The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this site is here.
Reference number for this case: 10-sep-54-Mourieras. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. 1680:] "VAR-MATIN REPUBLIQUE" NEWSPAPER:
According to the public rumor... in the CorrèzeA farmer was kissed by the passenger of a flying saucer...!!Ussel, September 13. -- The gendarmes of the brigade of Bugeat, this morning, learning by the public rumour that a farmer of the hamlet of Mourieras, community of Bugeat (the Corrèze), Mr. Antoine Mazaud, had chatted with the passenger of a "flying saucer", went to the farmer in order to het a confirmation of this buzz. Mr. Mazaud claimed tot them that on September 10, at 08:30 p.m., returning from his fields, he had met on a path, within 1500 meters of his dwelling, an unknown individual of average size, capped of a helmet without auricle who shook hands with him and embraced him while uttering inintelligibles words. The man then went up into an apparatus in the shape of a cigar, nonenlightened, of a length from three to four meters which, taking off vertically, left in direction the west, not making more noise than a bee. Mr. Mazaud then states that he had not wanted to speak about this story because he feared that one would laugh at him. He nevertheless entrusted the thing to his wife, who in her turn, shared it with neighborhood women, and thus the gendarmerie learned about it. The lieutenant of the gendarmerie, commanding the squad, went on the location where no trace was found. |
[Ref. 1679:] "LE POPULAIRE DU CENTRE" NEWSPAPER:
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Mystery in BUGEAT"No, I was not victim of an hallucination"
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"HE" SHOOK MY HAND AND HUGGED MEIn the evening of September 10, Mr. Mazeaud left his field of the "Puy", located at 1 km. 800 of his place. He had just cut black wheat and engaged in the rocky path bordered of genets and ferns. It was 08:30 p.m. and the moon, though clear, allowed only a poor visibility. - I then distinguished a man who went towards me, the farmer specifies. He wallked while lowering the head. - Of small height? - Average. - What happened next? - He approached me, shook my hand, withdrew his helmet made out of metal, a sort of head protecttion like motorcylcists use, but deprived of a chin protection, then he gave me a hug without ever raising the head. - Did he talk to you? - No, he did not even make a sound. Perplexed, I dropped the fork which I carried on the shoulder and the man quickly engaged in the moor. - Didn't you try to chase him? By no means, I was like paralysed; with a friend at my sides, perhaps we would have followed him... Recovered from my emotion, my glance was then attracted by an oblong mass which slowly took altitude and which shone slightly. The "thing" appeared me to pass under the powerline which borders the road of Tarnac; its profile did not exceed six meters in length. I DID NOT WANT TO TELL ANYTHING Awestruck, a little trembling, Mr. Mazeaud regained his residence. He souped and slept normally. However, hour after hour, these events worried him; he made of his wife his confident and told his son, teacher at Bort-les-Orgues, of the scene which he had just lived, strongly rejecting to have been the subject of an hallucination and even less to have imagined... Finally, the word went on in Bugeat and the "case" of "old Mazeaud", told in the grocery, retold in the bakery then at the butcher's to finally arrive at the gendarmerie... which forwarded it to the police force in Tulle! Mr. Antoine Mazeaud is a hard-working, sober citizen (he does not drink alcohol) and enjoys the general esteem on all the territory of the community. He never yet read "science-fiction" stories and does not event want to hear any. The most disconcerting, which reinforces the mystery of the "flying saucer" of Bugeat, it is that the same fact was recorded, the same night, at two hours of interval, close to Valenciennes. |
[Ref. 1442:] "NORD-ECLAIR" NEWSPAPER:
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THE PASSENGEROF A "FLYING CIGAR"
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[Ref. 1382:] "LA CROIX" NEWSPAPER:
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Mars... or dream! [*]That's the way it is, all these stories about saucers [unreadable] Qhat if Mr. Mazaud, from Bugeat (the Corrèze) really did receive the kiss of a Martian?... Our incredulities would look pretty silly... Moreover, there is another witness, in the person of Me. Frugier, of Limoges, who saw, at the very same day and time when the affectionate and interplanetary encounter of Bugeat was ending, saw a red disc furrowing the sky from the East to the West. Now, Limoges is in the North-West of Bugeat, the direction taken by the mysterious apparatus according to statements made by the correzian farmer. This is more than just a coincidence here... |
[*] the French title "Mars, ou rêve" really translates as "Mars, or dream", a not very smart play of word with the expression "Marche ou crève" which means "do what you are told, else, die."
