The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 2-oct-54-Poncey.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. bre1:] NEWSPAPER "LA BOURGOGNE REPUBLICAINE":
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(FROM OUR SPECIAL ENVOY CHARLES GARREAU)
From her bedroom window, Mrs. Thérèse Fourneret shows me the meadow stretching out at the bottom of a valley.
"It is there, to the right of the plum tree that I saw the thing. Distraught, I fled to my neighbor's, Mrs. Bouiller, taking my little Yves..."
In her haste, Mme Fourneret left the shutter and windows wide open; she barely took care to lock the door behind her.
The "thing" is indeed a strange apparition which surprised Mrs. Fourneret, a sympathetic young woman of 23, as she closed her shutters, Monday evening, around 8 a.m.
She lives with her husband in a house adjoining the asbestos factory in Poncey-sur-l'Ignon, where Mr. Fourneret works. The factory is extending
Continued on page 10, under the title
CRAFT
[Photo caption 1:] "It is above the wood that I saw the strange phenomenon", Mrs. Gainet explains, who, with her husband, her daughter and many neighbors, had seen on Saturday, a cylindrical luminous object.
Inset: Mr. François Bouiller, who saw the "cigar" on Monday as it flew off.
[Photo caption 2:] Mrs. Thérèse Fourneret shows the traces left by the craft where it landed. A surface of one square meter was stripped. On the edges of the imprint, the earth has been sucked under the grass, as shown by the position of our collaborator's hand. (Photo B. R.)
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between the two wooded slopes of the hills, a few hundred meters from the village.
Monday evening, Mrs. Fourneret was alone. She was getting ready to put her toddler to bed, and opened the window.
What she saw nailed her on the spot.
At about twenty meters, a luminous body was swinging gently in the air at the height of the plum tree, as if it was preparing to land.
Its dimensions? "About three meters in diameter," Mrs. Fourneret told me.
That's all the precision she can give. She hardly remembers that the object was of an orange-yellow color, dimly illuminating the foliage of the nearby plum tree.
For an hour, Mrs. Fourneret and Mrs. Bouiller remained locked at home in double lock.
It is then that two neighbors arrived, MM. Girardot and Vincent. Informed, they armed themselves with their rifles and headed for the meadow.
There was nothing left, neither craft nor marauding "Martian". But, less than three meters from the trunk of the tree, a very fresh imprint attests that Mrs. Fourneret has not been dreaming.
Forming a trapezoid, with quite irregular sides, of about 1.50 m. in height, 0.50 m. at its small base and 0.70 m. to the large, an entire area of the meadow has been stripped, exposing the land. On the fresh scratch, white worms are still stirring, cut in half.
The grass fell in clumps within a radius of three to four meters, following a vaguely ovoid line, which "roughly" follows the shape of the trace.
On its edges, the earth is "excavated" under the grass. It seems that this part of the meadow was sucked up with extraordinary violence, when the craft left, and that the lifted clods fell back in sheaves, like drops from a jet of water. Curious detail: a plant with deep roots remained, alone, in the center of the bare earth.
No traces of burns. No footprints around.
Yet the craft remained at least half an hour in the same place. Indeed, returning from his work, a young 18-year-old man, François Bouiller saw it as it was gaining altitude, heading south.
"I was terribly scared," young François said to me. "I saw this craft which sped in the night, taking on a greenish yellow hue as it moved away. It looked like a fuselage of a plane without wings."
François returned home, looking defeated. What he saw confirms Mrs. Fourneret's statements.
Other people in the area also saw the cigar when it left.
Alerted, the gendarmes of the Saint-Seine brigade came to carry out an investigation under the direction of Captain Millet, commander of the Semur section.
Photos and samples have been taken.
But will they make it possible to identify the object which in all likelihood landed on Monday evening in the meadow of the factory?
Would the region in turn be the target of the strange sky prowlers, which are reported everywhere every day?
We learned, during our investigation, that several reliable people, including the former mayor, Mr. Guainet had seen, on Saturday evening, a strange luminous apparition.
