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OCTOBER 20, 1954, RAON-L'ETAPE, VOSGES:

Reference number for this case: 20-oct-54-Raon. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

REPORTS:

[Ref. 532:] "LA LIBERTE DE L'EST" NEWSPAPER:

The "saucers" mystery explained at last?

The occupants of the crafts are maybe not
Martians nor Uranians
but quite simply Russians

THAT IS AT LEAST WHAT INDICATES THE WITNESS
OF A RESIDENT OF SAINT-REMY

    Saint-Remy (from of our envoys). -- At last, a precise, formal testimony, supported and with full details is to be filed in the huge file of the "flying saucers".
    A man saw the machine, he went by very close to it. Better, he was able to chatter - forgive the pleasant euphemism - with its occupant who, holding it at gunpoint with his revolver, asked him some questions. How far we are from the peaceful kiss given to the honest correzian peasant by his anonymous and mysterious visitor!

And thus the legend of the Martians, Uranians and other Saturnians which stumble down from the sidereal void to visit our old planet named Earth with a worrying frequency is blow apart.

Here, in the case which interests us, we do not find trace of the luminous or fluorescent trails which seem to borrow from the neon signs of the large stores, and which form part of the traditional saucerian arsenal.

A saucer? For sure, since our witness claims this with an unshakeable conviction, there was one of them; But it was not luminous. And this is where the thing is original.

But let us report the history as it was told to us by Mr. Louis Ujvari, 40 years old, originating from Slovaquia (this comes up handy since he spoke the language of the visitor) and who, after having badly wandered throughout the world and serviced ten years to the Foreign Legion, has settled at Saint-Rémy for three years.

A MAN WAS THERE
WITH A REVOLVER IN HIS HAND

Mr. Ujvari (pronounce uivari) occupies with his wife and his five kids a small isolated farm, within the locality of "Le Bas", at the edge of the picturesque road which directs out of Saint-Rémy to the valley of Fraispertuis.

The former legionary works with the Derey workshops, construction material in Etival, where he molds building blocks.

Hard work. He must be on his building site at 3 in the morning.

And that is the reason why he left his home to go to his workplace on Thursday, at 02:30 A.M..

After he rode on his bicycle for a few hundreds of meters, he had to put the foot down on the ground: the way is indeed in the process of repair and the roughcast stones of the roadway does not welcome bicycle riding.

So he was pushing his machine with the hand, on the right side of the way, when he saw a silhouette, distinguished in the half-light.

A short order, that he did not understand, but that he was able to comprehend, froze him on the spot.

The former legionary Ujvari, who often closely faced death, did not tremble and waited.

At this point in time the unknown advanced towards him, holding him under the threat of a revolver.

The meeting was odd and unforeseen...

AN UNKNOWN LANGAGE

Still directing his weapon at our man, our mysterious nightbird, whose intentions did not seem quite that peaceful, talked at him in a completely unknown language. Ujvari, as we said, roevered under all latitudes. He has the practice of a number of languages, having like all his compatriots a remarquable ease to assimilate foreign dialects.

But he remaind mute. Because: he did not understand a damn word of all that his interlocutor asked him.

"AM I IN SPAIN OR IN ITALY?"

He had an outstanding idea: he ventured into announcing to that guy that he knew Russian.

And that's when his "Martian" entertained him in this language which he knew perfectly.

"To be sure, Ujvari tought, I'm dealing with a russian bloke."

The conversation was short:

"Where am I?, asked the unknown. In Spain or Italy?"

The former legionary undeceived him, specifying that he was in Saint-Rémy, in France, the Vosges, district of Saint-Dié.

"How far to the German border?" asked the "Russian" then.

Ujvari gave the requested precision: within 100 km off the Rhine in straight line.

"IT'S NOT 2:30 O'CLOCK
IT'S 4!"

After that the unknown asked about the time.

"02:30", he was told.

At this point in time the man, transffering his revolver to his left hand, and still holding his interlocutor at gunpoint, extracted a watch from inside the pocket of his wind-breaker.

"You lie, he said angrily, it's four!"

No doubt the son of remote Russia set up his watch on Moscow time...

Another question still:

"How far and in which direction is Marseilles?"

At least the workman believed to understand that this was about the ancient city of Phocea, since the unknown had roughly pronounced "Marsilla."

He again provided the precise information.

he conversation ended there.