[Ref. 1383:] "SAMEDI-SOIR" NEWSPAPER:
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The big joke of the "Martians"[...] The Affectionate MartianMourieras (Correze), France, Sept. 10, 1954, 07:15 p.m.: ANTOINE MAZAUD has just bound his last heaf of oat. He thinks that the night falls already rather quickly in this season and that he was right to work late to finish before the first cold. On one kick of his heap, he adjusts the strap of his haversack and his fork on the shoulder, rejected his cap away of the forehead, and moves at great strides towards the hamlet located at approximately two kilometers. He is a strong bloke, ole' Mazaud. Despite his fifty-eight years, one would find few like him to farm on this arid ground of the plate of Millevaches, where brooms and heather grow better than corn. It was almost night, but this sunken lane, bordered of ferns, he knows it down to every stones, he know each of its ruts. He walks faster, because he's afraid to be late for the soup. Indeed, here's the shortcut which, through the moor, leads to his farm. He engages there, walks fifty meters, and suddenly freezes still. Three steps in front of him, along a bush, a worrying silhouette shows. Antoine Mazaud, however, does not have any reason to be afraid. Everyone has the right to walk on the plate, even at eight hours of the evening, and it would not be the first time that Mazaud meets a poacher while returning from his field. And yet the fact remains: Antoine Mazaud is afraid. Inexplicably afraid. Something makes him think that the man is not local.He cannot distinguish his features, but his clothing is of dark color, and his head, which he holds obstinately hung low, appears enclosed in a helmet as those which the motorcyclists wear. He is of small stature, and he is rocking, without saying a word. In his callous palm, ole' Mazaud father squeezes the handle of his fork. If the unknown wants evil to him, he will get some reaction. A few seconds went by, then suddenly, the man shook his hand. It is an obvious sign of peace. Mazaud shakes hands with him. The unknown advances, still lowering the head. He takes Mazaud's hand, presses it firmly, and, attracting the farmer towards him, he kisses him. Awestruck, Antoine Mazaud lets him do this and has just hardly realized what has happened that, already, the unknown moves away at great steps on the moor. All the scene lasted one minute and neither one nor the other of the protagonists pronounced a single word. Still under the shock of the surprise, Antoine automatically resumes his walk. - I feared another meeting of this sort, which perhaps would have been less peaceful, he would later say. But hardly had he crossed twenty meters, when he sees "the Thing", or rather he hears a light rustle which makes him turn over. At approximately fifty of meters from him, an apparatus of elongated shape, slightly shining, measuring approximately from four to five meters length, rises gently from the ground and takes altitude little by little. After having passed under the powerline which borders the road of Tarnac, "the Thing" disappears in the night. Antoine Mazaud, from Mouriéras (Corrèze), will become the man in the news. He tells the affair to his wife, initially, then to his son who is a teacher in Bort-les-Orgues. Soon, all the village is well-informed and, little by little, the case of the ole' Mazaud comes into the ears of the mobile brigade of Tulle, which dispatches police chief Bernard on the premises, from the General Intelligence. To him as with the others, Antoine Mazaud can only repeat what he said: The man... the kiss... the Thing... On the spot, the investigators discover nothing. No landing trace, no clue. Before to have even started, the investigation is blocked at the declarations of Antoine Mazaud. The mystery remains whole. Such is the manner in which the adventure of Mr. Mazaud was reported. This story seemed surprising enough to justify the impassioned interest of the public and to make those which regard the flying saucers as interplanetary apparatus utter clamours of triumph. A local investigation revealed certain rather disturbing details all the same. "THE BEING WHICH I EMBRACED WAS OF SMALL SIZE," said Antoine Mazaud and he added later "HE EMBRACED ME WITHOUT RAISING THE HEAD." Antoine Mazaud has a size of 1 m 80 approximately, it appears rather difficult that an individual of small size embraces him without raising the head. DARKNESS PREVENTED TO DESCRIBE FACIAL FEATURES OF THE UNKNOWN, tells Antoine Mazaud. That however did not prevent him from distinguishing certain vestimentary details such as the motorcylcist helmet. THE APPARATUS WENT UNDER A POWERLINE, affirms Mr. Mazaud. Close to the place where he was and at the hour when the event occurred, it would have been necessary to have an hawk's sight to notice this detail with certainty. Lastly, it seems that certain precise details came to be grafted thereafter onto the account by the witness. Is this so astonishing, when a flock of people overpowered Mr. Mazaud with questions and when he has to repeat his story more than one hundred times? Who subjected Antoine Mazaud to a questionnaire bearing on absolutely irrefutable facts? Who tried to reduce back his adventure to data which he would have judged certain himself? The mystery is perhaps not as impenetrable as it appears, but Saint-Thomas would perhaps not be too much to clear it up. |
[Ref. 1386:] "EVENING STAR" NEWSPAPER:
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In France, Rumors Are Flying...
