The article below was published in the daily newspaper La Bourgogne Républicaine, Dijon, France, pages 1 and 10, September 13, 1954.
See the case file.
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Lille, 12 (A.C.P.). - A new flying saucer ellegedly descended from the sky and landed, during the night from Friday to Saturday, on the territory of Quarouble, near Valenciennes, near the level crossing 29, on the railway line operated by les Houillères.
Mr. Marius Dewilde, 34, claims to have seen the craft within six meters. Better, two of the occupants of the saucer, surprised while they had come down to earth, grazed him, he said, in their race to join the apparatus, which, as usual, left no trace.
It was 10:30 p.m., Mr. Dewilde said, my wife was in bed, I was reading by the fire, when my
Continued on page 10, under the title
SAUCER
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attention was drawn to my dog's barking. The beast "howled at death." Believing in the presence of prowlers in my farmyard, I went out, provided with a flashlight.
"Less than six meters from the door of my house, I saw a dark mass. At first I thought it was a harvest cart. My dog ??then came towards me, crawling, and, at that moment, I looked towards a small path leading to my pasture. I saw two men, small, running towards the level crossing. And immediately I thought of smugglers bending under their load. They sometimes take this path; but the two beings in a hurry almost brushed against me.
"I shone the beam of the lamp. The beam was reflected on the head of one of them like on glass. This head actually seemed quite large to me, but I didn't have time to detail. At the same moment, the door of the craft opened. A bright light dazzled me as would a flash of magnesium. Blind and paralyzed by fear, I saw the door close, the craft oscillate slightly, rise about ten meters, then fly like lightning in the direction of Anzin, that is to say west."
Mr. Dewilde, invited to describe the saucer, further indicated that it was round, perhaps conical.
According to his indications, it was estimated to be about three meters high and six meters in diameter. As it took off, it let out some smoke, and blushed until it looked like a ball of fire.
When he had regained his senses, Mr. Dewilde went to wake up his wife, a neighbor, and ran to the gendarmerie, then to the Onnaing police station, where he arrived around midnight. Commissioner Gouchet found before him a man trembling in all his limbs, suffering from intestinal contractions which clearly excluded the hypothesis of comedy.
Mr. Dewilde had been afraid, he says, afraid of the stocky, helmeted little beings, also afraid of the lightning which occurred when they opened the door of the saucer.
In his neighborhood, Mr. Dewilde has the reputation of a sober and full of common sense man.
Yesterday the air police came to inspect the scene, but no trace was found. It was only observed that a piece of ballast had been freshly loosened. In the path taken by the little men, no imprint remains. It is true that the earth, hard in this place, is continually trodden.
