An account in Somme, France

On September 7, 1954, at around 7:30 a.m., two witnesses were cycling to work on the communal road 47 between Harponville (80) and Contay (80). The weather was clear and without fog. They observed on the ground in a field 200 meters from the road, a circular shape with an oscillating movement. The two witnesses describe a dark-colored cylinder with a slightly domed upper surface and an opening around the side. Intrigued, the witnesses approached to about a hundred meters and saw the object rise silently at an angle for about fifteen meters, then vertically. During the ascent, the witnesses noticed blue-gray smoke escaping from a pipe. The observation lasted between 4 and 5 minutes before the phenomenon disappeared into the sky. The frightened witnesses immediately left for the gendarmerie. The same day, the investigation found no traces on the ground in the field. One of the witnesses, having already seen helicopters, stated that it was not such a device. No other testimony was collected. The credibility of the witnesses was not called into question. GEIPAN classifies this case as D1: strange unidentified phenomenon.