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[Ref. 651:] PARIS MATCH:
In a four pages general article on the flying saucers, the famous Paris-Match magazine counts Antoine Mazaud as one of the three sole people, with Aasta Solvag and Marius Dewilde, "which made a personal contact with the passengers of the flying saucers" on the old continent. The article denounces the American swindle of the hoaxed saucer fragments of Frank Scully and gives a clearly dubitative account of the Adamski claims.
The magazine indicates that these passengers of flying saucers kissed Mr. Mazaud, adding that according to his own words, Mr. Mazaud felt against his cheek a hot flesh "like that of a guy from my countryside."
[Ref. 1015] CIA:
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SIGHTINGS OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS,
31 JULY - 20 SEPTEMBER 1954 WESTERN EUROPE
[... (Reports from other countries) ...] France
[... (Previous reports)] BELIEVE "FLYING SAUCER" PILOTS WERE SMUGGLERS -- Paris, Franc-Tireur, 16 Sep 54 (The following is additional information on reports of two cases cited in the FBIS [CIA reports such as this one] roundup of 14 September 1954) Two of the alleged landings (on 10 September) in France of "fying saucers" are considered by the local air police to have been nothing more than the landing of planes used in smuggling. Furthermore, in one case, the farmer in Correze Department stated that the pilot uttered unintelligible words; but the farmer was certainly no polyglot and could easily have been fooled. In the other case, in Valenciennes Departement, the witness may have been sincere, but it should be noted that he had a cranial traumatism one year ago and several nervous disturbances since. It is true, however, that in the latter case, the air police found four unusual marks on the railroad ties near the spot indicated by the witness, marks that could have been made by the tools of railroad workers. [... (Next reports)] |
Note: the "other case" is the Marius Dewilde case, refer to the corresponding file for September 10 in Quarouble, Nord.
[Ref. -:] UNIDENTIFIED SOURCE:
This summary is circulating on the french-speaking Internet, I have not located its source yet:
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A farmer, Antoine Mazaud, who returns from his work in the fields, meets a strange being, of middle, capped with a sort of motorcyclist helmet. "My first reflex, told the farmer, was to immediately use my fork, which I strongly tightened in my right hand, for I was not reassured at all. I was frozen on the place by fear. Then, all gently, he came towards me very slowly, while making salamalecs [Arabic expression used in France to indicate an exaggerated verbal politeness], and he held his hand to me. When he had reached me, I shook hand with him, he pressed my hand very firmly. Then, he drew me by the hand, he kissed me on the two cheeks. I remained "baba" [Arabic expression used in France when one is extremely surprised]. He had not pronounced a word. I became more daring, and I told him: "good evening." He answered nothing, passed in front of me and moved away a few meters. In the thick shade of the wood, it seemed to me that he was kneeling down. I then heard a light whistle. Then a sort of cigar, larger at the front than at the back, rose towards the sky, almost straight up. It passed under a high voltage wire and disappeared in the direction of Limoges." The investigation opened by the gendarmerie of Ussel made it possible to establish that, this evening of September 10, little after 08:00 P.M., inhabitants of Limoges had seen a reddish disc which let a bluish trail escape, goinf from East to West. |
[Ref. 1703:] HAROLD T. WILKINS:
The author indicates that a few days after the Quarouble report, came a report from Clermont Ferrand, in the lonely mountain region of the Auvergne: Antoine Mazaud, walking in the dusk along a lonely footpath towards a hamlet called Ussel had met a being in a helmet, four feet six inches tall, who shook hands with him, and kissed him on both cheeks.
That being spoke a strange tongue, then turned and jumped into a 12 feet long cigar-shaped object; which took off vertically into the sky, and vanished west at great speed.
Mazaud notified the police, who only shook their heads and told the keeper of the local bistro whose customers laughed at Mazaud; which did not please him.
The author indicates further in his book that in France in 1954, at Bugeat, a man alleged that normal-looking beings or a normal-looking being approached, kissed him, jabbered unintelligibly, then got into cigar-shaped saucers ten feet long, and took off.
[Ref. 365:] JIMMY GUIEU:
Jimmy Guieu reports that on September 10, 1954, at 08:30 P.M., near the hamlet of Mouriéras in the département of Corrèze, on the Millevache mesa, Mr. Antoine Mazeau, a farmer of age 50, returned home after having worked in the field.
