The article below was published in the daily newspaper The Age, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on page 4, on October 7, 1954.
See the detailed case file here.
PARIS, October 6 (A.A.P.). -- A retired miner built many of the hundreds of "flying saucers" reported in the sky near Lille (northern France) recently just for a joke.
Police said yesterday that the miner of Beuvry-les-Bethune village, made his "saucers" out of strong grey paper on the fire balloon principle.
After paraffin soaked rags had been lit warm air lifted the "saucers," some about 10 feet in diameter, and off they went into the winds, displaying an orange and yellow light.