" out of gray paper on the fire-balloon principles and lit a paraffin-soaked rag at the base. The warm air lifted the "saucers", some of them over nine feet in diameter, and off they went with the wind showing orange and yellow lights from the flames.
Police found him out after one of his "saucers" had landed near a haystack and almost set it on fire.
Attempts to explain the saucer phenomena have varied from "mass hallucination" to a suggestion that they are new experimental aircraft built in cigar form which can take off vertically.
Another theory is that, under certain atmospheric conditions, exhaust fuel from jet aircraft solidifies and may form "saucer" shapes. It has been said to reach the ground in the form of a rubbery material which dissolved on being touched. Such a material has often be reported to have been found on saucer landing sites.
[Ref. gbr1:] GRAY BARKER:
Another [flying saucer occupant], bearded, with a single eye in the middle of his forehead, asked Pierre Lucas, a Breton baker, for a light. Lucas was so disturbed over the incident he couldn't remember just what language the saucerian spoke.
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Pierre Lucas, a baker's assistant of Loctudy, claimed he met a flying saucer pilot with a hairy oval face and eyes as big as crows' eggs. The four-foot saucerian landed in the bakery yard, came up to Lucas, tapped him on the shoulder and then muttered some unintelligible words before flying away.
[Ref. jgu1:] JIMMY GUIEU:
The author indicates that on October 5, 1954 around 4 hours of the morning Pierre Lucas, bakery worker in Loctudy in the Finistère, was busy drawing water in the court of the bakery when he suddenly saw at a few meters of him a circular craft, 2.5 to 3 meters in diameter, posed on the ground.
Flabbergasted, he saw a being 1.20 meters in height coming out of it and approach him, touch his shoulder while uttering incomprehensible words.
The witness succeeded in keeping his coolness and returned in the bake house where the unknown being followed. It had an oval face, cover of dark hairs, and what struck the witness was that it had enormous eyes, "the size of a pigeon's egg".
The young man decidedly called his owner but the being at once retreated and reinstated its spaceship which took off without delay. When the owner arrived attracted by the call of the witness the machine had fled.
Jimmy Guieu adds that a probable "deadpan" who sought to explain the case rationally claimed that it was simply a goat escaped from a circus, which Jimmy Guieu regards as a divagation led by the doubt in the minds of "know-it-alls".
[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:
October 5 [, 1954]
[... other cases...]
04:00 a.m.: Loctudy(20 km SSW Quimper--Finistère): disc 3m diameter + hairy dwarf
[... other cases...]
[Ref. gqy2:] GUY QUINCY:
October 5, 1954: Loctudy (20 km ISL in the SSW of Quimper--Finistère): Mr. Pierre Lucas, bakery worker (circul. UAP 3 m diameter + dwarf with hairy head, 1.20 m tall)
[Ref. hdl1:] "HISTOIRE DE L'INSOLTE":
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Mr. Pierre Lucas, a baker in Loctudy (Finistère) saw a hairy creature measuring 1.10 meters come out of a saucer. "The individual came towards me, he tapped me on the shoulder while pronouncing words which I did not understand. He had an oval face, covered with hair and eyes the size of a egg's crow".
[Ref. jve8:] JACQUES VALLEE:
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| 5 Oct., 1954 | Loctudy | France | P. lucas | a hairy "Martian," 1 metre 20 in height, touches arm of witness | 1 |
[Ref. jve3:] JACQUES VALLEE:
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[... Other cases...] The Loctudy case is known only indirectly. [... Other cases...]
[Ref. mcs1:] MICHEL CARROUGES:
Michel Carrouges indicates that in October 1954 in Loctudy, Finistère, one of the 5 cases he knows of "hairy Martian" of the 1954 French flap occurred.
In the event, he indicates, the testimony of Mr. Lucas was highly attacked for the reason that there is said to have been "a confusion with a savant goat escaped from a circus, according to a newspaper of Brest of October 24 (?)"
Carrouges says that the height indicated by Mr. Lucas for the being was 1 m 20, and that Mr. Lucas did not see only the pilot from close distance but also the saucer, in the yard of the bakery where he worked, which makes it the only case among the five bearded Martians from the 1954 French flap in which a saucer is also reported by the witness.
According to a news release by Agence France Presse (AFP) for October 6, 1954, Mr. Lucas had described the eyes of the being to be as large as "a corbel egg."
[Ref. jve5:] JACQUES VALLEE:
| 244 | 004.17428 | 47.83500 | 05 | 10 | 1954 | 04 | 00 | 1 | -LOCTUDY-FINISTERE | F | 0111 | 2I |
[Ref. cln1:] CORAL AND JIM LORENZEN:
The authors indicate that on October 5, 1954, at Loctudy, the Finistere, France, a baker, drawing water from a well at night, was surprised to see an object about 10 feet in diameter on the ground nearby. From the object emerged a small being with a face covered with hair and large eyes ''as large as the eggs of a raven."
The strange little creature approached the man, touched him on the shoulder and made unintelligible noises. The baker called his boss, whereupon the dwarfish creature got back into the craft and it flew away.
[Ref. jve1:] JACQUES VALLEE:
|
196) October 5, 1954, 04:00 a.m., Loctudy (France):
A baker, Mr. P. Lucas, was drawing water from a well when he noticed an object some distance away. It was a round object about 3 meters in diameter from which emerged a dwarf with an oval face, covered with hairs, with eyes "as big as crow's eggs", which touched his shoulder and talked to him in an unknown language. The dwarf went away and the object flew away (P. 34).
The source is noted separately, in a previous issue (N° 99 bis for May 1969), as:
34: Franc - Tireur, la Croix, France-Soir, le Figaro 7 Oct. 1954
The catalog from which this entry comes is preceded by this warning, in a previous issue, by Jacques Vallée:
We do not believe that we have to apologize for the inclusion of testimonies which may justifiably appear incredible or grotesque. We do not claim that there exists in this Catalog a single observation of a physical event of an unknown nature.
We are not publishing a table of experimental results obtained in the laboratory, but only a general guide to facilitate the study of the abundant literature which has accumulated on an astonishing topic.
It would therefore be dishonest and a serious misunderstanding of our design, to treat all the cases of this catalog as if they had the same level of validity, or to affirm that the presence of this or that particular case reinforces or destroys by itself the degree of confidence that one can place in another case. WE CANNOT ACCEPT LIABILITY FOR ERRORS FROM THOSE WHO IGNORE THIS WARNING.
[Ref. jve2:] JACQUES VALLEE:
The author indicates that on October 5, 1954, in Loctudy in Finistère, a baker was getting water from his well in the middle of the night when he noticed, at some distance from there, an object of approximately 3 meters in diameter, of which emerged a dwarf which had an oval face covered with hairs and eyes which were "as large as corbels' eggs". The unknown individual touched the witness on the shoulder and spoke to him in a language which he did not understand. When the young man called his boos, the dwarf went back into his apparatus and it moved away.
[Ref. gab1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "G.A.B.R.I.E.L.":
A N H type "Martians"
10/05/1954 Loctudy (Finistère)y/span>
Around 4 a.m., Mr. Paul Lucas, a bakery worker, was in the bakery when he saw in the courtyard of the bakery a circular craft 2.50 to 3m in diameter near which a 1.20m tall being was standing, who approached the witness and touched his shoulder while uttering incomprehensible words... He had an oval face covered with dark hair and huge eyes... (J. Giraud; "Centre Matin" of 10/07/54)
A hairy "Martian"! The whole of France burst out laughing! The only brake on this hilarity was that Mr. Lucas did not long remain the only witness to have observed such a being. Similar apparitions multiplied. These "Martians" belonged to type A N (humanoids and small) but they had a new characteristic: hair! Hence the "H". They were observed on:
10/05/1954 in Mertrud (Haute Marne) ... "The 1.20m being seemed dressed in a coat covered with hair..."
