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October 31, 1954, Long, Somme:

Reference for this case: 31-Oct-54-Long.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

The regional newspaper Le Courrier Picard for November 3, 1954, reported on page 3 that "Sunday", therefore on October 31, 1954, in the evening, Mr. Petit, farmer in Long, went to his fields with a tractor to tow a beet cart.

Near a pasture belonging to Mr. Carpentier, he noticed about 20 meters away a "red ball which suddenly landed on the pasture."

Mr. Petit had the impression that his "eyelids were sticking together". He said that the "craft" was shaped like a haystack. Asked about the dimensions, he said: "Twice a kitchen table."

He had returned to his home, but the "saucer" which would have parked for almost ten minutes, according to the newspaper "then flew away in the direction of Abbeville and was seen by witnesses while flying at a relatively high altitude."

In the regional newspaper La Voix du Nord, in the issue for the Artois and the Somme for the same November 3, 1954, the sighting was reported too:

Sunday evening, around 8 p.m., a short distance from Long, in a pasture belonging to Mr. Maurice Carpentier, Mr. Petit had gone into the fields with a tractor in order to tow a car loaded with "greens" of beets. He was hitching up this cart when an orange disc shot down to the ground and landed in the pasture, about 20 meters from where Mr. Petit was.

The cultivator widened his eyes to get a better view of this round shape, about twice the size of a kitchen table, from which sparks of different colors were escaping, but mostly purple. It was then that the cultivator felt his eyelids pressed together as he looked in the direction of the saucer. Taken with fear, Mr. Petit quickly untied his trailer and, getting into his tractor, returned, all lights out, to his farm, where he recounted his misadventure. He had the impression, when he returned to the village, that the saucer had taken to the air, silently, to disappear in the direction of Abbeville.

Several people in the area did see an orange disc moving at high speed and at high altitude.

Ufologically, the case first appeared in a list by Jacques Vallée in 1966, then in his catalog of UFO landings in 1969.

He indicated that on October 31, 1954, in Corrompu, France, near the village of Long, P. Petit and his employee, Mr. Tillier, accompanied by a trader, Mr. Pecquet, saw an oval object on the ground.

When it took off, the lights of a tractor went out.

It measured about 4.5 meters and emitted a bright light similar to the flame of a torch. It turned around, veered and flew away to the southwest. It made a noise similar to that of a swarm of bees.

Jacques Vallée gave no source, and there was no primary source indicated eiher in the many re-publication of the case.

It was in the 2010s that the report of the Gendarmerie Nationale of November 4, 1954, surfaced on the GEIPAN website, the group then officially in charge of such matters.

This report, available below in this file, indicates the following:

On November 4, 1954, the Chief Warrant Officer learned from the press that a "flying saucer" had been seen in the commune of Long, under his section's responsibility. The witness was a farmer from this locality (whose name is censored in the report).

The Gendarmes immediately went to the site to verify the truth of the witness's statements. He told them that indeed, on October 31, 1954, around 8:00 p.m., while going to a field at the place called "Le Corrompu," in the territory of Long, with his tractor pulling a trailer and accompanied by his employee (whose name is also censored), he had noticed, about twenty meters from the path he was following, in a pasture below, a luminous craft, ogive-shaped, orange in color, whirling in place three or four meters above the ground and emitting a very bright light similar to molten metal.

When the witness arrived, "the craft" rose into the sky obliquely in the direction of Fontaine-sur-Somme (north-south) at a normal speed, crossed the valley of the Somme River in its width, then returned to its starting point, before leaving again southward.

The noise produced by this craft resembled that of a beehive swarm; no passengers were seen by the main witness, and his employee confirmed his employer's verbal statements.

The witness added that he was surprised that his first and last name had appeared in the newspaper Le Courrier Picard of November 3, 1954, and complained that the journalist had published his name without consulting him, and that what was written in the newspaper was partly false compared to what he had seen.

The Gendarmes inquired in the locality and learned that two other people, a father and his son (names censored), had seen the same day at the same hour an identical phenomenon in the sky, which led the Gendarmes to believe that the initial witness was sincere.

The Gendarmes accompanied the initial witness to the site, noting that his farm was on the edge of Departmental Road No. 112 linking Abbeville to l'Etoile, and that the field where the witness was headed was located on the plateau above the village, 1,500 meters from the farm. Access to the field was by a local road with a rather steep climb, continuing flat along the hillside.

