Recreation of the scene at Vins-sur-Caramy (Map point A)

"...a Mrs. Garcin and a Mrs. Rami, were walking on Departmental Road 24, not far from the castle of Vins, which is 1km east of the village. Suddenly a deafening noise startled them... The thing was flying slowly over the intersection of D24 and the road that goes to Brignoles. It was only a few feet above the ground...

"The object was shaped like a top... it was not more than 1.5m high and about 1m in diameter. It had a series of appendages or antennae which vibrated rapidly; in resonance with these vibrations, one of the road signs at the intersection was strongly vibrating.... and... was the source of the thundering noise...

"300m away, a man working on the hillside also heard the noise... he was Louis Boglio, a municipal council member in Vins... '...I saw a metallic craft which made an enormous leap through the air.'

"The object remained near the ground only a few seconds. Then it jumped over a distance of 200m, flying over a second road sign which immediately started vibrating like the first one...

Two people in a neighboring village reported seeing the object in flight."[footnote 1]

Please note that the map above (from Vallee) shows a slightly different conception of the object when compared to the original map shown below, which is a closer match to the account in the article

Issue #21 of the revue Ouranos, page 50

A translation of the original Vins article in Ouranos... Thanks to Pierre Legrange for the copy of the original article, to Perry Petrakis, Bernard Thouanel, and Jacques Poulet for their assistance with the translation (but any errors are my own). Also, thanks to http://babelfish.altavista.com/translate.dyn for the basic translation.

An attempt was made to contact M. Delval, who is believed to hold the rights to the article, but he did not respond. Anyone with any objection to this republication should contact Mark Cashman.

Investigator: Jimmy GUIEU, head of the Service of investigation of the C.I.E. OURANOS.

Assistant: Mr. Pierre AYRAUD, sound engineer for Radio Monte-Carlo.

Eyewitnesses: Mrs. Marie GARCIN, Mrs. Julia RAMI, Mr. Jules BOGLIO, all three Vins-sur-Caramy residents.

On Sunday April 14, at 15 hours (3 PM local time), Mrs. Garcin and Rami were walking on the road D. 24, approximately 1 kilometer east of Vins-sur-Caramy.

Suddenly, a strange metal machine (the color of unpolished metal) in the shape of a cone, the point directed downwards landed on the road within a hundred meters of their position The object somewhat resembled a large spinning top (with a convex cap) maximum height 1.50 m; maximum diameter approximately 1 meter . Perpendicular to the sides of the cone were rapidly vibrating metal rods.

At the moment when the machine manuvered to its landing point, the witnesses heard a deafening noise. This "metallic" noise was produced by a road sign (No 1 in the sketch above) located within approximately 5 meters of the point of landing, which was oscillating and vibrating violently.

Mrs. Rami and Garcin, frightened, together cried out immediately.

Alerted by this tumult and these cries, Mr. Jules Boglio, who was looking after a beehive 300 meters away on a hill, ran toward them, believing an auto accident had occurred. At this point in time he saw the machine taking off and perceived the strange metallic vibrations again. The "cone" made a jump above the road, performed a turn (towards the east, at 5 or 10 m maximum height) and landed a second time - on a small path, approximately 200 meters from its first landing point.

At the time of its turn, it flew over a second road sign (No 2 of the sketch), which was, in its turn, subjected to violent oscillations and vibrations producing a noise of an extremely notable "resonance". During the evolutions of the object, the three witnesses very clearly observed the signs vibrating, just as if they had been submitted to violent shocks repeated at a rapid rate.

Then the machine took off, pitching from side to side, and then, always silently, flew south-east, at a moderate speed. At no time did the machine itself make noise. The whole sighting had lasted approximately a minute.

Mrs. Rami told her husband, a Country-Guard, who soon came to the site, accompanied by officers of the Brignoles gendarmerie; at the the point of landing, the officers noted that the ground (on the roadside) seemed "to have been violently swept" under the effect of a powerful wind. On the beaten dirt track (second landing) the traces were clearer still: ground "driven out" to a diameter of approximately 1 to 1.50 m.

