The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 23-oct-54-Wittenheim.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
On October 22, 1954, the Press reported that many witnesses had seen impressive maneuvers of a flying object above Wittenheim in the Haut-Rhin. You can find information on this observation in its own file.
Quite on the sidelines of this event, a quite ridiculous and funny affair took shape:
One of the witnesses of the sighting, policeman Muller of Wittenheim, later found in a garden, or his garden, a forked radish that had the looks of a "Martian".
Duly made up as Martian, the radish was quickly exposed at the Zimmerman coffee shop in Wittenheim, where the witnesses of the saucer of October 22 had gathered. Everyone had fun and it was nothing more than fun, reported as such in the newspaper Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace for October 30, 1954:
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However, the Parisian weekly tabloid Radar for November 7, 1954, thought it was clever to tell about it as if policeman Muller was serious, as if the radish was a real Martian.
In the 1970s, the case entered as a summary in the "UFOCAT" catalog in the USA, and in the "CE3" catalog by Ted Bloecher and David Webb, believing that the radish shown in Radar magazine would be a recreation of a "real" Martian resembling a radish.
Then in 1979, debunkers Barthel and Brucker told of the case as an "example", explaining that during the 1954 French saucer flap, "people invented Martians of the most extravagant shapes" such as the "vegetable Martian" of Wittenheim.
The same year, ufologists Figuet and Ruchon explained that it had only been an innocent joke, the "Martian" was never taken for anything else than what it was, a radish with a weird shape.
This did not prevented others thereafter in France and elsewhere, to write such nonsense as "Mssrs Muller, Meyer, and Settner [sic] and Mrs. Zimmerman saw a little creature that looked like a radish."
And it continued like this though I narrated the case on my website in 2008.
[Ref. dna1:] "LES DERNIERES NOUVELLES D'ALSACE" NEWSPAPER:
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Bekanntlich wurde vor kurzem in Wittenhein eine "fliegende Untertasse" gesichtet, die sich über der Ortschaft allerhand "Phantasien" leistete und von mehreren Personen beobachtet worden war. Zwei Tage später schenkte M. Muller, Polizist aus Wittenheim, der gleichfalls Zeuge der abendlichen Kabriolen dieser "Untertasse" gewesen war, einem Einwohner einen kleinen Marsbewohner (unser Bild), den der Hüter der Ordnung im Garten gefunden hatte. Und seither ist in Wittenheim nur noch von Marsbewohnern dir Rede!...
Photo Grimaz)
Translation:
It is know that recently in Wittenheim a "flying saucer" was seen; which performed above the city all kinds of "fantasies" and was seen by several people. Two days later, Mr. Muller, police officer in Wittenheim, who had also observed the evening antics of the "saucer", gave a small resident of Mars (our picture), the law enforcement officer had found it in the garden. And since then, in Wittenheim, one only speaks of the Martians!...
(Photo Grimaz)
[Ref. rdr1:] "RADAR" MAGAZINE:
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You can believe me, police officer Muller swears, the Martian who prowled in my garden in Wittenheim (Ht-R.), looked like this black radish". 3 other witnesses: Mr. Meyer, Mrs. Zimmermann and M. Sottner are less in the affirmative.
[Ref. uct1:] UFOCAT:
1954 - That same night a big, bifurcated black "radish"-shaped creature was seen walking around Wittenheim, France. (Source: Paris Radar, October 31, 1954).
[Ref. tbw1:] TED BLOECHER AND DAVID WEBB:
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54-93 Oct. 23, 1954 Night Wittenheim, France Type D
M. Muller, a policeman, saw a "Martian" in his garden who resembled a big bifurcated black radish (source has photograph of an effigy made from one.) 3 other witnesses.
Investigator:
Source: Paris Radar, Oct. 31, 1954.
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL ET JACQUES BRUCKER:
The authors indicate that in 1954 people invented Martians with the most extravagant forms, like the "vegetable Martian", a small being in the horseradish shape observed in Wittenheim in the Haut-Rhin at the beginning of November 1954.