"I was finishing milking the cows, Mrs. Guainet told me. The dogs who usually stay with me had come out a few seconds earlier barking in the direction of the wood. One of them, Grignousse, came back to me, "all wrapped up", as I stepped out into the courtyard.
"A strange fact struck me: the courtyard was softly lit as by the moon in its waning.
"The moon is very odd tonight, I thought. Looking up, I saw, above the wood, a strange luminous craft, a kind of cylinder moving vertically and appearing to fly low. It was moving east at about the speed of a large airplane.
"Terrorized, I called my husband and my daughter Yvette. A neighbor joined us."
All of them saw the extraordinary apparition, the orange mass which was surrounded in green, slowly disappear behind the hill.
Several other residents witnessed the phenomenon, as well as Mr. Boucherot, who was in Pelbrey.
* * *
Mrs. Fourneret, who did not believe in "flying saucers", cannot explain what she saw.
But she hasn't changed her mind.
Mr. and Mrs. Guainet, on the other hand, who did not believe in saucers either, are now convinced of their existence.
Each his own truth!
[Ref. bpc1] NEWSPAPER "LE BIEN PUBLIC":
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Did a "saucer" haunt the skies over Poncey-sur-l'Ignon? Did it try to land in a meadow near the asbestos factory? These are questions that are difficult to answer clearly and precisely. Because the two craft that appeared in Poncey-sur-l'Ignon within forty-eight hours both had witnesses. Many people claim to have "seen" something. What to make of it all? We leave it up to our readers to draw their own conclusions.
The first mysterious craft seen by residents of Poncey had the shape of a vertical cylinder. Let's hear from the first witness, Mrs. Gainait, wife of the former mayor.
– It happened Saturday evening, around 7:40 p.m. I had just finished milking my cows and, coming out of the stable, I saw the farmyard all lit up... I looked up at the sky and that's when I saw...
– What did you see, Madam?
– Well, sir, a flying cylinder, orange in color, surrounded by a square of pale green light.
– Was the cylinder moving?
– Yes, above the small woods, about a kilometer away... So I called my husband, my daughter Yvette, a neighbor, Mrs. Mugneret, and we all watched the cylinder move.
– For how long, approximately?
– Maybe ten minutes. And then it disappeared, at the speed of a large plane, silently, in the direction of Chanceaux.
* Continued on the last page
[Photo caption:] Mrs. Fourneret points to the traces of the "mysterious craft" (Photo B.P.)
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[Photo caption:] The witnesses from Saturday evening are certain, "We saw a cylinder" (Photo B.P.)
Continued from the first page
And Mrs. Gainait concludes: "You know, before, I didn't believe in these craft, but today I have no choice—because I saw one!"
Obviously... But there's something even more disturbing. Two days later, on Monday, the cylinder returned to Poncey—this time transformed into a classic flying disc.
It was 7:30 p.m. A young woman, Mrs. Fourneret, née Thérèse Thieblot, 23 years old, was about to close the shutters of her bedroom in the small house she shares with her husband next to the asbestos factory. Suddenly, through the open window, just fifty meters away, she saw a disc emitting a soft orange glow, flattened at both ends—"as big as a stove," said Mrs. Fourneret—which appeared to be hovering above a plum tree in the nearby meadow.
Panic-stricken, Mrs. Fourneret ran to her neighbor's house. The two terrified women locked themselves in and waited an hour for their husbands to return.
Armed with rifles (just in case!), and equipped with flashlights, the men went out to "have a look."
At the spot where the saucer had "landed" in the meadow, they found fresh traces.
We saw these traces. What did they look like?
A rectangular area measuring 1.5 meters by 0.6 meters had been cleared of weeds and the soil leveled, as if compacted. Around the area, in a circle about ten meters wide, uprooted clumps of soil were scattered. Curiously, perennial plants like dandelions and couch grass remained rooted, which suggests that this wasn't done with any common tool. A farmer, Mr. Cazet, the mayor of Poncey, stated firmly: "These are not tool marks... It's too perfectly done," he declared.
That's where things stand today. Chief Clément of the Sainte-Seine-l'Abbaye gendarmerie visited the site. Captain Millet from the Semur division has opened an investigation. Is this a well-orchestrated hoax? If so, kudos to the clever prankster—and no hard feelings!
