The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: End-Sep-54-Paris.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The weekly newspaper France-Dimanche for October 10, 1954, summarized many recent cases in France, sometimes illustrated.
One of the cases was that Mr. Detton, legal representative at Les Halles, Paris, had seen flying cigars at 10:30 a.m. at the end of September. The craft, "small cabins without wings", moved left and right and disappeared after 20 minutes.
In the newspaper La Liberté du Morbihan for October 2, 1954, this mention may refer to the same case: "In Paris: numerous people saw in the sky at very high altitude a mysterious craft in the shape of a long, shiny balloon. The craft came from the south and was heading toward the northwest."
In the late 1950s, a French archivist, Guy Quincy, had compiled a catalog of UFO sightings; he noted in it, without source or details, an observation in Paris at the end of September 1954 at 10:30 a.m., of five "ellipses."
[Ref. lmn1] NEWSPAPER "LA LIBERTE DU MORBIHAN":
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MULHOUSE. -- Two people reported seeing a luminous craft in the sky over Rixheim. Using binoculars, they observed that it had the shape of a long cigar and was surrounded by about a dozen smaller cigars. A railway worker also reported observing this phenomenon.
IN PARIS: many people saw in the sky at very high altitude a mysterious craft in the shape of a long, shiny balloon. The object was coming from the south and heading northwest.
IN NEVERS: Mr. Deloire, 20 years old, a farm worker in Langeron, was riding his bicycle when he spotted a mysterious object in the sky shaped like a half-sphere, emitting orange lights at the front and blue flames at the rear.
"Saucers" spotted
CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Regularly spotted for some time in Austria, these would be, according to the "Bild Telegraf", remote-controlled devices used by certain powers to drop anti-communist leaflets over Czechoslovakia.
This newspaper reports that leaflets written in the Czech language were indeed found near Eferding, in Upper Austria (Soviet zone), after the passage of two "luminous discs" whose maneuvers were observed by two gendarmes from a nearby town.
[Ref. fde1:] NEWSPAPER "FRANCE-DIMANCHE":
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Mr. Detton, legal representative in the Halles, in Paris, saw these flying cigars at 10:30 a.m., at the end of September. The craft, "small cabins without wings", moved left and right. They disappeared after 20 minutes.
[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:
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[... Other cases...]
End September [, 1954]
10:30 a.m.: Paris (Seine): 5 "ellipses"
[... Other cases...]
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The case seems very strange to me.
However, if the sighting was indeed from Paris - it is not explicitly stated - it is surprising that there was only one known witness, it seems.
I therefore leave the case as an "unidentified."
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Paris, Detton, rocking, cabin, craft, wingless, day, five, ellipse
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | November 26, 2021 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | April 8, 2022 | Addition [fde1]. In the Summary, addition of the information from [fde1]. Explanations changed, were "Totally insufficient information." |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | April 30, 2025 | Addition [lmn1]. In the Summary, addition of the information from [lmn1]. |
