Cette page en français
The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this site is here.
Reference number for this case: 7-sep-54-Harponville. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. nm1] "LE NOUVEAU NORD-MARITIME" NEWSPAPER:
|
MYSTERY IN PICARDIETwo workmen claim
|
[Ref. ra1] "RADAR" MAGAZINE:
|
|
DESCRIBING SAUCER TAKE-OFF from field near Amiens, Yves de Gillaboz (left), Emile Renard point to the sky where they saw the Martian machine" belching puffs of smoke as it disappeared from view. GILLABOZ AND RENARD: AN INVERTED PLATEAmiens. -- Yves de Gillaboz (left) and Emile Renard point out the direction taken by the flying saucer which they caught landing. While going to work, in a roadside field they saw a big cupola, shaped like an inverted deep dish. They ran toward it. They could easily perceive its color, "dirty grey", they declare, and its dimensions, 10 meters by 3. It was oscillating on its base, but was emitting no sound. On the surface appeared a closed door, which was wider than it was high. Before they were able to get close to it, the machine rose diagonally, a thick black smoke escaping from a pipe on its underside. It climbed then to a height of 15 meters, then rose vertically, at a noticeably increasing speed. The two men, in awe, followed it for a moment with their eyes. The police, on being notified, found no suspicious marks at the indicated place. But the seriousness of the two men was beyond doubt. Moreover, Mr. Chovel and his family, near Hirson, saw during the night time a luminous disc resembling the Amiens saucer. |
[Ref. ci1] CIA:
|
|
|
|
INFORMATION FROM
SIGHTINGS OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS, WESTERN EUROPE [... (Reports from other countries) ...] France [... (Previous reports) ...] UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS SEEN IN SOMME DEPARTEMENT -- Dakar, Paris-Dakar, 10 Sep 54 A 27-year-old mason and his assistant report that recently (on September 7, see below) they saw a grey object resembling a truncated millstone with a large inverted plate lying on it in a field at about 200 meters from the road where they were driving, near Acheux-en-Amiénois, Somme Department. The object oscillated slowly, and seemed to have a closed door on its side. When the men had run about 50 meters toward it, the object began to fly away. Smoke was then visible from a sort of exhaust pipe on the underside. After an oblique flight of about 15 meters, the object rose vertically and disappeared. Police later found no trace of the object. [... (next reports)] Paris, Le Parisien Libéré, 14 Sep 54 Emile Renard, a Mason, and Yves de Guillerboz, his assistant, saw what they considered to be a "flying saucer" at 0:15 on 7 September. Both men are known to be very reliable. They stated that the object apparently never touched the ground, but hovered above the ground like a helicopter. It was about 10 meters in diameter and 3 meters in height. did not glow, and departed noiselessly, trailing smoke as it took off. They saw the object for at least 3 minutes. (Source contains three crude sketches of the object drawn by these men.) |
[Ref. hw1:] HAROLD T. WILKINS:
The author indicates that from a village fifty miles from Lille, a report was telegraphed, saying that Emile Renard, a builder, and Yves de Guillerboz, his foreman, had been cycling home along a country lane, when glancing at a stubble field, they saw a strange object parked among the oats.
Renard said:
"I do not frequent bistros or estaminets, but I tell you we saw, on the field, a metal disc, blue grey, thirty feet long, and nine feet high. It took off at the speed of a helicopter and smoke came from its rear. It made no noise and vanished into the clouds."
[Ref. jg1:] JIMMY GUIEU:
The author indicates that on August 8, 1954, close to Acheux-en-Amiénois, the mason Emile Renard and his workman Yves Degillabez saw a saucer posed in a field. They ran in direction of the apparatus whose shaped reminded of "a truncated haystack covered with a huge plate turned upside down."
The apparatus oscillated slightly, proof that it was not posed, and on his wall "one distinguished a 'door'." When the men approached, smoke escaped from the lower part of the saucer and it then started its flight and disappeared.
The gendarmes who opened an investigation noted no trace at the place indicated by the two masons, a detail which is nothing surprising owing to the fact that the apparatus did not rest on the ground but "oscillated slightly."
[Ref. am1:] AIME MICHEL:
Aimé Michel notes that on September 7, 1954, at about 7:15 A.M., two masons of Acheux-en-Amiénois, Mr. Emile Renard, aged 27, and his workman Yves Degillerboz, aged 23, went to their work riding bicycles and were between Harponville and Contay on the secondary road Route Départementale 47 when they lived a strange encounter.
Aimé Michel provides the following account like resulting from the statement to the Gendarmerie (police attached to the Army), which questioned the two men separately, as did the military authorities, which all indicated that the accounts of the two men confirmed each other in all the reported details.