On that note, we should mention that in the days before the sighting, Mrs. Fourneret had been the target of "friendly jokes" from local residents. In fact, the infamous group of pranksters had planned to trick her into believing a saucer had landed... But they were too late—"the real one" had already landed in the meantime... So, what now?
Several residents of Côte-d'Or saw a spherical luminous object emitting a bright green glow, moving through the sky toward the south. This account matches reports from several people in Santenay-les-Bains, including Mr. Bernard Legros, 25, manager of the Docks Bourguignons.
On Sunday evening, October 2, around 8:45 p.m., Mr. Legros was between La Garenne and Saisy-la-Forêt when he saw a glowing ball moving slowly and silently toward him, losing altitude. Mr. Legros immediately stopped, as did several other motorists, and all watched (not without fear) for about five minutes as the luminous craft maneuvered, then suddenly disappeared in the direction of Le Creusot.
The craft, he said, was orange in color and appeared to have a kind of dome on top, glowing with a greenish-black light.
On Monday, around 7:15 p.m., Mr. Beaufort, director of the Commercial Counter in Chalon-sur-Saône, was driving on the road to Demigny when, at the edge of the woods of Lessard-le-National, he spotted in his headlights the silver fuselage of one of those infamous "cigars" resting on the embankment. He didn't have time to get out of his car before the craft took off vertically, accompanied by flame jets resembling a blowtorch. Truck drivers from Mores-Saint-Denis, who were following Mr. Beaufort, also saw the craft.
The next day, passing again by the spot where the "cigar" had landed, Mr. Beaufort noticed deep tracks on the embankment.
[Ref. csl1:] NEWSPAPER "LE COURRIER DE SAONE-ET-LOIRE":
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Did a "saucer" haunt the skies over Poncey-sur-l'Ignon? Did it try to land in a field near the asbestos factory?
Let the witnesses speak, who are nothing if not certain.
The first mysterious craft seen by the inhabitants of Poncey had the shape of a vertical cylinder. Let's hear from the first witness, Mrs. Gainait, wife of the former mayor.
- It happened Saturday evening, around 7:40 p.m. I had just finished milking my cows and as I stepped out of the barn, I saw the farmyard completely lit up... I looked up at the sky and that's when I saw it...
- What did you see, madam?
- Well, sir, a flying cylinder, orange in color, surrounded by a square of pale green light.
- Was the cylinder moving?
- Yes, above the little woods, there, about a kilometer away... So I called my husband, my daughter Yvette, and a neighbor, Mrs. Mugneret, and we watched the cylinder move.
- For how long, approximately?
- Ten minutes, maybe. Then it disappeared, at the speed of a large airplane, silently, in the direction of Chanceaux.
And Mr. Gainait concludes: You know, I didn't believe in these crafts before, but now I have to, since I saw one!
Obviously... But things got even more disturbing. Two days later, on Monday, the cylinder returned to Poncey, this time transformed into a flying disc of the most classic kind.
It was 7:30 p.m. A young woman, Mrs. Fourneret, née Thérèse Thieblot, 23 years old, was about to close the shutters of her bedroom, in the small house she shares with her husband next to the asbestos factory. Suddenly, through the open window, just fifty meters away, she saw a disc emitting a soft orange light, flattened at both ends—"as big as my stove," specifies Mrs. Fourneret—which seemed to be hovering above a plum tree in the nearby field.
Panic-stricken, Mrs. Fourneret fled to her neighbor's house. The two terrified women barricaded themselves in and waited for an hour for their husbands to arrive.
Armed with rifles (just in case!), and carrying flashlights, the men went to "check things out."
At the spot where the saucer had landed in a field, they found fresh traces.
We saw these traces. What do they consist of?
A rectangular surface of 1.5 m by 0.6 m had been neatly cleared of weeds and the soil leveled, as if tamped down. Around the perimeter, about ten meters in a circle, the uprooted clods had been scattered. A curious thing: perennial plants like dandelions and couch grass remained rooted, which proves it wasn't a matter of digging. A farmer, Mr. Cazet, mayor of Poncey, is certain: "These aren't tool marks... It's too well done," he said.