10/09/1954 in Pournoy la Chétive (Moselle) ... "The 1.20m being had a hairy head and big eyes..."
10/09/1954 in Lavoux (Vienne) ... "The being measured 1.50m, he was housed in a diving suit, his legs didn't have heels and his head looked like a tuft of hair with glowing eyes..."
10/12/1954 Montluçon (Allier) ... "A being covered with hair or wearing a long coat of hair..."
14/10/1954 Lewarde (Nord) ... "A small being with large oblique eyes and a body covered with furs..."
24/10/1954 Les Egots (?)... "A man with long hair and a hairy face whose eyes were as large as those of a cow..."
Seven appearances of "Hairy Martians" in twenty days, it was a bit too much for the fact to be considered only as a hallucination or a drunken rambling... Especially since similar beings had been observed in Caerphilly (Wales) in 1909 on May 18 to be quite precise. A fact is therefore certain, the "Martian" of the A N H type exists, but a difficulty arises: in half of the cases, it is the face which is hairy; in the other half, it is the whole body which seems to be covered in fur... A question therefore arises: is it natural hairiness (hair, beard, bristles...) or is it some equipment (diving suit, spacesuit, balaclava, etc.)? The answer cannot yet be provided. We believe that the hairiness observed on the faces is natural and that the one observed on the bodies is artificial (outfit). Otherwise, and in the latter case, it would be necessary to assume that the "Hairy Martians" are naked!
[Ref. tbw1:] TED BLOECHER AND DAVID WEBB:
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54-47 Oct. 5, 1954 0400 Loctudy, France Type B
Baker's assistant Pierre Lucas was drawing water from a well when he saw a ball of fire descend, resting on 3 feet, across the road. There emerged a 4-foot-tall being with a hairy face and eyes the size of a crow's egg, wearing a helmet from which antenna-like wires prortuded. this being tapped L. on the shoulder and uttered incomprensible words L. ran for his boss, but when the baker came out there was nothing. (According to the version in Radar, the entity had only one eye.)
Vallee wrote to FSR that this case was one of those that should be disregarded as "hoax or illusions."
Investigator: Jacques Vallee.
Sources" Paris Samedi-Soir, 10/14/54; Paris Radar, 10/17/54; FSR X-3, p.22.
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors indicate that completely by chance, a travel led them the bigoudin country and that a fast glance at their file let them find a "Brittany Martian... and covered of hairs" in Loctudy, which is a classic case that all sources report about.
They give its summary from Jimmy Guieu's book "Black out sur les soucoupes volantes":
"On October 5, around 4 hours of the morning, Mr. Pierre Lucas, bakery worker in Loctudy (the Finistère), who was busy drawing water in the bakery's courtyard, suddenly saw, at a few meters of him, a circular machine of 2,50 m to 3 meters in diameter posed on the ground. Flabbergasted, he saw a "being" of approximately 1,20 m height come out and approach and touche him on the shoulder while uttering incomprehensible words."
"The bakery worker manages to keep his cold blood and returned in the bake house where "the unknown" followed him. In the light, Mr. Lucas could figure out the strange visitor. He had an oval face, covered of dark hair and, a detail which struck the witness, enormous eyes, "of the size of a corbel's egg." The young man called up his owner, but at once, the dwarf "Uranian" beat a retreat and reinstated his spacecraft which took off without delay. When Mr. Lucas' owner, attracted by his calls, arrived, the machine had fled."
The authors indicate that they easily found this bakery worker in the small village, the first indication which they could obtain being "Oh yeah, what he saw is not serious, you'd rather check in the red wine and the whisky...!"
They thus went in a bar in Quimper, where they say to have found their man, to have had a very difficult dialogue with him as he was obviously used to the place, he strongly showed his age, his state "certainly not due to an occupational disease."
It did not want anything to say of his sighting and claimed to be unaware of the story. The next day in the morning, they found him at the same place, discussed, explained their "work, the studies which we undertake", and the witness "admits that his sighting is nothing to be taken seriously: "I was young... It was not serious, one showed me what was not there."
The authors ask whether it was a prank, he answers: "Yes, a story, it wasn't serious."
They conclude from it that the "hairy insects" Martians of 1954 are due to the effects of alcohol, or jokes of bar counters.
[Ref. gep1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "GEPO":
| 10/05/54 | (04) | Loctury [sic] (finistère) | 1 | 100X 3m |
[Ref. mft1:] MICHEL FIGUET:
In his listing of close encounters in France, "FRANCAT", Michel Figuet noted en 1982:
10/05/1954
Loctudy
Joke by M. Lucas, considered to be a known alcoholic
B.B. (*) p. 73
(*) Barthel and Brucker, see above.
[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
In a list of cases that the magazine called for investigation or re-investigation, there was:
196 10/5/54 Loctudy
[Ref. io:] "INFO-OVNI" UFOLOGY BULLETIN:
|
05/10/1954 Loctudy (Finistère) Around 4:00 a.m., a young baker, Mr. Paul Lucas saw a few meters away from him, in the yard of his boss's bakery, a circular craft of 2.50 to 3 m in diameter. From there came out a being of 1.20 m who approached the witness by uttering incomprehensible words. M. Lucas took refuge in the bakehouse where the being followed him. His face was covered with hair and his eyes were as big as pigeon eggs. (Centre Matin of the 10/07/54) [...] The other five cases are for the moment to be considered authentic, although according to some, Mr. Lucas de Loctudy would in fact have been dealing with a "learned goat escaped from a neighboring circus". 1 / A little over 3 hours after the Loctudy sighting (which we consider authentic) [other cases ...] |
[Ref. agd1:] ALAIN GAMARD:
|
| Case # | Date | Time | Locality | Department | Witness(es) name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 037 | 05/10/1954 | 04.00 | Loctudy. | 29 | P.Lucas. |
[Ref. jbc1:] JEAN-FRANCOIS BOEDEC:
The ufologist of Brittany reports in his book that Pierre Lucas, workman baker, was budy getting water in the yard of the bakery when he suddenly noticed a flying saucer a few meters away from him, of 3 meters in diameter and landed on the ground. Flabbergasted, he witnessed a being coming out of it, of 1 meter 20 height which approached him and touched his shoulder while uttering incomprehensible words. Mr. Lucas kept his cold blood and moved towards the bake house, followed by the unknown being. With the light, the witness could distinguish the strange visitor's feature: he had an oval face, covered with dark hairs, and, striking detail, enormous eyes. The young man called his boos for urgent assistance, but "the creature reinstated its machine which took off at once, letting believe that it was not only more advanced than us in the field of the technique, but also on that of prudence."
The author indicates that it was on Sunday October 8, 1954 in a restaurant of Loctudy at a table of merry sailors-fishermen, that one of the merry chaps of the restaurant claimed that Pierre Lucas had seen a goat escaped from an unspecified circus. The story of the goat then circulated from newspaper to newspaper and was told on the radio. It was told that Brittany cruelly lacked flying saucers and that the case of Loctudy with its cosmonaut filled the gap.
[Ref. mft3:] MICHEL FIGUET - "FRANCAT":
|
| DATE | PLACE | CREDIBILITY SOURCES |
|---|---|---|
| 10/05/1954 | Loctudy | farce by Mr. Lucas considered to be a notorious alcoholic. B.B. p. 73 |
[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:
October 5th.
Loctudy, France. (4:00 a.m.)
"Eyes as large as raven eggs."