Here is the statement by Mr. Renard at the gendarmerie according to Aimé Michel:
|
"Instead of taking the van as usual, as its engine was under revision, my workman and I took the bicycles. We were to go to work at the pastoral guard of the community of Lahoussoye. Suddenly, between Harponville and Contay, a tire of Degillerboz' bicycle deflated. I stopped to lend him my pump, and my eyes were attracted by a sort of disc, within 200 meters from us, in a field. You would have thought it was an unfinished haystack, whose top would have been capped by a plate turned upside down." "- Look at this, I said to my workman, don't you find that this haystack has a strange color?" "Puzzled, I examined the object, when I realized that it slightly moved with a hardly perceptible swinging, like an oscillation." "But looks at it! Look at it please! It is not a haystack! I shouted at my companion." "Then, we both rushed through fields towards the mysterious object. To reach it, we had to cross a waste land, then a beet field. Hardly had we reached this field that the object took off in skew, slipping by in diagonal on about fifteen meters, then started to go up vertically. Maybe, overall, the vision lasted three minutes, after that the object disappeared in the clouds." "The object flew away without noise, while releasing on it right below, a small puff of smoke. It was of a gray-bluish color. It could have had ten meters in diameter, and three meters height approximately, and, as I said, it resembled a plate turned upside down. On the left, at the bottom, a sort of plate, broader than high, as a door, was observed. It was at approximately 150 meters of us when it took off. It is the rural guard of Lahoussoye who insisted that we report our observation to the gendarmerie of Corbie." |
Aimé Michel indicates that after having received the witnesses statements, Gendarmes and specialists in aeronautics, that he says were the military authorities of the city of Amiens, went on the premises where they did not find any traces other than those of the two witnesses. Aimé Michel notes that as the object oscillated, it was to be above ground-level and did not land, which is consistent with the absence of traces.
Aimé Michel indicates that the official investigation, not being able neither to prove nor to disprove a prank - the two men knowing each other well - produced no result and the case was thus closed.
[Ref. mc1:] MICHEL CARROUGES:
The author reports that on September 7, 1954, at 07:15 a.m., in broad daylight since the sun rose at 05:15 A.M., Mr. Emile Renard, aged 27, and his companion Yves Degillerboz, aged 23, mason, were riding their bicycle on the road between Harponville and Contay in the département of Somme, to go to the building site where they worked.
Mr. Degillerboz suddenly realized that one of its tire was deflated. The two cyclists thus stopped and while Mr. Degillerboz was busy to reinflate the tire, Mr. Renard idly looked at the landscape.
Michel Carrouges reports that what Mr. Renard then saw and told as such according to the newspaper article published by Le Perisien Libéré of September 14, 1954:
"My eyes were drawn to a kind of disc, at 250 meters of us, in a field. 'Looks at this,' I said to by co-worker, here is a haystack which has a funny color!" All occupied at inflating, he did not answer me. 'But please looks at this, look at this, it is not a haystack!' I shouted at with my companion. And both, under I do not know which sense of urgency, we rushed through the field to approach the mysterious machine. We had to cross a first waste land, a field of beets. Hardly did we start to run through that, that the saucer, (because now, to us, it was certain, it was a saucer), took off in skew during about fifteen meters and then went up then vertically."
Michel Carrouges indicates that the account of Mr. Renard is confirmed by Mr. Degillerboz, and that the latter adds that the machine was gray bluish and must have been about ten meters wide for approximately three meters in height.
Michel Carrouges reports that the two men spoke about their meeting only to the rural guard to which they went, and that it is this pastoral-guard which insisted that they must report with the gendarmerie of Corbies. Citing Aimé Michel, Carrouges notes that the gendarmes as well as the journalist noted that the two witnesses were annoyed by a publicity which they had not sought and which they tried to espace.
Carrouges points out the important aspect in this case as in many othersm that of traditional "successive assumptions" in which the witness does not think firsthand that he sees a saucer as if he were conditioned to see some, but starts by interpreting what he sees at the beginning as something of commonplace nature, a haystack in this case, before having to give up the commonplace interpretation after a better or nearer glance, and of course after the fact that the "haystack" flies away in this case.
Carrouges also notes that at the time of the takeoff of the machine the witnesses are with 150 meters of him, and that at this distance, as he checked by looking at similarly distant cars, one can accurately realize the color of an object having this sort of proportions.
Carrouges evokes the theory that saucer reports are sometimes caused by landed helicopters, but indicates that on the one hand the departure was quiet and on the other hand, "noboby reported the least helicopter as having landed at the indicated place."
[Ref. jv1:] JACQUES VALLEE:
Jacques Vallée indicates that on September 7, 1954, between Harponville and Contay, two brickmakers saw an object floating in the air above a field. He quotes:
"It resembled an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down at the top."
Vallée indicates that when the men approached, the object flew away.
[Ref. jv2:] JACQUES VALLEE:
|
142 Sep. 07, 1954 07:15 Harponville (France). Between Harponville and Contay, two bricklayers, Emile Renard, 27, and Yves Degillerboz, 23 saw an object floating in mid-air over a field: "It looked like an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down on top of it." When they approached, it took off. Diameter 10 m, height 3 m. A kind of door was noticed. The observation lasted over 3 min. The object released smoke when it departed. (6; M 35) (Le Figaro, September 9, 1954). |
[Ref. gl1:] CHARLES GARREAU AND RAYMOND LAVIER:
The two authors, journalists and ufologists, indicate that on September 7, 1954, at about 07:15 in the morning in the department of the Somme, two masons of Acheux-in-Amienois, Emile Renard, aged 27, and his colleague workman Yves Degillerboz, aged 23, were going to a building site in Lahoussoye. They rode on bicycles on the Secondary Road 47 because the van which they usually used was under revision.
