The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this site is here.
Reference number for this case: 16-oct-54-Maubeuge. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. 61:] J.M. BIGORNE:
This field ufologist investigated the case shortly after the events, and interviewed again the witnesses 16 years later to make sure that they had not changed their story, they did not. He published a report on the case in the French ufology magazine "Lumière dans la Nuit," the report gives the following information.
Between Avesne and Louvroil, in the vicinity of Maubeuge on National Road RN 2 which joins Paris and Brussels in Belgium, on October 16, 1954, at about midnight, Mr. and Mrs. Mozin were driving back from a visit to relatives in Dourlers. The road was empty, it was cold and dry, almost freezing, the sky was clear, they drove at a speed of 120 km/h.
M. Mozin indicates to his wife on gleams in the countryside, on top of a small hill, at a distance which they estimated at 800 meters away. Mr. Mozin tells his wife that he thinks that there has been a car accident.
The distance is quickly covered by their car and when they are at the top of the hill, they discover at 100 meters away on the right side of the road a craft on the ground, which has a cylindrical form of two meters in diameter with a cone of low height at the top.
The witnesses experienced that when their car was still at a hundred meters of the object, the headlights of the cars died out spontaneously while the engine continued to function normally. Mr. Mozin however slowed down at this time and brought the speed to 70 km/h. While continuing to drive they arrived at some four or five meters of the object.
They can then see that it is resting on feet. The feet seem to have some thirty centimeters in height. It has a white aspect like coated metal sheet and vertical lines separated by 10 centimeters on its surface.
The craft has a broad opening, and in this opening, which seems deprived of a door, a silhouette appears to move slowly. They thought it was quite similar to the well-known silhouette of the "Michelin dummy." This being seems to have a height of one meter and twenty centimeters, very large, broad of 0m90 to 1 meter, with rolls around the arms and legs, and carrying a bulky helmet almost as broad as its shoulders. Its face is not distinguished. It seems to move slightly and very slowly, like if getting ready to come out, trailing its feet which appear fitted heavy boots. Its hands are not visible.
The luminosity of the opening diffuses on the road, the interior of the machine seems of an intense white but not dazzling. Some sort of conduits or large cables go down in the machine in its interior and some sort of handles or switches are seen.
When the car passed the object by a hundred meters, its headlights functioned again spontaneously. Mr. Mozin then stopped the car, as he gad decided to walk to the object for a closer look, but his frightened wife dissuades him and they drive away and return to their home in Maubeuge. They thus did not see a departure of the craft.
The following day, Mr. Mozin, while going to Rheims to attend a fussball game with his friend Mr. Houssière, stops at the place where he saw the object the day before to check if there are any traces left, hoping to prove to his friend that he did not dream. In a narrow space between a one meter broad and 50 centimeters deep ditch and the road, three 8 to 10 centimeters deep prints in half rings were visible with, in the center of the imaginary circle formed by these three prints of approximately a meter forty, a carbonized round, 20 centimeters in diameter, releasing an odor that the witness compared to that of benzene. The car had to pass at between three and five meters of the object.
The gendarmerie did not carry out any investigation and Mr. Mozon's friends made fun of him, estimating that it was all a big joke, but the witnesses never forgot the incident. Mrs. Mozin suffered from insomnia during eight days and imagined the Michelin "bibendum" near her bed at night.
J.M. Bigorne re-interrogated the witnesses 16 years after the facts. He notes that the witnesses had both a good sight, did not suffer from any disease and were favorably known in their vicinity for their kindness and good morality. Mr. Mozin remained very calms in connection with this event, while Mrs. Mozin insisted that she would rather never had lived such a frightening experience.
 Drawing from "Lumières dans la Nuit." |
 Bibendum, the "Michelin man", an advertising symbol of this tyres trademark. |
[Ref. 1212:] FRANCOIS LAGARDE:
The authors indicate that the event occurred around Maubeuge, on the R.N. 2 (Paris-Brussels), between Avesne and Louvroil (Maubeuge), Michelin map #53, fold 6, and was the subject of an investigation by ufologists Bigorne and Mathieu.