The making of bread requires that bakers be early risers and M.P. Lucas, a baker at Loctudy, was no exception. At 4:00 a.m. October 5th M. Lucas was preparing for a day's work by drawing a pail of water from a well when he saw a parked circular machine near by from which a "hairy dwarf" emerged. With a face covered with hair and with eyes the size of raven eggs, the little creature must have been quite a sight but M. Lucas said he permitted the "dwarf" to approach close enough to touch him lightly. The creature then uttered some sounds that may have heen words in an alien language. After that the "dwarf" climbed aboard his machine and flew away. 51. (Jacques Vallee suggests that suspicious similarities between this case and one at the town of Roverbella [Italy] indicates a hoax).
[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
|
The magazine published an article consisting of verifications of claims of explanations of cases of 1954 in France by Barthel and Brucker in their 1979 book [bbr1]. For this case, the magazine wrote:
10. Loctudy (Finistère), October 5, 1954. B&B version: ... I was made to see what was not there... yes, a story, it was not serious... p. 72. LDLN version: interviewed in 1976, Mr. Le Goff, son of the owner of the bakery, told us the facts with great precision. For him, who was on the scene during the event (he was sleeping, which is not surprising at 4 a.m.), there is no particular reason to doubt the testimony of Mr Lucas. He particularly insisted on the fact that his father, who knew Pierre Lucas well, had had no doubts either, noting his great fright, and on the fact that it was the witness himself who wanted to alert the gendarmes.
The "confession" extracted by B&B, given what we know about Mertrud's case, does not seem to us to be very convincing, especially since, if indeed the case was a hoax, we would like to know who set it up, under what circumstances, and for what purpose, all questions to which B&B does not provide any answers. Should we conclude that they, who criticize so much the investigations of ufologists, made the trip to Loctudy to collect, in thirty seconds, such a brief statement?
[Ref. jsr1:] JEAN SIDER:
Jean Sider summarizes the case by saying that according to Giguet page 123, on October 5, 1954 in Loctudy in the Finistère, Pierre Lucas draws water in the yard of bakery where he works when it sees a circular craft posed on the ground at a few meters of him. A small hairy being comes out of the craft and approaches him, Pierre Lucas calls his boss but before the boss arrived, the strange creature reinstated its vehicle which took off and disappeared quickly.
He then states that an investigation by LDLN demonstrated that the witness was truthful but that Barthel and Brucker claim on page 78 that the case is a prank by a notorious alcoholic. Jean Sider states that this is false since Lucas was 23 or 24 years old then and it "would have made of him a rather young alcoholic." He adds that Mr. Le Goff, Pierre Lucas's Boss, went on record to vouch of his serious and had specified that his employee had insisted that the police was called, a behavior in contradiction with that of a prankster.
Jean Sider notes that at the time the newspaper France-Soir had told that it was an escaped circus goat and that he is astonished that Barthel and Brucker did not use this explanation, whereas they quote this newspaper very often. Jean Sider deduces from it that Barthel and Brucker never consulted the original sources and were satisfied just "to read files that are often dubious."
Further on in his book, Sider wrote:
41 - October 5, 4 a.m., Loctudy, Finistère.
Mr. Pierre Lucas.
The witness, a young baker, claims to have seen Tuesday 5 around 4:00 a.m., a "saucer" land a few meters from him, while he was busy drawing water from a well in the courtyard of Mr. Le Goff's bakery (according to a second source). He describes the craft as being about three meters in diameter. From the "saucer", a dwarf with an estimated height of 1m20, with a face covered with hair, came out. This strange being approached the young man, gave him a pat on the shoulder and would have spoken words in an unknown language. The witness called his boss, Mr. Le Goff, who came out of the bakery but there was nothing more to see. My second source specifies that the small character had a single eye the size of a crow's egg, but it is a mocking article, which betrays the very clear skepticism of its editor.
Local sources: Ouest-France, Rennes, October 6, 1954, p. 3; Le Progrès de Cornouaille, Quimper, October 9, 1954, p. 1 and 3.
Note: This case, attributed to the alcoholism of the witness by Barthel & Brucker, was rehabilitated chapter II, #38. I point out that France-Soir, which alternated the best and the worst, proposed in its October 24-25 edition, a confusion with a learned goat escaped from a circus! This is the worst, no doubt about it! Moreover, more or less embellished or altered versions were published in several Parisian and even provincial newspapers and weeklies.
I draw the reader's attention to two important details:
1 - The tap on the shoulder is found in several other cases that appear later. Is this a recurring situation demonstrating the authenticity of the CE3?
2 - This is the first case with mention of a hairy (or hairy) face, except for the one that appears in a reader's letter to the weekly Ici-Paris of October 11, 1954 (CE3 #16 of September 25). Pierre Lucas is therefore the first witness to report this particularity if one considers the date of publication of his testimony. Other cases with the same facial hair of a "ufonaut" will be reported several times a little later (O.D. 53 and 54).
[Ref. krs1:] KEVIN RANDLE AND RUSS ESTES:
The authors indicate that on October 5, 1954, in Loctudy, France, a baker was drawing water from a well when he noticed an object he estimated to be 10 feet in diameter sitting on the ground. A small being with a hairy face and large oval eyes approached him and spoke to him in a strange language. The baker called his boss, and they watched as the creature got back into the craft, which then took off quickly.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":
|
3980: 1954/10/05 04:00 12 4:10:00 W 47:50:00 N 3333 WEU FRN FNS 9:3 LOCTUDY,FR:3M SCR^:OID/HAIRY FACE UNINTELLIGIBLE:/r251p103+/r113p121+/r217p186 Ref#197 WEINSTEIN, D: French Newsclips 1954 Page No. 49 : PASTURE |
[Ref. goe1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:
Godelieve van Overmeire indicates that in 1954, on October 5, in France, in Loctudy (Finistère), Pierre Lucas, baker, was drawing water from a well at 04.00 of the morning, when he noticed an object at some distance from there. It was a round object approximately 3 m in diameter from where a dwarf with an oval face, covered of hair, emerged, with eyes as large as of corbels' eggs (as pigeons' eggs, in the version by Jimmy Guieu) who touched his shoulder to him and talked to him of an unknown language. The dwarf went away and the object flew away.
The source for the above is given as Jacques Vallée: "Chronique des apparitions ET" - Denoël 1972 - Coll. J'Ai Lu - p. 268.
Godelieve van Overmeire adds that Pierre Lucas, a bakery worker who was busy drawing water in the bakery yard suddenly observed, at a few meters of him, a "flying saucer", 3 meters in diameter, posed on the ground. Flabbergasted, he saw a 1.20 m tall creature coming out, who approached him before touching his shoulder while uttering incomprehensible words. Mr. Lucas kept his calm and moved towards the bake house, followed of the unknown being. In the light, the witness managed to check the strange visitor's face, he had an oval face, covered of dark hair, and, striking detail, enormous eyes. The young man called his owner for help at once, but the creature reinstated its craft which took off at once letting believe that it was not only more advanced than us in the field of the technique, but also on that of prudence.
The source for this version is given as Jean François Boedec, "Les OVNI en Bretagne, Anatomie d'un Phénomène", Fernand Lanore publisher 1978, p. 103.
[Ref. fgi1:] FRANCIS GATTI:
WITNESS N°36
October 5, 1954 at 4 hours of the morning. Loctudy (Finistere) the baker P. Lucas notices close to his well a round object three meters in diameter approximately from which emerged a dwarf with an oval face, covered of hairs, with eyes as large as a corbel's egg. The dwarf touched his shoulder and spoke in an unknown language. Article published in four French newspapers 7/10/54 (La Croix, Le Figaro, France Soir and Le Franc-Tireur).
[Ref. jbu1:] JEROME BEAU:
Tuesday October 5, 1954 at 4:30, in Loctudy (Finistere), Pierre Lucas, working baker, sees a "Martian", of which he sees only one eye, with the face covered of hairs, except the chin.
At the time when the owner came running, alerted by the shouting of his workman, the being to disappear with his saucer.
Lucas wins from his adventure - his mishap - the headlines in the Press.
