The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Figaro, Paris, France, page 17, on October 5, 1954.
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Chamonix, October 4. -- A very large number of people, among whom were officers from the High Mountain School, gendarmes from Chamonix, and the pilot Guiron, a specialist in high-mountain flying who was flying over the region at that moment, stated that they saw for more than an hour a shining craft maneuvering between Mont Lachat and Mont Blanc.
Pilot Guiron indicated that, flying at about 2,000 meters above Faverges, he saw a craft which, he said, bore no resemblance to a normal airplane. Furthermore, the direction followed at high speed by this craft ruled out the hypothesis of a weather balloon.
Sunday evening, around 9 p.m., a restaurateur from Milly-la-Forêt (Seine-et-Oise), Mr. Mourouzeau, was driving three of his employees by car toward Gironville. Suddenly he noticed a sort of half-moon shining in the sky. At first it did not strike him, but when he realized that the real star of the night was behind him, Mr. Mourouzeau stopped to observe this inexplicable phenomenon. The object descended and the witnesses were able to observe that it had the shape of a red cigar surrounded by a ring. The craft maneuvered for about six minutes and then disappeared.
But now the skies of France are no longer enough for the "saucers." They have reached Africa, and more specifically the Ivory Coast.
The news became known through an official report sent to the governor of Ivory Coast by Mr. Vernhet, chief administrator of the subdivision of Duanane, a town located 500 kilometers northeast of Abidjan.
The events date back to September 19, but they were only made official today following requests for precise information and an investigation.
Besides the local population, the head of the gendarmerie post, the chief physician of the medical center, Father Vyard of the Lyon missions, Mr. Vernhet, head of the subdivision, and his wife, gathered in the courtyard of the residence, saw on September 19, from 8:30 p.m. to 9:05 p.m., a craft that they were unable to identify.
It appeared as a luminous point surrounded by a halo that at first grew rapidly, moving while approaching or moving away from the horizon. The witnesses saw the craft switch on a powerful headlight, sometimes directed upward, sometimes downward. The craft, oval in shape, was surmounted by a dome and rays of light seemed to extend from each side.
When it disappeared, after maneuvering for half an hour, the witnesses very clearly saw two luminous halos, oval in shape, forming in the direction taken by the craft.
On the same day, at Soubré, 250 kilometers northwest of Abidjan and in the same direction, similar phenomena were observed. The head of the Soubré subdivision confirmed the existence of this phenomenon.
