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The 1954 French flap:

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NOVEMBER 3, 1954, CAMON, SOMME:

Reference number for this case: 3-Nov-54-Camon. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

REPORTS:

[Ref. cp1:] JOURNAL "LE COURRIER PICARD":

A Mysterious
FLYING SAUCER
in the sky of Camon

A series of testimonys worthy of faith currently upset all the small city of Camon.

Wednesday evening, in the Town hall of the Commune, there was a meeting of the town council. These Messrs were to examine the ritual multiplicity of the complaints of taxpayers. It is at about 09:30 p.m. that the meeting ended.

When the advisers found themselves on the doorstep of the town hall, they all saw, without exception, the following phenomenon: four red balls veined as agates were set in the sky at some hundred meters height.

They seemed to draw the four corners of a suspended rectangle, the small sides in the top and the bottom.

First of all motionless, the balls started to go down slowly above the presbytery garden. At this time, some of the witnesses saw a pale dome which covered the red lights thanks to the reflection of the moon.

Then the two interior fires at equal distance one of the other, seemed to detach and drop more towards the ground of which they appeared to test the relief.

The operation had lasted for five minutes when one of the witnesses invited the others "to rush" towards the location of the red lights.

Climbing on the surrounding walls, he also saw in its turn the red lights, which, on his arrival, went up a few meters and fled at the horizon.

[Ref. cp2:] JOURNAL "LE COURRIER PICARD":

The saucers were only jokes

The mysterious machines seen in the sky of Camon on November 3, by various people, machines which were the subject of an article in our previous editions, were only the work of pranksters.

Their trickery was revealed thanks to the tenacity of the gendarmes of BOVES.

It was quite simply a prank whose authors are young inhabitants of Camon.

The machine in question was composed of an iron brace, provided at each end with red bulbs powered with a flashlight battery, the whole maintained in the air by small baloons.

Some of its authors recognized the facts at the time of the investigation by the gendarmerie.

[Ref. ud1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:

The website indicates that on 3 November 1954 in Camon, France, "An object which flew in a straight line across the sky was reported."

The source is indicated as "Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073)".

[Ref. ca1:] "CAMON PASSIONEMENT" WEBSITE:

The website indicates that in November 1954, in Camon, occurred a "series of testimonys worthy of faith" that "currently upset all the small city of Camon."

"Wednesday evening", at the town hall of the commune (the old town hall), there was a meeting of the town council to examine the ritual multiplicity of the tax complaints.The meeting ended towards 21:30, and when the counsellors found themselves on doorstep of the town hall, they all saw, without exception, "four red balls veined as agate stones" that "were hung in the sky at some hundred meters height. They seemed to draw the four corners of a suspended rectangle, the small sides at the top and bottom."

The balls, initially motionless, started to go down slowly above the presbytery garden. At this time some of the witnesses saw under the reflection of the moon, a pale dome which covered the red lights. Then two interior fires at equal distance one of the other, seemed to be detached and drop more towards the ground "of which it appeared to touch the relief."

After five minutes of this operation, one of the witnesses invited the others to rush towards the place of the red lights. It was Gaston Brunel, former mayor of Camon, who was accompanied by the current mayor Mr. Garçon, Mr. Masse, associates, Mr. Pertuisot, country guard and Messrs Blanquart and Lorrin, porters.

Climbing on the surrounding walls, Gaston Brunel saw in his turn the red lights, which, on his arrival, went up of a few meters and fled at the horizon.

After this storyt which seems to come from the Courrier Picard, the website explains that 15 days later, in this newspaper, one learned:

"The saucers were only pranks.The mysterious machines seen in the sky of Camon on November 3, by various people, machines which were the subject of an article in our former editions, were only the work of pranksters."

The website indicates that their trickery was revealed thanks to the tenacity of the gendarmes of Boves, and that it was "quite simply a prank whose authors are young Camon residents."

They were said to have manufactured "the machine in question" with an iron brace, provided at each end with red bulbs powered with a flashlight battery, the whole maintained in the air by small baloons. Some of the authors admitted the facts at the time of the gendarmerie investigation.

EXPLANATIONS:

Hoax of the "candle on a stick" type.

KEYWORDS:

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

Camon, Somme, hoax, prank, candle on a stick, multiple

REFERENCES:

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

[cp1] Article in the regional newspaper Le Courrier Picard, France, November 1954.
[cp2] Article in the regional newspaper Le Courrier Picard, France, later in November 1954.
[---] Jacques Vallée.
[ud1] "3 Nov 1954 - Camon, France", web page at the UFOdna website, circa 2007, at www.ufodna.com/uf02/uf3/023770.htm
[ca1] Web page in the Camon Passionément website, France, undated, circa 2008, at pagesperso-orange.fr/camonpassionnement/paulgarcon.htm

Document history:

Version:	Created/Changed by:	Date:	Change Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	December 27, 2004	First published.
1.0	Patrick Gross	March 4, 2009	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [ud1].
1.1	Patrick Gross	March 15, 2010	Addition [ca1].

This page was last updated on March 15, 2010