On a path, at 1500 meters of his home, he met an unknown individual, of normal size, capped of a helmet similar to those used by motorcyclists but without earcovers. The individual was coming towards him.
Mr. Mazaud and the individual suprized each other when they noticed their respective presences, and Mr. Mazaud started a gesture of defense with the fork which he carried on the shoulder, while the individual then advanced towards him smiling, tended hands, to convince him of his good intentions. The individual spoke, but Mr. Mazaud did not understand what he said. The individual took the hands of Mr. Mazaud in his and "tightened them warm-heartedly."
Mr. Mazaud had not yet recovered from his surprise, when the individual crossed the slope which bordered the path and jumped in an odd machine which had the shape of a large metal cylinder of 3 to 4 meters length. The apparatus, nonenlightened, took off vertically, emitting a curious buzz similar to that of a beehive and disappeared in the direction of the West.
Jimmy Guieu adds that Mr. Mazaud's statements were distorted by some, who wrote that he was kissed by the individual, while actually the individual only shook hands with Mr. Mazaud as a manifestation of friendship.
Jimmy Guieu indicates that Mr. Mazaud was lengthily interrogated by the Lieutenant of Gendarmerie (Police attached to the Amry) of Ussel and formally maintained his declarations, but deplored the fuss which had been made about his adventure. The Gendarmerie had been alerted 5 days after the facts, went to the site and did not find traces of the landing at the site.
Jimmy Guieu finally adds that sincerity of Mr. Mazaud was obvious, and the absence of contradictions in his report convinced the investigators of the accuracy of his account, and that Mr. Mazaud was honourably known and had the reputation neither of a joker nor of a visionary.
[Ref. 44:] AIME MICHEL:
Aimé Michel offers a lively account of the events, whose substance is what follows. He notes that in this little populated area, everyone knows everyone and an "unknown" is a strangeness per se.
On September 10, 1954, Antoine Mazaud, a robust country quinquagénaire, calms and well balanced, has just spent the afternoon working in his oats field. At 08:30 P.M., whereas the night was falling, he put his fork at his shoulder and takes the sunken lane overhung by the Monneidières mounds and which curves between two hedges and leads to his house of the hamlet of Mouriéras, close to Bugeat, at 1.5 kilometer off the place where he worked.
At the level of a small wood, he puts down his fork to smoke a cigarette, during one or two minutes, then picks up his fork again and walks away. Michel provide Mr. Mazaud's wording:
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"As soon as I ahd made a few steps, in the starting darkness, I came face to face with an unknown "character" dressed in an odd way. Of average size, the "character" had a sort of helmet without earcovers, a little like motorcylcists use. My first reflex was to hand my fork. I was frozen with fear." The other "was also motionless. Suddenly, quite gently, he advanced towards me, making a sort of gestures with his arm above his head. I believed to understand that he wanted to calm me down, perhaps to greet me, or to express his friendship to me. His other arm was directed at me, but I did not have the impression of a threat, on the contrary. I didn't know what to do. After one moment of panic, when I wondered with what I was dealing with, I thought that it was some crackpot in disguize. As he continued to advance slowly towards me making odd gestures, I deduced from it that he did not intend to attack me. He was in front of me. Then, still holding my fork in my right hand, I advanced my left hans towards him, hesitantly. He grabbed it and shoot hand very extremely tightly, then suddenly, grabbed me against him, attracting my head against its helmet. I was amazed. All that had happened in complete silence. Coming out of my stupor, I dared tell him a good evening. He did not say anything, passed in front of me and moved away a few meters in the thick shade of wood. It seemed to me that he wen down on his knees. A few seconds afterwards, I heard a light whistle like a buzz of a bee and I saw a dark type of apparatus rise between the branches towards the sky, it appeared me to have the shape of a reinflated cigar on a side and a length of three or four meters. It passed under high voltage powerlines and disappeared in the sky towards the West for Limoges. It is at this time that I begun to gather my senses. I sprang in the direction where he had disappeared, but it was too late, obviously." |
At 08:50 P.M., Antoine Mazaud arrives at his place. His wife questions it on what occurred, because he is pale and its hands are shaking. Pressed by his wife, he agrees to tell her what happened, but asks that she does not to speak about it with others, by fear of the mockings. Mrs. Mazaud nevertheless told tell all the story to her neighbor, under promise that it will not be repeated, but is was, and as of the following day, everyone in the area was well-informed.
