The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Patriote de Nice et du Sud-Est, Nice, France, pages 1 and 7, on October 14, 1954.
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Clearly, this flying saucer business isn't over yet. One would think many people spend their lives looking up at the sky and wandering through deserted fields at night... perfect for mysterious landings. After discs, cigars, pots, and other barrels, now cylinders, bells, and mushrooms are joining the aerial carousel.
After the (pretty) Martian women, here comes the French-speaking Martian...
A 13-year-old boy, young Gilbert Lelay, claims to have seen, Tuesday evening around 10:30 p.m., a mysterious craft in a field about 600 meters from his parents' home in the village of Sainte-Marie-en-Erbray, near Châteaubriant.
The child says he remained for ten minutes watching the object, about ten meters away. The craft had the shape of a phosphorescent cigar. A passenger, a man dressed in a suit and a gray hat, wearing boots, allegedly told him in French: "Look, but don't touch." He placed one hand on the boy's shoulder while holding in the other a ball emitting violet lights. He then entered the craft through a door, which he shut behind him. On what appeared to be a control panel were several multicolored buttons.
Still according to the child, the craft rose slowly vertically, emitted lights in all directions, circled twice in the air, and suddenly disappeared.
FROM LOUVIERS. -- A craftsman and his apprentice claimed to have seen, on the Evreux-Louviers railway line, while riding motorcycles around 3 a.m., a bell-shaped craft about 2.5 to 3 meters high, which hovered one meter above the ground. The lower part of the device had the shape of a ring. The craft emitted sparks with greenish and reddish reflections. It first made a leap
(Read more on page 7).
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about 10 to 12 meters in size, with an orange glow emerging from its base.
A farm worker joined the two men to observe the phenomenon. All three stated that the "bell" remained visible for nearly an hour. Then the orange glow intensified, and the object rose quickly in a vertical ascent, heading eastward.
And to think we used to believe that bells only fly at Easter!
FROM LA ROCHE-SUR-YON. -- Mme. Drouillard, residing in La Roche-sur-Yon, stated that she saw in the sky, Tuesday night around 11:30 p.m., a luminous craft resembling a mushroom, moving very quickly and silently.
If mushrooms start flying, say goodbye to the lovely foraging walks in the woods come autumn.
FROM NEVERS. -- Two residents of Clamecy (Nièvre), Messrs. Henri Gallois and Louis Vigneron, traveling vendors, stated that they saw a cylindrical-shaped craft in a field near Corbigny.
They claim that when they were about fifty meters from the craft, they felt an electric shock, while the engine of their truck stopped and the headlights went out. Once the craft disappeared, the headlights turned back on, but they had to restart the engine manually.
We'd already heard a similar version, except in that case, the Martians managed to restart the engine themselves as they left. Too bad, this time the trick didn't work.
Above the Mont Boron forest, several people who were at the Col de Villefranche on Tuesday evening around 8:30 p.m. also reported seeing a very bright, orange-colored flying saucer. After rising vertically, it disappeared at great speed, "as fast as a shooting star," they told us.
It lasted only a few tenths of a second. Still, it was enough for the witnesses to be firmly convinced that this flying object definitely belonged to the "saucer" family spotted around the world.
