The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this site is here.
Reference number for this case: 3-oct-54-Bergerac. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. 258] JOURNAL "LA NOUVELLE REPUBLIQUE":
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THE ENTIRE FRANCE
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Here the film of the night of October 1. There, in the Louis-Belin street, in Bergerac, a mysterious machine appeared to MM. Defiz and Labonne.From left to right and from top to bottom, the attitudes of those who lived these moments. 1. On bicycle, Mr. Defiz returns from work: 10 P.M, , a gleam is visible in the sky. 2. It descends, taking the shape of a rocket. 3. It lands in Mr. Labonne's garden (marked with an arrow). 4. The machine lands on a strip of land, 3 meters out of 5 meters, (indicated by a circle). 5. In the morning, in edge of this piece of ground, mushrooms have grown. 6. Mr. Labonne, who is now in company of Mr. Defiz, has not recovered yet of his emotion. 7. As for Mr. Defiz, he remakes a drawing representing the silhouette of the machine. 8. Mr. Boyer and Mr. Marat, first of all skeptics, do not doubt the declarations of the two men anymore. |
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FLYING SAUCERS IN THE SUD-OUESTContinued from page 1 ing on the railway. Two hours before this appearance, in the hamlet of Mauriéras [Sic, Mouriéras], community of Bugeat (the Corrèze), Mr. Mauzaud stated on his side to have been kissed by the space man. It is still on a railway that this time close to Bergerac, a witness claims to have seen a mysterious "flying machine" on the ground. A rocket with a greenish hueIndeed, on October 1st, at aoubt 10 P.M., Mr. Jean Defiz, aged 26, living on 28, street Louis-Belin, in Bergerac, assembler in central heating, regains his residence. On his bicycle, by a narrow dirt track which skirts the railway which goes from Bergerac to Agen. The night is black, thick, without a light at the horizon. And suddenly, just above his head, at high altitude, an intense gleam goes down at a vertiginous speed towards the ground. At the time, now specifies Mr. Defiz, I believed that it was a shooting star, however an inordinately large one. I then observed more attentively and I noticed a machine having the shape of a rocket. On three occasions it was coloured of a greenish colour. I was wrong, recognizes Mr. Defiz, not to have stopped to follow more of its evolutions. Getting off his bicycle, he then quickly crosses his garden and goes up to his room located on the first floor of the house of Mr. Marius Marot, of which he is the tenant. Still impressed by this luminous vision, he spontaneously goes towards the window, leans to attract the shutters towards him, and again, this time like outgoing from the ground, the machine still appears more fluorescent to him than previously. In same time an air drainage is formed, surrounds him and seems like wanting to grab him. Amazed, his eyes fixing the machine, he sees under the half-spherical black cupola, three crutches which fold up slowly, while the apparatus rises more quickly in a whistle of air, always more quickly. And again there is the luminous trail which is lost at the end of a few seconds in the clouds. Mr. Defiz fearing the sarcastic remarks and the mockeries did not tell around his adventure. Only at the following day at breakfast, before going to work, he evoked his vision for his owner Mr. Marot. The latter did not think at this point, that he was going to be a few hours later the witness of an almost identical and even more upsetting confidence. Mr. Marot works with the tobacco warehouse of Bergerac. A black shape...In the morning of October 2, one of his companions, Mr. Jean Labonne, aged 63, retired from S.N.C.F. [state railway company], domiciled not far from Mr. Marot, at 18, street Louis-Belin, take hims as confidant. - It was 22 hours approximately. I was at home alone, and returned to close my gate when, arriving at the entry of my garden which extends behind the house up to the railway, I saw, posed on a strip of land of 3 meters by 5 meters, a machine having the shape of a mushroom. If the cap were of sunk colour, the body builds apparently out of plexiglass, it was luminous. And then there in front of me, within 3 meters hardly, appearing like forbidding to me the alley of my garden, a shade. "Who is there? I shouted. Who are you? What do you want from me?" I did not dare to take a step. Mushrooms"At the sound of my voice, the black shape made a complete turn, slipped to the machine, and, in a few seconds, it rose towards the sky followed by a trail of light. I very clearly saw three crutches which folded up, under the cupola." "But my astonishment therefore was not finished. At dawn, I woke up and returned in my garden close to the place where I had seen the apparatus. On the rich ground, I discovered three light prints; but what upset me more, is a flowering of black colour mushroms with long stems, unknown in the area, which had suddenly grown. I did not dare to touch, and besides, they dissipated like dew with the first rays of the sun." Is it necessary to specify that this declaration of Mr. Labonne, who had as witness, after Mr. Marot, Mr. Leonce