On April 17, 1957; with Mr. Pierre Ayraud, sound engineer for Radio Monte-Carlo, I went to the gendarmerie of Brignoles (VAR). Upon presentation of my C.I.E. OURANOS investigator ID card, the adjudant obligingly showed me a copy of his investigation report. It appeared from the start that the witnesses were not only reporting in good faith but were also innocent of any suspicion of trickery. Not being able to accompany me to Vins, the adjudant gave me a word of introduction for Mr. Ventre, mayor of Vins. Arriving at 15:00 (3 PM local time) at the village (6 km to the northeast of Brignoles), we could not contact the mayor, who was absent. I started then in search of the witnesses and questioned the villagers. My questions met with a frosty reception! No one knew (or wanted to say) where the witnesses were! After a few minutes of inquiries in the streets of the village, the news of our arrival had caused " those who knew " to depart. Others were satisfied to look on us with suspicion... In substance, irritated by the press, the radio and television over the past two days, the witnesses "had taken the maquis" (refuge) in the nearby hills! Mr. Boglio, working that day underground in the bauxite mine did not have a need to hide...

During our "hunt for the witnesses". a Citroen "Traction Avant" stopped on the place of the village. The adjutant of gendarmerie for Brignoles, followed by a brigadier and a gendarme, emerged... to supervise my investigation. From the start, the brigadier declared peremptorily that the machine in question was "radio-controlled" - certaintly from "the military base of the I'le du Levant". Aroused. I was motivated to dispute this assertion, arguing that no nation had silently driven aircraft. I explained moreover to the brigadier that if the road signs had vibrated with such a din near the machine, that could be owing to the fact that they had been altered by a propulsive magnetic field. General scepticism. I then offered to see if there were magnetic residue at the site.

Intrigued, skeptical, but my interlocutors agreed.

Our "4 CV" following their "Traction Avant" , we arrived at the site of the first landing, on road D. 24. There, in the presence of the gendarmes who, at my request, supervised my experiment attentively, I approached my compass against the body from the "4 CV" and made note the amplitude of the deviation of the needle: three to four maximum degrees. Then, I went to place my compass at the exact place of the landing: negative result, no magnetic residue on the ground.

On the other hand, 5 meters from there, the road sign (No 1 in the sketch) made the needle of the compass jump (approximately to 5 cm), thus marking a deviation of 15 degrees! (Let us recall that the mass of Renault had made deviate the needle only from 3 to 4 degrees.) I invited the brigadier to carry out the same experiment personally: the result was the same as that which I had obtained.

One moment later, we followed on the road the "flight path" of the craft which, one hundred meters from there, approximately, passed above another road sign (No 2 of the sketch). This sign (indicating " Brignoles") " was also magnetized and caused a compass needle deviation of 15 degrees. On the other hand, a third sign, located six or eight meters further (indicating "Vins-sur-Caramy"), did not offer any trace of magnetism to him and did not deviate the needle of the compass! This negative test, clearly highlighting the magnetization of the two other panels, astounded the gendarmes. They once again carried out checks using the compass: identical conclusion.

We crossed the road and we walked on the small beaten dirt track where the machine had landed the second time. No magnetic residue on the ground. On the other hand, an irrigation valve, (0.40 m to the side), made of iron (rusted), standing in the brook (dry) revealed a magnetism that deviated the needle of the compass by 15 degrees, as shown in the example panels 1 and 2. The craft had landed beside the valve with only 1 m or 1.50 m of maximum distance. The additional tests controlled by the brigadier, adjudant and the gendarme are significant, particularly the absence of magnetism on the sign which had not been subjected to the vibrations that affected the others. This fact would seem to indicate a magnetic residue caused by the machine; and a thorough neutralization by this machine of the normal magnetism of the third panel. Only a thorough study of these observations will make it possible to confirm if this is a natural magnetic phenomenon or a residue left by the landing.

