The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Berry Républicain, Bourges, France, pages 1 and 8, on October 5, 1954.
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Personalities from Danan have sent an official report to the governor
Abidjan, October 4. -- Flying saucers have been seen in Côte d'Ivoire. The news became known through an official report sent to the governor of Côte d'Ivoire by Mr. Vernet, chief administrator of the Danan subdivision, a town located 500 km northwest of Abidjan.
The events date back to September 19, but they were only made official today following requests for precise information and an investigation.
In addition to the local population, the head of the gendarmerie post, the chief physician of the medical center, Reverend Father Vyard from the Lyon missions, Mr. Vernhet, chief of the subdivision, and his wife, gathered in the courtyard of the residence, witnessed on September 19, from 8:30 PM to 9:50 PM, an object exactly matching those observed in France, but which did not land.
It was a luminous point surrounded by a halo that at first grew rapidly, moving closer to and farther from the horizon. The witnesses saw the object switch on a powerful spotlight, sometimes directed upwards, sometimes downwards. The object, oval in shape, was topped with a dome, and beams of light seemed to extend from either side.
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When it disappeared after moving around for half an hour, the witnesses clearly saw two oval-shaped luminous halos form at the presumed location of the craft. It moved without making any noise.
Administrator Vernhet included a detailed sketch in his report, illustrating the various phases observed as well as the shape of the craft.
On the same day, in Soubre, 250 km northwest of Abidjan and in the same direction, similar phenomena were observed.
Lille, October 4. -- Last night, between Annoeullin and Provins, near Lille, a hundred people saw "flying crescents" moving in the sky.
A miner from Annoeullin, Mr. Gaston Lecœuvre, alerted the patrons of a café, telling them he had just seen a luminous, crescent-shaped craft, about three meters high, land in his garden. When the customers stepped outside, the "flying crescent" was moving in the sky along with two other similar objects.
Soon, a hundred people, in Annoeullin, Provins, and nearby villages, watched the three objects, which only disappeared after 25 minutes.
The regional gendarmerie brigades have already collected numerous testimonies.
Lyon, October 4. -- A journalist from Lyon claimed to have observed, using binoculars, a luminous orange-red disc above the Sainte-Foy hill, south of the Basilica of Fourvière.
It was followed by other, smaller, bright discs. The phenomenon lasted about 20 minutes.
Nancy, October 4. -- About thirty people claimed to have seen, on Sunday evening, between Vergaville and Kerprich (Moselle), a luminous green disc descending toward the village of Benestroff. Several witnesses rode motorcycles toward the presumed landing site, but by the time they arrived, the craft had already gained altitude and disappeared.
A few hours later, a disc of the same color was observed over the same region. A similar craft had been seen the previous evening at the same time.
Saucers, cigars, discs, balls, and other "flying" objects were seen in Chancelade (Haute-Vienne), Willer (Haut-Rhin), Gouesnach, near Quimper, Bautignecourt, Ambazac (Haute-Vienne), Dijon, Marcoing, near Cambrai, Rouen, Ajaccio, La Rochelle, Quimper, Cholet, and Vannes.
Melun, October 4. -- Road workers who were working along the Coulommiers-Meaux road claimed to have seen, several days ago, a flying saucer resting on three struts in a field near the Voisin airfield.
One of them, Mr. Goujon, even stated that when he approached within 150 meters of the craft, he was paralyzed by an electric beam as the saucer rose into the sky and disappeared. The road worker, who had provided journalists with detailed descriptions, had also shown various witnesses the marks supposedly left by the saucer's struts.
The Coulommiers gendarmerie decided to question the witnesses.
Several retracted their statements, saying they had poor eyesight, were unsure of what they had seen, or even that they had seen nothing at all. But the main witness, Mr. Goujon, remained firm in his claims.
So the gendarmes took him to the site, accompanied by several Parisian scientific experts. The indentations left by the "saucer" were photographed: they had been dug by the road worker himself, as the imprints of his hands were still visible in the soil.
The road worker admitted to having fabricated the entire story. He was taken before the investigating judge in Coulommiers.
Chamonix, October 4. -- A large number of people, including officers from the High Mountain School, gendarmes from Chamonix, and pilot Guiron, a specialist in high-altitude flight who was flying over the region at the time, reported seeing for over an hour a bright craft moving between Mont Lachat and Mont Blanc.
Pilot Guiron stated that, flying at about 2,000 meters above Faverges, he saw a craft that, he said, bore no resemblance to a conventional aircraft. Furthermore, the high speed and trajectory of the object ruled out the possibility of it being a weather balloon.