Boyer, foreman of the tobacco warehouse, and the workmen Mitsers Denis Rivière and Emile Marty, caused hilarity. These laughters, as involuntary as they were, caused the immediate silence of Mr. Labonne who refused thereafter to renew his account. Manoeuvres of the craftHe was to speak about it only Monday October 4, during the morning with his neighbor Mr. Defiz whom Mr. Marot had informed of the vision of Mr. Labonne. Testimonys of these two men make it possible to locate exactly the operation of this machine. It is, without doubt, Mr. Defiz who had to see it first whereas the apparatus was on the point of landing in the garden of Mr. Labonne. During the few minutes which passed until Mr. Defiz gained its room, the machine appeared to Mr. Labonne. Then was the takeoff and the vertical ascencion, which caused this airflow that Mr. Defiz felt. FrightCurrently, the companions of Mr. Labonne reconsidered their first impression. If it were indeed logical that the first declaration of M. Labonne made one smile, the serious character, the frankness, the balance of this man cast doubts in the minds. Mr. Boyer in particular, his chief, does not hide that his scepticism starts to be seriously shaken. "A man like Mr. Labonne, whom I know since many years, cannot indulge in such pranks. It is not in his character." Besides, it is enough to see Mr. Labonne, to detect his trouble, the concern which still invades his glances, to understand that he by no means makes a point of wanting to make admit a tale worthy of the apocalypse. He does not dare to touch again with his finger this ground where he saw the machine landing. One feels he is the victim of a violent fear, which appears to intensify more each day. As for Mr. Defiz, he is a young boy of sporting allure, with honest looks, direct, who speaks without hesitation, with precision and clarity. "I served in the aviation, he says. I know what a jet airplane is, what a weather balloon or even a radio-controlled rocket are. But in the present case there cannot be any mistake. Flying saucer, flying cigar, wether they come from Mars or elsewhere, it does not matter. That of which I am positive, is that the machine was of a strange shape and that never in my life I had not had the occasion to see something similar." A.E. |
[Ref. 1477:] "LA NOUVELLE REPUBLIQUE" NEWSPAPER:
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In the category: saucers, cigars and cylinders. In Bergerac, mysterious mushrooms push and disappear between the "feet" from a saucer! Two witnesses fearing to have been victims of a simultaneous hallucination, had not dared to speak earlier about the strange vision than they had on Friday evening, October 1, at 10 p.m.. Mr Jean Dufix, fireman in Bergerac, returned at his place, when, looking up, he saw an extraordinary gleam in the sky. Returned at his place, he had the impression of a general flashover in the garden, he saw a machine rising from the ground: it had the shape of a disc, is said to have become luminous and it left at a vertiginous speed. The next morning at a very early hour, Mr Dufix went to get his immediate neighbor Mr Jean Labonne, aged 61, pensioner, whom he asked whether he had not seen anything of extraordinary in his garden. After many hesitations, because he was afraid that people laugh at him, Mr Labonne, still under shock, totally confirmed the strange vision of Mr Dufix. It was while going to close the door of his garden, at approximately 10 p.m., that he was suddenly frozen on the location by a mysterious shapre and that he saw between a peach tree and his arbour, in a not sown piece of ground, a luminous disc of approximately three meters of span, which seemed to rest on three crutches. Almost immediately, the machine took off from the ground and disappeared at a high speed. The two men went to the site indicated by Mr Labonne and saw, on the ground, some vague traces near which came to grow a score of mushrooms of an unknown species. These mushrooms are said to have disappeared with the first gleams from the sun. |
[Ref. 1980:] "PERIGORD MOUN PAIS" NEWSPAPER:
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The note by Master Picatal Saucers, rockets and cigarsWE NEED MYTHSWe live, it appears, in the century of lights. Science (with a capital S please) must provide for all and replace the old fetishes. I, I would agree. But what did I read in the "Nouvelle République" of Bordeaux for October 6? This, that I report to you while shortening it (and that is a shame for the subject is "rounded with relish"): On October 1, Mr. Jean Defiz, 26 years old, assembler in central heating in Bergerac, was going back home around 11 p.m.. Black night, thick, without a light at the horizon. Suddenly, just above his head, at high altitude, an intense light goes down at a vertiginous speed towards the ground. It is not a shooting star, ensures Mr. Defiz, but a craft having the shape of a rocket which is coloured with three resumptions of a greenish colour. The eyes rivetted on the apparatus, Mr. Defiz sees under the half-spherical black cupola three crutches which slowly folded up while the apparatus, in a whistle of air, reaches height again and is soon lost in the clouds. That is not bad already, but there