Once back in the village, thanks to the presence of the gendarmes, I was able to meet the Country-Guard, Mr. Rami. This one, reassured concerning my activities as investigator (he wanted at no price to deal - again - with a journalist!), agreed to go to seek its wife and Mrs. Garcin hidden in the hills! Thus I was able - finally! - to question these eyewitnesses. Our interview was recorded on tape recorder with the assistance of the sound engineer M. Pierre Ayraud, and was broadcast that evening (17 April), at 19 h 8, on Radio Monte-Carlo.

N.B. - Contrary to what the regional press announced, the D.S.T. did not deal with this business. April 17 in the morning (before my departure), the D.S.T. indicated to me that only the Air police were involved. I taken then contact with the Air police, where the Detective Rochu confirmed this, specifying that a correspondent of Draguignan would go to the location. This correspondent carried out the investigation on April 18, that is to say four days after the event.

I make a point of mentioning the diligence and the objectivity with which the gendarmes of Brignoles operated, having addressed without delay a detailed report to the Air police, the ministry for the Interior, the commander of the Fourth Aerial Region, and other official organizations. A second report, giving information on my personal investigation and mentioning the observations carried out (magnetic measurements), was, I believe, sent by the gendarmerie of Brignoles to the Air police of Marseilles, where it must have arrived 19 April in the morning.

Jimmy Guieu.

VINS-sur-CARAMY, TEN YEARS LATER ( about an investigation by Rene Hardy, Doctor of Science )

[ Sadly mistranslated by Larry Hatch 20 MAY 2000

The elegant writing style of the following article has badly damaged and nearly defeated my efforts to translate it. The first sentence filled an entire paragraph, complete with words absent from the dictionary, highly elusive subject and predicate, and so on.

I am thus forced to read between the lines, and to take liberties which I hope have not distorted the intended statements. -LH ]

The eminent engineer was sent by GEPA to make a retrospective inquiry at Vins-sur-Caramy, in the VAR (dept), where a most curious and unusual object was seen on 14 April 1957 .. some sort of giant (toy) top, rounded above and conical beneath, the conical part formed of a a bundle of little rods, which Aime Michel gave the evocative name " Medusa Saucer ".

One finds mention of this bizarre object, which measures approx. 1.50 meters high, by 1 meter diameter at the upper part, in the work by Michel << A propos des Soucoupes Volants >> on pages 247 and 248. An excellent study of the incident at Vins-s-C is in issue #21 of the revue <Ouranos> on page 50. This summarized the investigations made by Jimmy Gieu, of a quality confirmed by Rene Hardy.

Passing slowly, 2 or 3 meters off the ground over the crossroads of Dept. highway 24 and the road to Vins, the object flew over a water gate of an irrigation ditch. Then made maneuvers complicated by a landing [ not to mention complicated by the convoluted prose of the original author ], made a road sign vibrate clamorously - which caught the attention of the witnesses - then (did same with) a second road sign that it flew over. A third road sign, further away, remained quiet.

In the course of these investigations, Jimmy Gieu indicated, and made a report to the police ( Gendarmes ), that the vibrated road-sign panels had been magnetized in an abnormal manner: Placed 5 cm away from the signs, a compass needle deviated some 15 degrees, while the third sign caused no noticeable deviation.

In issue #14 of Phenomene Spatiaux [ this same revue -LH ], in the article " Deviations and [magnetic] Traces ", page 15, we expressed some serious doubts about the significance of the stated deviation .. one which appears small and ordinary, suggesting a natural origin: The observed difference between the first two road signs and the third, could be by the difference in orientation [simply the direction they were pointing -LH].

Rene Hardy's investigation has remarkably confirmed what we had said in our previous article ( PS #14 -LH); not only about the "magnetization", but also about the qualitative measurements made by M. Tyrode on the body of his car after it also was overflown by an unusual object. See in this same issue ( PS #17 ) the article " Evillers, Bourgade Prospere".

In notes related to his inquiry, our friend Rene Hardy wrote in effect " Our first concern was to take some magnetic measurements. Actually, we were astonished to see the importance attached to a compass needle deviation by investigators/observers at the time, on approach to the road signs.

