GEIPAN Case 1954-09-09112 — PREMANON (39) 27.09.1954
A GEIPAN Class C case documenting a 1954 close-range sighting of a structured, aluminum-colored rectangular craft by three children in Premanon, France, with associated ground traces and a red glow — filed as insufficient information for conclusive analysis.
Brief
On the evening of 27 September 1954, three children aged 8, 9, and 12 observed a roughly two-meter-tall aluminum-colored rectangular object near their home in Premanon, Jura. The object was partially split vertically along its center and rested on two angled external supports at its base. A red glow and physical ground traces were reported. GEIPAN assigned it Class C, indicating documentation exists but is insufficient for a definitive explanation.
Metadata
- Agency
- GEIPAN / CNES
- Release
- 2007-03-22
- Type
- PDF • .pdf
- Length
- 7 pages
- Classification
- UNCLASSIFIED (GEIPAN Class C — insufficient information)
- Programs
- GEPAN, SEPRA, GEIPAN
- Tags
- rectangular craft, aluminum coloration, vertical split fuselage, angled landing supports, ground traces, red glow, low altitude, close encounter, child witnesses, France, 1954, GEIPAN, Premanon
Key points
- Incident date and time: 27 September 1954 at 20:30 local time, Premanon, Jura département (39), France.
- Three child witnesses, ages 12, 9, and 8, observed the object at close range near their residence.
- Object described as approximately 2 meters tall, aluminum-colored, rectangular, partially split vertically down its center height.
- Two angled (coudés) external supports were observed at the base of the craft on each side.
- A red glow was reported in association with the sighting, and ground traces were found at the location.
- GEIPAN classification C: case has documentation enabling analysis but lacks sufficient information for a reliable conclusion.
- Investigation was conducted by the French national space agency CNES through its UAP unit, successively named GEPAN, SEPRA, and GEIPAN.
- Attached source materials include gendarmerie procès-verbaux (official police reports) and possibly technical notes.
Most interesting
- The 1954 French 'flap' is one of the most concentrated waves of UFO reports in European history; the Premanon incident falls within that September–October peak period.
- GEIPAN's Class C designation — 'manque d'information' — means the case is not dismissed but cannot be resolved with available data, placing it in a permanent open-file category.
- The angled external supports described by the children resemble landing-gear structures, a recurring morphological detail in 1950s European close-encounter reports.
- Ground traces corroborating a physical presence on the soil are among the most forensically significant evidence categories in UAP case investigation.
- CNES is the only national space agency in the world to operate an official, publicly accessible UAP investigation unit (GEPAN founded 1977, rebranded SEPRA 1988, GEIPAN 2005); this case was released in the 2007 GEIPAN public archive batch.
- Child witnesses are often considered both high-credibility (no motivated deception) and low-credibility (suggestibility) by investigators — the gendarmerie procès-verbal format would have captured their independent accounts under official conditions.