The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Bien Public, Dijon, France, pages 1 et 10, on October 6, 1954.
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Lille, October 5. -- A retired miner from Beuvry-les-Béthune, known in his town as a prankster, did not miss the opportunity presented by the flying saucer mystery to have some fun at the expense of the residents of neighboring villages.
Inspired by the hot air balloon system, the mischievous retiree built devices that reached three meters in diameter. The envelope was made of sheets of gray paper, carefully glued together. At the base of the saucer, there was a small receptacle containing a tuft of tow soaked in a flammable liquid. It was enough to ignite the tow to see the device rise and disappear at the mercy of the winds, surrounded by yellowish and orange reflections.
It was after one of these devices was discovered near a haystack, nearly setting it on fire, that the gendarmes began to suspect the retiree. Authorities soon found numerous prototypes of "flying saucers" in his home, which their inventor was preparing to launch into the northern skies.
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The hoaxer claimed that he had already built and launched more than a thousand of these devices. The former miner will likely be fined for dangerous amusement.
Le Havre.. -- Mr. André Lefèvre, a taxi driver, who was parked on the port last night around 8 p.m., saw a glowing disk rising into the sky west of Deauville, leaving behind a phosphorescent trail and a slight smoke. This phenomenon, which was visible for ten minutes, was also witnessed by several sailors returning to their ship.
Le Puy.. -- Mr. and Mrs. Teyssier from Saint-Etienne, who were camping in Aurec-sur-Loire (Haute-Loire), saw in the sky a luminous object resembling a large headlight moving rapidly at an altitude of about 2,000 meters. The object emitted a red-orange beam of light and followed a north-south trajectory. Once it had disappeared, a second object, similar to the first and seemingly following it, appeared, took the same path, and also vanished.
At around the same time, several people saw similar objects above the Aurec church tower. After hovering for a moment, they sped across the sky in a southwest direction.
Lens.. -- On Sunday evening, around 9:30 p.m., in Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, an object shaped like a pot and spinning on itself was seen in the sky by two people. It emitted a reddish glow and moved rapidly. At the same time, another object, this time crescent-shaped, was spotted in the sky over Liévin. After hovering for a few minutes, the crescent split in two. The upper part remained stationary, while the lower part landed in a field between two haystacks, only to take off shortly after and reattach to the portion still in the air.
Angoulême.. -- On Sunday evening, around 11:15 p.m., on the Montmoreau - Villebois-Lavalette road (Charente), Mr. Jean Allary, 22 years old, saw very clearly, by the light of his moped's headlamp, a sort of barrel about 1.80 meters high, studded with golden nails, swaying at the roadside. When Mr. Allary passed the mysterious object, he looked back at about ten meters away, but it had vanished.
Witnesses saw, yesterday afternoon, at the very place indicated by Mr. Allary, traces about seven meters long in the grass bordering the road.
Autun.. -- Several people reported seeing in the Epinac-les-Mines region (Saône-et-Loire), a kind of large luminous sphere moving slowly and strangely through the sky.
A similar phenomenon was observed in the Ain and in the northern part of the Rhône department, near Col des Echarmeaux, as well as in the Isère, near Morestel.
Nevers.. -- In Château-Chinon, five people, whose sincerity cannot be doubted, witnessed a phenomenon that repeated itself several times, leaving them more amazed than frightened.
At 9 p.m., a luminous spot seeming to be stationary at a very high altitude appeared in the sky. At one time, the spot split into two parts, with each of the resulting disks spinning rapidly while changing colors multiple times. Then, everything went dark, but after a few minutes, the luminous spot reappeared, split again, and resumed spinning.