It was high as that the guy that I saw the other night. I went outside for a moment to go get water at the fountain. Suddenly, I see a ball of fire which comes down from the sky. No noise at all. In the wink of an eye, it lands in a meadow on the other side of the road. I distinctly saw the 3 feet which retained it on the ground. A yellow light lighted the higher part. And here is goes that an individual taps on my shoulder. I saw it as I see you. It had a bearded face and only one eye, but perhaps it had a mask. On its head, a helmet which resembled that of the motorcyclists. Sorts of wire like those of the antennas of TSF came out of it. Frankly, I was afraid. I dropped my bucket. I returned inside. My boss came out. There was nothing any more. It was a round object of approximately 3 m in diameter from where a dwarf with an oval face, covered of hairs emerged, with eyes as large as eggs of a corbel, which tapped his shoulder and addressed to him of an unknown language. The dwarf goes away and the object flies away (Franc Tireur, La Croix, France-Soir, Le Figaro, October 7).
Figuet will regard the case as a joke by a notorious alcoholic (Barthel & Brucker. p. 73).
[Ref. jbu2:] JEROME BEAU:
[... Other cases ... ]
Tuesday October 5, 1954 [... Other cas ...] and Loctudy (Finistère).
[... Other cases ... ]
[Ref. ars1:] ALBERT ROSALES:
125.
Location. Loctudy France
Date: October 5 1954
Time: 0400A
Baker's assistant Pierre Lucas was drawing water from a well when he saw a ball of fire descend, resting on 3 feet, across the road. There emerged a 4-foot tall being with a hairy face and eyes the size of crow's eggs, wearing a helmet from which antenna like wires protruded. This being tapped Lucas on the shoulder and uttered incomprehensible words. Lucas ran for his boss, but when the baker came out there was nothing.
Humcat 1954-75
Source: Jacques Vallee
Type: B
[Ref. jrr1:] JEAN-PAUL RONECKER:
The author indicates that in Loctudy in Finistère in France, in the night of October 5, 1954, P. Lucas, a baker of this village, drew water from the well when he noticed an object of approximately three meters in diameter posed at some distance. A small being came out of the machine, it had an oval head covered with hairs and eyes that were "as large as a corbel's eggs." This being touched the shoulder of the witness and spoke to him in an incomprehensible language. When this young man called his boss, the being moved away and returned in its apparatus which took off to disappear in the night.
[Ref. sdn1:] STEVEN DUNN:
|
10/05/1954 Loctudy, FR 5 oct 54 |
A baker was drawing water from a well when he noticed a 10' diameter object on the ground. A small being with a hairy face and large oval eyes approached him & spoke in a strange language. Baker called his boss & both watched as creature got into craft which took off quickly. |
CE-3-002 | Randle/Estes, FOV pg 266 |
[Ref. djn1:] DONALD JOHNSON:
Donald Johnson indicates that on October 5, 1954, in Loctudy, France, at 4:00 a.m. a baker, Mr. P. Lucas, was draining water from a well when he noticed an object some distance away. It was circular and about three meters in diameter. From it emerged a dwarf with an oval-shaped face, covered with hair, and big eyes "as large as raven eggs." The short being touched him on the shoulder and spoke to him in an unknown language. The dwarf then went away and the object took off.
Donald Johnson gives the source as Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, p. 218.
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Finistère in Loctudy on October 5, 1954 towards 4 o'clock, the workman baker is busy drawing water in the court of bakery. He suddenly sees, a few meters from him, a circular craft posed on the ground. Flabbergasted, he sees a 1 m 20 tall humanoid coming out, who approaches and touches his shoulder while uttering incomprehensible words. The witness manages to stay calm and goes back into the bake house where the unknown follows him. In the light, the witness can check out the strange visitor's face. It is a 1 m 20 tell being, covered of dark hairs, with enormous eyes "of the size of a pigeon's egg", with an oval face. The young man calls his owner. At this time to be strange being retreats, goes up on board his craft which takes off at once. When the owner, attracted by his calls, arrives, the object had disappeared.
Luc Chastan indicates that his sources are "CASAR par Gatti Francis ** http://perso.wanadoo.fr/casar" et "Ovni, Premier dossier complet... par Figuet M./ Ruchon J.L. ** éd. Alain Lefeuvre 1979".
[Ref. rin1] "RIGOROUS INTUITION" BLOG:
[... Other cases ...]
October 5: In Loctudy a baker was drawing water from the well in the middle of the night when he noticed, some distance away, an object about 3 meters in diameter from which emerged a dwarf who had an oval face covered with hair and eyes which were "as large as the eggs of a raven." The unknown individual touched the witness on the shoulder and spoke to him in a language he could not understand. As the young man called his boss, the dwarf went back into the craft and flew away. (Vallee)
[... Other cases ...]
[Ref. veo1:] JEAN-JACQUES VELASCO:
Jean-Jacques Vélasco reports that in 2000, while he was at SEPRA, one Mr. H. contacted him by telephone and told him that in 1954 he was a policeman and had investigated in Finistère on a case in Loctudy on the night of October 4 to 5, 1954.
Mr. H. said he tried to find the minutes of his investigation, but to no avail.
At 4 o'clock in the morning, the baker Pierre Lucas had just put a batch to bake and, to clean the mess, left for a moment with a bucket, he headed for the pump.
Amazed, he then observed a circular saucer-shaped object about 3 meters in diameter placed in the middle of the courtyard of the bakery, where silence reigned.
A small individual suddenly exited the craft and quickly walked towards him.
He was about 1.20 meters tall, his face was oval and covered with hair, except for the chin, and his single eye was as big as a "crow's egg". He wore a helmet on his head like that of a biker, from which several cables came out, like antennas.
The being approached the witness, put his hand on the witness's shoulder, spoke several words in an unknown language.
The surprised witness dropped his bucket and rushed inside the shop to warn his boss, but when they returned the being and the saucer had disappeared.
Jean-Jacques Vélasco comments that the case perfectly reflects "all the apparent absurdity of this very particular wave", that the elements of the description resemble those of other cases of the period. He wonders wether the case results from the rumor echoed by the radio and the newspapers, or if it is an "unconscious vision reproduced by the witness in a particular atmosphere" or a hallucination.
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 5 October 1954 at 04:00 in Loctudy, France, there was a circular object, three meters diameter. From it emerged a dwarf. The explanation was: Animals. "A baker, P. Lucas, was draining water from a well when he noticed an object some distance away. It was circular object, about three meters diameter. From it emerged a dwarf with an oval face covered with hair and eyes "as large as raven eggs" who touched him on the shoulder and spoke to him in an unknown language. The dwarf went away, and the object took off."
The website comments that it is a "Close encounter with an unidentified craft and humanoid occupants. One oval object, about 5 feet across, was observed by one experienced male witness in a city for ten minutes. One 4-foot-tall hairy dwarf, wearing a helmet and antenna, was seen."
The website adds that "Baker's assistant Pierre Lucas was drawing water from a well when he saw a ball of fire descend, resting on 3 feet, across the road. There emerged a 4-foot tall being with a hairy face and eyes the size of crow's eggs, wearing a helmet from which antenna like wires protruded. This being tapped Lucas on the shoulder and uttered incomprehensible words. Lucas ran for his boss, but when the baker came out there was nothing."
