The 1954 French flap:

The Courier of the Somme

Hello, Mars!
Enough saucers!
Send us the cups now...

Certainly, Martians -- or "Uranids" -- are people who know how to use color.

And their tableware is particularly successful, it seems, since their saucers range from blue-violet to orange through green and yellow...

But now we would like to see the cups and plates to judge if the rest of the "flying dishes" deserves our admiration. Some, on the other hand, have already had the privilege of admiring tureens, barrels (studded with gold), cigars, cigarillos, lampshades, bananas, etc. Our heaven will end there not look like an Arab city bazaar one day?

Be that as it may, the epidemic continues and develops and we will soon be unable to point the finger at the poor abnormal who will not have succeeded in having a saucer, a tripod or a hairy Martian. If we take care, this collective hallucination will end badly.

That there are incomprehensible phenomena, this is undeniable: sailors, aviators, astronomers, scientists witnessed it and nobody will see themselves to doubt their words.

But we have the impression that now, some people come to confuse a vulgar "Constellation" or a shooting star with interstellar craft.

Among the new statements we collected, let's cite that of Mr. Legendre, 97, rue Edmond-Rostand in Amiens which, in the night from Wednesday to Thursday, around 9:40 a.m., saw a yellow green disc moving from West to East. Mr. Legendre added that an airplane was airborne at the same time and that, according to him, the noise heard came from this airplane and not from the saucer.

In Boves, which seems decidedly a well-favored city (perhaps it will be the first to benefit from regular liaison with Mars?, one again noticed an orange disc on Wednesday evening at 10.35 p.m. The gendarmerie questioned by us refused to confirm the strange appearance, demonstrating in this a prudence that could not be criticized.

It seems, on the other hand, that not a corner of our Picardy sky should remain unexplored. Thus, at Bernaville, two craft crisscrossed the sky. The news was confirmed to us by two locals.

For the first, Mr. Gilbert Urbain, farmer, the appearance was cylindrical in shape of orange color. It happened around 9 p.m.

For the second, Miss Christiane Brosseaux, farm servant, an identical appearance occurred at dawn.

These mysterious craft which were at low height, came from the direction of the sea. They could be followed a few fractions of seconds, even before their disappearance had been instantaneous.

In the Péronne region

Since the dismal conclusion of the case of the flying saucers which would have been seen in the canton of Chaulnes, between Estrées-Deniécourt and Foucaucourt-en-Santerre, the privileged who could assist in the district of Péronne to the development of this curious phenomenon or who "watched", for a moment, these mysterious craft, had become much rarer.

Today, however, we will bring certain testimonies from people whose good faith can absolutely not be questioned. These statements lead us to write that in the sky of the district of Péronne, as elsewhere, strange things happen sometimes...

The quality of the witnesses who asked us to observe the utmost discretion - which we regret - puts us in an unfortunate position.

Of course, there is no question so far of the landing of a saucer in the region, but simply of appearance in the sky of Péronne, twice, in the direction of Longueval and in that of Roisel on Doingt-Flamicourt and finally towards Cartigny and Etricourt-Manancourt, for ten days.