On October 12, the lieutenant of the Gendarmerie of Ussel opens his investigation and questions Mazaud, initially annoyed and reticent, but ending up telling the events. On the location of the encounter, the gendarmes find no trace, no clue. Michel notes that two days had passed and that it had rained a lot.
The gendarmes have been unable to prove that Mazaud lied, and have been also unable to prove that he told the truth. They checked the man's reputation, it was excellent, Mazaud being described as a silent man, a hard worker, balanced and deprived of any imagination. Michel provides an extract of an article by a journalist from "Combat" who came to investigate:
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"In his statements, there is an indisputable note of sincerity. He does not have, not the least of it, the reputation of an illuminated prankster, and the investigators did find the least error or the least contradiction in his declarations." |
Michel notes that the chief of the Military Intelligence in Tulle Information said that he was "struck as everyone by the seriousness of this involuntary witness of this strange phenomenon."
Michel indicates that the authorities would undoubtedly have filed the case away as cock-and-bull story, if it had not appeared during the investigation that the very same evening, a few moment after Mr. Mazaud saw the machine leaving for Limoges, towards the West, that the inhabitants of Limoges actually saw an object darting in the sky, coming from the East and going Westward, described as a reddish disc which let escape a bluish trail. These testimonys were collected by the police force before the meeting of Mr. Mazaud was even known of the inhabitants of Limoges. Michel notes amongst other the testimony of Mr. George Frugier, thirty years old, whom brought back his observation as of the evening of September 10, having noted the time with certainty: a few moments after 20:30. Michel adds that of Mr. Frugier's family did not take his testimony with serious before September 14, date at which the newspapers mentionned Mr. Mazaud's sighting.
Michel adds several precise details. Thus, it seems that Mr. Mazaud regretted "not having killed" the unknown individual" using his fork "to know what he was." For Michel, this is a firm indication that Mr. Mazaud knew the individual was not human. But the nature of the unknown being, if one sticks to the account of Mazaud given by Michel, is human: nothing suggests the contrary.
To add to the difficulty, Michel notes that at the time, Mazaud did not thought that his visitor could be an extraterrestrial being, because the notion of "Martians" and "flying saucers" were unknown to him, and it was thereafter, with the suggestions of the press amongst other, that he ended up naming his visitor: "my Martian."
Lastly, Aimé Michel notes with accuracy that Mr. Mazaud does not have anything of the "contactee" of the "Adamski type" in the sense that nothing enabled to foresee in his entourage that he was going to meet "a Martian", and that following its meeting, Mazaud was unchanged, in particular he did not gather any worshippers. He met a "Martian," and it stops right there.
[Ref. 557:] CORAL ET JIM LORENZEN:
The authors indicate that at Mourieras, France on September 10, 1954, a farmer returning to the town at nightfall saw a man of average height, wearing a helmet, who made friendly gestures and entered the brush, and after that a cigar-shaped object estimated to be 16 feet in length, took off.
[Ref. 152:] JACQUES VALLEE:
The author indicates that on September 10, 1954, a farmer who returned from Mouriéras at night fall suddenly came face to face with a helmeted being of average size who made friendly gestures to him, then returned, entered a bush, and penetrated in an object in the shape of a cigar of approximately 4 meters length which flew away.
[Ref. 40:] JACQUES VALLEE:
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September 10, 1954, 08:30 P.M. Mouriéras (France). A farmer, Mr. Mazaud was walking home when he was suddenly confronted with a helmeted being of average height who made friendly gestures, then went back into the brush, entered a cigar-shaped object about 4 m long, which took off toward Limoges. A few minutes later witnesses in Limoges reported a disk-shaped, red object leaving a bluish trail. (7; M 40) |
| Antoine Mazaud, en 1954. | 
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[Ref. 41:] RICHARD BOYLAN, PhD:
Richard Boylan is an american ufologist. In an article titled "Alien races: varied types and appearances" for the MUFON journal in April 2000, he reproduced Vallée's Magonia summary with no changes.
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On September 10, 1954 in Mouriéras, France, a farmer, Mr. Mazaud was walking home when he was suddenly confronted with a helmeted being of average height who made friendly gestures, then went back into the brush, entered a cigar-shaped object about 4 m long, which took off toward Limoges. A few minutes' later witnesses in Limoges reported a disk-shaped, red object leaving a bluish trail. |
[Ref. 413:] GILBERT CORNU AND HENRI CHALOUPEK:
The two french ufologists Gilbert Cornu and Henri Chaloupek indicate that on September 19, 1954, Mr. Mazaud, a farmer of Corrèze returned to his farm shortly before 10:00 P.M., and had a face to face enoucnter with an unknown dressed in an unusual way and capped with a helmet without earcovers. In silence, the unknown took the hand of Mr. Mazaud and attracted him against his helmet and then went away. A few meters farther, the unknown kneeled. A few seconds later, Mr. Mazaud heard a whistling sound "like the buzz of bees" and saw "a sort of dark caft" rise in the sky
They note that the scene is odd, practically unique, and that it is difficult to decide based on these sole data. They mention the possibility of a "strange human meeting" "by a poor fellow a little bit of a simpleton" mixed a phenomenon UFO, though the coincidence of two such events seemed strange to them.
