The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: Beg-Oct-54-Villeneuve.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The regional newspaper Le Courrier de Saône-et-Loire for October 8, 1954, quoted this letter that a reader, Mr. Euvrard, from Villeneuve, had asked them to insert:
"It was six o'clock in the evening when I left my kitchen. I was walking a little in my yard, and I saw in front of my house, near a patch of corn, about 200 meters from my house and Mr. Lanier's house, on the ground, a ball of fire 80 centimeters high and one meter wide. I noticed a shadow moving in the middle. Without saying anything to my wife, because my children were not yet in bed, I went straight to Mr. Lannier's house. I arrived at the entrance to the yard, and to Mr. Lannier, who was outside, I shouted not very loudly: "a flying saucer." Mrs. Lannier, who was at the top of the building, saw me running and shouted to me: "Mr. Euvrard, what's happening to you?" I kept moving forward. I shouted to them: "Look in your field there is a saucer." Mrs. Lannier started shouting without having seen anything, but I, who hadn't lost sight of the spot, could still see the object for a few seconds, slowly disappearing. I heard a whistling sound, moving away, but at ground level. It was still quite light, and I remained fixed on watching: I affirm that I saw nothing fly into the sky."
The newspaper also reported that Mr. Georges Guilard, from Bougerot, claimed to have seen and heard the whistling of a craft descending on Villeneuve around the same time.
[Ref. csl1:] NEWSPAPER "LE COURRIER DE SAONE-ET-LOIRE":
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Mr. Euvrard, from Villeneuve, asks us to publish the following statement:
"It was six o'clock in the evening when I stepped out of my kitchen. I took a few steps in my yard and saw, directly in front of my house near a cornfield, about 200 meters from my home and Mr. Lanier's house, a ball of fire on the ground. It was 80 centimeters high and one meter wide. I noticed a shadow moving inside it. Without saying anything to my wife, so as not to alarm my children who were not yet in bed, I ran to Mr. Lannier's house. As I reached the entrance to his yard, I called out to him—not too loudly—'A flying saucer!' Mrs. Lannier, who was upstairs in the building, saw me running and shouted, 'Mr. Euvrard, what's happening to you?' I kept advancing and yelled, 'Look in your field, a saucer!' Mrs. Lannier started screaming without having seen anything. But as I kept my eyes fixed on the spot, I still saw the object for a few more seconds before it slowly faded away. I heard a whistling sound moving away, but at ground level. It was still bright enough outside, and I stood there watching. I can state with certainty that I saw nothing take off into the sky."
It should be noted that Mr. Guilard Georges, from Bougerot, claims to have seen and heard a whistling object descending towards Villeneuve around the same time.
On Saturday, around 10:30 PM, Mr. B..., returning from the cinema, spotted a luminous and silent object in the sky. The object emitted sparks vertically as it ascended or descended, and horizontally as it moved away.
Needless to say, this was entirely true. Mr. B... alerted his housemaid and his neighbors, who also clearly saw this strange object.
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Gergy, Villeneuve? The locations are very close. Mr. Euvrard's sighting must be from Villeneuve, since he went out into his yard. Mr. Guilard, from Bougerot, is about 2.5 kilometers southeast of Mr. Euvrard.
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Considering Mr. Euvrard's observation alone, one could possibly suggest that the object was the light of a tractor, om which poorly lubricated parts would have produced a whistling noise. Mr. Euvrard insisted that the thing had not flown away.
But Mr. Guilard claimed to have seen and heard the whistling of a machine descending on Villeneuve around the same time, thus an object that clearly appeared to have come from the sky.
I leave this case as unsolved, unidentified.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Villeneuve, Saône-et-Loire, Euvrard, Lannier, luminous, ground, landing, shadow, whistling, ball, fire
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
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| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | April 2, 2025 | First published, [csl1]. |