At the place indicated as the saucer's landing site, the Gendarmes found no trace: the grass was intact, and nothing suggested a saucer landing. In the surrounding fields, they likewise found no suspicious traces. They noted that the nearest house to where the saucer supposedly hovered was 800 meters away, and its inhabitants had seen nothing unusual.

The Gendarmes took the statement of the second witness: he was employed by the first, and explained that on Sunday, October 31, 1954, around 7:45 p.m., in the company of his employer, he had gone to collect beet leaves at the place called "Le Corrompu" in the territory of Long. To collect the leaves, his employer had taken his tractor, to which a trailer was attached.

As they arrived in the plain, after climbing the local road that links it to the village, he noticed, about thirty meters from their tractor, a ball of fire whirling about 4 meters above the ground. He asked his employer "to cut the lights, which he did immediately." With the tractor headlights turned off, he saw the craft rise higher and higher and head toward the Longuet hamlet, in the territory of Cocquerel, at a speed he could not estimate.

Seeing the craft disappear and that no trace remained on the ground, his employer restarted the tractor and switched the headlights back on, and immediately the craft reappeared facing them. After whirling again, it left in the direction of Fontaine-sur-Somme and Hallencourt (southwest).

He could not specify the exact shape and size of the craft but stated that rays of various bright colors framed it.

Since then, he had returned to the place where he had seen the craft but found no trace on the ground, the grass being intact.

The Gendarmes questioned the main witness's wife, who told them that on October 31, 1954, around 8:40 p.m., her husband and the employee had returned to the farm pale-faced, and when she questioned them about it, they told her they had seen a flying saucer. She explained that she knew her husband's character, knowing he was rather fearless, and she believed him. She explained that she had heard the two other witnesses (the father and son), who were their neighbors, say that they had seen the craft in the sky above the commune. She said she did not attach much importance to it but did not wish to doubt her husband's words. She explained that if only their employee had been the witness, knowing him, she would have remained skeptical.

Another witness, the father, stated that on October 31, 1954, at exactly 8:00 p.m., he was standing at his doorstep when he saw an illuminated orange ball in the sky above the trees lining the Somme River. He first saw it moving horizontally, then vertically, then back to its initial trajectory. He stated that it emitted glows of various colors similar to those of electric arc welding, estimated it to be about one meter in diameter, and that it was moving southwest, toward Fontaine-sur-Somme - Hallencourt, fairly quickly.

A moment later, the initial witness and his employee came to him, the employee saying they had come upon a flying saucer. He explained that, knowing them both, he would not have believed them if he had not seen something himself at the same hour. Moreover, they "looked distraught and their demeanor clearly indicated they had seen said saucer."

Another witness, the son, stated that on October 31, 1954, around 8:00 p.m., he was on Departmental Road No. 112 near his father's grocery store. He looked toward the valley of the Somme and then saw above the trees bordering this river a cylindrical-shaped craft that was heading toward Fontaine-sur-Somme - Hallencourt (southwest), taking on an elongated, even oval shape as it moved away. He lost sight of it on the horizon and did not see it again.

A few moments later, he was still on the road with his father when the initial witness and his employee arrived toward them, both looking distraught, one of them (name censored) explaining that they had just seen a flying saucer in the plain. Knowing this person, he attached importance to his words, all the more so since he himself had just seen a luminous craft in the sky emitting several orange-colored glows.

The Gendarmes also questioned two people for a background inquiry, receiving the same opinion: the initial witness, the farmer, was honorably known and credible, his employee less so; there would have been doubts if the employee had been the only witness.

The Gendarmes recorded these facts but did not carry out any research into the phenomenon or evaluation - it was obviously not their role. Only one official evaluation seems to exist, in 2016, on the website of the official GEIPAN group, which explains that certain aspects of the phenomenon suggest ball lightning, but that unfortunately the meteorological information is lacking.

Reports:

[Ref. cpd1:] NEWSPAPER "LE COURRIER PICARD":

[Ref. vdn1:] NEWSPAPER "LA VOIX DU NORD":

[Ref. gne1:] GENDARMERIE NATIONALE:

Note: this official report written on November 4, 1954 by local staff of the National Gendarmerie was published in the 2015s on the website of the GEIPAN ("Group of Studies and Information on Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena"), the official French group responsible for studying the observation reports of "Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena."