is better. The following day, a neighbor retired of S.N.C.F. [national railway co], Mr. Jean Labonne, 63 years old, discovers in his garden, at 10 p.m., a luminous craft having the shape of a mushroom and built out of plexiglass (sic). Let's hear Mr. Labonne: "Suddenly, in front of me, within three meters hardly, appearing to block the alley of my garden to me, a shadow. "Who is there? I shouted. Who are you? What do you want from me? I did not dare to take a step. At the sound of my voice, the black form made a half-turn, slipped to the machine and, in a few seconds, the craft rose towards the sky followed by a trail of light. I very clearly saw, under the cupola, three crutches which folded up. At dawn, I returned in my garden, close to the place where I had seen the craft. On the fatty ground, I discovered three light prints; but what upset me more, was unknown mushrooms, long of stem, of black colour, flowering in the area, which had suddenly grown. I did not dare to touch and besides they dissipated like dew with the first rays of the sun." I remember that during a session at the House, around 1906, the unfortunate Rene Viviani (dead insane) declared in a beautiful manner (1) [1]: "We have extinguished in the sky lights which shall not be relight". Viviani was wrong: something is re-ignited in the sky, but oh derision, they are... flying saucers! Please don't tell me that in Bergerac like elsewhere where people of perfect good faith believe to have seen something in the sky, do not tell me, that these are simple phenomena of hallucination. The "thing" undoubtedly does not exist per se: it exists for the visionaries who need to believe in the fantastic. Because, come on, what does one offer to Mr. Defiz or Labonne? A materialist civilization where the top of the top consists in having a car (myth of the mechanical power), or a fridge, or a television set (myths of the false comfort and false culture). Very sorry, but that has nothing to do with the true civilization which, on the contrary, is founded on individual poverty and renouncement. The only great highly civilized eras, I'm not telling anything new here, were thes Magdaledian, Egyptian, Greek and medieval eras. Why? Because men of these times, animated of a profound faith, had powerful reasons to hope. Que pouvons-nous espérer aujourd'hui où, suivant le mot fameux de Nietzsche, "Dieu est mort?" Une auto, et chanter: What can we hope today when, according to the famous word of Nietzsche, "God is dead?" A car, and to sing: At last I have a car (bis) It's super how it's fast... ... or a democratic Vespa [2], unless it is a washing machine or a coffee grinder... Very well, but satiety comes quickly from what one owns and which one can inventory, but the spirit remains dissatisfied. This is why, in the absence of true miracles in a faithless century, we see the flying saucers thriving, the "Christ of Montfavet" [3], innumerable small churches ejusdem farinae [4], while waiting for a new blaze of catharism [5]. Man needs valuable myths and the sky is empty. Give us something else than flying saucers... PICATAL (1) Editors note. -- Voici la péroraison de René Viviani, ministre du Travail du Cabinet Clemenceau (discours prononcé le 8 novembre [...] Here the peroration of Rene Viviani, Minister for Labour of the Clemenceau Cabinet (speech given on November 8 [...] |
[1] René Raphaël Viviani (1863 - 1925), French Republican politician, president of the Council before WWI. He declares in 1904 "we extinguished in the sky lights that shall not be relight anymore" when an order of the Minister for Law and Order requires that the crucifixes and other religious symbols be withdrawn from schools.
[2] Motorocyle of Italian manufacture which was a huge commercial success.
[3] "Ejusdem farinae", Latin expression, literally "of the same flour", meaning, "same stuff."
[4] George Roux announces in 1947 that he is the reincarnation of Christ and creates the "Universal Christian Church", classified as sect still today by the French Parliament. Roux pronounces that "medicine is useless", that you can miraculously cure any disease by laying hands on it if you are in "harmony with one's conscience and the universe." In 1953 and 1954, several children of his followers died, Roux regarded them as "rewards offered to Christ". Roux would be much discussed in 1954, due to the lawsuit for nonassistance against him. Many journalists insinuate in articles ridiculing the flying saucers that people who see saucers are as dubious than the "Christ of Montfavet". Nowadays still, journalists sometimes equate ufologists to dangerous sect gurus or the witnesses to sect members.
[5] Very important neo-gnostic movement coming from Bulgaria towards the south-west of France in particular. Cathares deny the Trinity, think that the material visible world emanates from bad god and aspire to a higher world where the real divine reigns which they try to reach by givin up material goods, by individual moral purity. They were sorry at the materialism and the enrichment of the Catholic clergy, which, without succeeding in defining their doctrines exactly, had them all killed for heresy. The author of the article shows in several points that he admires the cathare heritage.
