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UFOs in the daily Press:

FLYING SAUCERS IN FRANCE, 1954:

The article underneath has been published in the daily newspaper Le Figaro, Paris, France, on October 7, 1954.

More information on french sightings in 1954.

Flying saucers

(CONTINUED)
Cigars, saucers, flying cylinders, fly again in the four corners of France.
Two saucers made an appearance in the sky of Clermont, the first, within ten kilometers of Clermont, moved in west-east direction. Witnesses stated that the machine approached within 150 meters of them while they felt a curious feeling and were "like frozen where they stood"... A strong nitrobenzine odor was perceptible.
The other saucer was seen above the hills of Chanturgues, close to Clermont. It evolved vertically and was of a brilliant white.
A saucer was also seen in Billom by a group of thirty people. The machine evolved above the city. It moved horizontally. It was visible during 3 or 4 minutes before disappearing. An intense light was produced by the apparatus.
(Continued on page 11, col. 7 and 8)

Flying saucers

Continued from the first page.
Close to Saint-Brieuc, a luminous cigar evolved during more than one hour.
In Thouares-sur-Vie (the Vendée), ten objects of elongated shapes passed at a high speed and high altitude.
In La Rochelle, Mr. and Mrs. Guillemoteau were in front of their farm when they saw, approximately one meter above the ground, a spherical saucer measuring possibly 2 to 3 meters in height and of a diameter of 5 meters. The machine, which did not produce any noise, stopped a few minutes, then went up vertically. The next day, Mr. Guillemoteau went to the place where he had seen the machine and could notice oily traces on the grass.
Finally Mr. Pierre Lucas, a bakery workman of Loctudy (Finistere), received the visit of a Martian measuring 1 m 20 approximately. He had, it seems, an oval face, cover of hairs and the eyes "of the size of a crow's egg." The visitor tapped him on the shoulder, uttered some inintelligibles words and went up in his saucer which disappeared in the night.
A beer merchant of Concarneau saw, on his side, two luminous discs of the shape of round "tables" prolonged of a tail.
Italy, after the half-cigar of Rome, is contaminated by the evil too...
Downtown Mantova was jammed during one hour yesterday by groups of people who gathered to observe a strange "white object" which, at a high altitude, was clearly visible on the background of the blue sky.
In addition, the "Martians" also seem to want to visit Italy. Indeed, a fisherman of Floverbella, in the province of Mantova, stated to have been approached, last night, by a "mysterious individual" dressed in red, which had told "inintelligibles words to him" and which quickly moved away before the fisherman had time to call his wife.
To have fun at the expense of his fellow-citizens, a retired minor of Beuvry-les-Béthunes manufactured ... flying saucers, in series. Taking as a starting point the principle of the montgolfier, this pensioner built, using extremely carefully glued strong paper, machines which reached a diameter of two meters.
At the base of the "saucer," a small receptacle containing was a piece of packing soaked with gasoline, the liquid being ignited, the apparatus rose in the airs and disappeared surrounded of yellow and orange reflections.
But one of these saucers landed close to a haystack which it had almost set fire to. An investigation was opened and the facetious manufacturer discovered. The former minor claims that he had already built and launched more than a thousand "saucers". He will see himself inflicted infringment for... dangerous recreation.

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