The sources are indicated as Webb, David, HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports; Guieu, Jimmy, Flying Saucers Come from Another World, Citadel, New York, 1956; Lorenzen, Coral E., Flying Saucer Occupants, Signet T3205, New York, 1967; Lorenzen, Coral E., Encounters with UFO Occupants, Berkley Medallion, New York, 1976, ISBN:425-03093-8; FSR, FSR (formerly Flying Saucer Review), FSR, London, 1966; Bowen, Charles, The Humanoids: FSR Special Edition No. 1, FSR, London, 1966; Pereira, Jader U., Les Extra-Terrestres, Phenomenes Spatiaux, Paris, 1974; Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073); Vallee, Jacques, Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma, Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1966; Vallee, Jacques, Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma, Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1966; Vallee, Jacques, A Century of Landings (N = 923), (in JVallee04), Chicago, 1969; Schoenherr, Luis, Computerized Catalog (N = 3173); Carrouges, Michel, Les Apparitions de Martiens, Fayard, Paris, 1963; Delaire, J. Bernard, UFO Register Volume 7 (1976), Data Research, Oxford, 1976; Newspaper Clippings; Civilian Saucer Intelligence-New York; Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002; Rosales, Albert, Humanoid Sighting Reports Database.
[Ref. gde1:] GILLES DELORME:
Gilles Delorme
The close (very close!) encounter at Loctudy, October 5, 1954, was described in LDLN 374, p. 19. Gilles Delorme, who later in this issue talks to us about a completely different matter, recorded, on August 6, 2010, the precious testimony of Mrs. Monique S., who remembers having seen up close, going at school, the traces of the landing.
"My name is Monique, I was born in Bigouden in 1944; I was 10 years old when there was this UFO affair in the town of Loctudy. On my way to school, in the morning, I discovered part of the tar that was melted, in front of the school opposite the water pump. When I inquired, I was told that there had been an apparition during the night, a UFO which had descended and who had been seen by the baker, Mr. Lucas.
I must have arrived at school one of the first, so when I saw this tar and they explained to me what it was, frankly, I was a little scared. I was afraid the item would come back!question from GD.: near the pump, you said?
Mr. S.: Yes, yes... The baker had come to take water to knead. And when he returned to the bakery, his boss wondered what was happening to him. He was shaking like a pile of dead leaves! But his boss didn't believe him when he said what he saw. Everyone laughed about it. We had taken him for a... we were ready to put him in psychiatry. But he must have seen something, because he was... scared.
G. D.: Everyone laughed. Did you laugh?
Mr. S.: No. I was too young to be able to understand... What intrigued me was the burnt tar. Me, that's what intrigued me!
G. D.: The day before, or the day before, it was not burnt?
Mr. S.: Oh no! Oh no! There were those who laughed, others who said that maybe someone had gone to set fire in there, at night... Everyone told what they wanted, but no one believed in the vision of the baker.
G. D.: What do you remember about this vision he said he had?
Mr. S.: Yes, he had seen an object which had descended in front of him, all illuminated. And he had seen coming out of the UFO... ... that's how we say now... from the flying saucer, at the time... he had seen a little green man come out, with a eye in the middle of the head, that's what he had seen. Two or three steps to descend from the object on the road... and afterwards, the object vanished into thin air, it no doubt went back up into the sky; and when he returned to the bakery, and he explained to his boss, we took him for a complete crackpot! We nicknamed him "the Martian", after that...
G. D.: How did he react?
Mr. S.: Ah, well, he wasn't happy, because no one believed him. And he was sure of what he had seen.
We went to buy bread from his bakery every day.
G. D.: Was he considered weird, this man?
Mr. S.: No, before no. Afterwards, yes!
G. D.: Years later, are these memories clear in your memory?
Mr. S.: Ah yes! These memories are clear in my memory.
G. D.: This tar, you said that impressed you a little girel. Were you afraid something would come back?
Mr. S.: Yes! In my child's head, that was it: I was afraid it would come back... I was walking next to it... I wasn't walking on the burnt tar.
[Ref. prn1:] PETER ROGERSON:
October 5 1954, 0400hrs
LUCTUDY [sic] (FINISTERE : FRANCE)
A baker, Mr P Lucas was draining water from a well when he noticed, some distance away, a circular object about 3m in diameter. A dwarf with an oval face surrounded by hair and eyes “as large as raven’s eggs” emerged from it. It touched him on the shoulder and spoke to him in an unknown language. The dwarf went away and the object took off.
Vallee Case 196, citing Franc-Tireur + La Croix + Figaro all 7 October 1954.
Heiden, citing Carrouges 1967, p.141.
[Ref. jgz1:] JULIEN GONZALEZ:
The author indicates that there was a close encounter of the third kind in Loctudy, Finistère, on October 5, 1954:
Around 4 a.m., the baker worker Pierre Lucas was busy getting water in the courtyard of the bakery, when he suddenly saw a few meters from him a circular craft, 2.50 m to 3 m in diameter, posed on the ground.
Amazed, he saw a being, 1.20 m tall, come out of it, approach him, and touching his shoulder while uttering incomprehensible words. Pierre Lucas managed to keep his cool and returned to the bakery where the stranger followed him. In the light, the witness was able to stare at the strange visitor; he had an oval face, covered with dark hair, with enormous eyes "the size of a pigeon's egg".
The young man called his boss, at which time the strange being retreated, boarded his plane which took off immediately. When Mr. Lucas' boss, attracted by his calls, arrived, the object had disappeared.
The author gives as "additional information" that in 1979, Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker affirmed in La Grande Peur Martienne that "the Loctudy affair was part of the mystification", but that in April 1976, Mr. Le Goff, whose father was, in 1954, the boss of Pierre Lucas, confided his memories to Joël Mesnard: for him, there was no reason not to take this matter seriously. According to Mr. Le Goff, Pierre Lucas absolutely had no time to stare at the creature that tapped him on the shoulder as he rushed into the hallway leading to the bakery. In fright, he had screamed and dropped the two buckets, the contents of which had spilled onto the ground. Pierre Lucas had wanted to warn the authorities: "People have to know, he said". Mr. Le Goff notably insisted on the fact that his father, who knew Pierre Lucas well, had had no doubts either, noting his very great fright, and on the fact that it was the very witness who had wanted to warn the gendarmes, a behavior in contradiction with that of a possible joker.
Gonzalez adds that Mr. Gilles Delorme collected on August 6, 2010, i.e. 56 years after the events, the testimony of Mrs. Monique S., aged 10 in 1954 (published in Lumières dans la Nuit n° 403), who claims to have seen, the day after the observation, part of the tar which was melted, in front of the school, opposite the water pump where Pierre Lucas was at the time of the events. Gonzalez believes that this late testimony should be taken with great reservations because all the press reports, both local and national, indicate that no trace was found at the landing site. In addition, the article published in Ouest-France on October 6, 1954, specifies that the observation of Pierre Lucas took place 3 km from the town of Loctudy, in the hamlet of Pen-Ar-Prat where there is no school. Moreover, the testimony of Mrs. Monique S. is in contradiction with that of Mr. Le Goff, son of the boss of Pierre Lucas, when she affirms that Mr. Le Goff senior took his employee for a "complete crackpot."
Gonzalez indicates that the sources are "Jimmy Guieu, Black-Out sur les Soucoupes Volantes, pages 165-166; Michel Figuet and Jean-Louis Ruchon, OVNI: le premier dossier des rencontres rapprochées en France, pages 123-124 ; Jean Sider, le dossier 1954 et l'imposture rationnaliste, pages 67-68 and 186-187; Lumières dans la Nuit, n° 374, page 19 (article by Mr. Joël Mesnard); Lumières dans la Nuit, n° 403, pages 14-15 (investigation by Mr. Gilles Delorme); Ouest-France of October 6, 1954; Radar of October 17, 1954."
[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
*Oct. 5, 1954 - Loctudy, France. At 4:00 a.m. a baker, Mr. P. Lucas, was draining water from a well when he noticed an object some distance away. It was circular and about three meters in diameter. From it emerged a dwarf with an oval-shaped face, covered with hair, and big eyes "as large as raven eggs." The short being touched him on the shoulder and spoke to him in an unknown language. The dwarf then went away and the object took off. (Source: Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia: A Century of Landings, p. 218, case # 196).
