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The 1954 French flap:

The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.

October 23, 1954, Mundolsheim, Bas-Rhin:

Reference for this case: 23-Oct-54-Mundolsheim.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

The Alsatian journalist Christian Valentin, who is interested in UFO reports, in his file on 1954 saucer flap in Alsace published in the magazine "Saisons d'Alsace" in the Summer of 2004, that on October 23, 1954, at one o'clock in the morning, little before the crossing towards Mundolsheim of the road from Strasbourg to Haguenau, "an object releasing an unreal light was seen, motionless at a few meters above the fields."

In his 2012 book, he adds that the source is the newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace for Tuesday, October 26, 1954.

Reports:

[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

Journalist Christian Valentin indicates that on October 23, 1954, at one o'clock in the morning, little before the crossing towards Mundolsheim of the road from Strasbourg to Haguenau, an object releasing an unreal light was seen, motionless at a few meters above the fields.

[Ref. cvn2:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

Former journalist Christian Valentin published in 2012 a very interesting book telling the story of UFO sightings, flying saucers sightings, in Alsace, from the beginning to 1980.

In this book, he reports that the newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace for Tuesday, October 26, 1954, in the Sélestat bilingual issue, reported a case of Saturday, October 23, 1954, at 1 o'clock in Mundolsheim; he gives his translation of the related paragraph:

Par ailleurs un pigiste de notre journal habitant Mundolsheim qui regagnait son domicile samedi à 1 heure du matin par la route nationale Strasbourg -Haguenau, a observé peu avant l'embranchement vers Mundolsheim à droite de la route, un objet lumineux immobile à quelques mètres au dessus des champs, et dégageant une lumière irréelle.

Explanations:

My astronomy software indicates that for this sighting - if one considers the date and time are correct - the Moon was not visible.

Jupiter is the most prominent celestial body, in the East. Its angular elevation was 20 degrees, it is thus a bit unlikely that it was described as "a few meters above the fields" and "releasing an unreal light", but it is not impossible either.

The bottom line here is that the information is insufficient to proclaim one or the other explanation is true.

Left:

The road from Strasbourg to Haguenau
shortly before a crossing to Mundolsheim
gives several possibilities,
the roads are not necessarily the same
in 2014 as they were in 1954.

Evaluation:

Insufficient information. Astronomical, Jupiter?

Keywords:

(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)

Mundolsheim, Bas-Rhin, object, light, luminous, motionless, low, fields, night

Sources:

[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.

[----] Article in the regional newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, German-speaking issue of Sélestat, October 26, 1954.
[cvn1] "1954, l'Année des OVNIS - en Alsace et dans le Monde", dossier by Christian Valentin, in the quarterly magazine Saisons d'Alsace, Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace publishers, France, #23, page 93, summer 2004.
[cvn2] "Mythes et Réalités des Phénomènes Aériens Non Identifiés - Histoire des soucoupes volantes en Alsace jusqu'en 1980", book by Christian Valentin, Grimoires d'Alsace publishers, France, page 52, 2012.

Document history:

Version:	Created/Changed by:	Date:	Change Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	December 8, 2005	First published.
1.0	Patrick Gross	January 24, 2010	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version.
3.0	Patrick Gross	February 5, 2015	Additions [cvn2], Summary.

This page was last updated on February 5, 2015.