The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Républicain Lorrain, Metz, France, pages 1 et 9, on September 30, 1954.
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Lyon. -- In the departments of Rhône, Isère, Drôme, and Savoie, numerous people claim to have seen, in recent days and with varying clarity, craft shaped either like cigars or like disks.
In the Arbresle area, one of these witnesses, the director of a Parisian music hall, even stated that he had filmed one of these mysterious craft, which he estimated to be flying at an altitude of around 700 meters. It will become clear after the film is developed whether or not this was an optical illusion.
Near Feyzin (Isère), a young man allegedly saw in the countryside, close to the ground, a dome-shaped craft emitting a very bright light. The witness compared it to the light produced by burning magnesium. The craft suddenly shot up vertically, leaving a trail of sparks behind it and disappeared.
In the Drôme, a resident of Valence, Mrs. L..., who was walking near Chabeuil, claims to have encountered in the path she was following a small being, so strangely dressed that she at first thought it was a scarecrow made of cellophane. The dog accompanying the walker barked furiously, terrified. As for Mrs. L..., also terrified, she hid behind a hedge.
That is when she saw a disc rise from the cornfield bordering the path, accompanied by a whistling sound. Shortly afterward, the witness and some local farmers went to the field where, according to them, a circular mark about 3 meters in diameter was clearly visible, with flattened corn stalks and broken branches around the edge.
Other residents of Chabeuil also reported seeing a flying saucer that day, moving over the countryside.
Finally, in Savoie, near Lake Bourget, above Mont Revard, several motorists — about fifteen people in total — simultaneously saw a disc-shaped craft flying for about fifteen minutes before suddenly disappearing.
One of the witnesses, a doctor from Chambéry, is a former artillery observer. He carefully noted the details of the sighting and drew a diagram.
Continued on page 9, column 7
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Continued from the front page.
...showing the path of the mysterious craft.
Perpignan. -- A baker from Canet-Plage, Mr. Etienne Err, stated that upon returning from a delivery round in his van, he saw a shining disc above the town, which, after making large circles, moved off toward the sea.
Meanwhile, seven workers from a factory in the suburbs of Perpignan also claimed to have seen an object of an undefined color, moving at high speed and which supposedly crossed the Pyrenees heading toward Spain.
Toulouse. -- Three residents of Lanta, near Villefranche-de-Lauragais (Haute-Garonne), Mr. and Mrs. Brunet and Mr. Gadra, a local schoolteacher, claimed to have seen around 8 p.m., above the village, an orange-colored luminous disc.
The object was moving at a high altitude and traveling in a north-south direction.
After being visible for 30 to 40 seconds, the luminous disc disappeared over the horizon.
Châtellerault. -- Mr. Yves David, 28 years old, a farmer in Les Brouloux, commune of Vouneuil-sur-Vienne, declared that on the road from Cenon to Vouneuil on September 19 at 10 p.m., he saw a sort of "diver" approaching him.
According to him, the being came up to him, touched his arm, made unintelligible sounds, and retreated toward a craft (which Mr. David could not describe). A green light beam was projected toward him, pinning him in place, then the craft took off vertically into the sky without making any sound.
Mr. David says he initially did not want to speak of this strange encounter for fear of ridicule. However, he told a friend and asked if anyone else had seen the "diver." That's how the whole village found out...
Redon. -- Mr. Gérard, engineer, and Mr. Paroux, driver, operating an empty train returning from Nantes, saw on Tuesday evening, while passing the area known as "La Butte du Rouge" in the commune of Saint-Nicolas-de-Redon (Ille-et-Vilaine), a craft rising from nearby marshes.
This craft, of considerable length and followed by a luminous trail, flew for about ten seconds above the train engine and disappeared into the sky.
While the engineer remained calm, the driver was so frightened that he fell ill and had to undergo a medical checkup the next morning.
Stockholm. -- A luminous sphere trailing a streak of fire was photographed Tuesday evening in Bjuv, in southeastern Sweden. The object, which was moving northward, was said by the witness to be flying rapidly, "as high," he said, "as a jet plane, but without making any noise."
The Lund Observatory stated that no meteor had been observed at the time the witness photographed the phenomenon using a telephoto lens.
The Hague. -- The aerial phenomena currently manifesting over Europe have not missed the Netherlands either.
Among the recent sightings of flying saucers over Dutch territory, one must mention that of a citizen of Schiedam (a major gin-producing center) who claimed to have seen a fairly large, circular, luminous object moving westward. His fiancée, who was with him, confirmed his account.
Less recent but more impressive is the account of the captain of the "Groote Beer", Mr. J.P. Hoshoff, of the Holland–United States line.
The object spotted at sea and observed by him and his five officers using the ship's entire optical equipment was the size of a half-moon and likewise circular and luminous.
The captain firmly ruled out the possibility of it being a weather balloon.
Initially motionless, the disc moved westward after a few moments and disappeared behind the clouds at an altitude of about 14,000 meters.
