Albias, FR being encounter — September 1954

A motorist later named as Jean Dumons reportedly encountered an object near Albias, Tarn-et-Garonne, during the French 1954 sighting wave. Late September around midnight is the main source tradition. September 28, September 3 and October also appear in later catalogues, so an exact day should not be treated as securely established. The driver said his headlights went out and he saw a high, round object standing on supports in a nearby meadow. It was estimated at roughly 2.5–3 metres across, with three figures beside it. After approximately two minutes the object rose vertically and then departed rapidly on a horizontal course. The available account gives no reliable facial features, clothing, language or physical contact. Zurcher and Sider trace the report through Alain Gamard’s files and a later Lumières dans la Nuit publication, rather than a retrieved 1954 witness statement. Other summaries describe the object as spherical, conical or disc-like; no available photograph resolves the construction. The reported headlight failure has no documented technical examination here. The illustration includes a representative driver, his car, three indistinct figures and a compact high circular craft on supports, with its precise shape explicitly approximate.