The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this site is here.
Reference number for this case: 22-sep-54-Langeac. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. 70:] NEWSPAPER "LE QUOTIDIEN DE LA HAUTE LOIRE:"
METEOR IN THE SKY OF LANGEACAt these times when flying cigars and flying saucers are constantly mentioned, some people of Langeac (Haute-Loire) state to have seen a strong white gleam, Wednesday evening, September 22, at about 09:00 P.M., in the direction of the south. They are in particular people living in the city; Mr. Perussel, baker; Mr. Narce, carpenter, Mr. Blanc, employee of the SNCF, all domiciled at place aux sabots, and Mrs. widow Roux, baker; the Count Maurice, café owner; Mr. Lèbre, shoe reseller, National boulevard, which had their attention drawn by a strong white gleam appearing to be located behind the small hill of St-Roch. This gleam lasted a few minutes, then disappeared leaving a white trail. People say that they believed to have seen something like a rocket; which left in the sky. This phenomenon highly impressed the inhabitants of Langeac. |
[Ref. 1680:] NEWSPAPER "LE MERIDIONAL:"
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"CIGARS" AND "SAUCERS" SEEN IN THE AUVERGNECLERMONT-FERRAND. -- Six inhabitants of Langeac (Haute-Loire) saw a white gleam moving in the sky in direction of the South. A resident of Gelles (Puy-de-Dome), Mrs. Vve Melles, claimed to have seen in the sky a luminous machine of elongated form "in the kind of a cigar". The machine moved without noise. A resident of Clermont-Ferrand was picking mushrooms: he saw in the sky, at high altitude, a luminous trail "slightly coloured in pink". Rugby players training at the Vichy stadium saw a "flying cigar". ... and near La Rochelle LA ROCHELLE. -- In A Charron (Charente-Maritime) three fishermen and a customs officer state to have seen, during one of these last nights, a formation of flying saucers evolving very low and flying over the shore before disappearing. |
[Ref. 932:] "LE PARISIEN LIBERE" NEWSPAPER:
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Clermond-Ferrand, September 25. -- Six inhabitants of Langeac (Haute-Loire) have seen a white gleam moving in the sky going to the south. |
(Extract.)
[Ref. 1681] "LE MIDI LIBRE" NEWSPAPER:
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Flying saucersof a rugby ball and appeared to be at a considerable height." In the Meurthe-and-Moselle, several tens of workmen of "Sidelor", living the area of Lantefontaine-les-Baroches (M.-and-M.). claim to have seen six flying cigars between 04:30 and 05:00 in the sky . "We initially saw, they said, two "cigars", then afterwards, four other craft came to join the two first. All remained motionless one moment for finally disappearing instantaneously." In Le Puy, Mrs. Chaumard, resident of the district of La Girète, saw in the sky a machine having the shape of a cigar reddish glowing at an end, silent and appearing motionless. She managed to observe the machine during nearly a quarter of hour, then the "cigar" suddenly disappeared by taking altitude. The same observations were made by six inhabitants of Langeac (Haute-Loire) and several inhabitants of Gelles (Puy-de-Dome) or Clermont-Ferrand. In this area, rugby players training at the Vichy stadium saw a "flying cigar". In the AveyronFrom Villefranche-of-Rouergue in Aveyron, it is reported that an owner of Vabre-Tézac, Mr. Marre, saw a yellowish mass of color which moved away towards the south, without leaving behind any trace of smoke. The attention of Mr. Marre had been drawn by the noise of an engine. Other inhabitants of the locality also heard, from the inside of their house, the same noise, but not having come out, they did not see the weird "mass." |
[Ref. 354:] AIME MICHEL:
Aimé Michel notes that on September 24, 1954, there were observations by a large number of witnesses in nine different locations, among which; Langeac in the Haute-Loire.
Aimé Michel indicates that the observation is briefly reported by the newspaper France-Soir for September 26, 1954.
Michel indicates that the case is one of the "Bayonne-Vichy alignment", dubbed BAVIC, of which he thinks that it marks the alignment of a series of six and three observations of September 24, 1954 which are aligned on an imaginary line passing by these two cities. He evaluated that it could not have been a coincidence. He indicates that it is not by strangeness that these observations are remarkable, but by their alignment.
Aimé Michel indicates that the case is briefly reported in the newspaper "France-Soir" for September 26, 1954.
[Ref. 312] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The authors say that for the case in Lantéfontaine-les-Baroches for September 24, 1954, no investigation is possible because the witnesses are not known.
[Ref. 354:] MICHEL JEANTHEAU:
Later, Michel Jeantheau wrote an article reopening the Bayonne-Vichy alignment pled by Aimé Michel. The article was included by Jean Sider in own book on the 1954 French ufological events.
For this case of Langeac, Michel Jeantheau shows that Aimé Michel indicated his source, that in the "Parisien Libéré" newspaper for September 27 the date is not indicated, but that it appears in the regional newspaper of the Haute-Loire "L'Eveil de la Haute-Loire" for September 27: Michel Jeantheau indicates that the names of the witnesses are mentioned there, that the date of the observation there is given as "Wednesday, September 22, at about 9 P.M.." Michel Jeantheau indicates that this date is again given in another newspaper of Le Puy, "Le Quotidien de la Haute-Loire" for the same day [I confirm; see ref. 70 above, except the day of publication which is the 26th and not the 27th.]
Better still, Michel Jeantheau found a third newspaper, "La Liberté", of Clermont-Ferrand, which also indicates in its issue of September 25, that the date of the observation is September 22. This newspaper adds, he writes, that the witnesses were in Langeac, and that they were impressed by a strong gleam "appearing to be located behind the hill of Saint-Roch."
Aimé Michel had the date wrong for this observation. The event thus cannot be taken into consideration as justifying a BAVIC line.
Probable meteor or proven meteor. Not looked for yet.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Langeac, Haute-Loire, Saint-Roch, Perussel, Narce, Maurice, Lèbre, Roux, light, gleam, trail, white, rocket, multiple, hill