That's where things stand for now. Chief Clément of the Sainte-Seine-l'Abbaye gendarmerie was informed and went to the scene. Captain Millet from the Semur division has opened an investigation. Is this a well-orchestrated hoax? If so, congratulations to the clever prankster—and no hard feelings!
On that note, let us point out that in the preceding days, Mrs. Fourneret had been the target of some light-hearted pranks by locals, and on the very evening in question, the prankster group had planned to trick her into believing a saucer had landed... But they arrived too late—"the real one" had landed in the meantime... So, what now?
LIMOGES. -- A farmer from Chaleix (Dordogne), Mr. Garreau, swore "on his honor" that he saw a "flying soup tureen" land on his property. Mr. Garreau said two perfectly normal-looking men, wearing khaki overalls, got out, shook his hand, and spoke to him in an unknown language. Mr. Garreau, stunned, did not reply. The two men petted his dog and got back into their craft, which took off silently at a dizzying speed. At the location Mr. Garreau indicated, it was found that the grass had been trampled.
- A luminous saucer-shaped craft, spiraling through the air, was observed in Valence by military aircraft detection specialists, who managed to "track" it with their optical equipment for a few seconds.
- A "regular flying saucer service" seems to have been established between the Poitevin marsh and La Rochelle, according to witnesses who observed a veritable shuttle of strange crafts.
- A "flying chamber pot" was seen in the Rambouillet region by Mr. Georges Leroux, brother-in-law of a minister of the Principality of Monaco. The craft emitted a dazzling green light.
- A red-orange luminous craft was observed in Pontoise [sic, Poncey], by Miss Thérèse Fournet [sic, Fourneret], 23 years old. The craft landed in front of her, to her great fright, and other residents saw it as well. Very clear traces in the grass were noted by the gendarmes, who took soil samples.
- A kind of greenish rocket landed in front of Mr. Defiz, 26, a central heating technician, and Mr. Labonne, a 63-year-old retiree from Bergerac. They saw three struts supporting the craft and felt a strong suction of air as it took off vertically. Traces resembling "black mushrooms" [sic] were visible for a few moments.
- Saucers, cigars, spheres, and various crafts were also seen in Thénon (Dordogne), in Puiset (Eure-et-Loir), in Biarritz and in Béhobie, in Duclair (Seine-Inférieure), in Duclair (Seine-Inférieure), in Heyrieux (Isère), in Dieulanvollon (Côtes-du-nord), in Jort (Calvados) and in the Island of Ré.
[Ref. jgu1:] JIMMY GUIEU:
During his investigation of the Poncey-sur-Lignon landing, Charles Garreau became aware of another interesting case. Several reliable people, including the former Mayor of this locality, Mr. Guainet, saw, 48 hours earlier (October 2, 1954), a strange luminous apparition:
- I was finishing milking the cows, explained Mrs. Guainet to our investigator. The dogs that usually stay with me had come out a few seconds earlier, barking toward the woods. One of them, Grignousse, came back to me "all upset", just as I was going out into the yard. A bizarre fact struck me: the courtyard was gently lit as by the waning moon. The moon is very funny tonight, I thought. Looking up, I then saw, above the wood, a strange luminous craft, a kind of cylinder moving vertically and appearing to fly at low altitude. It was heading east at about the speed of a large plane. Terrified, I called my husband and my daughter Yvette. A neighbor joined us."
Everyone saw the extraordinary craft (whose orange mass was circled in green) slowly disappearing behind the hill. Several other inhabitants witnessed the phenomenon, which was observed even from Pelbrey, a neighboring locality. In this case again, the dogs noticed the spacecraft or were "inconvenienced" or excited by its vibrations or radiations without effect on humans.
[Ref. aml1:] AIME MICHEL:
Ufologist Aimé Michel found the observation of Poncey starting from his hypothesis of "orthoténie," i.e., his empirical suspicion of alignments; which would not be random for the locations of UFO sightings. As of the day of October 2, among the may observation reports, he listed a dozen observations in France which seemed aligned on lines which seemingly had their intersection at Poncey-Sur-l'Ignon in Burgundy. His friend and neighbor in Paris, the ceramist Pierre Mestre, after having contemplated the observation map displayed on a wall by Aimé Michel, pointed out to him that it would be interesting to know of an UFO has been observed at Poncey for October 2.