[Ref. 42:] BUGEAT, CITY INFORMATION BULLETIN N. 25:
5.3 - SEPTEMBER 10, 1954, AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL BEING VISITS BUGEATIn the kitchen of the family farm in Mouriéras, one of the hamlets of the village of Bugeat, Antoine Mazaud, aged 56, recalls once again the crazy succession of events which he has just been throught: the investigation by the gendarmerie, the arrival of the police chief of the General Intelligence bureau in Tulle, the questions of the neighbours, then those of the journalists. And now his portrait is on the frontpage of "La Montagne," the daily newspaper of Clermont-Ferrand! It is obvious now, wanderers and the curious will rush in to make him tell what occurred on Thursday, September 10, 1954. That day, at nightfall, he was walking across the plate of Piloux at a few hundreds of meters of Mouriéras. Hard land and desolate ground, that moor of heathers and ferns, barely roughcast by solid masses of brooms and thorny bushes. After having rolled a cigarette, he was returning home, fork in the hand, at the end of a long afternoon of work. Suddenly, after passing a shrub, Antoine Mazaud encountered an unknown. The falling darkness hardly allowed him to distinguish the features from the face of that which was vis-a-vis him. He noticed that the man "was simply standing at the place where it had appeared, curiously balancing his head and his without saying a word. He carried a rather singular hairstyle. It resembled a very tight cap of dark color. His clothing was also of dark colour." Although disconcerted by such a meeting, the Correzian peasant however lift an arm to shake hands, as the stranger had raised the hand for a shakehand. "while pursuing his strange ceremony," the stranger then attracted Mazaud towards him to embrace him and moved away immediately afterwards. The most extraordinary of the history is not over. Antoine Mazaud had only walked some 20 meters when he heard a light buzz, similar with that of a bee. Turning round, he saw "a machine of elongated shape which hovered like a bird very close to the ground. It resembled a long cigar of 4 to 5 meters. Its color resembled that of zinc. It passed under a power line and disappeared silently in the night" in the direction of the west. When he was back at his home, remained silent, of fear of not being believed. Nevertheless, the secrecy was too heavy to carry; in the evening, he entrusted to his wife who, the next day, informed her neighbors about it. From this moment, the news developed and caused the investigation of the gendarmerie. The Gendarmerie could not question the sincerity of the Mouriéras farmer, described as a balanced man and enjoying the esteem of all in the area. On the other hand, on the plate of Piloux, no evidence was found. The mystery remained complete, even though other witnesses, in Limoges, stated, before the Bugeat "landing" was not known, to have seen a reddish disc followed by a bluish trail flying towards the west at the same hour, this 10 September. A few days later, On September 20, a farmer of Lachassagne d'Alleyrat also saw a flying luminous object which practically hovered his tractor, causing the fear of his life to him... A new sensation item for the Press! Year 1954 corresponds to the largest wave of UFO observations in France - 178 cases of crafts landing on the ground or on the point to land and 62 descriptions of humanoids, pointed out Guy Quincy -, and the hard land of Haute-Corrèze has been particularly attractive for the extraterrestrials, if they do really exist. (story from the book "A 100 years in Corrèze" by Jean-Michel VALADE (Les Trois Epis publisher, in BRIVE) Sold at the House of the Press in BUGEAT This book introduces a 100 caractéristic events which took place in Corrèze (1 for every year) between 1901 and 2000. |
[Ref. 43:] BUGEAT VILLAGE BULLETIN, N. 26:
A witness of that time gives his explanation in #26 of the Journal Municipal de Bugeat (section 5.5):
5.5 - REMEMBRANCE - EXTRATERRESTRIAL SOUVENIR OR NATURAL URGEThe previous edition (25) of the BUGEACOIS narrated, under the title "on September 10, 1954, an extraterrestrial in visit in Bugeat," the encounter between Antoine MAZAUD and somebody and something. This is part of my memories... I WAS THERE! Or almost. La MONTAGNE, in its relation of the event indicated that Antoine MAZAUD spoke, on the road, with a neighbour and his son. The neighbour was my father, and the son: myself. This occurred at the location called "Les Fonfreydes" at the limits between the villages of Bugeat and Toy-Viam. My father and I were returning by bicycle from my aunt's at La Batisse in Toy-Viam. Antoine MAZAUD had just turned over the hay, and fork on the back, went up towards Mouriéras. After some routine conversation, and as the sun set, we separated, we by road on the bicycle, him by foot through the pathway that crosses the plate of "Piloux" directly regained Mouriéras by the way of "The Mazaud." Sorry about the journalist, this was not a land of moor and brooms and thorny bushes, for this plate always was and still is worked, it has a flat surface, a large surface, favourable for a landing. Antoine MAZAUD, crossing our plantation, before the plate, was