The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Berry Républicain, Bourges, France, page 1, on October 6, 1954.
See the case file.
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He had "launched" more than a thousand
Lille, October 3. -- A retired miner from Beuvry-les-Béthune, known in his town as a prankster, did not miss the opportunity offered by the flying saucer mystery to amuse himself at the expense of residents in neighboring towns.
Inspired by the Montgolfier balloon system, the mischievous retiree built contraptions that reached three meters in diameter. The envelope was made of thick gray paper sheets, carefully glued together. At the base of the "saucer" was a small receptacle containing a tuft of tow soaked in a flammable liquid. It was enough to ignite the tow to see the contraption rise and disappear with the wind, surrounded by yellowish and orange reflections.
It was following the discovery of one of these contraptions near a haystack, which it had nearly set on fire, that the gendarmes began to suspect the retiree. Many models of "flying saucers" were later found at his home - prototypes that their inventor was preparing to launch into the skies of the Nord.
The hoaxer claimed that he had already built and launched more than a thousand of these contraptions. The former miner will likely be fined for his dangerous amusement.
