Cenon entity encounter — 1954

Yves David, a 28-year-old farmer, described a late-night encounter on the road between Cenon and Vouneuil-sur-Vienne. Contemporary press preferred 19 September 1954, around 22:00; other accounts use 17 or 18 September and differ over whether he rode a moped or bicycle. Le Libre Poitou interviewed him locally after the story spread through a friend. His initial reluctance was attributed to fear of ridicule. David said a diver-like figure approached, touched or stroked his arm, made unintelligible sounds, and returned toward an object on the road. A green light allegedly immobilised him before the object rose silently. The early press said he could not describe the vehicle. Jimmy Guieu's later account supplied a brown mass approximately 3 metres long and 1 metre high, while Aimé Michel reordered the tingling, paralysis and approach. Those versions should not be mistaken for identical testimony. Later investigators reported that David declined further interviews. Barthel and Brucker called the story a journalistic invention; Jean Sider challenged that conclusion using the named contemporary interview and photograph. Neither dispute establishes an extraterrestrial explanation, and no physical evidence independently resolves the claim. The plate labels source variants and uses the later craft dimensions, retaining an unresolved helmeted figure rather than inventing a face.