The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Mid October, 1954, Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Nord:
Reference for this case: Mid-Oct-54-Avesnes-sur-Helpe.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The regional newspaper La Voix du Nord for October 19, 1954, reported that "one of the last few nights, on Rue de la Flaque, the residents along the Helpe River were awakened from their sleep by a resounding crash."
The next day, an impressive semicircular scar was seen on the slates of a roof ridge of the Textiles de l'Helpe buildings, and, the newspaper asserted, it was thought "that it could only be a flying saucer which, losing speed, had attempted to..."
"On the roof of the spinning mill, an unfortunate and brutal landing."But the next day, the newspaper reported, in the Helpe River, at the foot of the factory buildings, one found "not a fragment of an aerial craft, but a prosaic iron semicircle that had fallen from the top of a chimney of the spinning mill."
[Ref. vdn1:] JOURNAL "LA VOIX DU NORD":
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There was quite a stir these past few days, or rather, one of these past few nights, on Rue de la Flaque, where residents along the Helpe River were jolted awake by a resounding crash. The next day, an impressive semicircular scar was spotted on the slates of a roof ridge of the Textiles de l'Helpe buildings.
How can this strangely imprinted mark be explained?
They searched and eventually discovered - provisionally - that it could only have been a flying saucer which, losing speed, had attempted an unfortunate and brutal landing on the roof of the spinning mill.
Unfortunately, this timely explanation had to be abandoned very quickly, because in the Helpe River at the foot of the factory buildings, they found not a fragment of an aerial craft, but a prosaic iron semicircle that had fallen from the top of a chimney of the spinning mill.
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The deluge of "flying saucer" reports in the Press at that time was so intense that one might think this story was true, including the "saucer" interpretation of the damage to the factory roof.
But this interpretation might simply be an exaggeration by the newspaper based on some joking remarks by the locals, or even a pure journalistic invention.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Nord, noise, roof, negative case
[----] 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 23, 2026 | First published, [vdn1]. |
