The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this site is here.
Reference number for this case: 16-Oct-54-Haguenau. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. 1630:] "LE MERIDIONAL" NEWSPAPER:
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After the saucers and the cigarsA "FLYING MELON" IN THE SKY OF ALSACESTRASBOURG. -- After the cigars, the brushes, the barrels, it is now the "melons" that make their appearance in the sky of Alsace. Indeed, several people, among them pilots of the flying-club of Strasbourg, claim to have seen Saturday evening a shining machine, having the shape of a melon, and leaving a trace of two meters of white-orange colour, that flew above the area of the Bas-Rhin. This machine is said to have been seen almost at the same hour in Strasbourg, Haguenau and Wissembourg. The "melon" evolved at a high altitude and moved according to some in a south-eastern direction, according to the others in an East-West direction. A similar phenomenon was observed in Niederhalslach (valley of the Bruche). An unknown apparatus flies over a soccer gameCHAUMONT. -- During more than one hour, Sunday afternoon, the 400 witnesses of the soccer game in Langres could follow the evolutions of an unknown apparatus which was at very high altitude. Some believed that it was a weather-balloon, which, say the others, appears not very probable, for before disappearing, the machine moved in opposite direction of the wind. In addition, in Chaumont, a mechanic, Mr. Auguste Poulot and his three children noticed at the beginning of the night the passage of a flying cigar. The "saucer" seen by the roadmender was only an alibi as he was late for workDIJON. -- Ten days ago, Mr. André Narcy, aged 47, roadmender, arrived at his work very breathless: "I saw a flying saucer", he claimed. And he gave much details: a machine of orange color stopped in a field, a small being dressed of a hairy cape, a beautiful vertical take-off of the mysterious apparatus. Moreover Mr. Narcy could show the place. With two of his comrades, Misters Riel and Henry, he went back there. All three stated that indeed the dew had dried on a great surface, that the grass had taken "a milky colour", that one saw traces of "round feet", etc... In short, questioned again by the gendarmerie, Mr. Narcy comes to acknowledge that he made up this story entirely to excuse his late arrival at work. A written question to the governmentFOIX. -- Following the many appearance of flying machines of unknown type currently reported in all the areas of France, Mr. Rene Dejean, deputy of Ariège (socialist) addressed to the president of the Council a written question asking him among other questions: - "Wether were created or not a service missioned to gather the existing documentation on this matter and to study the nature and the origin of the said machines. - "Whether the information currently collected and gathered makes it possible to absolutely exclude the assumption of machines piloted or controlled by living beings of unknown species and origin. - "Whether the government has, on the contrary, sufficient information to allot the production of these machines to the industry of a foreign Country. - "Whether in this last case the international agreements signed by France already allowed consultations relating to the use of such machines in a possible conflict. |
[Ref. 654:] AIME MICHEL:
Aimé Michel wrote about the October 16, 1954, 09:30 p.m. meteor:
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THE TEST OF THE METEOR. October 16, as if it was purposely, a splendid meteor crossed the north of France towards 09:30 p.m.. It was observed on a score of departments by thousands of people, from the Allier to Lorraine and from the Swiss border to Paris. Naturally many witnesses believed to have seen a Flying Saucer and said so. The newspapers printed "Flying Saucer in Orly", or "in Montididier", or "in Metz." But once again the description made by all these weak brains appeared of a remarkable honesty. [...] The innumerable gathered testimonys show indeed that even when the witnesses called "Flying saucer" the observed object, their description is identical on 200.000 square kilometres where the visible phenomenon was visible: an "orange ball followed by a trail", a "large luminous ball with a tail", a "flying egg followed by a trail", a "bottle's bottom with a trail of thirty times its diameter", etc. The same phenomenon is uniformly described. [...] |
[Ref. 223] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:
The two authors indicate that in Haguenau in the department of the Bas-Rhin, on October 16, 1954, at an unspecified time, several people saw a shining machine having the shape of a melon and leaving a trace of orange white color.
[Ref. 312] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors note this case of October 16, 1954:
"Haguenau - 67 - towards 07:30 p.m.: no investigation. Obvious description of a fireball."
They suspect that the exact time is not 07:30 p.m. but 09:30 p.m., which joins the case to the series of the observations of the meteor of 09:30 p.m..
Further in their book, they claim that "the few serious investigators" who had admitted the fact that it was a meteor which had generated this type of observations were the technicians of the scientific office of the Air Force.
[Ref. 1057] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:
In 2004, Christian Valentin wrote a dossier published in the magazine "Les Saisons d'Alsace", which was devoted to the french flap of 1954 as it was lived in Alsace.
Among briefly mentioned cases fot this date, he indicates that on October 16, 1954, at 07:30 P.M., in Haguenau, a machine of round shape and of red color followed by a white and orange scarf crossed the sky from the north to the south.
Not looked for yet. Probable meteor.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Haguenau, Bas-Rhin, craft, round, object, trail, white, red, orange
[-] indicates sources which I have not yet checked.
