The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
November 4, 1954, Saint-Nazaire, Loire-Atlantique:
Reference for this case: 4-Nov-54-Saint-Nazaire.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In their 1979 book "La Grande Peur Martienne" ("The Great Martian Scare") intended to "debunk" the French wave of 1954, the "skeptical" ufologists Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker indicated that according to the newspaper La Résistance de l'Ouest, on November 4, 1954, at about 7 o'clock in Saint-Nazaire, people saw in the sky a kind of pale pink ball, diffusing a very bright light and moving from west to east.
Barthel and Brucker either failed to see or failed to mention that the observation was also mentioned in the newspaper La Liberté du Morbihan for November 6, 1954, with the title "A meteor in the sky of Saint-Nazaire" and the remark:
"Many witnesses to this phenomenon believe it was a meteor."
[Ref. lmn1:] NEWSPAPER "LA LIBERTE DU MORBIHAN":
|
SAINT-NAZAIRE. -- Yesterday morning in Saint-Nazaire, a moving ball of fire was seen by many people, including workers as they were heading to work around 7 a.m. Many witnesses to this phenomenon believe it was a meteor.
[Ref. grn1:] NEWSPAPER "LA GAZETTE DE REDON":
|
After the passage of a flying saucer (?) over the St-Nicolas marsh, seen by two S.N.C.F. employees and whose report caused a stir at the time, the sky over Redon was recently again the scene of a luminous phenomenon.
Around 7:15 a.m., more than fifty workers from the Garnier factory, on their way to work and living in the Morbihan (Aneler, Rieux, St-Jean-la-Poterie), saw above them a glowing ball moving at high speed and emitting sparks.
At the same time, a driver from the C.G.E.A. bus, on his way to Muzillac, was surprised by the light spread abundantly along his route, wondering what kind of vehicle could produce headlights with such intensity. It was the famous phosphorescent object he saw for a few seconds.
The ball must have traveled across the sky of the Redon region for several minutes, as Messrs. Guyot and Jolivet, postmen in Bains-sur-Oust, saw it heading south; people from Laillé and Maure reported it moving from west to east; and Mr. Cavard, tobacconist on Grande-Rue in Redon, saw it head west.
Additionally, the phenomenon was also observed at around the same time in Sables-d'Olonne, Nantes, St Nazaire, La Baule, La Roche Bernard, Pontivy, and Brest.
To date, no one has been able to determine the nature of the object, except our colleague La Résistance de l'Ouest, who, appearing well-informed, writes:
"The flying saucers, streaking, blazing, or detonating, seen in the sky last Thursday would in reality be nothing more than a peaceful 'anti-fog' rocket currently being tested at a secret location, which we know is situated between St-Nazaire and Donges. This rocket, now in development, is expected to provide great service to navigation."
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors indicate that what follows was printed in the newspaper "La Résistance de l'Ouest":
On November 4, towards 7 o'clock in Saint-Nazaire people saw in the sky, a kind of ball of pale pink color, diffusing a very sharp light and moving from west to east.
|
Probably the 07:15 a.m. meteor seen in that area.
Barthel and Brucker did not specify the date of publishing of the article in La Résistance de l'Ouest, and it is not clear whether the "7 o'clock" hour is 7 a.m. or 7 p.m.
The article in La Liberté du Morbihan of November 6th states "yesterday"; but this is often the case; newspapers writing "yesterday" often actually refer to the day before the writing made the day before publication. At least it is clear that the observation took place at 7 o'clock in the morning.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Saint-Nazaire, Loire-Atlantique, ball, pale, pink, luminous
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | October 1, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 18, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | December 13, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | April 18, 2025 | Addition [lmn1]. In the Summary, addition of the information from [lmn1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | April 27, 2026 | Addition [grn1]. In the Summary, addition of the information from [lmn1]. |