[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:
Location: Loctudy France
Date: October 5 1954
Time: 0400A
Baker’s assistant Pierre Lucas was drawing water from a well when he saw a ball of fire descend, resting on 3 feet, across the road. There emerged a 4-foot tall being with a hairy face and eyes the size of crow’s eggs, wearing a helmet from which antenna like wires protruded. This being tapped Lucas on the shoulder and uttered incomprehensible words. Lucas ran for his boss, but when the baker came out there was nothing.
Source: Jacques Vallee 196
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This database recorded this case 20 times instead of one!
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | 04.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | 04.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | CE III | ||||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | CE III | ||||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | 04.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | Morgendämmerung | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | 04.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | 04.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | 04.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | 04.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | 04.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | 04.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | 04.00 | ||||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | Night | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | |||||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | 04.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Quimper | France | 04.00 | ||||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | Night | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France | 04.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541005 | 05.10.1954 | Loctudy | France |
[Ref. voi1:] "ARCHIVES VIGIE OVNI 29":
Loctudy ( 29 750 ), 05 October 1954, 04 h 00 ...
Testimony nr. FR 29 750 1954 10 05 04 00
Available documents:
[Ref. prn2:] PETER ROGERSON - "INTCAT":
October 5 1954. 0400hrs.
LUCTUDY [sic] (FINISTERE : FRANCE)
A baker, Pierre Lucas was draining water from a well when he noticed, some distance away, a circular object about 2.5- 3m in diameter. From it emerged a dwarf with an oval face surrounded by hair and eyes "as large as raven's eggs", that touched him on the shoulder and spoke to him in an unknown language. The dwarf went away and the object took off.
Evaluation - The story appears to have begun as a joke after a drinking session
[Ref. dcn1:] DOMINIQUE CAUDRON:
|
The "Martian" of Loctudy hit the headlines at the beginning of October 1954. The National Press had not yet heard of "hairy Martians". And here is an obscure baker's boy who comes to shake up the conventional ideas.
Unfortunately, we don't have the original article from Le Télégramme de Brest, which was bound to recount this affair. But the other newspapers made a big deal out of it.
The "Martian" of the Finistère
has a hairy face and eyes
like "a crow's egg"Quimper, 6 October. -
Around 4 a.m. yesterday morning, Mr. Pierre Lucas, a worker-baker in Loctudy (Finistère), who was busy drawing water in the courtyard of the bakery, suddenly saw in the night a craft in the shape of saucer of 2.50 m. to 3 m. of diameter. He saw coming out of it an individual measuring about 1 m. 20 who approached him and tapped him on the shoulder, mouthing unintelligible words. The baker managed to keep his cool and returned to the bakery where the stranger 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 the latter had time to come down, the stranger had disappeared along with his saucer, of which no trace was found.
(Nord Littoral, October 7, 1954, page 8)
Others tell the story with a certain irony:
A BRETON BAKER SAYS IT:
"My Martian was unshaven and had eyes the size of a crow's egg"
... the ephemeral stardom of the news is rightfully won today by a modest baker worker from Loctudy (Finistère), Mr. Pierre Lucas.
Rising early and on the right foot, our man was going to fetch water in the courtyard of the bakery on Tuesday morning when, in the flickering light of a rainy dawn, he saw a craft in the shape of a saucer of 2.50 m. to 3 m. in diameter, which stood there stupidly. He probably wouldn't have been more concerned about it, if he hadn't suddenly seen an individual come out of it!
"He was 1.20 m tall, looked like a man (sic) and approached me. Before I could recover from my surprise, he had tapped me on the shoulder, mouthing unintelligible words."
Mr. Lucas showed remarkable composure. "Come in, we'll talk," he must have told him, because the stranger followed him into the bakery. There, we could still see a little more clearly and shamelessly the "Martian" let himself be stared at.
It's Mr. Lucas speaking again:
"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 the stranger probably felt that the interview had gone on long enough. By the time Mr. Lucas went up the stairs to warn his boss gently, the man and the craft had disappeared. Too bad...
(L'Est Républicain, October 7, 1954)
It's even worse in other newspaper:
A Raven in Trouble
Loctudy (Finistère), Tuesday, October 6, 1954, 4 a.m.:
PIERRE LUCAS, a baker, has almost finished his task. The dough is in the oven and while waiting for it to cook, the kneader must be cleaned. Pierre grabs a bucket and goes out into the courtyard of the bakery to draw water from the pump.
Now, what does Master Pierre see in the middle of the courtyard? A craft in the shape of a saucer 2.50 m. to 3 meters in diameter, from which suddenly emerges an "individual" measuring about 1.20 m. This individual, without the slightest fear, approaches Pierre, puts his hand on his shoulder and says to him:
- Oumbrrr... Grabotrri Trozi... Brrouphphialoq...
What do you think Pierre Lucas does? Does he start screaming? Does he run away at full speed? It is still not common, in Loctudy, to see a flying saucer and a Martian in the courtyard of the bakery.
No! Pierre is a cool guy. Quietly, he returns to the bakery with the "individual" on his heels. There, in the light, he sees the features of the visitor: an oval face, all covered with hair, and eyes the size of a crow's eye.
Oh my! Sure the boss would like to see that. Pierre is calling:
- Boss! Boss! Come see!
But the Martian, whereas he doesn't speak French, no doubt understands this, because there he is, rushing out of the bakery, crossing the yard, climbing into his saucer and blamo! Nobody left... The boss of Pierre Lucas will not see the being with eyes like crow's eggs. Too bad... Really a shame, because two pairs of eyes are better than one.
(Samedi Soir, October 14, 1954)
Radar gives its credence of nobility to the Loctudy case.
For a case of flying saucer sighting, appearing in Radar is a bit like having two stars in the Michelin guide (three stars in the case of a cover publication). This is what the case of Loctudy was entitled to.
Loctudy - He was that tall!
QUIMPER. -- Yes, gentlemen, yes, declares to the reporters of "Radar" the worker baker Pierre Lucas, from Loctudy (Finistère), he was tall like that the man I saw the other night. I had gone out for a moment to fetch water from the fountain. Suddenly, I see a ball of fire coming down from the sky. Not the slightest noise. In the blink of an eye, it lands in a meadow across the road. I distinctly saw the three feet that held it to the ground. A yellow light illuminated it at the top. And now an individual (our illustrator represents it opposite) taps me on the shoulder. I saw it as I see you. He had a bearded face and one eye, but maybe he had a mask. On his head, a helmet that looked like that of bikers. Wires came out of it like those of the radio antennas. Frankly, I was scared. I dropped my bucket. I returned in. My boss came out. There was nothing anymore...
(Radar, October 17, 1954, p 2)
But here comes an astonishing explanation from Brest.
The "Hairy Martian" from Loctudy (Finistère) was a learned goat!
BREST, October 23 ("France-soir" dispatch). -- the mystery of the hairy Martian of Loctudy (Finistère) has finally been solved. And the bakery worker who, in the middle of the night, was followed in the courtyard of the bakery to the bakery by a being with a face covered with hair and huge eyes, recovered from his emotions, as did the inhabitants of the municipality. The Martian was just a learned goat belonging to a passing circus who had ventured into the baker's yard.
(France-Soir, October 24-25, 1954.)
Jimmy Guieu tells the story and makes fun of "higher minds".
October 5, around 4 a.m. Mr. Pierre Lucas, a baker in Loctudy (Finistère), who was busy drawing water from the bakery yard, suddenly saw, a few meters from him, a 2.50 m to 3 meters in diameter circular craft placed on the ground. Dumbfounded, he saw come out of it a being measuring about 1.20 m. tall who approached and touched his shoulder, mouthing incomprehensible words.
