The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this site is here.
Reference number for this case: Oct-54-Waldsheid. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. 1687] "LE QUOTIDIEN DE LA HAUTE-LOIRE" NEWSPAPER:
THE PSYCHOSIS OF THE SAUCERS: THE MARTIANS WERE ONLY CHRYSANTHEMUMS PACKED AGAINST THE COLDAn intense emotion seized the parishioners of Walscheid (the Moselle) when, at the exit of the evening mass, a group of children told them that a "commando of Martians" took position at a farm of the village. With thousand precautions, some men among the most courageous, left as scouts and indeed distinguished, on the terrace of the said farm, silhouettes as vague as suspicious, even worrying. A war briefing was held during which the manly elements of the population decided to go dislodge the agressor. While the women took refuge in the church, the men gathered a weapons which, though disparate, was not handled with less poise: sticks, forks, rifles, knives... In silence, using at the best the ground and its features, the attackers progressed, towards the Martians' positions and encircled them. No emotion appearing among the suspect silhouettes, the attack was decided. Two columns were formed and the carriers of non-shooting weapons progressed with caution under the protection of the hunters, fingers on the triggers. WARNING IS GIVENAt an adequate distance, summations were shouted. The Martians did not react. The summations were made again, more pressing, and soon a window opened, a man appeared. It was the owner of the place who, in a sleepy voice, asked: "What's going on? What are you doing there?" He was informed. He answered by an enormous burst of laughters, which was soon communicative to everyone... It was indeed explained that he had, at the fall of the night, wrapped the chrysanthemums on the terrace to preserve them from the frost. In fact, those were the suspicious silhouettes that had fired the imagination of the children. |
[Ref. 411] MICHEL CARROUGES:
In his chapter counting the material illusions, the author tells us of the incident in Walscheid, in the Moselle, which was nattared in the national newspaper France-Soir for October 20, 1954.
Children had given the alarm by claiming to have seen a "Martian stormtroup" The villagers gathered. France-Soir wrote:
"In the night, under the weak light of the municipal street lighting, the silhouette of odd beings took shape on a terrace."
The newspaper tells that whereas women of the country had their refuge within the church, men armed with shotguns, the finger on the trigger, formed two columns for an assalt. "Fortunately, one did not neglect to make the legal summations."
"It was at this point in time that the owner whom one believed at the very least to have been tied up and muzzled, showed his head at the window, and very sleepy, asked what was wanted. In the general stupor, which soon changed into bursts of laughters, he explained why he had wrapped the chrysanthemums of his terrace to preserve them from the frost. The imagination of the children caused the rest, and everyone had followed."
[Ref. 1203] MICHEL FIGUET:
In an update to his Francat catalog, Michel Figuet indicates:
| 10.1954 | Waldsheid | Confusion with chrysanthems protected against the frost. LDLN N. 249-250 p. 22-23. France-Soir for 10/20/1954. |
[Ref. 812] DOMINIQUE CAUDRON:
|
In Walscheid (the Moselle), villagers armed so and so wanted to defeat a troop of "Martians"... and discovered inoffensive chrysanthemums. |
Confusion, dissipated by the witnesses on the spot.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Waldsheid, Moselle, confusion, multiple, street light, night, children, martians, flowers
[-] indicates sources which I have not yet checked.