Whereas they were between Harponville and Contay, Yves Degillerboz had to stop because one of the tires of his bicycle had deflated. Emile Renard put foot at ground also, to lend his pump to his comrade.
While the latter reinflated the tire, Emile Renard randomly looked at the landscape. He told to the gendarmes:
"Within two hundred meters of us, I saw, in a field, something which puzzled me. It resembled an unfinished, and capped haystack topped with a kind of plate turned upside down. While staring at this thing, I realized that it slightly moved with an unperceivable swinging. I uttered an exclamation of surprise. Yves stood up. He saw it, too. We started to run towards this mysterious object. We had to cross a wasteland, then a beet field. At the time when we reached it, the machine took off in oblique, on about fifteen meters, then it climbed vertically and disappeared in the clouds. No noise. There was like a small trail of smoke."
The two men had time to observe the machine well, of which they were not any more than with 150 meters away approximately when it rose from the ground. They made a rather good description of it to the gendarmes, which the authors note as follows: a disc, or more exactly a kind of reversed plate, color gray-bluish, some ten meters in diameter and 3 meters height approximately. On the left of the lower part, they believed to see a kind of door.
The authors indicate that the testimony of the two masons was largely confirmed by many others which, in a radius of 15 kilometers, reported at this same time the overflight of the area of Péronne by an object identical in all manner.
The two authors indicate that they were refer to the report by the gendarmerie and their personal file as source.
[Ref. fr1] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:
The two authors indicate that on September 7, 1954, at 7:15, between Harponville and Contay, Emile Renard, masonry craftsman, aged 27, residing in Acheux-in-Amiénois and Yves de Gillaboz, aged 23, mason, were going to their workplace when they saw in a field within 200 meters of the secondary road a disc like a haystack or "a turned over plate of some ten meters in diameter oscillating around an imaginary axis." One distinguished on his wall a kind of closed door, broader than high.
The craft rose in diagonal with a smoke which escapes by a kind of pipe on its lower part. At about fifteen meters of altitude the object started a faster vertical rise and disappeared.
They note that the gendarmerie squad of Acheux-en-Amiénois told them by a letter of April 3, 1976 to have never investigated into this case, as opposed to what the newspapers of the time had written, and that the brigade of Corbie gave the same answer.
They indicate as source the newspapers La Montagne in September 1954, Le Parisien Libéré for September 9, 1954 and October 14, 1954, Le Figaro and Nice-Matin for September 9, 1954, Vallée's catalogue and the books of Michel Carrouges and Aimé Michel.
[Ref. uw1] SITE UFOWEB:
| Acheux en Amiénois | August 08 1954 | Somme 8 | Somme | Source Guieu | 2 witnesses see an object shaped like a saucer |
| Acheux en Amiénois | 08 August 1954 | Department 80 | Somme | |
| Latitude | Longitude | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Witnesses | Objects | Shapes | 55,637 | 0.218 |
| 2 | 1 | Saucer | 50° 04' 27'' | 02° 32' 01'' |
| Type | Duration | Colors | Source | |
| Jimmy Guieu | ||||
[Ref. jb1] JEROME BEAU:
|
September 7 Near Acheux-en-Amiénois (Somme), Emile Renard, a 27 year-old mason, and Yves de Guillerrez, his assistant - both regarded as reliable people - see a gray object resembling a truncated kilometric milestone with a large plate resting on its top, from the road where they work. The object, approximately 10 meters in diameter and 3 meters in height, oscillates slowly in lift like a helicopter above the ground, without it never touches. It does not emit light, and seems to have a door on its side. After the men ran up to 50 meters close to it, it flies away without noise, leaving a trail of smoke escaping from a small conduit. After an oblique flight of about fifteen meters, the object rises vertically, and disappears. The witnesses observed the object during at least 3 minutes. The police forces found no traces. [Des objets non identifiés vus dans la Somme, Paris-Dakar, September 10, 1954] |
[Ref. dj1:] DONALD JOHNSON:
|
On this Day September 7 [...] 1954 - Between Harponville and Contay, France two bricklayers, Emile Renard, age 27, and Yves DeGillerboz, age 23, saw a bluish-gray object floating in midair over a field. "It looked like an unfinished haystack, with a plate turned upside down on top of it." When they tried to approach it took off. It had a diameter of ten meters (33 feet), and they noticed it had a kind of door. The observation lasted over three minutes, at which point the object released some smoke as it departed straight up. (Sources: Le Figaro, September 9, 1954; Aime Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 35; Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, pp. 208-209). |
Not looked for yet.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Harponville, Somme, Contay, Acheux-en-Amiénois, Emile Renard, Yves Degerbilloz, Yves Degillerboz, object, door, smoke, masons, grey, blue, blue grey, bicycle, road, field, low, low altitude, fast, silent, gendarmes, police
[---] Indicates sources that I have not yet seen.
