A new examination of a classic close encounter with humanoid, which was part of the famous flying saucer wave in France, was recently published in a local history journa, Les Amis du Vieux Saint-Claude (No. 49, 2026, pp. 2–19).

On September 27, 1954, four children from the small village of Prémanon reportedly encountered a “flying saucer” and a strange-looking being in a field, and the story soon went from local newspapers to magazines and books throughout the word.

The event was already re-investigated in the 1980s, but the new article by Yves Bosson and Jean-Pierre Rospars (“L’affaire du « Martien » de Prémanon: construction et déconstruction d’un fait divers”) goes beyond the simple dychotomy  between a real saucer landing and a children prank: this story reveals a wealth of creative mechanisms that produced a surprising collective narrative.

The original article in French as well as an English translation are available.