The article below was published in the daily newspaper La Feuille d'Avis, de Neufchatel-en-Bray, France, pages 1 et 7, le 8 janvier 1954.
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Is it the fall of an aerolite?
Dieppe 8 AFP - A mysterious phenomenon occurred Thursday morning, between 3:30 and 4, in Dieppe. A dazzling gleam seen in particular by 70 dockers, was followed at the end of a few minutes by a formidable explosion which opened many doors and broke several windows in the city; the majority of the resident were suddenly awaken.
The semaphore of Dieppe contacted those of all the small harbors of the coastline. It was noted thus that the phenomenon had been also perceived by their residents, but that the semaphore of Le Havre did not observe anything.
Many testimonies were collected: while they diverge in their details, they all confirm the event on the origin of which one is lost in conjectures.
Some relate it with the fact that a small fishing boat returned in Dieppe, one week ago approximately, entirely punctured with very small pieces which could have come from an aerolite.
(Continued on page 7)
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(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1)
Other witnesses, Dieppe peasants who went early to the market, reported that at the time of the explosion it was clear as in full daylight during nearly twenty seconds.
Others still stated that the projected light came from a ball whose apparent diameter was appreciably equal to half of that of the moon, and whichmoved from East to West. They add that immediately after the explosion, a fall of snow occurred.
These last testimonies suggest that we are in the presence of a purely meteoric phenomenon. In this respect, the institute of astrophysics of Paris estimates that it is very probable that it was a fireball.
Such explosions, it is stressed, are not very rare. The bolides, that their passage in the Earth's atmosphere overheats, become incandescent and burst sometimes with a crashing sound. Other times, they explode "silently" or fall in one piece on the surface of the Earth: this is the origin of the falls of aerolites.