A SAUCER HAD LANDED
ON THE ROAD

"Go, now!"

Ujvari obeyed. Followed by his bodyguard which still held him in respect, he advanced on the road.

And that's when finally he understood the incredible, his extraordinary adventure: He saw a saucer, one of these famous and

mysterious flying saucers, which are discussed so much in the newspapers! The machine, high of 1 m 60 approximately and a diameter of three meters, was landed on the roadway.

Hitherto, in the darkness, he had believed to recognize the silhouette of a car or a van...

TWO COUPLED PLATES
AND A CUPOLLA
ON TOP

Our man, still under the effect of surprise, passed quite near to the saucer which he passed very close to. He had the strong temptation to stop, to touch the machine, of dark gray color as much as he could judge. But he felt the gun of the revolver close to his shoulders. He continued.

He had had time to fix the exact shape of the saucer in his memory: two enormous coupled plates and, fixed on the higher part, a cupola of which came out a sort of antenna ending in winglets in the shape of corkscrew.

"I exceeded the cupola by the head", Mr. Ujvari specify to us.

"AND NOW
GOODBYE

Pushing his bicycle with the hand, the former legionary, still escorted by the unknown, crossed about thirty meters.

"And now, goodbye!"

The occupant of the saucer, secured with the information which he had requested, hasted the moment of separation.

Louis Ujvari jumped on his bicycle and fled.

But he stopped at the level of the first house, after having been riding on approximately 200 meters.

Was he going to alert the villagers? To warn the mayor?

THE SAUCER TAKES OFF
VERTICALLY

He did not have the time to do so. A headlight had just lightened up on the surface of the cupola, projecting its pencil of light vertically.

A few seconds later, the witness of the frightening scene heard an engine noise, more exactly a whistle which developed. And he saw the saucer rising slowly vertically, a an helicopter would do. At ten meters above ground-level, the machine veered, accelerated its speed and disappeared, in the direction to Saint-Dié.

The pilot had then extinguished the headlight and the saucer left absolutely no luminous trail.

Ujvari saw the strange "spinning top" disappearing, after having followed it with the eyes during one half-minute.

NO TRACES

He returned on back on his steps, and at the gleam of his cigarette lighter, tried to find traces of the machine on the roadway at the place where it had been landed.

But he discovered nothing to discover. The saucer left no mark printed on the ground.

AM MAN OF NORMAL
HEIGHT WEARING A
WINDBREAKER

Of his mysterious Ivan, the former legionary could describe the following silhouette: a man of a size of 1 m 65, of strong stoutness, carrying trousers of fabric, a wind-breaker with a largely opened collar, lined skin, a bonnet of the balaclava kind out of cloth and shoes whose soles resounded on the stones of the roadway.

THE AUTHORITIES ALERTED

Ujvari naturally informed his fellow workers of his incredible adventure on his arrival on the building site.

He was called a joker by some, an illusioned by other.

But he put so much conviction in tell by the details of the scene as he had just lived it that the skeptics were shaken.

It is however only yesterday that the mayor of Saint-Rémy, Mr. Armand Cunin, heard of the case which spread on.

The gendarmes of Raon-l'Etape were warned and investigated on the location. A moment later the police chief of the Renseignements Généraux [Intelligence] of Epinal, Mr. Moleur, accompanied by two inspectors, came in his turn to question Ujvari. The latter repeated the account of his nocturnal adventure, mimicking the gestures of the occupant of the saucer.

Hoaxer or madcap?

Or then, witness and actor of a veracious and genuine - as much as incredible - adventure which would throw a new light on the origin of these mysterious machines which seem to furrow the sky?

It must be said: the former legionary is not considered to be a visionary. He has both feet on ground and his statements were accommodated with a certain credit among the investigators.

Other may think that he could have easily invented this story. The detail of the takeoff, of the schedules of the two watches does not fail to strike. That, in any case, comes to bring a probability to the account of Ujvari... Except if he went to use this to authenticate his account thanks to knowledge of the existence of time zones.

MACHINE WITH NUCLEAR
REACTION?

In any event, official circles are highly interested in the case.

If the former legionary said the truth, the fable of aircraft and other flying cigars in deep spaces would be put to an end.

Saucers would ultimately only be machines based on our old planet and not leaving its sky.

Their existence would seem to indicate that the propulsion by jet has a source of energy other than the fuel hitherto used, but rather of a nuclear energy.