[Ref. 1082:] "SAMEDI-SOIR" NEWSPAPER:
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[...] Must we go on? Or also, the 96 centimeters man, carrying a broad leather belt, shoes and panties, which rose in the airs thanks to two boxes in the shape of pears, placed under each arm. This being was seen by Mr. Lacambre, forestry workman in Saint-Pardoux (the Lot), on Monday, October 4, at 8:10 a.m., and the witness has even determined from the footprints that the small being fitted shoesize 21 [Europe standard]... What to think of the assertion of Mr. Garreau, who swears "on his honor" to have seen a "flying soup tureen" landed in his property, and two perfectly normal men get down of it, who shook hands with him and cuddled his dog before leaving as quickly as they came... And this handworker of Lavoux (Vienna), Mr. Roger Barrault who, on Saturday October 9, at 7 p.m., was paralyzed by a luminous ray emanating from a "diver" high of 1 m. 50, fitted with boots, with shining eyes, and carrying a heavy moustache... And the cigar posed in a clearing, in Diges in Yonne, near which Mrs. widows Gaffroy [sic, Geoffroy] saw a man, from the back, in combination and capped of a khaki bonnet... And Mr. Jean Labonne, of Bergerac, who, on October 2, at 10 p.m., saw a metal mushroom in his garden. "Who's there?" he shouted when distinguishing a shade. "What do you want from me?" But the shade climbed in the mushroom which rose in the airs at an extraordinary speed. Even in England which started to worry and almost become indignant that not the least saucer, not the least "cigar" or cigarillo, had made the honor of an appearance to the people which had won the battle of Trafalgar. This gap has been just been largely filled by the sensational revelations of an ornithologist, Mr. Cedric Allingham, who claims to have met, on February 18, in the north of Scotland, not a Martian, but a Venusian with whom he had a lengthy and difficult conversation! This Venusian measured about 1 m 73, he short brown hair, and his skin seemed tanned. He was completely wrapped in a kind of combination which had the appearance of a armored coat. In his nose were two small tubes joined by a metallic wire... Mr. Allingham managed to touch the saucer whose metal was slightly warm, and he finally took the leave of Venusian, not without having offered him his pen, which the man carefully put in a pocket of his combination and after having taken on the run a photograph of the strange character. This rather fuzzy image is, it should be acknowledged, rather unrevealing. One sees the silhouette of a man seen from the back, walking slightly curved, and that, without a little imagination, could easily be matched with the silhouette of any earthman. Lastly, with the latest news, it is a true avalanche of Martians that comes falling on our grounds. In Pournoy La Chétive, in the Moselle, three children were roller skating, when a round machine, of 2.50 meters of diameter, lands close to them. A man left from there, holding in the hand a lit lamp which dazzled the children. He was dressed of a black cassock "like that of our priest", and after having said some unintelligible words, he flew away in his saucer. In the island of Oléron, for the first time, it was two Martian girls who put foot on the ground. It is Mr. Martin, a colonial teacher on holiday, who brings their description to us. They carried small boots and leather gloves, as well as brilliant helmets. They were extremely pretty and nicely agreed to sign an autograph to the teacher. I would take a whole book to bring back all the cases in detail. But all these good people swear to god that they invent nothing. Their entourage echoes that. Him, to invent such a story? A family man known for his respectability... A boy who never drank any drop of alcohol in his life? Come on! So what? Should it be concluded from this that they really saw strange beings, hairy, helmeted, in boots, speaking an incomprehensible language? Do we need to have faith to this story of mysterious green ray which paralyze human beings? Are their accounts, on the contrary, totally invented? Do they rest on a serious basis exaggerated thereafter? Nothing, absolutely nothing in the current state of the collected information which was made available to the public allows to conclude in the sense of the authenticity. The investigations were led as if it were a question of "checking" the statements of the witnesses and not in the spirit to eliminate all the assumptions leading to plausible and relatively simple explanations. These assumptions are numerous, they go from the joke to the hallucination not to mention the optical illusion. To eliminate them, one would need extremely thorough police information, doubled, in all the cases, of a thorough psychological investigation. Then only the facts would remain, logically unexplainable, which would constitute the true file on the Martians. One would then notice that this file is extremely thin, if not non-existent, and that in this business, there is much, far too much, literature. |
[Ref. 549] AIME MICHEL:
Aimé Michel seems to place the case at October 3, 1954, adding that it could not obtain the exact hour of the observation.
He evokes that the observed phenomenon was "a circular machine three meters in diameter" which landed in the garden of Mr. Jean Labonne who saw it flying away, while a "fireman of the city, Mr. Jean Defix, was also a witness."
