The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 16-Oct-54-Lacanche.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The newspaper Le Bien Public in Dijon for October 20, 1954, and other newspapers too, reported on October 20, 1954, that in Lacanche on the Saturday evening of October 16, 1954 around 9:30 p.m., three trustworthy workmen, Mr. Mongouachon, Mr. Dorier and Mr. Lenet, were returning home after a tiring day, when one of them shouted, surprised: "a strange machine".
There was indeed in the sky, at very high altitude, "an orange colored ball about 20 cm in diameter, leaving behind a luminous trail of about twenty meters long. This ball moved from east to west at a vertiginous speed, making a sound like the whistling sound of a rocket. Is it a flying saucer?"
Ufologist Aimé Michel had pointed out that it was the meteor that crossed the skies of France that night, but not everyone understood this.
[Ref. bpc1:] JOURNAL "LE BIEN PUBLIC":
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Saturday evening, around 9:30 p.m., three trustworthy workers, Messrs. Mongouachon, Dorier, and Lenet, were returning home after a tiring day when one of them exclaimed in surprise: "a strange craft."
Indeed, in the sky, at very high altitude, they saw an orange-colored ball about 20 cm in diameter, leaving behind it a luminous trail about twenty meters long.
This ball was moving from east to west at dizzying speed, making a sound similar to the whistling of a rocket.
Was it a flying saucer?
On October 17, while out hunting, Mr. Auguste Bricard of Diénay discovered in a pine plantation a device suspended from a small balloon and a parachute.
The white lacquered box bearing the inscription "Radio-Sonde, U.S. Army" was handed over by the mayor to the Is-sur-Tille gendarmerie, who will forward it to the military authorities.
Perhaps the parachute, which was red in color, was mistaken during its atmospheric descent for a flying saucer!
[Ref. csl1:] NEWSPAPER "LE COURRIER DE SAONE-ET-LOIRE":
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DIENAY. -- On October 17, while out hunting, Mr. Auguste Bricard of Di'nay discovered in a pine plantation a device suspended from a small balloon and a parachute.
The white lacquered box bearing the inscription "Radio-Sonde, U.S. Army" was handed over by the mayor to the Is-sur-Tille gendarmerie, who will forward it to the military authorities.
Perhaps the parachute, which was red in color, was mistaken during its atmospheric descent for a flying saucer!
Saturday evening, around 9:30 p.m., three trustworthy workers, Messrs. Mongouachon, Dorier, and Lenet, were returning home after a tiring day when one of them exclaimed in surprise: "a strange craft."
Indeed, in the sky, at very high altitude, they saw an orange-colored ball about 20 cm in diameter, leaving behind it a luminous trail about twenty meters long.
This ball was moving from east to west at dizzying speed, making a sound similar to the whistling of a rocket.
Was it a flying saucer?
[Ref. aml1:] AIME MICHEL:
Aimé Michel wrote about the October 16, 1954, 09:30 p.m. meteor:
THE TEST OF THE METEOR. October 16, as if it was purposely, a splendid meteor crossed the north of France towards 09:30 p.m.. It was observed on a score of departments by thousands of people, from the Allier to Lorraine and from the Swiss border to Paris. Naturally many witnesses believed to have seen a Flying Saucer and said so. The newspapers printed "Flying Saucer in Orly", or "in Montididier", or "in Metz." But once again the description made by all these weak brains appeared of a remarkable honesty.
[...]
The innumerable gathered testimonies show indeed that even when the witnesses called "Flying saucer" the observed object, their description is identical on 200.000 square kilomeetrs where the visible phenomenon was visible: an "orange ball followed by a trail", a "large luminous ball with a tail", a "flying egg followed by a trail", a "bottle's bottom with a trail of thirty times its diameter", etc. The same phenomenon is uniformly described.
[...]
[Ref. fru1:] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:
The two authors indicate that in Lacanche in the department of Côte-d'Or, on October 16, 1954 at 09:30 p.m., there was an observation of an orange ball leaving behind itself a luminous tail "of approximately twenty meters."
[Ref. via1] "VIMANA 21" UFOLOGY BULLETIN:
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WHY 1954?
The French flap of 1954 is today more than controversial.
Thus, A.D.R.U.P. wanted to make a compilation of all the documents published in a Burgundy daily newspaper:
"Le Bien Public".
The interest of this catalogue is triple:
[... Other cases...]
WEDNESDAY 20 OCTOBER: MYSTERIOUS CRAFT IN THE SKY OF LACANCHE -
Saturday evening, around 09:30 p.m, three workers, worthy of faith, Messrs. Mongouachon, Dorier and Lenet were returning home after a tiring day, when one of them exclaimed, surprised: "a strange machine". Indeed, in the sky, at very high altitude, they saw an orange ball of about 20 cm in diameter, leaving behind a luminous wake of about twenty meters long. This ball moved from east to west at a vertiginous speed, making a noise sound like the whistling of a rocket. Is it a flying saucer?...
[... Other cases...]
[Ref. via2] "VIMANA 21" UFOLOGY BULLETIN:
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54 10 16 / LACANCHE / 09:3030 p.m. / NL / P I /
Three workers saw in the sky, an orange ball, about 20 cm in diameter, leaving behind a luminous wake of about twenty meters long. This ball was moving at a dizzying pace with a sound like a whistling rocket.
(Source Bien public, 10/20/54 - I[dentifed] identical to the previous case)
[Ref. via3:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "VIMANA 21":
This magazine listed this case:
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54 10 16 21H30 LN Lacanche |
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
The author of the database reports that in the Côte d'Or in Lacanche on October 16, 1954 at 21:30 hours there was an "Observation of an orange ball leaving behind it a luminous wake of a score of meters."
The source is given as "Alerte dans le ciel by Garreau Charles ** Alain Lefeuvre 1981".
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The meteor of October 16, 1954, at 09:30 p.m.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Lacanche, Côte-d'Or, night, ball, orange, luminous, trail, Mongouachon, Dorier, Lenet, luminous, fast, direction, sound, whistling, rocket, high
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | September 25, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | December 27, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Addition [lcn1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | December 14, 2018 | Additions [via1], [via2], Summary. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | May 16, 2025 | Additions [bpc1], [csl1], In the Summary, addition of the information from [csl1]. |