Aimé Michel tells that while digging in his files, he indeed found the following sighting.
On Saturday, October 2, at about 08:00 P.M., Mrs. Guainet was finishing milking the cows in her cattle shed. She told:
"The dogs, which at this time usually stay put in the cattle shed at my sides, had come out a few seconds earlier, barking in the direction of the wood. When I came out behind them in the court, an odd fact struck me: the front of the house was gently enlightened as by the Moon at its decline. "The Moon is quite strange this evening," I thought. Looking up, I then saw a sort of large luminous cigar above the wood, apparently at low altitude, which flew silently towards the East at a speed comparable with that of a large plane, and keeping an appreciably vertical position. I called my husband and my daughter Yvette. A neighbor came out too. We all saw the enormous object disappearing behind the hill, always flying in straight line at a moderate speed."
Michel adds that the display had been seen by other inhabitants from other locations in the village, but that the observation had passed unnoticed because of the more sensational case of October 4 in the same village.
[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:
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October 2 [, 1954]
[... Other cases...]
08:00 p.m.: Poncey-sur-l'Ignon (6 km NNW ins from Saint-Seine-l'Abbaye, Côte-d'Or): almost vertical luminous cigar
[... Other cases...]
[Ref. ldl1:] "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT" UFOLOGY MAGAZINE:
Editor's note. - The four straight lines are about the network of October 2, 1954. The first includes the places of: Jeumont, Dijon, Louhans, Morestel (On this straight line are also located: Chevigny en Valière (on 10/14/54), and Le Pin (on 9/16/54). The second includes the places of Poncey-Pellerey, Bourg (on this straight line are also located: Meursanges (on 10/14/54). The third includes the places of Saint-Brieuc, Saint-Paulien (on this straight line are also located: Angers (on 9/1/54). The fourth includes the places of Aiguillon, Avignon (on this straight line is also located: Fontaine de Vaucluse (on 10/14/54).
[Ref. jve5:] JACQUES VALLEE:
| 197 | -004.76181 | 47.49750 | 02 | 10 | 1954 | 19 | 40 | 1 | PONCEY L IGNON CDO | F | 11 2 | C** | 176 |
[Ref. gab1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "G.A.B.R.I.E.L.":
10/02/1954 Poncey on the Ignon (Côte d'Or)
Mrs. Guainet and her family were able to observe a luminous machine which moved slowly and at low altitude, it had the shape of an orange cylinder haloed in green and slightly inclined in the direction of its movement. (Jimmy Guieu)
[Ref. cpr1:] CLAUDE POHER, UFO RESEARCH GROUP "GEPA":
In 1968-1969, before the official GEPAN ufology effort started, its future head Dr Claude Poher was a member of the unofficial GEPA ufology group, and gathered a computer coded listing of more than 700 UFO reports on which multiple factors statistical computation could be run. In the file were a number of 1954 French UFO reports, among those this one.
For readability, a decoded interpretation of the data is provided here under the original 80 character encoded string. Decoding was done according to the original indications, the code number and its generic meaning is given. Please not that the generic meaning of each code is a predefined category, not the real specific details of the case. For example, if the main witness' age was 33, the coding would result in a number "3" which corresponds to a category "Adult from 21 to 59 years."