taken by a sudden and natural urge and "dropped his pants" (something a journalist cannot write.) It is when he stood up again, that he was face to face with a man dressed as in the description (dark coloured tight fitting clothing and headcap). Antoine was large and strong, brave, not a wimp, but... when your pants is down, it is hard to try to attack or defend yourself. They thus "looked at each other in the eyes", and the individual, anxious on the attitude to take, went closer and... kissed him on the mouth, before turned around and leaving. Our Antoine finished to button up, took his fork again and took the path home again, he was then attracted by a buzz, and looking up, he saw, not what the newspaper journalists "a craft with an elongated craft like a cigar" but a COUADIERE! Explanation for our younger readers: a couadière is a wooden pointed tube, or more generally in our region, a cow horn that the peasants hung at their belt to carry the whetstone for his scythe. Upon arriving at Mouriéras, Antoine said no nothing, but undoubtedly disturbed, his spouse being worried managed to get him to tell her what happened, of course under the seal of secrecy... Four days later, the entire France and the whole world knew about it. As much as was often impassioned about UFOS and encounters of the third kind, reading many books, when it comes to the MAZAUD case, it seems odd that:
Sorry for the dream. Antoine saw a man, neither small, neither macrocephalic nor green; and a couadière not leaving any of the traces found in UFO landing cases. Perhaps our strange pilot was also taken by a natural urge that forced him to land in the country... |
[Ref. 1034:] LUIS GONZALES, FIRSTHUMCAT:
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September 10, 1954 – Mouriéras 08:30 P.M. A peasant, Mr. Mazaud, returned to his house when he found himself in front of a man of normal size and capped of a helmet, which made friendly gestures at him, pressed himself against him, entered am object of 1 meter hight and large od 4 meters, which left towards Limoges. One minute later, several inhabitants of this city saw a red and discoidal object pass, which released a bluish gleam. Sources: MAGONIA Catalog N.142 - Le Populaire du Centre (Limoges). |
[Ref. 1371:] STEVEN DUNN, OCCUPANTS DATABASE:
| DATE | DESCRIPTION | MICAP_CLAS | REF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09/10/1954 | Mourieras. FR 10 Sep 54 A farmer on his way home saw a man of average height wearing a helmet who made friendly gestures, then walked into a forest. A moment later a cigar-shaped craft took off. | CE-3-102 | Randle/Estes, FOV pg 264 |
[Ref. 312:] UFOCAT'S "ON THIS DAY":
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On this Day September 10 [...] 1954 - Mourieras, France. A farmer, Mr. Mazaud was walking home when he was suddenly confronted with a helmeted being of average height who made friendly gestures, then went back into the brush, entered a cigar-shaped object about four meters long, which took off toward Limoges. A few minutes later witnesses in Limoges reported a disc-shaped, red object leaving a bluish trail. (Sources: Le Parisien, September 14, 1954; Aime Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 40; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, p. 209). |
[Ref. 134:] ALBERT ROSALES, HUMCAT:
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78. Location. Mourieras France Date: September 10 1954 Time: 2030 While returning home, Antonie Mazaud met a person of normal stature, wearing a helmet without earflaps, who shook his hands smiling, while pronouncing unintelligible words. The man then climbed into his cigar shaped craft, 15, or 20 ft long, and took off vertically, with a sound like a bee's buzz. Humcat 1954-47 Source: Aime Michel Type: B |
[Ref. 1601] RICHARD HALL:
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TABLE 1. UFO OCCUPANT SIGHTINGS, 1954-1963 [...] September 10, 1954 Antoine Mazaud, Mourieras, France 8:50 P.M. One being of average height, "helmet"-like headgear; cigar-shaped craft; being confronted witness, extended arm and touched him. [...] |
Aimé Michel indicates that an helicopter can be excluded as explanation for the flying object. If, starting from Mouriéras, you walk the path towards Les Mazaud, you quickly find yourself in a forest, not a likely place for an helicopter to land:
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If on the other hand you walk around Puy Perdu which dominates the way with its 738 meters, the landscape is perfectly suited for the landing of an helicopter. And maybe this is where Antoine Mazaud's encounter of September 10, 1954 occurred, at least if one believes an inhabitant of the area, author of these photographs to illustrate his advice for a visiting walk in the area:
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It would be advisable to check exactly where the point of meeting between Mr. Mazaud and the "helmeted" man. His craft being landed nearby, it may be possible to determine if Aimé Michel, trusting the newspaper, just imagined that the place is impracticable for an helicopter landing, or if on the contrary, it really was impossible for an helicopter to land.