[Ref. jve1:] JACQUES VALLEE:

[Ref. jve5:] JACQUES VALLEE:

[Ref. jv1:] JACQUES VALLEE:

[Note: When Vallée wrote that the source is "personal", it did not mean that he personally investigated, it just means that he has a source in his file.]

[Ref. jve3:] JACQUES VALLEE:

[Note: When Vallée wrote that the source is "personal", it did not mean that he personally investigated, it just means that he has a source in his file.]

[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":

In a list of cases that the magazine called for investigation or re-investigation, there was:

[Ref. ous1:] "OURANOS" MAGAZINE:

[Ref. fru1:] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:

The two authors indicate that on October 31, 1954, in Long in the department of the Somme, at the location named "Corrompu," three witnesses saw an oval object of 4 m 50 length, emitting a brilliant light similar to the flame of a blowtorch on the ground. When it took off, the lights of a tractor went out. It made a half-turn, veered and flew away towards the south-west in the direction of Hallencourt. It made a noise similar to that of a swarm of bees.

The authors indicate that they investigated themselves with M. A. Chaloin, but it is not clear whether they meant this case or another similar one, and indicate as reference the Bulletin de l'AAMT #15, and the Vallée catalogue.

[Ref. mrr1:] MARK RODEGHIER:

[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:

[Ref. jsr1:] JEAN SIDER:

The author indicates that on October 31 at an unknown hour in Long, in the Somme, Messrs P. Petit, Tillier, Pecquet and an anonymous person observed a 4.50 meters long oval object posed on the ground which emitted a light similar to the flame of a blowtorch. When it took off the lights of a tractor went off. The object made a half-turn with a noise similar to that of a swarm of bees.

The source is indicated as "Figuet, p. 204".

[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":

[Ref. goe1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:

Godelieve van Overmeire indicates that in 1954, on October 31, in France, in Corrompu, "close to the village of Long, P. Petit and his employee Tillier and one Pecquet tradesman saw an oval object on the ground. When it took off the lights of a tractor died out. It measured approximately 4, 50 m and emitted a light similar to the flame of a blowtorch. It made a half-turn, veered and flew away towards the south-west. It made a noise similar to that of a swarm of bees."

The source is indicated as "Jacques Vallée: 'Chronique des apparitions ET' - DENOEL 1972 - J'AI LU COLL. - p. 291".

[Ref. fbn1:] FABRICE BONVIN:

Fabrice Bonvin notes:

[Ref. djn1:] DONALD JOHNSON:

[Ref. jbu1:] JEROME BEAU:

Jerome Beau indicates that on Sunday October 31, 1954 in "Corrompu (France), close to the village of Long, P. Petit and his employee, Mr. Tillier, in company of a tradesman, Mr. Pecquet, see 1 oval object on the ground. When it takes off, the lights of a tractor die out. It measures approximately 4,5 m and emits a brilliant light similar to the flame of a blowtorch. It makes a half-turn, veers and flew away towards the south-west. It makes a noise similar to that of a swarm of bees."

There is no indication of a source.

[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:

Luc Chastan indicates that in the Somme in Long on October 31, 1954 at an unknown hour, "At the location 'Corrompu' Three witnesses see an oval object of 4 m 50 in length, emitting a brilliant light similar to the flame of a blowtorch on the ground. When it takes off, the lights of a tractor die out. It makes a half-turn, veers and flies away towards south-west in direction of Hallencourt. It makes a noise similar to that of a swarm of bees."

The source is indicated as "Ovni, Premier dossier complet... by Figuet M./ Ruchon J.L. ** Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979".

[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:

[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":

[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":

The case is recorded several times in this database:

[Ref. prn2:] PETER ROGERSON - "INTCAT":

[Ref. gen1:] GEIPAN:

GEIPAN (Groupe d'Etudes et d'Informations sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-Identifiés) published, circa 2016 the Gerdarmerie report [gne1] (higher up in my file) and published a case record:

Explanations:

[mrr1] puts the witnesses on the tractor which lights died out. Actually nothing comes to support this in the previous sources available to me, it is possible that the four people were in a car or walking by and saw in addition to the UFO, this tractor in a field. The tractor driver might have turned the lights off, possibly for better seeing the "UFO"... Anyway, certainly, nothing comes to corroborate the idea that it was the "UFO" who caused this extinction. The fact that the tractor had its lights on suggests that the observation took place in the night.

An observation distance of 20 meters is a very sighting; but I nevertheless checked the Moon situation that night.