| Original code: | 0622550210195419401JA413201000001301020320B0000000000000000000000000000000000000 |
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| Location: | Poncey sur l Ignon (Cote dor) [sic] - France |
| Case number: | 0622 |
| Source code: | 55 |
| Nature of the source: | Reports from official French sources: Police, Gendarmerie, Army, Pilots |
| Day: | 02 |
| Month: | 10 |
| Year: | 1954 |
| Hours: | 19 |
| Minutes: | 40 |
| Type of Time: | 1 = local time |
| Number of witnesses: | 4 = 4 |
| Main witness named: | 1 = name(s) indicated |
| Main witness age: | 3 = Adult from 21 to 59 years |
| Main witness occupation: | 2 = farmer, docker, navy, housekeeper |
| Official investigation: | 1 = an official investigation was made |
| Weather: | 0 = no indication |
| Duration: | 0 = no indication |
| Minimal distance witness - phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Method of observation: | 0 = no indication |
| Number of "objects" observed simultaneously: | 01 = 1 |
| Shape of the "object" (terminology of witness(es)): | 3 = cigar, cylinder, rocket |
| Dimensions of the phenomenon: | 0102 = 1 meters by 2 meters |
| Color of the observed phenomenon: | 03 = orange, fire color |
| Luminosity of the phenomenon: | 2 = luminous, fluorescent |
| Lights or projectors on the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Moving speed of the phenomenon: | B = Speed is compared with an airplane speed |
| Acceleration of the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Trajectory of the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Sounds perceived during observation: | 0 = no indication |
| Maximum angular height of observation (horizon = 0°): | 0 = no indication |
| Nature of the landing place: | 0 = no indication |
| Number of contact points with ground: | 0 = no indication |
| Traces of landing: | 0 = no indication |
| Observation of "occupants": | 0 = no indication |
| Height of the occupants observed: | 00 = no indication |
| Garment of the occupants: | 00 = no indication |
| Garment: | 0 = no indication |
| General behavior of "occupants": | 0 = no indication |
| Interaction of "occupants" with witness: | 0 = no indication |
| Head, hair: | 0 = no indication |
| Voice, breathing, chin: | 0 = no indication |
| Skin: | 0 = no indication |
| Eyes: | 0 = no indication |
| Mouth: | 0 = no indication |
| Various details: | 0 = no indication |
| Thermal effects: | 0 = no indication |
| Luminous effects: | 0 = no indication |
| Magnetic effect (or electromagnetic): | 0 = no indication |
| Odor perceived by witness: | 0 = no indication |
| Physiological effects on the witness(es): | 0 = no indication |
| Psychological effect on the witness(es): | 0 = no indication |
| Effects on animals: | 0 = no indication |
| Other effects reported: | 0 = no indication |
| Nebulosity: | 0 = no indication |
| Oscillations, emission of matter: | 0 = no indication |
| Spin, formation flight: | 0 = no indication |
| Immediate disappearance: | 0 = no indication |
| Halo surrounding the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Interaction witness / phenomenon (complement to the other rubrics): | 0 = no indication |
| Drawing or photo: | 0 = no indication |
| Structural details observed: | 0 = no indication |
[Ref. pis1:] "PHENOMENES INCONNUS" UFOLOGY BULLETIN:
This ufology bulletin indicated that there was a case on October 2, 1954, in Poncey; which was a part of a "network" of aligned cases of that day, in their opinion.
[Ref. pis2:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "PHENOMENES INCONNUS":
In this ufology bulletin, Alain Barbe assured that the cases on October 2, 1954, including that of Poncey, formed a geometric figure comprising parallel lines with regularly increasing spacing, which according to him could not be due to chance. He published this pattern, however, comprising only 8 of 61 or more cases from that day:
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He published yet a second map with more cases (but far from the 61 cases), notably that of Poncey:
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[Ref. gcn2:] GORDON CREIGHTON:
42. Poncey-sur-l'Ignon, France - October 2, 1954, 8:00 p.m.
Mrs. Guainet was milking her cows in the barn when her dogs, who usually stayed by her side, rushed in the direction of the woods, barking. She followed them and then saw a large luminous cigar-shaped craft flying low.
Ref.: Aimé Michel: Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 109.
[Ref. gal1:] CHARLES GARREAU AND RAYMOND LAVIER:
Charles Garreau notes that Commander Viala and Captain Millet, of the gendarmerie, the air police force, the intelligence service of the Chief of Staff of the 1st Air Area came to investigate in turn into the landing of October 4, 1954 in Poncey-sur-l'Ignon, and that it revealed another sighting two days before, that of a luminous craft in the shape of an "oil barrel" which had flown over the village while following a trajectory parallel with the road from Dijon to Troyes.