Jean THERNIER

[Ref. 1683:] "LE QUOTIDIEN DE LA HAUTE-LOIRE" NEWSPAPER:

IN THE VOSGES A WORKMAN OF CZECH ORIGIN CLAIMS TO HAVE TALKED IN RUSSIAN TP THE PILOT OF ONE OF THESE MACHINES

Do the flying saucers ultimately come from behind the iron curtain? The thesis put ahead by many for a long time, that makes of these craft Soviet reconnaissance apparatuses, was reinforced yesterday by the testimony of a Czech man established in the Haute-Vosges. Louis Ujvari, aged 40, factory worker in St Rémy went to his work Wednesday towards 02:30 of the morning when he met an individual equipped of a revolver who talked to him in an unknown language. Ujvari speaks several languages; he proposed Russian and had the surprise to hear his interlocutor ask him several questions in this language: The unknown requested to hear where he was; had the exact place located, asked the exact hour, observed that this hour, 02:30, did not correspond with his, 04:00, and finally ordered to the workman to go away. The man was approximately 1,65 meters, he carried a pilot flight suit and shoed shoes. Whereas the workman advanced, preceding his interlocutor, still armed, of some steps. He saw a strange object posed on the road, resembling two plates turned over one on the other. A kind of periscope emerged from it, the machine was 1,60 meters high on 2,50 meters in diameter. The unknown then says goodbye in Russian and set out again towards his apparatus. The workman took his bicycle and went, and did not dare to look back before being at a hundred meters. At this time a vertical headlight pierced the night. The machine rose slowly. It took height, emitting a noise comparable with that of a sewing machine. It did not emit any gleam. Ujvari manage to follow the mysterious machine on approximately hundred meters, then lost it in the night. The workman then returned at the place where the machine was, but he did not discover any trace. Yesterday, after having hesitated a long time, ended up going to see the mayor of his town, whom he made the account of his adventure. An investigation was opened at once, in which two police chiefs of the General Intelligence took part, and lengthily questioned Mr. Ujvari.

[...] [Other sightings.]

Full article available here.

[Ref. 327:] JIMMY GUIEU:

Science-fiction author Jimmy Guieu was one of the first in France to become interested in the flying saucers reports. In his 1956 book he reports that on October 20, 1954, at 02:30 in the morning in France in Raon-l'Etape, Lazlo Ujvari suddenly encountered a man carrying a jacket, boots and a helmet like those of pilots. The man pointed his rifle in his direction and said something that he could not understand, but when Ujvari spoke to him in Russian, the man was able to answer him and asked him whether he was in Spain or Italy, then at which distance he was from Germany. When he asked about the time and Ujvari told him it was 02:30, the man took his watch and replied: "You lie, it is 4 A.M." He then asked the distance and direction to Marseilles. He had Ujvari walking on the road under the menace of his gun and they approached a gray machine, 2.5 meters in diameter and a 1.50 meters in height with an antenna at its top. When he was approximately at 30 meters of the machine, the unknown man ordered Ujvari to move away. Ujvari obeyed but turned around from time to time and saw the object rising straight, with the noise of a sewing machine, then taking an oblique trajectory.

[Ref. 106:] JACQUES VALLEE:

The author indicates that on October 20, 1950, Lazlo Ujvari, forty years old Czech workman living in France, went to his work which started at 3 o'clock in the morning, close to Raon l'Etape, in the Vosges, when at 600 meters of his house, he met a squat man of average size, capped with a motorcylcist helmet, and carrying a rifle.

This foreigner spoke in an unknown language. The witness knowing a bit of Russian tried to speak to him in Russian, and the man who spoke with a high-pitched voice understood at once and asked him: "Where am I? In Italy? In Spain?" then wanted to know at what distance he was from German border and what time it was. The witness told him that it was approximately 02:30, the man produced a watch that showed 4 o'clock. Then the man told the witness to follow him.

Ujvari was soon in sight "of a gear which apparently, had landed on the road." It had the shape of two saucers stuck together, approximately 1.50 m in diameter and 1 m in height.

The witness came close to it but when it was within 10 meters, the unknown man told him from to go away, and he saw the object soon rising vertically "while making the noise of a sewing machine."

[Ref. 187:] JACQUES VALLEE:

291

Oct. 20, 1954, 02:30 A.M., Raon-l'Etage (France).

