The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 23-Oct-54-Sundgau.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
Former journalist Christian Valentin published in 2004 and 2012 a quickly explained case in Alsace, reported in the regional Press.
Late in the night of October 23, 1954, a frightened man was driving fast in his car on the Sundgau roads because he was chased for some short time by a luminous disc.
Panicked, he stopped near a farm and woke up the residents. They welcomed him and reassured him in the end. Calmed down, the man resumed his night trip, accompanied by the shiny round shape of the Moon.
[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:
Journalist Christian Valentin notes that some of the cases in Alsace in 1954 were quickly explained: on October 23, 1954, late in the night, a man in his car believed to be chased by a luminous disc. He was thrown into a panic, drove very quickly on the roads of the Sundgau, and ended up awaking the inhabitants of a farm. It then proved that the luminous disc was that of the moon, and the reassured man resumed his travel.
[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, also collected some cases in 1954 in Alsace that were quickly solved, such as this one, reported in the newspaper L'Alsace for Saturday, October 16, 1954.
Late in the night of October 23, 1954, a frightened man was driving fast in his car on the Sundgau roads because he was chased for some short time by a luminous disc.
Panicked, he stopped near a farm and woke up the residents. They welcomed him and reassured him in the end. Calmed down, the man resumed his night trip, accompanied by the shiny round shape of the Moon.
This is one of many cases of misinterpretation caused by the moon while driving. It is almost a "negative" case as is gets identified soon.
Mists, fogs, natural obstacles, and a "Red moon", are often factors preventing to recognize the Moon. The main factor is generally the illusion of being pursued: the Moon "stops" when the car stops, it "accelerates" when the car accelerates, it "veers" in the road turns.
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Above: In yellow, the region called The Sundgau, in the South of the Haut-Rhin in Alsace. Switzerland is in grey, Germany in red.
Let's note that the Press source given in [cvn2] must have a typo or error, since it is dated a few days before the events. Or maybe it is the date of the case that is erroneous.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Sundgau, Haut-Rhin, disc, luminous, moon, pursuit, road, night, car, afraid, panic
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | December 9, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 24, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | March 4, 2016 | Addition [cvn2], Summary, Discussion. |