One Saturday of November 1954, the Mozin couple had visited a patient at parents in Dourlers. About midnight, they were on the road back in direction to Maubeuge. The road was deserted, the weather was dry, rather frozen and it was clear. They drove at a good pace, when Mr. Mozin said to his wife: "Hold on, look at the gleams over there! What is it? You would say a serious car crash!" The gleam was at the top of a small hill at approximately 800 meters of their car.
While driving at 120 km/h, they quickly crossed this distance and arrived at the top of the small hill and from there they saw within 100 meters on the right side of the R.N. 2, a machine posed with an opened door, and inside the machine a "Michelin guy" appearing to move slowly on the threshold of this door.
The craft had the form of a sort of large shell and rested on feet. It had a white metallic aspect, of coated sheet aspect, and on the walls were visible, vertical lines at intervals of 10 cm.
The being was high of 1.20 meters approximately, very fat, with rolls around the arms and legs. Fitted with large boots, it had a bulky helmet, almost as broad as its shoulders, which made him a large head.
The seen light came from the opened door, and was diffused on the road. The interior was of an intense white, not dazzling. The two witnesses saw there what they supposed to be pipes, or large cables, which went down in the machine, with kinds of handles or switches.
The Mozins managed to begin their observation a hundred meters before arriving close to the object, where they passed in the immediate vicinity, i.e. to 4 or 5 meters.
The headlights of the car ceased functioning as soon as they were at a hundred meters, at the time when the witnesses saw the object. The engine did not stop. The driver then slowed down, and it is more slowly than it crossed the machine: at 70 km/h approximately. A hundred meters after, the headlights suddenly re-ignited without his intervention. Mr. Mozin stopped in the intention to go to see the strange object more closely, but due to the insistence of his frightened wife, he resumed his trip towards Louvroil and reached their home in Maubeuge.
The following day, a Sunday, going to Rheims to attend a fussball game with his friend Mr. Houssières (deceased, [in date of publication]), he stopped at the place of the landing to seek traces, and to prove to his skeptical friend that he had not dreamed. Three prints were visible, and in the center of the triangle which they formed, there was a carbonized round of 15 to 20 cm of diameter releasing an indefinable odor, reminding of benzine. The three traces were laid out on a circle of more or less 1.40 meters of diameter, and were in the form of half-circle, deep of 8 to 10 cm. The spacing of the traces seemed smaller than the diameter of the craft evaluated as of 2 meters. The craft was posed on a narrow space between the ditch and the road.
All the friends of Mr. Mozin laughed at what they thought of being an enormous joke, and the gendarmerie did not intervene.
The witnesses never forgot that night, it remained engraved for ever in their memory. Mrs. Mozin suffered from insomnia during eight days, and she still saw the "Michelin bibendum" at the foot of her bed. Each time that she saw a gas station with the Michelin advertisement she reminded her husband of their strange encounter.
The authors specify that the credibility to be granted to this account appears complete. The Mozina were known in their vicinity for "their kindness and their good moral and intellectual behaviour. They are simple people to whom a cat is a cat; and a flying saucer a flying saucer." They enjoy a very good sight and never had any serious illness.
Sixteen years afterwards, day for day, the witnesses acted their adventure for the investigators, who indicate that their account has notes of sincerity which would be quite difficult to fake. They became again astonished, curious or apprehensive and, on the contrary to her husband, the wife stated that she would not like to see that any more, as she had been so much frightened.
[Ref. 684:] FRANCE INTER RADIO:
Mr. and Mrs Mozin were interviewed by André Darcheville for a radio broadcast of 1974 on the french national radio France Inter.