However, there remains the difficulty mentioned by Michel that the craft "passed under a high voltage wire," if one admits that this information is true. Helicopter pilots do not risk anything like that.
In the same way the problem of the agreement with testimony remains: Mazaud is known as to have heard a weak whistle a few seconds after the unknown was perhaps down on his knees at some footsteps of him. How, if the account of Mr. Mazaud is not completely false, can anyone imagine that one can describe the sound of the takeoff of a helicopter at some step as a "weak whistling sound?" How can one imagine that Mr. Mazaud describes the machine and its takeoff as he did, if it were a helicopter? The blades of the rotor would have almost turned above Mr. Mazaud's head, and the noise would have been deafening.
There were helicopters around that time, and they were still little known in the countries. Doesn't the Sus-Est Aviation SE 3000, a resumption of the WWII German Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 prototype resemble a cigar (but it existed in only two specimens, quickly abandoned)? Let's also note that the first helicopters used by the Gendarmerie fly in 1953, the Hiller 360, Djinn and Bell 47, then the Sikorsky S-55 types. In 1954, the helicopter is still an innovation, 1956 is the years of the explosion of the use of the helicopter in the Gendarmerie (the "Alouette" type). The "banana shaped" helicopters mentionned by the author of the article in the Bulletin of Bougeat do not exist at all in France in 1954. Helicopters coming from Russia could not reach France.
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| Sud-Est aviation SE 3000 |
But how can one imagine that the Gendarmerie investigators and the Intelligence investigators both did not explain the case as caused by an helicopter, if there was the least chance that this was the explanation? And how could they have missed it if it was?
To be compliant with the facts, admitted that they are at least partly accurately known and correctly brought back, I can risk an helicopter hypothesis provided that:
Moreover, the assumption also forces to ignore the witnesses in Limoges, or at least, to consider that their sighting is not of the same phenomenon as Antoine Mazaud's encounter. This weakens to a certain extent any helicopter hypothesis.
I found a first candidate which more or less satisfies certain constraints, except one which it does very probably not satisfy at all.
After WWII, the Soviet Union tried to produce a lightweight helicopter. They had in mind some sort of "flying motorbike." The Kamov research offices took up the challenge and in 1947, they produced three exemplaries of a Lamov Ka 8 type, with two contrarotating rotors.
The machine is single-seatead, and its light engine with two cylinders seriously handicaped it on the aeronautical level, but this engine is relatively quiet, and the machine is small and lightwight. It is not a good candidate, because these three exemplaries very probably never flew elsewhere than in the surroundings of the Kamov test facility.
But Ka 8 strongly interested the Soviet Military Navy: with its mini size, it can be embarked on board any small ship, it takes off and lands very easily, and it could be used in liaison, reconaissance, and air intelligence missions.
I found a second candidate who more or less satisfies almost all the constraints. It satisfies some of these constraint in an amazing way.
The Soviet Military Navy asked for an improvement of Ka 8, which was to be the Ka 10, with much better aeronautical capacities thanks to its newer Ivchenko engine. This project was actively supported by the commander-in-chief of the Navy, admiral Kuznestov, and all the project was conducted under the clear intent to build a lightweight helicopter which could be used from small ships of the Navy, without requiring any modifications, for operations of laison, reconaissance, and, this goes without saying, of air intelligence.
The first operational Ka 10 were used in 1951 in the Black Sea by a specially created Navy squadron under the command of Captain A.N. Voronine.
If we check the Ka 10 against our constraints, we have:
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| Kamov Ka 8 | Kamov Ka 10 |
Not completed yet. An helicopter hypothesis is discussed above.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Mouriéras, Corrèze, Bugeat, Antoine Mazaud, encounter, landing, cigar, noise, sound, luminous, red, blue, kiss, contact, Gendarmes, Intelligence, helicopter
