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The 1954 French flap:

The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this site is here.

NOVEMBER 2, 1954, SARREGUEMINES, MOSELLE:

Reference number for this case: 2-Nov-54-Sarreguemines. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

REPORTS:

[Ref. 1012] "L'ALSACE" NEWSPAPER:

The regional daily newspaper, in a retrospective of 2004 bearing over the year 1954 in Alsace, mentions one saucer affair.

The newspaper recalls that on November 2, 1954, the 23 year old photographer Jean Gérault of Sarreguemines contacted the local Press and handed over photographs of a flying saucer which he said to have taken one evening while returning home.

The newspaper specifies that the news caused a commotion, everywhere in Alsace-Lorraine, where it was said that extraterrestrial life does exist. The saucer is as the saucers were always imagined, with the shape of a "reverted plate on four metal feet."

The newspaper adds that an investigation uncovered the forger within 24 hours, and that his saucer was made of modeling clay.

[Ref. 312] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:

The two authors start by quoting an article published by the newspaper "L'Aurore", for November 2, 1954:

"A young photographer, Jean Gerault, aged 23, working at Mr. Meyer's in Sarreguemines (the Moselle), founf himself acing a fying saucer in Welferding, a locality 2 kilometers of Sarreguemines. "

"Having his camera in his pocket, he managed to approach a dozen meters of the machine, whose top was illuminated by a rather intense reddish light, and succeeded in taking three photographs."

They then induge in irony, with "finally an irrefutable proof", and tell that they made all possible efforts to find "the photograph of this spacecraft of another world."

They then indicate that to have discovered that the saucer had consisted of an electric bulb cut out and stuck on a piece of furnace with an antenna made up of a copper wire planted in loam. They add that the "receipt" for such a saucer had been published by "Radar" magazine for October 14, 1954.

This is followed of a paragraph which tells that they have "the proof now" that "if flying saucers exist" it is "only in the spirit of those who wish they do."

IMAGES:

Underneath: the hoax exposed by the gendarmes, Radar magazine photograph.

Underneath: Radar magazine photograph.

NOTES:

Contrarily to what was indicated in certain newspapers, the flying saucer was not in modeling clay. It was the four "Martians" who "came out of it" that were in modeling clay, as one of the photographs reproduced in the Press of that time shows (see above).

Once again, Barthel and Brucker use half-truths in attempt of ridiculisation of the ufologists:

That the photograph is a hoax had been known very quickly, since two days after the release of the story in the Press, the gendarmes had already proven the hoax. This had been then published in the press, and the case was thus closed.
They have chosen to publish an extract of an article of the national press and not to say any word of the articles of the regional press nearer to this business. There, they practiced exactly what they claim ufologists do: to neglect to seek or publish the local sources and to favor Parisian sources which are said to present exaggerated and less informed versions than the local sources for flying saucers cases.
It should not be believed by the reader that they had found by themsleves, independently, that the photograph is a hoax since they publish an image extracted the press of this moment showing the gendarmes near the model of saucer. It is thus clear that they knew perfectly what this was about and had no justification to present the explanation as if it may be theirs.
The case never appeared as a "solid" case nor even a "case" of flying saucer anyowhere in the ufologic literature. I discovered this story previously on my own thanks to the interesting file by journalist Christian Valentin who of course narrates the hoax and tells this story in a decent and objective manner. Later I had the surprise to find that once again, Barthel and Brucker present a "case" in such a way that the unsuspicious reader can think that they solved a case and that ufologists are the complete idiots that they intend to depict in their book.

EXPLANATIONS:

Photographic hoax, as per the newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace for November 3, 1954.

KEYWORDS:

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

Sarreguemines, Moselle, photograph, picture, hoax, saucer

REFERENCES:

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

[-] Article in the national newspaper "L'Aurore", November 2, 1954.
[-] Article in the regional newspaper "Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace", November 3, 1954.
[312] "La grande peur martienne", book by Gerard Barthel and Jacques Brucker, Les Nouvelles Editions Rationalistes éditeur, page 192, 1979.
[1012] "60 jours pour 60 ans", article on the Internet archives of the regional newspaper "l'Alsace", 2004.

This page was last updated on September 30, 2005