Perpignan entity encounter — 1954

Damien Figuères, a retired Perpignan customs officer, reported seeing a large red sphere near a road junction on the evening of October 14,1954. The contemporary L'Indépendant account places him about thirty metres away, with two dogs. Published times vary between approximately 7:30 and 7:50 p.m. A tall person dressed like a diver reportedly came out, moved around the object and hurried back inside when the dogs approached. The red object then rose rapidly without an audible engine or visible exhaust. Figuères went home to fetch his son-in-law, and they returned to the junction. They found no marks on the road or surrounding wires. The story circulated internationally with a comic emphasis on a supposed space visitor frightened by dogs. In transmission, the witness's surname and the date changed; October 15 appears in some catalogues even though the local newspaper described Thursday evening, October 14. Later explanations include confusion with a meteor and a possible staged appearance by journalists using costumes. Neither is demonstrated for this particular encounter: the documented meteor timing differs, and a precise matching admission by the alleged pranksters was not established. The surviving evidence is a contemporary witness report rather than an inspected craft or artifact.