Forty-year-old Lazlo Ujvari was suddenly confronted by a man wearing a jacket, boots, and cloth headgear (like a pilot's) who pointed a gun at him and said something he could not understand. When Ujvari spoke to him in Russian, the man answered in the same language, asked whether he was in Spain or Italy, and how far he was from Germany. When he asked the time, Ujvari said: "2:30." The man took his watch and said "You lie; it's 4:00." Then he wanted to know how far and in what direction Marseilles was. He made Ujvari walk on the road with him, and they came close to a gray craft with an antenna on top. When he was about 200 m away, he heard a soft whistling sound and saw it fly straight up, then take an oblique trajectory. (Carrouges 99; Magonia).

[Ref. 1276:] JACQUES VALLEE:

In example of his thesis according to which UFOS disguize in familiar things to delude the witnesses, the author indicates that in front of a Czech political refugee, they take the appearance of a Russian pilot.

[Ref. 1244] PAUL MAUCLAIR:

Paul Mauclair indicates that according to "the great UFO specialist Jacques Vallée (who is "consultant in informatics" in the famous American University of Stanford)", in 1954, a witness crossed a wood at 4 o'clock in the morning, close to a small town of Alsace, and met a man dressed of a combination who was an extraterrestrial being lost in the Alsacian forest but that he mistook for a pilot. Mauclair indicates that "the dialogue was difficult" because the witness, of Polish origin, did not understand anything of the language of the "so-called pilot", but they finally could understood each other when the witness spoke in Russian, as "the so-called pilot understood some words of Russian." Mauclair indicates this summary of their dialogue:

Pilot: - What time is it?
Witness: - 04:30.
Pilot: - It's impossible! It is 2 o'clock.
Pilot: - Am I in Germany or in Italy?
Witness: - You are in France!

Mauclair indicates that the unknown being then went into the forest while ordering to the witness not to follow him, but the intrigued witness did not obey, and when arriving close to a clearing, he saw an oval object posed on the ground, in which the man entered and which took off at high speed. Mauclair indicates that according to Jacques Vallée, this case would demonstrate that the occupants of UFOs are not the extraterrestrial beings but time travelers, and that according to David Saunders, they are interdimensional travelers, while Mauclair indicates that they are "psychic metérializations" that are "half physical, half-psi."

[Ref. 233] MICHEL FIGUET ET JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:

For this case, the two authors indicate that the witness, a former legionary, works in a construction material company in Etival, where he runs breeze blocks. He must be at his workplace at 3 in the morning; and for this reason he leaves his home at 02:30 a.m..

After having advanced a few hundred meters on his bicycle, he must put foot at ground, the road being in repair. He thus pushes his bicycle with the hand, staying on the side of the way, when he sees, contoured in the half-light, a silhouette.

At this time he is at the location called "the Las." A short order that he does not understand freezes him on the spot. At this point in time an unknown advances towards him, holding him under the threat of a kind of revolver, and he talks to him in an absolutely unknown language. The witness, Czechoslovakian of origin, does practice an number of languages, but he remains silent. He does not understand a word asked to him by this mysterious armed character. He ventured to tell him that he speaks Russian, and then the beings talks to him in this language that he seems to know perfectly too.

The conversation begins, it will be short. "Where am I?" requests the unknown. "In Spain or Italy?" The former legionary corrects him, specifying that he is in Saint-Rémy in France, the Vosges, district of Saint-Dié. "How much to the German border?" the beings asks. The witness gives the requested information: "at 200 km in straight line". After that, the unknown asks for the time, "02:30", is the answer.

At this point in time the man, passing his "weapon" to his left hand and always holding his interlocutor under menace, searches in his wind-breaker and pulls out a watch; "You lie," he says harshly. "It is 4 a.m.. How far and in which direction is Marseilles?" (pronounced "Marsilla"). The witness still provides the information with precision. The conversation then was over.

The being makes the witness walk ahead of him, and tells him: "Go now." The witness passes just besides (he could have touched it) a gray vessel with an antenna in the shape of a corkscrew on the top; which is on the road.

When it is at approximately 200 meters, he hears a soft whistle, and sees the one meter sixty high object of an approximately diameter of three meters take off vertically, after having projected a ray of light vertically. When at ten meters above the ground, the apparatus veers, accelerates its speed and disappears in the direction to Saint-Dié. This disappearance is observed during 30 seconds.

