The 1954 French flap:

Descended from his "saucer" in Loctudy (Finistère)

A MARTIAN, SMALL, HAIRY AND UGLY, TAPPED ON THE SHOULDER
OF A COURAGEOUS BAKERY APPRENTICE

... While in Paris, a cardboard salesman sees a "flying disc" above the Porte Dorée

AGAIN a Martian. Each department will soon have its own. It was in the Finistère that the last specimen of the species appeared. This time, he showed himself without a helmet, with his face uncovered. He was not pretty.

A baker from Loctudy, Mr. Pierre Lucas, saw him disembark yesterday at 4 a.m. in a saucer flying three meters in diameter, in the courtyard of the bakery.

- He was no more than 1 m. 20 tall, he says. He approached me and tapped me on the shoulder with unintelligible words.

"I managed to keep my cool," continues the courageous bakery apprentice. The visitor followed me into the bakery. In the light, I could stare at him. His face was covered with hair and eyes the size of a crow's egg. I called my boss, but the Martian, when he arrived, was already gone. And the saucer was gone."

That same night, a Concarneau beer merchant saw two luminous round tables in the sky, extended by a sort of tail.

In the Nord, one did not see a Martian, but the gendarmes of Beuvry-les-Béthune wrote up a report against a manufacturer of flying saucers. He is a pensioner, named d'Oliveira. He is not Martian, but Portuguese. A whole stock of saucers was found in his attic. In fact, they were paper balloons 1 m. 50 to 5 meters in diameter, and of all colors.

I launched thousands of them, he said. It was so beautiful. In the evening, it looked like fireballs...

The saucer factory is now closed. The industrialist will be prosecuted for "having set off flaming devices within 100 meters of the homes".

Bad day yesterday for the saucers in the Nord: an investigation, carried out at Bray-Dunes, near Dunkirk, allowed to establish that the craft seen in this region were jet planes from the Belgian base of Coxide.

"Flying tram"

A resident of Haubourdin however observed a "flying tram", and a child saw a saucer land at Cheny, near Lille; which left traces "like that, he said, of a frog man". The gendarmes examined these traces; they looked very similar to those of horse hooves.

Paris, which the saucers have neglected until now, was favored by an appearance yesterday afternoon. A flying disc, followed by a plume of smoke, flew at 4:30 p.m. over the Porte Dorée under the eyes of Mr. Allouis, cardboard salesman. Several other people confirmed his testimony. But a spoilsport suggests that the flying disc, which he also observed, was, it seemed, a flying wing.

One saw yesterday a good twenty saucers, cigars, fireballs, light globes, in Limoges, at Brive, at Azat-le-Ris and at Magnac-Laval (Haute-Vienne), at Forgès and Le Mazin (Corrèze), at Payzac (Dordogne), at Château-Chinon, at Nassier, in the Poitou marshes, at Vix (Vendée), at La Rochelle, at Albi.

Near Clermont-Ferrand, two saucers which, in passing, gave off a smell of nitro-benzine; near La Rochelle, another one that left oil stains when it landed in a meadow.

Finally, a technician from the weather station at Mans-Arnage observed yesterday morning at 6:08 a.m. two strong dark red lights.

- They were, he said, neither planes, nor sounding balloons, nor meteors. But I will not go so far as to claim that these are flying saucers...

France at the Hour of the Saucers

MARTIANS (NOW HAIRY) CONVERSE WITH EARTHLINGS

But scientists are questioning these phenomena

[Photo caption:] With these pocket hot-air balloons that he manufactured in series using paper and tow, a middle-aged prankster, Mr. Jean d'Oliveira, a retired miner (in the inset), was having tremendous fun. These flying saucers greatly intrigued the people of the North, and Mr. d'Oliveira was hugely amused reading the accounts given by those who had seen his devices drifting with the winds, surrounded by yellow and orange reflections.

PARIS. - The file on the "flying saucers" is growing thicker. The mystery as well. Luminous craft - among them cigars, cigarillos, discs, spheres, etc. - appear suddenly before the eyes (increasingly less astonished) of witnesses who are for the most part considered reliable. But it appears that the Martians have a particular fondness for our country.