[Ref. mft2:] MICHEL FIGUET:
This ufologist noted:
| CASE Nr | CLASSIFICATION | DATE | HOUR | PLACE | ZIP CODE | CREDIBILITY SOURCE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 251 | CE3 | 10 23 1954 | hnp | Wittenheim (or 11/71/1954) | 68270 C4 | E, (prank-radish) B-B |
[Ref. mft1:] MICHEL FIGUET:
10/23/1954
Wittenheim
"Agro-ufology" starts here! He is not green, he is black. He is not a small man, he is a large radish. See the photographic document "Radar" in "La grande peur Martienne."
[Ref. rre1:] RAOUL ROBE:
The catalogue compiled by Raoul Robé is described as publishing the "humanoids" appearances - in a broad sense - that occurred since 1900 on the action area of the 'ufology group CNEGU, comprizine Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin. It is said the work has been done thanks to the collaboration of associations members of CNEGU, and people from "Lumières Dans La Nuit", including Alain Gamard.
There is a "List of the Humanoid cases in the N.E.", where this appears, inter alia:
| CASE Nr | DATE | HOUR | LIEU | WITNESSES | SEX |
| 20 | 23.10.54 | evening | Wittenheim (68) | 3 adults | M |
Further on, the following information is given:
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Case # 20
October 23, 1954 in Wittenheim (68)
The policeman Muller claims "The Martian who prowled in my garden resembled this radish." (Ref.: Radar magazine # 300 for 11/07/54). According to Barthel (p. 85), it was a joke between friends.
[Ref. cnu1:] UFOLOGY GROUP CNEGU:
CNEGU noted among "FRANCAT solved cases":
10/23/1954 Wittenheim (86)
[Ref. rre4:] RAOUL ROBE - CNEGU:
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Case nr 15:
Le samedi 28 octobre 1954, l'agent de police Muller de Wittenheim (68) affirme "le martien qui rôdait dans mon jardin ressemblait à ce radis noir".
Explanations:: joke between friends.
Source: Radar nr 300 for 11/07/1954; Barthel and Brucker page 85.
[Ref. rre2:] RAOUL ROBE:
The case of Wittenheim (68), in November 1954, would boil down to a bar joke and not to a famous CE3 hoax quoted by B & B. We agree with J. Sider, while pointing out that the press was eager to amplify all the information on the subject during this great wave.
[Ref. jsr1:] JEAN SIDER:
34 - Case of Wittenheim, Haut-Rhin.
Page 85, B & B once again appealed to the Parisian weekly Radar, famous at the time. Radar published a photo that our buffoon investigators reproduced after page 126. It shows a group of people surrounding a huge black radish with the caption: "I saw it in my garden!". The little man was this: the black radish! add our two jokers, who are careful to point out that this case remained a classic of its kind for 25 years...
What little man, by the way? This alleged hoax has never been mainstream for a quarter of a century, as this photo has never been linked to a CE3 case. If they had checked in Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace for October 30, 1954, page 6, they could have seen this same photo with the following explanations: "The consumers of Café Zimmermann in Wittenheim leisurely admired for a few days this beautiful model of Martian, of the purest style. It was a police officer, Mr. Muller who, after seeing the extraordinary demonstration of a flying saucer in the sky of Wittenheim, sculpted in a beet a resident of Mars, as he conceives it."
It was actually a pub joke. No one has ever claimed to have seen a flying saucer passenger in Mr. Muller's garden, especially since there was no landing or even a CE1 in Wittenheim. The only observation made in this locality was on October 22 at 11:10 p.m., the one that had drawn the attention of agent Muller precisely. A mobile luminous phenomenon was observed in the sky, according to L'Alsace for October 24-25, 1954, page 7. Thus, we better understand the presence of a local reporter-photographer at the Café Zimmermann in Wittenheim, come to fix some witnesses on film and collect testimonies. And everyone took the opportunity to have a little fun...