" This manner of measurment cannot be taken without any reference. In fact, these road signs aren't the same ones there at the time, but were changed. The first sign on the left, ( #2 in the Ouranos drawing ) which shows the way Brignoles, and also the one showing the way to Vins are new. "

" As regards the magnetic field, we found deviations on the new signs that are completely analogous to those found in the first investigation. Those signs pointing North-South have magnetic deviations, positive or negative depending which end you measure .. deviations amounting to 30 degrees on a compass held 5 cm away ( from the sign ends. )

" The old (water) gate also causes deviations of the same kind as the ones from my car nearby. This was immediately confirmed by positive, negative and null deviations, easily seen, in the area of the irrigation ditch, wherever I put the compass.

" This doesn't mean that a magnetic field can not be produced by the passage of some vessel (UFO), one capable of vibrating or bending one or more road signs. "

As suggested by our author [ Hardy ] we plan to present his findings at one of our future public meetings, and to show some photographs he attached .. we conclude ( summarize, nous bornerons ) by making one or two points:

The description of the site appear once again, to be one of those wild and remote places that unusual apparatus ( UFOs ) seem to love so much.

We add that according to details from our best sources, this "top" with its modest dimensions [ relatively small size ] reminds us of those recently seen flying at Ixtecec and Chiclayo ( see article in the same bulletin (?) << Two encounters in the sky >> ) which in no way suggest the name " medusa saucers ". It seems in any case that that the << toupie >> is a particular type of unusual object, one which seen under certain conditions, presents itself as a triangular object .. and could thus be falsely compared to a tetrahedrical balloon-sonde .. not that we doubt balloon-sondes have fooled many observers.

We warmly thank Rene Hardy for his all his documents, which we have presented.

- - - - - [ end of article. ]

Referring back to my copy of PS #14 ( Phenomene Spatiaux issue #14 dated Fourth Quarter, 1967 ) I find nothing new or additional. This article covers several magnetic incidents, and merely indicates their (PS) opinion that the magnetic deviation of the Caramy road signs was nothing out of the ordinary. The Ouranos #21 article by Jimmy Guieu, which I do not have, appears to be the most detailed account of the incident. All subsequent articles refer back to it. -LH

JV: Challenge to Science: the UFO Enigma : PB page 19-21.

Vins-sur-Caramy, Var, S.France, near Brignoles: 14 APR 1957.

2 women walking down a departmental road near an old castle, reached an intersection and heard a deafening noise. Turning around, they saw a top-shaped object, like an old style ice-cream cone, about 1M wide at the rounded top part, perhaps 1.5 meters tall.

The conical lower part was covered with thin antenna-like rods protruding downward. These rods vibrated rapidly, and a nearby metal road sign was also rattling and vibrating in sympathy with the antennas! This was the loud racket they first heard .. the road sign rattling violently.

One lady said the rods looked like automobile-radio antennas. Both women screamed as the object touched the ground.

300 meters away, a farmer ( and local politician ) was tending his fields when he heard the same noise. He thought it was a vehicle collision, and ran toward the roadside. He got there just in time to see this 'top' object for a few seconds, before it leaped into the air. It then flew some 200 meters, only to come down again near another road sign on the other side of the Y-shaped intersection.

THIS road sign started rattling noisily just like the first one did.

A third road sign, somewhat more distant, did not rattle noticeably.

Finally, the object took off across a field and was lost from view.

Two more witnesses in the nearby village of La Moutonne claimed to see the same or similar object, for a total of 5 witnesses in all.

The first three witnesses were well known for their reliability, vouched for by local officials including the Mayor of Vins/Caramy.

This is one of the best documented cases in European files; it was investigated extensively by by French police, the Gendarmes ( military police ) from Toulon, scientific consultants from Paris and Lyons, and also the DST ( French equivalent to the FBI. )

[There was little press coverage, according to Jacques Vallee.]