From these objects there sometimes emerge beings, most often frightening, who do not hesitate from time to time to converse with a few Earthlings before returning to their celestial homelands.

Thus, on Monday morning around 4 a.m., Mr. Pierre Lucas, a bakery worker in Loctudy (Finistère), who was drawing water in the bakery courtyard, suddenly saw in the night a craft shaped like a saucer measuring 2.5 to 3 meters in diameter. He saw an individual about 1.20 meters tall come out of it, approach him, and tap him on the shoulder while uttering unintelligible words.

The worker managed to keep his composure and went back into the bakehouse, where the stranger followed him. In the light, Mr. Lucas was able to examine the visitor: he had an oval face, completely covered with hair, and eyes the size of a crow's egg. The young man called his employer, but before the latter had time to come down, the stranger had disappeared along with his saucer, of which no trace was found.

This was also the adventure that happened yesterday morning to a good road worker from the Wassy region, who found himself in the presence of a craft beside which stood a small hairy man. The details of this report are given elsewhere.

While saucers are multiplying, scientists are examining these mysterious phenomena, but we are still far from being able to provide a reasonable explanation.

It is certain that several witnesses have been mistaken, but statements by qualified persons are often troubling.

The newspaper of Coulommiers publishes a letter sent by one of its readers, Mr. E. Farnier, a member of the Society of Civil Engineers of France, concerning a flying saucer.

In this letter, Mr. Farnier states that he saw above his property at Jouy-sur-Morin a large disc 8 to 10 meters in diameter, "turning in place while emitting reddish-violet glows, with a whistling sound somewhat like the arrival of a jet aircraft. The craft was about 400 meters high and hovered above me for more than 20 minutes. I therefore had," says Mr. Farnier, "ample time to examine it carefully. The craft then disappeared in the direction of Coulommiers."

In his letter Mr. Farnier specifies: "Former commissioner with the Aéro-Club de France and having served in aviation, I was not the victim of a hallucination, and this craft was not a weather balloon but a thick circular wing hovering in place and moving at very high speed while gradually gaining altitude."

Our planet - and France in particular - has undergone a veritable assault during the past twenty-four hours. Judge for yourself:

A PROPELLERED CIGAR was seen over Forges, 20 kilometers from Tulle, moving at low altitude without noise or smoke.

SEVERAL PARISIANS declared they saw yesterday around 4:30 p.m. saucers maneuvering in the sky over the capital. But air traffic was heavy, and mistakes are possible.

OIL TRACES were discovered at Nessier, in the Poitevin marshes, at the exact place where the day before Mr. and Mrs. Guillemoteau had seen a red saucer.

A CIGAR was seen near Berck-Plage by Mr. Georges Galand, a butcher from Rue, who was driving his car. The mysterious craft flew at low altitude and followed the national road for eight kilometers.

A TOP-SHAPED OBJECT emitting red and green rays was seen in Marseille by four people.

TWO DISCS, sometimes transforming into a cigar, were seen near Arles by several motorists.

TWO "FLYING TAILS" were seen by a beer merchant from Concarneau. They disappeared after ten minutes after launching a rocket.

A FOUL-SMELLING SAUCER (it smelled of nitrobenzene) was seen by Messrs. Bron and Marteauron of Clermont-Ferrand, who were "paralyzed"for a few seconds. Many similar craft were seen in the region, notably at Le Puy.

A THREE-LEGGED SAUCER reportedly landed in the garden of Mr. Montagne, an S.N.C.F. employee living at 13 Rue Ernest-Lavisse in Limoges.

FINALLY, DISCS, CIGARS, SPHERES, ETC., were seen at Quend (Somme), Grandvillars (Territoire de Belfort), Magnac-Laval (Haute-Vienne), Saint-Jean-d'Angély (Charente-Maritime), Perros-Guirec (Côtes-du-Nord), Nazin (Corrèze), Lézignan (Aude), Bergerac (Dordogne), Nevers, St-Etienne, Aurec-sur-Loire (Loire), Montbrison, and finally at La Rochelle and several neighboring localities.