[Ref. gab2:] JEAN GIRAUD:
Jean Giraud indicates that the "cloud cigar" is one of the most interesting elements of the "flying saucers" phenomenon and that it was observed inter alia in "Ponçay sur l'Ignon [sic] on October 2, 1954.
[Ref. fru1:] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:
The two authors indicate that in Poncey-sur-L'Ignon in the Côte d'Or, on October 2, 1954 at 19:40, the witnesses were Mathilde Gainait, aged 52, farmer, and Marie-Louise Mugneret, aged 41, without profession.
A large luminous cylinder 80 cm in diameter on 1.50 meters height was observed, it was of red color on all its surface and radiated like a green reflection all around. It was seen moving at low altitude at the speed of an ordinary plane per Mrs. Gainait.
It was seen by Mrs. Mugneret as a "soccer ball" of the color of an ordinary but more orange bulb.
Mrs. Gainait left a stable where she had just milked her cows when she noticed it as being an orange luminous object of cylindrical form which moved at a low altitude. She returned home, alerted her daughter, her husband, and her daughter alerted Mrs. Mugneret, a neighbor.
They all saw itmoving away towards the south at a speed which appeared very fast to Mrs. Mugneret.
The authors indicate that the sources are their own file and an investigation by the Saint-Seine-L'Abbaye Gendarmerie squad.
[Ref. via3:] "VIMANA 21" UFOLOGY MAGAZINE:
This magazine listed this case:
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54 10 02 07:40 p.m. CE1 Poncey sur l'Ignon |
[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:
Dogs hear UFO?
A big cigar-shaped object soared low over the countryside near Poncey-sur-l'Ignon, France on October 2nd. It was about 8:00 p.m.
In the area was a Mrs. Guainet who was doing her farm chores. Accompanied by the family dogs, Nine. Guainet went about her work milking the cows and didn't noticed anything until the hounds ran towards the woods, baying in excitement for some unknown reason. The woman dashed after the animals and saw the cause of the dogs' agitation. Coming into view was a huge, illuminated spindle. 18. Apparently the dogs heard the UFO before it became visible.
[Ref. jca1:] JACQUES COSTAGLIOLA:
The author indicates that on October 2, 1954, in the evening, a large luminous green cigar flew over in Poncey-sur-l'Ignon in Burgundy.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":
3914: 1954/10/02 19:40 8 4:45:40 E 47:30:00 N 3333 WEU FRN CDO 6:9
PONCEY-sur-l'IGNON,FR:MANY:1.5M SLNT CYL>S:DOGS RUN+BAY:/r109p109+/FSR v16#3
Ref# 30 FIGEUT[sic]&RUCHON: OVNI: Le 1er Dossier Page No. 108 : FARMLANDS
[Ref. goe1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:
Belgian ufologist Godelieve van Overmeire notes in her catalogue that in France, in 1954, October 2, in Poncey sur Lignon, Mathilde Gainait comes out of the stable between 19:40 and 19:45 and sees a large cylinder 80 cm in diameter by a 1,50m height, of orange color, with a green reflection around, moving in vertical position at low altitude. She calls her husband, her son, her daughter and a neighbor. For Mrs. Mugneret, Co-witness, it is like a soccer ball of the color of an ordinary but more orange bulb.
The source is indicated as M. Figuet / J.L. Ruchon: "Ovni, Premier dossier complet..." Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979, p. 107 and 108,109.
[Ref. lbp1:] NEWSPAPER "LE BIEN PUBLIC:":
The article of the newspaper Le Bien Public, of Dijon, Côte d'Or, headlined "The first UFOs seen in Poncey-Sur-l'Ignon 46 years ago. Can it be believed?", from October 22, 2000, has this extract in relation to this case:
"On Saturday, October 2, 1954, at about 07:40 p.m, a mysterious craft was seen in Poncey-Sur-l'Ignon by Mrs. Gainait [Guainet]. While coming out of the cattle shed where she had just milked her cows, she sees the farmyard lit by an orange flying cylinder surrounded by a pale square of light green. She calls her husband, her daughter Yvette and a neighbor, Mrs. Marie Mugneret. All three have looked the cylinder moving during ten minutes approximately, and disappear silently in the direction of Chanceaux."
