The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Républicain de Sablé, France, on November 24, 1954.
See the case file.
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A new element has just been added to the already extensive file of flying saucers and other more or less interstellar craft. The testimony collected is all the more valuable as it contains many precise details and comes from a man accustomed to danger and of perfectly sound judgment.
Mr. André Chaillou is a blacksmith in the village of La Tessouale and lives in Loublande (Deux-Sèvres). He is a veteran of World War II and Indochina. Every morning, he goes to work at the workshop where he meets his father and brother. He finishes work around 7 p.m. For his daily commute, he uses a moped.
Let us add that the events took place on Monday, November 8. To avoid incredulous comments and inevitable teasing, Mr. Chaillou maintained a understandable discretion from the outset.
The observations he was able to make seemed so indisputable to him that he eventually shared them with a few friends. The news spread like wildfire and eventually reached us.
Mr. André Chaillou gave the following account:
"It must have been around 7:30 p.m. As I had a meeting with friends that evening and was running a bit late, I was traveling at a good speed.
"The sky was clear and the moon almost full.
"About [?] kilometers from the village of Loublande, near the Puy-Saint-Bonnet road, I noticed a small blue light in front of me.
"The moped’s headlamp is powerful and for a second I thought it was an animal crossing the road, its eyes shining in the beam of my light.
"I did not spend long speculating, because in less time than it takes to say it, my machine stopped dead and I was thrown forward onto the handlebars, barely managing to avoid a dangerous fall.
"My first thought was a breakdown. When I raised my eyes, about fifty meters in front of me and roughly 1.5 meters above the ground, the blue point had taken on the diameter of a car headlight and was projecting in my direction a blinding glow, comparable to that of an electric arc.
"I then found myself unable to make any movement or utter a word. My hands were stuck to the handlebars, feeling a painful tingling despite the gloves protecting me.
"Did it last a minute or a second? I cannot say.
"The light suddenly went out and I immediately regained the ability to move and speak."
Mr. Chaillou added:
"I have been both at the front and in Indochina, in dangerous situations, and I did not tremble, but this time, I say it without shame, I was afraid!"
The young blacksmith’s adventure does not end there.
After restarting his moped without the slightest difficulty, he continues on his way and quickly picks up speed. As one can imagine, he is eager to get home.
He goes about 200 meters and, in a field to his right, perhaps 150 meters from the roadside, he sees a large glow.
"A firebrand," he thinks, but immediately he associates the glow with what has just happened.
Our man is no coward. He stops the moped, parks it by the roadside, and sets off across the fields.
He makes out, close to the ground, an elongated luminous shape that may measure 5 to 6 meters in length.
A hedge stands between him and the object; he still has about a hundred meters to go when, at a dizzying speed and with a slight whistling sound, the oblong shape rises vertically, then, following a horizontal trajectory, disappears within about fifteen seconds.
Today still, Mr. Chaillou still asks himself questions that may one day find answers. The testimony he provides, even if it only sharpens the mystery, is precise and clearly given in good faith. The passage of time only increases its value. We can only regret, along with our gracious interlocutor, that we are unable to provide these facts with a... tangible conclusion.