188) October 4, 1954 Limoges (France):

An object was said to have landed in the yard of Mr. Montagne, a railroad employee. (35) (France-Soir, Oct. 7, 1954.)

CASE 188 J VALLEE

Investigation: August 6, 1970, by our correspondent Mr. Christian PEYRAT, 31 Rue Michel Chevalier, 87 LIMOGES.

The witness was returning from work at 11:30 p.m. and had just begun descending Ernest Lavisse Street on his Velosolex. Mr. MONTAGNE had just cut the engine when he noticed, in his courtyard opposite his house - about 2.5 meters from his home - a powerful light that he immediately identified as coming from a car.

At that moment, he was at a distance of 70 meters (but the object from which the light came was hidden from his view by a one-story house).

However, upon reaching his gate, he turned around and looked at "this car." He barely had time to notice, despite the powerful light that blinded him, that the car in question was rising into the air with a very faint whistling sound.

Mr. MONTAGNE had time to observe, before the craft took off, that it was resting on three legs.

Furthermore, according to the witness, the UFO was equipped with three powerful headlights: two illuminating his house, and the third directed toward the lower part of Ernest Lavisse Street.

I asked the witness whether he had found any landing traces. Negative answer, which is understandable since his courtyard was covered with gravel.

The color emitted by the headlights was very white, "comparable to magnesium."

The witness estimated the diameter of each light source at about 15 cm.

At the moment the craft took off, the witness entered his house, holding his Velosolex by the hand, set it near the entrance door, and rushed into the bedroom to wake Mrs. MONTAGNE so she could witness the phenomenon.

The time during which the witness saw the craft on the ground was about 2 seconds.

Mr. and Mrs. MONTAGNE were only able to observe the craft flying toward BRIVE.

Mr. MONTAGNE did not see the change in direction of the craft, as at that moment he was inside his house.

During the flight of the UFO, the witness noted that the light emitted by the craft seemed clearer.

Furthermore, the witness did not specify whether the lights were fixed.

The craft was at an altitude of about 1,500 m. The UFO had the shape of a cone with a side of 2.5 m.

The witness, having eye pain, had to consult a doctor.

On the evening of October 4, the weather was clear and the full moon was visible.

I must point out that this landing occurred during the night of SATURDAY to SUNDAY, that is, the evening of October 2, 1954, not October 4.

Attached: Newspaper photo

Sketch photo.

October 4th. (no known hour)

A railroad employee living in Limoges, a M. Montagne, claimed a strange machine had landed on his property. No other details available. 40.

• 40. France-Soir. 7 October 54.

3959: 1954/10/04 00:00 10 1:15:00 E 45:51:00 N 3331 WEU FRN HVN 6:7

LIMOGES,FR:STRANGE OBJ LANDS IN RAILROAD-MAN'S YARD:NFD:type unk:/LDLN#102

Ref# 30 FIGEUT[sic]&RUCHON: OVNI: Le 1er Dossier Page No. 116: ROAD+RAILS

Monday, 4 October 1954

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In Limoges (France), 1 object lands in the yard of Mr. Montagne, a railroad employee.

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On this Day

October 4

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1954 - An object was said to have landed in the yard of Mr. Montagne, a railroad employee, in Limoges, France. (Sources: France-Soir, October 7, 1954; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia: A Century of Landings, p. 216).

[...]

Monday, 4 October 1954

[...]

In Limoges (France), 1 object lands in the yard of Mr. Montagne, a railroad employee.

[...]

*Oct. 4, 1954 - An object was said to have landed in the yard of Mr. Montagne, a railroad employee, in Limoges, France. (Sources: France-Soir, October 7, 1954; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia: A Century of Landings, p. 216, case # 188).

October 4 1954.

LIMOGES (AISNE: FRANCE)

An object landed in the yard of railway worker Mr Montagne

• Vallee Case 188 citing France Soir 7 October 1954.