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[Voice] - "We will begin the approach of the humanoïdes, thanks to found witnesses, who agreed to entrust their fantastic adventure at the microphones of France-lnter. So, Mr. and Mrs. Mozin who tell one of our reporters, André Darcheville, what they saw in November 1954..." [M. Mozin] - "I was returning from Montournère. Arrived at the "Belle Hôtesse", at the top of the coast, I saw very sharp lights on the roadside. To me, this was an accident. I was within two kilometers approximately of these huge lights: I thus accelerated. I descended the hill very quickly, to see the accident. Within a hundred meters, suddenly, my headlights die out! I was driving at 120 km/h. At this point in time I saw the being." [A. Darcheville] - What did it look like?" [M. Mozin] - "It resembled the bibendum of the Michelin publicity. A large helmet, large gloves, boots, a size of an average man. Its silhouette cut out in a door which made about 1 meter 80 high. Behind the door I saw like controls, sort of stems and electric wires. It should be said that all was perfectly lit, very white. You could see a in daylight. I thus passed in front of the machine. Fifty meters further, the light came back in the car. The headlights again functioned normally. A little further, I stopped because I wanted to go back there. At that time, I had a revolver on board. I said to myself: "We'll see." My wife started to shout: "No, I do not want to go there!" So, I continued. The following day, I was to go to assist a football game, in Rheims. I was the president of the U.S.M., here in Maubeuge. I was go there with a friend, a tobacconist. He died since, otherwise he would have testified. Before leaving I told him: "Yesterday evening, I saw a saucer!" He answers me: "It's not true!" "Good, since you don't believe me, I will show you while going to Rheims." We hit the road, and arrived at the place in the basin, we get out of the car. I show him the ground. Indeed, there were traces. "Looks at this: there are three naked feet, one there and another there and in the middle, that's odd!" My friend was amazed. "It's true, I lost!" he answered me." [A. Darcheville] - "You did bet with him?" [M. Mozin] - "I bet a bottle of champagne and a supper. And I won." [A. Darcheville] - "Let's go back to this famous night. What was the shape of the craft of have seen?" [M. Mozin] - "It had the shape of a cigar of three meters in diameter. The door in which the little man was seen had about a meter eighty of height. There remained a space of approximately fifty centimeters between the top of the door and the head of the being. This being, I saw him move. He was going to get out at the time when I arrived. It walked like this. He had difficulties moving. In my opinion, the objects which he had on him were very heavy." [A. Darcheville] - "The inside was brightly lit I believe, did you see it well?" [M. Mozin] - "The interior was illuminated with an exceptional strength. White, very white, like those chairs over there." [A. Darcheville] - How long have you seen it? [M. Mozin] - "It happened very fast, about fifty seconds." [A. Darcheville] - "Mrs. Mozin, what impression did it make on you?" [Mme Mozin] - "I was afraid! All that I can say, is that I was afraid! In the beginning, I believed in an accident, a terrible accident, inasmuch the lights were so strong. But when I saw the being, I was afraid! I did not sleep because of that!" [A. Darcheville] - "And it is you who saw the being with the maximum of details since you were on the right side of the car, i.e. [the side] of the UFO?" [Mme Mozin] - "Oh! Yes, I saw him well. I still see him when I close my eyes!" [A. Darcheville] - "But, in the beginning of your vision, when you realized that this was not a car accident, what did you think of?" [M. Mozin] - "I thought of a flying saucer! They were discussed at the time. A gate-keeper of the S.N.C.F. [National railway company] had seen a saucer landing on railroad track [See Quarouble Oct. 10.]. I thus thought of a saucer. [A. Darcheville] - "Why didn't you want your husband to go back?" [Mme Mozin] - "Oh! no, I didn't want to! I didn't know what was going to happen. Moreover since the car's lights had dies out! Afterwards, when the car's light came back, I said: "No, no! No way we go back there!" [A. Darcheville] - Mr. Mozin, when did your engine start to function again?" [M. Mozin] - "It never stopped functioning!" [Mme Mozin] - "No, only the headlights went out." [A. Darcheville] - "For how long?" [M. Mozin] - "It's hard to say. During seventy to eighty meters. I had a new Aronde. It was a fast car!" [A. Darcheville] - "Without the headlights, did you get enough light?" [M. Mozin] - "Oh! Much more light than if the headlights had functioned!" [A. Darcheville] - "Were you alone on the road? No other car?" [M. Mozin] - "No. I was alone at this time. At midnight, there were not many cars which were driving, especially at that time, when there were much less cars than now. It was twenty years ago! But we would have loved to meet another vehicle, believe me!" [A. Darcheville] - "What was your occupation at that time, Mr. Mozin?" [M. Mozin] - "I was a butcher." [A. Darcheville] - "What were you doing so late on a deserted road?" [M. Mozin] - "I had gone to visit to a relationship which had just given birth. We had started from Maubeuge after my work, around 10 hours of the evening. We returned around 11 and a half, midnight. It is at the return trip that we saw the "thing"." |
[Ref. 223] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:
The two authors indicate that at an unknown date of November 1954, at midnight, at the locality "Belle Hotesse", close to Beaufort, Mr. and Mrs. Mozin returned from a visit to a patient at parents in Dourlers and were driving on the N2 road in direction to Maubeuge. The road was deserted, and Mr. Mozin said to his wife: "Hold on, look at the gleams over there! One would say a serious accident."