Indeed the Moon was at 227° (South-East) and at the very low elevation of 1° 40' at 8 p.m.; in other words there was at one time that evening a low Moon, setting, perhaps "red" - the "Red Moon" phenomenon, in any case low enough to make a misinterpretation of the "landing" type possible.

We can hardly count on the newspaper: their information is obviously incomplete, there is neither hour nor direction and they did not "dig" into the matter at all. The size "like two tables" for example, means nothing: two tables at what distance? Really 20 meters?

So I think it was a possible setting red moon.

I stick to "possible", since the Moon was in the last quarter, that the haystack shape is therefore not very consistent, that the distance of "20 meters" poses a certain problem, and that the effect on the eyelids remains somewhat strange.

As for the "saucer" which "took off" to head for Abbeville (11 km west-northwest), the newspaper fantasized: the witness having left did not see that. And what was seen in Abbeville, about which the newspaper says nothing more than what is in this article of November 3, was probably another sighting.

Update of September 7, 2025:

Now having the Gendarmerie report [gne1], an essential document, I can add various points.

I wrote earlier: "The tractor driver was then able to turn off the lights himself, if only to better see the "UFO"... In any case, nothing corroborates the idea that it was the "UFO" that caused this shutdown."

I was right, the employee's statement to the gendarmes confirms it: "He asked his boss 'to cut the lights, which he did immediately.' With the tractor headlights off..."

On the other hand, my idea "I therefore think it was possibly a red Moon setting" falls completely flat.

GEIPAN suggested possible "ball lightning" as an explanation. It is because ball lightning can only occur in a stormy context that GEIPAN notes that the meteorological conditions of the observation are unknown.

I am not convinced by this possibility:

One argument, "weak" certainly, is that it is moderately curious that none of the four witnesses mentioned stormy weather. Such an omission is obviously not "impossible," but it gives some weight to the idea that there was no storm.

The sound. The only sounds reported in ball lightning cases are that sometimes the "ball" eventually "explodes." Sometimes the sound is soft (a "plop"), sometimes it is loud like a thunderclap (a "bang"). There are said to be some reports mentioning a "hissing" or "sizzling" or "buzzing" sound, but the sources claiming this usually add that it was only heard by people standing less than a meter from the "ball," which is not the case here.

The noise produced by the "ball" in this case resembled "the buzzing of a swarm leaving its hive," which can hardly be described as hissing, sizzling, crackling, or sizzling.

The movement and its amplitude seem far too great for ball lightning.

As for the farmer and his employee, they are located somewhere - impossible for me to pinpoint, I have not been able to find the place called "Le Corrompu." They are, however, necessarily on the north side of Long: to the south, the valley of the Somme, the plain with marshes, uncultivated; to the north, the D 112, the hills, plateaus, fields.

They first see the ball about thirty meters away from them, then rising and going toward the Longuet hamlet, then when he turned the headlights back on, the thing reappeared facing them, then it whirled and left toward Fontaine-sur-Somme. The two directional reference points suggest two long movements, for example from dozens of meters in front of them to behind them. For a "ball lightning" type ball, which moves only a little and slowly, there should have been a description like "it was in front of us, came toward our left, reappeared in front of us." Village names as reference points would not have been appropriate. This is not absolutely "solid," of course. "Heading toward" is not equivalent to "going as far as."

The grocer's son says he "lost sight of it on the horizon." That again suggests a large-scale movement, far too great for ball lightning. The same witness says he was on Departmental Road No. 112 (now D 112) near his father's grocery, that he looked toward the valley of the Somme, and then "saw above the trees lining this river" a "cylindrical-shaped craft" heading toward Fontaine-sur-Somme; the thing then became oval. The distance between the D 112 and the Somme River in the area concerned is generally about 200 meters, and at a minimum 90 meters. For ball lightning, that seems too far to explain a cylindrical shape and a change in form. Also, "above the trees" lining the Somme suggests that the distance may have been even greater.

In any case, this witness sees the thing south of the river, while the farmer and his employee see it north of the river since it was at one point facing them as they came from Long.

His father the grocer, who is north of Long on the D 112, also sees it going southwest, "fairly quickly."

All this suggests a luminous ball moving much more, and much faster, than what appears in ball lightning cases.

I exclude will-o'-the-wisps: it would have been on the other side of the river, where there are marshes or ponds, and does not resemble either a ball or a cylinder. The trees would have hidden it; it could not have been seen above the trees.