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates in his database that in the Côte d'Or in Poncey sur l'Ignon on October 2, 1954, at 19:40 hours, a woman "is milking the cows when suddenly the dogs which were beside her come out rushing of the cattle shed and start to bark in direction of a wood. She then comes out and notes that the front of the house is enlightened as by the Moon. She then looks up and sees above the wood a vast luminous cigar which flew in silence at low altitude at a speed comparable with that of a large plane. The object kept a vertical position. The woman calls her husband, her daughter and a neighbor comes out too. The 4 witnesses observed the object disappear behind the hill. The object left towards the East. It was of orange color and its size was of 1m by 2m which was in fact a huge object."
The sources are indicated as "Ovni, Premier dossier complet... by Figuet M./ Ruchon J.L. ** Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979" and "M.O.C. by Michel Aimé ** Arthaud 1958".
[Ref. djn2:] DONALD JONHSON:
Donald Johnson indicates that Aimé Michel found that on September 2, 1954 nine multi-point straight lines of French UFO sightings intersected at Poncey, France, and at such intersections, "cloud cigars" were seen.
[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
*Oct. 2, 1954 - At 8:00 p.m. in Poncey-sur-Lignon and the region of Cote-d'Or, France several persons observed a huge cigar-shaped luminous object that flew silently to the east. (Source: Michel Figuet & Jean-Louis Ruchon, OVNI: Le premier dossier complet des rencontres rapprochees en France, p. 107).
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This database managed to record this same case 8 times instead of one:
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Poncey | France | Evening | NL | |||||
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Poncey Ignon | France | 20.00 | NL | |||||
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Poncey Ignon | France | 20.00 | NL | |||||
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Poncey Ignon | France | 19.40 | ||||||
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Poncey Ignon | France | 19.40 | NL | |||||
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Poncey Ignon | France | 20.00 | NL | |||||
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Poncey | France | 19.40 | NL | |||||
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Poncey-sur-Lignon | France |
|
Not looked for yet.
Poncey-Sur-l'Ignon is a small village of the department of Côte-d'Or, in the area of Burgundy, and had approximately 140 inhabitants at the time of the facts.
In 1959, Charles A. Maney, in the continuation of a discussion on UFOs carried through in Akron (Ohio), U.S.A., and using the maps raised by Aimé Michel, evoked the following possibility:
"The map n.° 7, established by Aimé Michel, which holds thirty points of observations for the 2nd of October 1954, shows a infinity of lines, with nine ortothenical lines that cross on Poncey, a little village in the northeast of the center of France. And, one more time, as Aimé Michel noticed, a great "luminous cigar" was observed in the intersection, at Poncey, on the evening of October 2. An organized program of exploration by extraterrestrial intelligence seems to be a reasonable interpretation of such an extraordinary geometric circumstance."
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Poncey, Poncey-Sur-l'Ignon, Côte-d'Or, Guainet, Yvette Guainet, Gainait, Yvette Gainait, Marie Mugneret, orange, green, cigar, cylinder, luminous, hovering, multiple, dog, dogs
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | April 19, 2004 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | February 27, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [goe1], [lcn1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | February 11, 2010 | Addition [jca1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | February 28, 2010 | Addition [djn2]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | June 20, 2010 | Addition [jve5]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | October 9, 2014 | Addition [ta1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | October 17, 2016 | Addition [fa1]. |
| 1.6 | Patrick Gross | November 3, 2016 | Additions [lgs1], [ubk1]. |
| 1.7 | Patrick Gross | December 7, 2016 | Addition [gab2]. |
| 1.8 | Patrick Gross | February 3, 2021 | Additions [bre1], [ldl1], [pis1], [pis2], [lhh1]. |
| 1.9 | Patrick Gross | November 27, 2021 | Addition [gqy1]. |
| 2.0 | Patrick Gross | March 23, 2022 | Addition [gcn2]. |
| 2.1 | Patrick Gross | May 21, 2025 | Additions [csl1], [jgu1], [gab1]. |
| 2.2 | Patrick Gross | May 25, 2025 | Addition [bpc1]. |