The baker managed to keep his cool and entered the bakery where the "stranger" followed him. In the light, Mr. Lucas was able to stare at the strange visitor. He had an oval face, covered with dark hair and, a detail which struck the witness, enormous eyes, "the size of a pigeon's egg". The young man called his boss quickly, but immediately the dwarf Uranian beat a retreat and returned to his spaceship, which took off without delay. When Mr. Lucas' boss, lured by his calls, arrived, the craft had fled.
...
Seeking to "rationally" explain the apparition witnessed by Mr. Pierre Lucas, Loctudy, a tongue-in-cheek guy no doubt, claimed that it was quite simply... a learned goat that had escaped of a circus! So this is what kind of digression the systematic doubt of strong minds leads to!
Note [by Dominique Caudron]: For Jimmy Guieu, flying saucers exist, their pilots too, and those who claim to find rational explanations are obtuse minds. For him, it is obvious that one cannot take a tramp for a Martian, nor the moon for a flying saucer. This is, however, what has already happened, but for Guieu, it cannot have happened, since it is impossible, which is exactly the reasoning he attributes to his rationalist opponents.
(Jimmy Guieu, Black Out sur les Soucoupes Volantes, Fleuve Noir 1956, page 165)
Aimé Michel does not cite any cases from October 5, because they do not allow him to draw a network of alignments.
Michel Carrouges is not talkative.
Lucas, in Loctudy (Finistère), October 1954,
...
The Lucas testimony was strongly attacked on the grounds that there was confusion with a learned goat that had escaped from a circus, according to a Brest newspaper of October 24 (?).
(Michel Carrouges, Les apparitions de Martiens, Fayard 1963, page 108-109)
Jacques Vallée incorporates this case into his catalog
October 5, 1954, 04:00. Loctudy (France):
A baker, P. Lucas, was drawing water from a well when he noticed an object some distance away. It was a round object about 3 meters in diameter from which emerged a dwarf with an oval face, covered with hair, with eyes "as big as crow's eggs", who touched his shoulder and addressed to him in an unknown tongue. The dwarf went away and the object flew away (P. 34).
34: Franc-Tireur, La Croix, France-Soir, Le Figaro, October 7, 1954.
(Jacques Vallée, Un siècle d'atterrissage UFO, in Chronique des apparitions extraterrestres, Denoel 1972, page 292)
Jean-François Boedec does not believe in the learned goat.
We had a good laugh this Sunday, October 8, 1954 in a restaurant in Loctudy (Finistere) at a table of happy sailors-fishermen.
Indeed, a few days earlier, Mr. Pierre Lucas, a baker who was busy drawing water in the courtyard of the bakery suddenly observed, a few meters from him, a "flying saucer" three meters in diameter placed on the ground. Dumbfounded. he saw a creature 1.20 m tall come out of it and approached him before touching his shoulder while mouthing incomprehensible words. Mr. Lucas kept his cool and headed for the bakehouse. followed by the "unknown"... In the light, the witness was able to stare at the strange visitor: he had an oval face, covered with dark hair, and, striking detail, huge eyes. The young man immediately called his boss for help but the creature returned to his craft which immediately took off, suggesting that it was not only more advanced than us in terms of technique, but also in terms of caution...
One of the merry fellows in the restaurant claimed that it was simply... a learned goat escaped from some circus. The saucer and the goat flew quickly from newspaper to newspaper and moved gracefully over the airwaves.
Note [By Dominique Caudron]: According to Boedec, the explanation by a learned goat, for an unspecified reason, comes from an unnamed guest, in an unidentified restaurant on a false date. We would like to know how the author found out about this, otherwise it's not worth more than a rumor.
(Jean-François Boedec, UFOs in Bratagne, Fernand Lanore 1978, page 103)
Barthel and Brucker find the witness
Finding this baker in this small town shouldn't be a problem. The first indication we can get is: ..."Ah yes! what he saw is not serious, rather look for red wine and whisky...!" So that's what we'll do, and in a drinking establishment in Quimper, we find our man.
Very difficult dialogue with him, he is obviously used to the place. He strongly shows his age. His condition is certainly not due to an occupational disease.
He doesn't want to tell us anything about his observation and even pretends to know nothing about this story. The next day, in the morning, we will meet at the same place. Discussions, explanations of our work, of the studies that we undertake, then our witness admits that his observation is not serious:
"I was young..." he says.
- What do you mean by that?
- It wasn't serious, I was shown what was not true.
- Basically, it was a joke.
- Yes, a story, it was not serious.
We had gone around it. Obviously, the Loctudy affair was part of the mystification, or much more probably of those good stories that we tell ourselves around the drinking counter...
(Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker, la Grande Peur Martienne, Nouvelles Editions Rationalistes, Paris 1979, page 72)
Jean Sider tries to save the Martian.
38 - Case of Loctudy, Finistère.
On October 5, at 4 a.m., Mr. Pierre Lucas was drawing water in the courtyard of the bakery where he worked when he saw a circular craft lying on the ground a few meters from him. A small hairy being comes out and approaches the witness. The latter calls his boss, but before he can arrive, the strange creature has reentered his vehicle which takes off and quickly disappears (Figuet, p. 123).
Note [By Dominique Caudron]: Sider is based on the catalog of Figuet, which is based on Jimmy Guieu - who does not cite his source - and on Jacques Vallée who quotes Parisian newspapers. Sider doesn't quote Le Télégramme de Brest, a local newspaper, surely better informed.
Investigation by LDLN members found the witness to be bona fide. B & B [bbr1], page 73, claim this was a joke made by a notorious alcoholic! Nothing could be further from the truth. Pierre Lucas was 23 or 24 at the time, which would have made him a somewhat young alcoholic...
Note [By Dominique Caudron]: But the above is false: Barthel and Brucker did not say that the witness was an alcoholic at the time of his observation, and did not say that the witness himself had invented this story. They said that the case was a hoax, and that he had been shown what had not happened, which is not the same thing.
In addition, his boss, Mr. Le Goff, vouched for his seriousness. Mr. Le Goff also specified that his worker insisted that the police be informed, a behavior in contradiction with that of a possible joker.
Note [By Dominique Caudron]: Which would prove that Pierre Lucas had indeed seen something unusual - for him - but not that it was a hairy Martian.
Amusing detail: at the time, France-Soir had solved the enigma by advancing a clever goat that had escaped from a circus and which would have misled the witness! I am also surprised that B & B did not rush into this breach, because they quote France-Soir very often. This proves that they did not consult the original sources, contenting themselves with reading files that often left something to be desired.
Note [By Dominique Caudron]: France-Soir quoted a dispatch from Brest, probably from the Télégramme de Brest. But for lack of knowing how this explanation by a learned goat was born, we have no right to refute it.
As for the fact that Barthel and Brucker do not cite this explanation, it is explained simply because they had one from the witness himself.
Jean Sider is really in no position to accuse the others of not having consulted the initial sources, as he did consult them either, and as he sometimes cites sources dating from two millennia later, as we demonstrate in this list of ancient wonders
8 - The case of Loctudy, Finistère, of October 5, 1954, is also a case of psychological blockage. page 73, B & B "make say" to the witness that his story was not serious. However, an investigation by L.D.L.N. made in 1976, made it possible to establish that he was in good faith (LDLN nr 29, p 33). Pierre Lucas, who had to endure many humiliations no longer wanted to talk, but the son of his boss, Mr. Le Goff, did not need to be asked.
Note [By Dominique Caudron]: It is nr 299 and not nr 29. The son of M. Le Goff, said that his father had confidence in his workman, but that only inclines one to think that Pierre Lucas had not invented this story, not that he could not have been wrong.
(Jean Sider, Le dossier 1954 et l'imposture rationaliste, Ramuel, 1997, page 67 and page 282)
2014 Julien Gonzalez seems to confuse hoax and mystification
Loctudy, Finistère, October 05, 1954, 4:00 a.m.
Mr. Pierre Lucas, baker.