[Ref. 104:] JACQUES VALLEE:
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176 Oct. 01, 1954, 10:00 P.M., Bergerac (France). Returning home, fireman Jean Dufix, 26, saw an oval light in the sky and thought it was a shooting star. Later he was alarmed when his yard seemed to be ablaze. Rushing out again, he saw a disk rise from the ground with a whistling sound. It flew off, became luminous again, and took off at fantastic speed. A neighbor, Jean Labonne, 61, saw the disk, 3 m in diameter, resting on three legs in the yard. (Le Figaro, 6 Oct. 1954; France-Soir, 7 and 8 Oct. 1954) (31) |
[Ref. 152:] JACQUES VALLEE:
The author indicates that on October 1, 1954, whereas he was returning at his place in the night, a fireman of Bergerac saw an oval light in the sky, then lost sight of it. But later he had a moment of fear: his courtyard seemed on fire. He run outside and saw a disc leaving the ground with a whistle. The object flew away up to moderated height, then became luminous and rose at "a dazing speed". Early on the next day, he asked his neighbor, a pensioner, if he had not observed something unusual. The neighbor, reluctantly, admitted that whereas he was closing the door of his garden, he had suddenly been paralyzed and had observed a disc of approximately 3 meters in diameter posed on three legs in the courtyrd. Almost immediately, it had flown away with a draught and he had lost sight of it.
[Ref. 50:] CHARLES GARREAU AND RAYMOND LAVIER:
The two authors indicate that according to newspaper clips and their personal file, in Bergerac in the Dordogne, on October 3, 1954, at approximately 10 p.m., Jean Defix and Jean Labonne regained their residence in an external district of the city when they saw a craft of approximately 3 meters in diameter posed in a garden on three crutches. Two minutes later, the machine took off in the most complete silence. They note that this information is brief
[Ref. 128:] GERARD BARTHEL ET JACQUES BRUCKER:
Barthel and Brucker wrote that the case was a hoax. They rename Jean Defiz Jean Dufix and claim there was no saucer in Bergerac, but they do not substantiate the claim of a hoax whatsoever.
[Ref. 611:] JEAN SIDER:
Jean Sider wrote a precise chronology of the case, based on the Nouvelle République newspaper, much more correct than the others. Also and noteably, he provides the newspaper account in the newspaper La Nouvelle République, which others seem to have missed.
Jean Sider notes that Barthel and Brucker never talked on the phone to the witness Jean Defiz, contrarily to what they wrote.
[Ref. 1463] JIM HICKMAN:
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On Oct. 1, 1954, In Bergerac, France. Returning home, fireman Jean Dufix, 26, saw an oval light in the sky and thought it was a shooting star. Later he was alarmed when his yard seemed to be ablaze. Rushing out again, he saw a disk rise from the ground with a whistling sound. It flew off, became luminous again, and took off at fantastic speed. A neighbor, Jean Labonne, 61, saw the disk, 3 m in diameter, resting on three legs in the yard. |
[Ref. 312:] UFOCAT'S "ON THIS DAY":
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On this Day October 1 [...] 1954 - Returning home from work in Bergerac, France fireman Jean Dufix, age 26, saw an oval light in the sky at 10 o'clock. He first took it to be a shooting star, but later he was alarmed when his yard looked to be ablaze. Rushing outside, he saw a disc rise from the ground with a whistling sound. It flew off, became luminous again, and then shot off at a fantastic speed. His neighbor, Jean Labonne, age 61, also saw the disc resting on three legs in the yard. They estimated the disc was three meters (10 feet) in diameter. (Sources: Le Figaro, October 6, 1954; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia: A Century of Landings, p. 214). |
Aimé Michel gives the erroneous date of October 3, is mistaken on the orthography for the witness Mr. Defiz whom he names Defix. Jacques Vallée is mistaken on the orthography in the name in the witness whom he names Dufix, and it makes a fireman of him. The errors on the name come from the national press. Just as Barthel and Brucker, all except Jean Sider seem to hav missed the complexity of the case by referring only one to the other and to briefs erroneous and incomplete summaries in the Parisian newspapers.
It seemed obvious to me that Barthel and Brucker could indeed not have talked by phone with the witness Mr. Jean Defiz, as suggested by Jean Sider, since they have renamed him Jean Dufix.
Not looked for yet.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Bergerac, Dordogne, Jean Defix, Jean Defiz, Jean Dufix, Jean Labonne, light, oval, nocturnal, disc, whistling, manoeuvres, landing, fast, multiple, hoax
[-] indicates sources which I have not yet checked.