Driving at 120 km/h, they quickly crossed the distance which separated them from the craft posed between the road and the ditch. The craft was a cylindrical object ending in a cone of low height of a diameter which was to be two meters approximately, and a 2.30 to 2.40 meters height. It rested on three 30 cm high feet and comprised an opened door in its center. Its color was white metallized. They observed a being of 1 m 20 to 1 m 40, a sort of Michelin bibendum, carrying a helmet, which was visible, silhouetted in the opening. The inside was luminous and this light diffused on the road.
They see what they supposed being pipes or large cables which went down in the craft, with kinds of handles or switches.
The headlights of their car, a Simca Aronde, ceased functioning within 100 meters of the object. The engine did not stop.
The driver slowed down close to the machine and it is rather slowly, at 70 km/h approximately, that they observed it. The headlights re-ignited without intervention afterwards. Mr. Mozin stopped in the intention to go to see the strange object more closely, but facing the insistence of his wife he resumed the trip towards their residence in Maubeuge.
The authors note that J.-C. Bourret quotes in the report of Andre Darcheville that the witnesses would have been returning from Montournère but in fact they were returning from Mont-Dourlers.
The authors indicate that the books by François Lagarde and by Jean-Claude Bourret are their sources.
[Ref. 1606:] JACQUES SCORNEAUX:
The author suggests that the humanoïd with the roved diving-suit is a French speciality inspired by the Michelin man.
[Ref. 1607:] "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT" - JEAN-MARIE BIGORNE:
Because the two debunkers Gerald Barthel and Jacques Brucker had published that "the case was null" according to a journalist whom they had questioned, Jean-Marie Bigorne who had been the first investigator published a firm answer in the ufology magazine "Lumières Dans la Nuit."
It indicates that Barthel and Brucker had wrongly taken this journalist for the investigator who had accompanied him in 1970 at the time of the first investigation by the witnesses. The journalist had simply given a negative but purely unaware opinion that Barthel and Brucker changed into a certainty.
Jean-Marie Bigorne reminds that he was the principal interested, that he has seen the witnesses very closely for 10 years, to find a possible fault, and that Barthel and Brucker did not even consult him, whereas he would have facilitated their work of counter-investigation by bringing them on the location and to the witnesses.
Jean Marie Bigorne charges on the relevance of their telephone investigations, blames them for not having gone to the site, not having met the witnesses and for not having worked objectively. For him, the case remains unidentified to date.
[Ref. 134:] ALBERT ROSALES, HUMCAT:
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213. Location. Maubeuge Nord France Date: November 1954 Time: 2400 M & Mrs Mozin were traveling to Maubeuge by car when they saw a light by the road ahead. As they approached, they saw that it came from the interior of an object shaped like a fat shell. This object was about 6 ft in diameter and 7.5 ft high, and rested on 3 1-foot legs. It was a whitish metallic color. A wide opening gaped in it on the side facing the road; within could be seen thick cables and a very stout space suited being about 4 ft tall, apparently about to step out. He was encased in "rolls" like the "Michelin tire man" and wore boots & a very broad helmet. His face was not seen. The Mozins passed within 15 ft of the object. The car's headlights went out when it came within 300 ft of the object, and came on again 300 ft past it. The next day, Mr. Mozin found an 8" carbonized spot "giving off an odor reminiscent to benzene" & surrounded by 3 imprints 4" deep, on a circle of about 4.5 ft diameter. Humcat 1954-34 Source: Jean Marie Bigorne & Fernand Legarde Type: A |
| Investigator Jean-Marie Bigorne has photographed Mr. Mozin in May 1979 while he interviewed him again. |
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Maubeuge, Nord, Beaufort, Avesne, Louvroil, Mozin, occupant, humanoid, Michelin, Bibendum, cylinder, foot, feet, trace, multiple, car, electro-magnetism, metallic