Around 4 a.m., the baker is busy drawing water from the bakery yard. He suddenly sees, a few meters from him, a circular craft 2.50 m to 3 m in diameter, placed on the ground. Dumbfounded, he sees a 1.20 m tall being come out of it, who approaches and touches his shoulder while pronouncing incomprehensible words. Pierre Lucas manages to keep his cool and goes back to the oven where the stranger follows him. In the light, the witness can stare at the strange visitor. He had an oval face, covered with dark hair, with enormous eyes "the size of a pigeon's egg". The young man calls his boss, at that moment the stange being retreats, climbs on board his craft which takes off immediately. When the boss of Mr. Lucas, attracted by his calls, arrives, the object has disappeared.
Additional information:
1. In 1979, Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker affirmed in La Grande Peur Martiemze that "the Loctudy affair was entering into mystification" but in April l976, Mr. Le Goff (whose father was, in l954, the boss of Pierre Lucas) confided his memories to Joël Mesnard. For him, there was no reason not to take this matter seriously. According to Mr. Le Goff, Pierre Lucas absolutely had no time to stare at the creature that tapped him on the shoulder as he rushed into the hallway leading to the bakery. In fright, he screamed and dropped the two buckets, the contents of which spilled onto the ground. Pierre Lucas wanted to warn the authorities: "People have to know. he said." Mr. Le Goff notably insisted on the fact that his father, who knew Pierre Lucas well, had no doubts either, noting his very great fright, and on the fact that it was the witness himself who had wanted to warn the gendarmes, a behavior in contradiction with that of a possible joker!
Note [by Dominique Caudron]: Obviously, Julien Gonzalez confuses hoax (a prank made by the witness), and mystification (a prank made on the witness). To Barthel and Brucker, the witness said that he had been made to see what was not there, in other words, that he had been mystified by the journalists.
(Julien Gonzalez, RR3 - Le Dossier des Rencontres du Troisième Type en France, Le Temps Présent, 2014, pp 112)
The case is quite confused, by the sarcasm of the journalists, the credulity of the ufologists and especially the absence of primary sources: the articles of the local newspaper.
In trying to unravel this skein, we notice that the assertions of Jean Sider or Julien Gonzalez, and those of Barthel and Brucker are not really contradictory. Some say that the witness was in good faith, and others that he was made to see what was not there, which incriminates the journalists.
Jean Sider himself acknowledges in his iconographic file: "more or less embellished or altered versions have been published in several newspapers and weeklies in Paris and even in the provinces."
Indeed. How to admit that the journalist could have known that the Martian had said: "- Oumbrrr... Grabotrri Trozi... Brrouphphialoq...". This "phrase" is obviously made up. And according to Sider the eyes "like a crow's egg" only appear in one source. So there is invention of journalists. And that's where we see that it was essential to have the initial source, the article in the local newspaper that started it all. Seeing Radar's drawing, or reading the sentence spoken by the Martian only helps us laugh. What exactly did the original source describe? We don't know, but we do know that the story was deformed from copying to copying, so that the witness was right to say "I was shown what was not there", and that he didn't want to talk about it anymore.
Now, let's take a look at the explanation by a learned goat. Imitating the behavior he attributes to "dogmatic rationalists", Sider denies this absurd hypothesis: How do you confuse a goat with a Martian? This is obviously a joker's invention.
But let's examine the hypothesis of the invention: What circus animal would we invent to account for the observation of a small furry being? A monkey of course! Not a goat.
On the other hand, the clever goat in a circus might wear a fancy costume, which would make her unrecognizable, especially at night. So the goat hypothesis isn't so silly, although we don't know the origin of it. The hypothesis of a stray animal is at least compatible with the escape of the little being when the boss arrives.
From here, we know that the witness really saw an unusual being - for him -, that it could be a stray animal, and that the journalists severely embroidered on this story, one after the other.
So, we can conclude that, whatever the distribution of the invention between the witness and the journalist, and whether the witness saw a goat, or not, there was never a Martian observed in Loctudy.
Invention.
The newspaper France-Soir of October 24, and other newspapers later, had an article in which it is claimed without further information that the witness had mistaken the flying saucer and its hairy occupant, which was really a goat which escaped from a circus.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Loctudy, Finistère, P. Lucas, object, circular, occupant, dwarf, hair, large eyes, contact, talk, communication, landing, well, water, face, ridicule, ridiculization, alcohol, alcoholic
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[-] indicates sources that I have not yet checked yet.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | 3 octobre 2003 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 5, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [jsr1], [lhh1], [goe1], [djn1], [lcn1], [uda1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | May 31, 2010 | Addition [ler1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | June 22, 2010 | Addition [jve5]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | July 7, 2010 | Addition [rin1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | July 14, 2010 | Additions [ins1], [lie1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | August 15, 2010 | Addition [lml1]. |
| 1.6 | Patrick Gross | October 21, 2011 | Addition [cln1]. |
| 1.7 | Patrick Gross | October 30, 2011 | Addition [jbu2]. |
| 1.8 | Patrick Gross | November 2, 2011 | A search on the web and in my documentation did not reveal other sources. In "Explanations", "Not looked for yet" changed to "Invention". |
| 1.9 | Patrick Gross | August 14, 2013 | Addition [prn1]. |
| 2.0 | Patrick Gross | September 16, 2014 | Addition [lln1]. |
| 2.1 | Patrick Gross | September 18, 2014 | Addition [fso1]. |
| 2.2 | Patrick Gross | October 8, 2014 | Additions [tai1], [nip1]. |
| 2.3 | Patrick Gross | December 18, 2016 | Additions [lgs1], [ubk1], [gbr1]. |
| 2.4 | Patrick Gross | January 5, 2017 | Addition [fso1]. |
| 2.5 | Patrick Gross | January 9, 2017 | Additions [hmr1], [pce1]. |
| 2.6 | Patrick Gross | February 7, 2017 | Addition [voi1]. |
| 2.7 | Patrick Gross | November 29, 2019 | Additions [ads1], [ioi1], [krs1], [lhh1], [prn2]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | December 18, 2019 | Additions [ppe1], [tbg1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | March 18, 2020 | Addition [lfe1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | March 26, 2020 | Addition [avs1]. |
| 1.6 | Patrick Gross | April 4, 2020 | Addition [cdn1]. |
| 1.7 | Patrick Gross | April 14, 2020 | Addition [nmn1]. |
| 1.8 | Patrick Gross | May 15, 2020 | Addition [las1]. |
| 1.9 | Patrick Gross | May 21, 2020 | Addition [jps1]. |
| 2.0 | Patrick Gross | June 3, 2020 | Addition [ner1]. |
| 2.1 | Patrick Gross | June 7, 2020 | Addition [nll1]. |
| 2.2 | Patrick Gross | June 25, 2020 | Addition [vdn1]. |
| 2.3 | Patrick Gross | December 30, 2020 | Addition [lcx1]. |
| 2.4 | Patrick Gross | September 27, 2021 | Addition [tbw1]. |
| 2.5 | Patrick Gross | November 29, 2021 | Addition [jve3]. |
| 2.6 | Patrick Gross | March 9, 2022 | Addition [rnl1]. |
| 2.7 | Patrick Gross | March 13, 2022 | Additions [nnm1], [ldl1]. |
| 2.8 | Patrick Gross | April 24, 2022 | Additions [gqy1], [gqy2], [ldl1], [gep1], [jgz1]. |
| 2.9 | Patrick Gross | May 22, 2022 | Additions [ofe1], [gde1]. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | June 4, 2022 | Addition [agd1]. |
| 3.1 | Patrick Gross | June 21, 2022 | Additions [jve8], [mft3], [veo1], [dcn1]. |
| 3.2 | Patrick Gross | July 10, 2022 | Additions [hdl1], [gab1]. |
