Croix D'epine / Meru, FR being encounter — October 1, 1954

Nineteen-year-old mechanic Ernest Delattre reported seeing a strange light while riding home from Méru toward Saint-Crépin-Ibouvillers on 1 October 1954. Near Croix d’Épine, beyond Lormaison, it descended beside the road into a beet field. He described an illuminated ovoid or two superimposed oval parts, roughly four to five metres long, with grey-blue light. Two dark shapes, approximately eighty centimetres high, appeared nearby. They resembled potato sacks with poorly defined contours, not clearly observed conventional humanoids. Delattre accelerated past them and later said the object took off, briefly followed him and veered away. He reportedly fainted after reaching home and recounting the experience. Other residents described an unusual light, but their observations do not independently establish the small figures. Newspaper versions vary in the object’s dimensions, exact roadside distance and some sequence details; Vallée later dated the encounter 2 October rather than 1 October. L’Oise-Matin’s 6 October follow-up is significant. Reporters inspected the beet field, found supposed burn marks attributable to earlier frost, and recovered debris identified as weather-balloon and parachute material. This was not spacecraft evidence, though the newspaper did not claim it conclusively explained every observation. The plate keeps the figures indistinct and flags the dating variation.