OVNI. Francia

A motorist saw a luminous disc hanging stationary in the air over the Pont-la-Dame bridge across the Grand Buech river. Described as having a classic “saucer” shape of two plates joined together. 300-600 feet in diameter, consisted of two concentric circles, from the smaller of which emanated red sparks.

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Date: October 28, 1958
Location: Pont-la-Dame, France

Jean Boyer was driving home on October 28, 1958. "I had reached the area of Pont-la-Dame and was ready to climb the stretch of road called "Cote des Egaux," when I saw in the sky, right above Pont-la-Dame, in the valley of the Grand Buech river, a motionless and luminous "disk." ...I believe it was about 200 to 400 meters above the ground. Suddenly, after two or three minutes, some sparks flew as the object rose vertically at a dizzying speed..."

Drawing of the Pont-la-Dame encounter, based on a sketch by the witness. (source: Vallee)

Map of the sighting. (source: Vallee)

Source: Jacques & Janine Vallee, 1966

[excerpt]

A French observation made only two days after the [well-known] Loch Raven Dam case, in strikingly similar conditions, was parallel to it in many ways. First, let us emphasize the fact that the Loch Raven case received no publicity in the United States and that this is the first time it has been published in detail; hence there was no possibility that the French public knew about it only two days later.

The report was made by Jean Boyer, of Beylon-de-Montmaur, who was returning home on October 28, 1958, at the time of the incident. Some of the details have appeared in the Dauphine Libere of October 30, 1958, but most of the information we have obtained was the result of a direct investigation.

"I had reached the area of Pont-la-Dame and was ready to climb the stretch of road called "Cote des Egaux," when I saw in the sky, right above Pont-la-Dame, in the valley of the Grand Buech river, a motionless and luminous "disk." I stopped the car and got out. The time must have been 7:55 p.m.

"I looked at the "disk," which resembled two plates glued together; I believe it was about 200 to 400 meters above the ground. Suddenly, after two or three minutes, some sparks flew as the object rose vertically at a dizzying speed, leaving first a fiery trail, then a faint glow, which vanished. At the same time, I felt a current of air that rocked my station wagon."

Boyer was about 600 to 700 meters from the bridge (see Figures 33 and 34) when he saw, above the railroad bridge, a sharply defined oblong shadow swaying to the left and to the right very gently. He got out of his station wagon, but not before he had driven the car up to the bridge, in order to place himself exactly below the "disk." This is an essential part of the report, because it establishes that the witness was indeed observing a real object with a precise position in space. He saw a perfectly circular machine, with a second, smaller circle inside the large one; from this smaller circle short sparks of a dark red color were emitted. As he had left the headlights of his station wagon on, he walked back to the car and turned them off. As he was reaching the vehicle, the object emitted a formidable stream of blinding sparks, similar to those of burning magnesium, and vanished instantaneously in the sky. At the same time there was a very strong air displacement.

There are two interesting differences with the Loch Raven Dam case: first, no noise was heard in connection with the departure of the object; second, no interference with the ignition of the car was noted. There were five other witnesses, most of them motorists driving along the same road.