Keywords:

(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)

Long, Somme, Petit, farmer, tractor, field, pasture, Carpentier, ball, red, haystack, effect, eyes, duration, landing, P. Petit, M. Tillier, Pecquet, object, oval, landing, failure, headlights, car, light, brilliant, buzz, hum, multiple, manoeuvers, gendarmes, ball lighting

Sources:

[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.

• [cpd1] Article in the regional newspaper Le Courrier Picard, France, page 3, November 3, 1954.
• [vdn1] Article in the regional newspaper La Voix du Nord, issue of the Artois and the Somme, France, page 5, on November 3, 1954.
• [gne1] Investigation report by the Gendarmerie Nationale, France, November 4, 1954.
• [jve1] "Flying Saucers - A Challenge to Science", book by Jacques Vallée, Ace Star Books - Henry Regnery publishers, USA, page 189, 1966.
• [jve5] "Catalogue préliminaire de 500 observations", listing in "Les Phénomènes Insolites de l'Espace", book by Jacques and Janine Vallée, Table Ronde publishers, France, 1966.
• [jve3] "Passport to Magonia - On Ufos, Folklore, and Parallel Worlds", book by Jacques Vallée, Contemporary Books publishers, USA, 1969.
• [jve3] "Passport to Magonia - On Ufos, Folklore, and Parallel Worlds", book by Jacques Vallée, Contemporary Books publishers, USA, 1969.
• [jve3b] "Chronique des Apparitions Extra-Terrestres", French translation of "Passport to Magonia", book by Jacques Vallée, Denoël publisher, France, page 291, 1972.
• [ldl1] "Réenquêtes 1954", in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #118, page 4, June 1972.
• [ous1] "Cinq plus un... ou la boucle bouclée", article by the ufology group G.A.B.R.I.E.L., in the ufology and parapsychology magazine Ouranos, France, Nouvelle Serie #9, page 5, 4^th quarter 1973.
• [jve5] "Catalogue préliminaire de 500 observations", listing in "Les Phénomènes Insolites de l'Espace", book by Jacques and Janine Vallée, Robert Laffont publisher, France, page 253, 1978.
• [fru1] "OVNI, Premier Dossier Complet des Rencontres Rapprochées en France", book by Michel Figuet and Jean Louis Ruchon, Alain Lefeuvre publisher, France, page 204, 1979.
• [mrr1] "UFO Reports Involving Vehicle Interference", compiled by Mark Rodeghier, Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS), USA, 1981.
• [lgs1] "The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse - UFOs: A History - 1954 October", monography by Loren E. Gross, USA, page 99, 1991.
• [jsr1] "Le Dossier 1954 et l'Imposture Rationaliste", book by Jean Sider, Ramuel publisher, France, page 267, 1997.
• [lhh1] "*U* Computer Database", database by Larry Hatch, USA, circa 2002.
• [goe1] "Chronologie OVNI", web page compiled by Godelieve Van Overmeire, Belgium, circa 2003, at users.skynet.be/sky84985/afin54.htm
• [fbn1] "Epistémologie de l'Insaisissable", article by Fabrice Bonvin, Switzerland, on the Internet, March 2001.
• [djn1] "Encounters With Aliens On This Day", web page compiled by Donald Johnson, USA, circa 2005, at www.ufoinfo.com/onthisday/October31.html
• [jbu1] "Dimanche 31 octobre 1954", web page by Jérôme Beau, RR0 website, France, circa 2007, at rr0.org/data/1/9/5/4/10/31/index.html
• [lcn1] Base OVNI France website, by Luc Chastan, France, circa 2005, at baseovnifrance.free.fr/detobs.php?numobs=1230
• [tai1] "1954: October Sightings", catalog on the UFO website Think About It, USA, not dated, found 2014, at http://www.thinkaboutitdocs.com/8-1954-october-sightings
• [nip1] List on The NICAP Website, USA, found in 2014, at http://www.nicap.org/reports/1954_ufocat.htm
• [ubk1] Online database UFO-Datenbank, Germany, found in 2016, at ufodatenbank.de
• [prn2] "INTCAT 1954", catalogue compiled by Peter Rogerson, U-K., circa 2016, at https://intcat.blogspot.com/search?q=1954
• [gen1] "LONG (80) 31.10.1954", case record on the Website of the Groupe d'Etudes et d'Informations sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-Identifiés (GEIPAN), France, as of 2016, at https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/fr/cas/1954-10-00026

Document history:

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This page was last updated on September 7, 2025.