Phenomenes Spatiaux #17

Tests seemed to indicate that the road signs were magnetized in some unusual way. This was later disputed by others who found the same sort of magnetic effects in unrelated metal road signs of the same type.

More from Larry...

I went browsing in hopes of finding more about the Ouranos #21 Vins article by Jimmy Guieu.

I had no luck there, but did learn more about Vins and J.G. himself.

Jimmy Guieu is the name of an author who also wrote under the pen names of Claude Vauziere, Jimmy G. Quint, and Dominique Verseau.

He is called a master of European science fiction, author or co-author of nearly 140 books like Le Pioneer de l'Atome ( Jean Kerivan, one of Guieu's favorite characters ), Au Dela l'Infini, L'Invasion de la Terre .. He also wrote about various esoterica; secret societies, parapsychology and so on.

Born 16 March 1926, he died very recently: 01 Jan 2000.

As for Vins-sur-Caramy, it seems like a rustic and picturesque place, complete with an old castle in good condition, which now houses a school of fine cuisine. Vins is the subject of numerous tourist-oriented web pages.

Vins is found on Michelin Map #245 ( Provence ), fold #34, i.e. in Dept. Var in the Southeast corner of France, Vins is at 6:09:20E - 43:25:40N; 38 km ENE of Toulon, 7 km NE of Carces and 6 km West of Lake Carces where the Carami river drains.

BTW: There are two spellings for Caramy, Carami being the one used on the Michelin map for the village and the river that runs eastward through town.

There are now two Y-intersections on present day route D24, on either side of Vins-s-C. This allows a narrow road ( given as D14 in the original sketch from Ouranos, reproduced in PS #17 ) to bisect the village as its main street. The larger D24 route bypasses town to the South, headed toward Brignoles if one proceeds westward.

The N-S "weathervane" indicator on the sketch seems to be rotated a bit too far clockwise, when compared to an independent map. This distortion has the dubious effect of "supporting" the PS argument that the N-S sign orientation was the cause of the magnetic needle deviations noted.

The two Y intersections allow the town route to loop back to the bypass. These are placed East and West of town proper. Comparison of the Michelin map to the drawing from PS #17 indicates that the Eastern Y-intersection is the one in question.

Browsing through the various Vins web pages, one finds lots of tourism and cuisine, and only one sour note: a controversy a few years ago about re-opening a bauxite mine and/or plant East of town. The proposed bauxite ( aluminum ore ) operation was a potential environmental nuisance according to one web page, now lost.

Vins sur Carami is the centrally marked pinkish "T" shape; the intersection shown in the sketch is to the right, just above the "7"of "83170"

Every reference I have found gives us the route number ( Var ) Dept. route #14. I finally found the modern D14 on the 1992 Michelin map. D14 now juts out of Port Grimauld, on the Mediterranean coast West of St. Tropez, then runs West for 6 or 7 kilometers and ends .. a good 35 km away from Vins-sur-Caramy. There is no sensible route that would have connected the two in the past. There's a good chance that D14 is a typo, when someone should have typed in D24 decades ago.

As noted down in the prose on [this] page, the second town with two separate observers is given as La Moutonne. My best lookup website finds only one "La Moutonne" in France. ( I would have bet on a dozen or more. ) It is indeed in Var, but 35 KM South of Vins, very near the coast, East of Toulon. 6:04E - 43:07N Careful perusal of Map #245 ( highly detailed ) shows nothing similar to La Moutonne anywhere closer to Vins, even under variant spellings.

... the A8 Motorway / Freeway / Turnpike did not exist at the time. National route N7, the red route thru Brignoles, was the main E-W route back then. Vins was and remains a backwater.

The red inked in # 83170 is the French Postal Code for Vins. This is just like a Zip Code, but more logically enumerated.

The following was supplied by Bernard Thouanel...

An artists conception of the Vins object...

This would appear to have influenced the Vallee sketch shown above.

However, this map, supplied by Larry Hatch from a scan of the PS#17 page, and purporting to be from the original Ouranos article, shows a "hairier" appearance...