The article below was published in the daily newspaper Nord-Matin, Nord - Pas-de-Calais, France, page 6, on October 16, 1954.
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A resident of the town of Méral (Mayenne) said he saw in the sky a bright orange ball that landed on the ground. The flat, domed disc, five to six meters in diameter, gave off a blinding glow, illuminating the countryside within a 200-meter radius.
The craft was transparent and from the inside one observed a black shape. The disc remained like this for about ten minutes, blushed and disappeared towards the North. The observer then went to the place where the object had landed. There was, he assures, a king of bright fog that slowly fell to the ground. When he got home, he noticed that his clothes were covered with a white layer of a slightly sticky material, like paraffin.
A baker boy from Calais said he saw at 3:40 a.m., at a place called "Saint-Pierre-Halte", on the road to Saint-Omer, a yellow and shiny machine landing on the railway.
The oddly shaped object was, according to the baker, two meters high and four meters in diameter.
Other appearances include this one:
A barrel maker from Graulhet said that he had seen a silvery craft heading northwest at the end of the afternoon; which he first took for a jet plane, but not discerning any condensation trail, the observer went to get a pair of binoculars and distinctly saw a large flexible disc which undulated on itself, while moving at high speed.
It was then that the craft seemed to explode in mid-flight. A silver ball, about a meter in diameter, escaped from the mass and continued on its way, while the rest of the craft fell in several pieces similar to sheets of various dimensions which hovered in the sky and some of which hung on the telegraph wires. About fifteen people testified to this singular case and fragments of material were collected. They come in the form of agglomerated silver filaments which crumble when touched.
In our section devoted to flying saucers yesterday, we cited the following information: a "white disc" had hovered over Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.
The Caritat air base (Vaucluse), alerted, immediately directed two jet planes which soon appeared, and after two turns on Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, took altitude and dove on the "disc".
The radio installed on the planes and which was in communication with the base, announced that the craft was in sight, that it was chased, but that it escaped because its speed was higher than theirs.
From Vaucluse, one could clearly see the disc moving away like an arrow, chased by the two jet planes.
As expected, the "authorities" denied the information in these terms:
"The Secretary of State for the Armed Forces (Air) wishes to point out that the two pilots from the Orange base who flew at different altitudes over Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, on October 14 in the afternoon, did not observe any unknown craft during their search. The two pilots are experienced officers and their reports are formal."