The witness made a detailed description of the being. Height: 1 m 65, of strong stoutness, carrying trousers of fabric, a wind-breaker with a largely opened collar, coated with skin inside, a bonnet made of cloth of the balaclava kind and shoes whose soles resounded on the stones of the roadway.

The witness turned and went back on his steps, and with the gleam of his cigarette lighter he tried to find the traces at the place where the machine had been posed. But he could not discover anything.

The gendarmes of Raon-L'Etape were alerted and came to investigate on the premises, as well as the police chief of the general intelligence of Epinal, accompanied by two inspectors.

[Ref. 898:] GILBERT CORNU ET HENRI CHALOUPEK:

The authors indicate that in Saint Rémy in the Vosges on October 20, 1954, "although there are strong chances so that it was a mistake perhaps embellsihed into a UFO adventure," a former legionary which exerted a hard work in a construction firm was going at work at 3 in the morning by bicycle.

The road being in repair, he had put foot at ground and then saw in front of him, a silhouette, and he heard an order which he did not understand "but which froze him on the spot."

It then saw a unknown advancing towards him, holding him under the menace of a revolver.

The witness, of Czechoslovakian origin, Mr. Lazlo, speaking several languages, ventured in saying that he spoke Russian and "at once a short dialogue began in this language", the unknown asking him where he was, believing to be in Spain or Italy. Learning that he was in France, he asked for the distance to the German border.

He then asked for the time and the witness answered it was 2:30, but the man answered harshly, "You lie, it is 4 o'clock."

The conversation when on a few moments, then, the unknown made the witness walk in front of him and finally told him "go, now!"

A little further, the witness saw on the road "a gray ship with an antenna in the shape of a corkscrew" then saw the machine taking off initially vertically with a soft whistling before moving away in the direction to Saint-Dié.

The authors note that the description of the unknown makes more think of a soldier than of an extraterrestrial beings: trousers of fabric, wind-breaker with opened fur collar, balaclava bonnet out of cloth and seemingly shoed for the soles resounded on the stones of the road.

They indicate that these disconcerting details prompted investigations by the gendarmerie and the intelligence service, but the case was never cleared up.

They indicate that the sources are J. Guieu in "Black Out sur les S.V." page 226, J.C. Bourret in "La nouvelle vague des S.V." page 150 and many newspapers of that time, such as Le Matin for October 22.

[Ref. 134:] ALBERT ROSALES, HUMCAT:

186.

Location. Raon-l'Etape, Vosges France

Date: October 20 1954

Time: 0230A

Lazlo Ujvari, going to work late at night, encountered a heavy set man of medium height wearing a gray jacket with insignias on the shoulders, and a motorcycle helmet, which threatened him with a revolver and spoke words he did not understand. Ujvari spoke Russian to him and got a reply in that language. The unknown man then asked whether he was in Spain or Italy; then, what time it was. "0230", said Ujvari. "You lie," replied the man, taking out his own watch and announcing "Four o'clock!" He then escorted Ujvari past an inverted dish shaped, lightless saucer bearing a 2-foot antenna, which took up almost the whole width of the road. After 30 yards, he said, he said "Adieu!" After a few paces, Ujvari looked back; with a whine like an electric motor, the saucer rose vertically.

Humcat 1954-110

Source: Pierre Masson and Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia

Type: C

[Ref. 898:] GILBERT CORNU AND HENRI CHALOUPEK:

[Ref. 545:] LAZLO UJVARI'S GRANDSON:

On March 31, 2004, I received the following email:

Hello

i am the grandson of mr Ujvari, and I can assure you that it really is the truth, because some years ago my father told me about it, and then i asked my grandfather if it was true. Then he became very strange and he told me that it was true. That was 5 years ago he was aged 85, he barely stood on his legs etc. But what he told me i knew it was true. they even showed me the field where he saw this famous saucer.

i hope i get an answer thanks and keep on going...

NOTES:

The case file is much larger than that, more is to come.

EXPLANATIONS:

Not looked for yet. A lost Russian helicopter?

KEYWORDS:

(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)

Raon-l'Etape, Vosges, Lazlo Ujvari, man, jacket, boots, helmet, pilot, gun, talk, communication, russian, langage, craft, grey, antenna

REFERENCES:

[-] indicates sources which I have not yet checked.


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