Inventing a fake CE3 is called: setting up a hoax. And to invent a false hoax is to take one's readers for first class cretins! And there, I doubt that it will please Schatzman and the "socio-psychologists."
[Ref. rre3:] RAOUL ROBE:
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- 18-
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SCIENCE FICTION AND UFOLOGY
In the 1st quarter 1954, novelist B.R. Bruss publishes his book "S.O.S Soucoupes" at Fleuve Noir publishers. The author tells the story of a saucer crash in the desert of Arizona with recovery of little bodies of humanoids by the Amrican authorities. They are described as 1-meter-tall greenish radishes. Thus remember case #15 of the regional catalogue of humanoid observations published in Mystères de l'Est #1 (1995) page 16:
The weekly magazine Radar published on November 7, 1954, this information: polie officer Muller of Wittenheim (68) affirms "the Martian that prowled in my garden resembled this dwarf radish."
Explanation: prank between friends or journalistic hoax?
Sources : -Radar for 11/07/1954 #300; Barthel & Brucker page 85;
-J. Sider "Dossier 54..." pages 64,65 (1997).
So even the hoaxes of the 1954 flap were inspired by S.F. ...
Raoul Robé /01/012000
[Ref. ars1:] ALBERT ROSALES:
197.
Location. Wittenheim France
Date: October 23 1954
Time: night
M Muller, a police officer, saw a "Martian" in his garden that resembled a big bifurcated black radish. There were three other witnesses. No other information.
Humcat 1954-114
Source: Humcat quoting Newspaper source
Type: E
[Ref. djn1:] DONALD JOHNSON:
Encounters with Aliens on this Day
October 23
1954 - That same night a big, bifurcated "black radish" shaped creature was seen walking around Wittenheim, Haut-Rhin department, France. Mr. Muller, a policeman, saw the being in his garden. There were three other witnesses. (Sources: Paris Radar, October 31, 1954; David F. Webb & Ted Bloecher, HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports, case 1954-114).
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that 23 October 1954 at 23:00 in Wittenheim, France, "Muller, a policeman, saw a being in his garden that resembled a big bifurcated "black raddish". three other witnesses."
And: "That same night a big, bifurcated black "radish"-shaped creature was seen walking around Wittenheim, France ."
And: "An unidentified object at close range and its occupants were observed by four witnesses (as reported to the police) in a garden for ten minutes (Muller). One radish-like being was seen."
And: "M Muller, a police officer, saw a "Martian" in his garden that resembled a big bifurcated black radish. There were three other witnesses. No other information."
The sources are noted as "Webb, David, HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports; Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073); Newspaper Clippings; Rosales, Albert, Humanoid Sighting Reports Database".
[Ref. djn2:] DONALD JONHSON:
Donald Johnson indicates that in 1954, among the UFO occupants reported, were nonhumanoid "radish" looking creatures.
[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:
Location: Wittenheim France
Date: October 23 1954
Time: night
M Muller, a police officer, saw a “Martian” in his garden that resembled a big bifurcated black radish. There were three other witnesses. No other information.
Source: Humcat quoting Newspaper source
[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
*Oct. 23, 1954 - That same night a big, bifurcated "black radish" shaped creature was seen walking around Wittenheim, Haut-Rhin department, France. Mr. Muller, a policeman, saw the being in his garden. There were three other witnesses. (Sources: Paris Radar, October 31, 1954; David F. Webb & Ted Bloecher, HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports, case 1954-114).
[Ref. prn1:] PETER ROGERSON:
November 7 1954.
WITTENHEIM (HAUTE RHINE : FRANCE)
Messes Muller, Meyer, Settner and Mrs Zimmerman saw a little being that resembled a black radish.
Jacques Bonabot citing an undated 1954 edition of Radar.
[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 writes about the observation in Wittenheim on October 22, 1954, with the testimony of the son of Jean-Marie Stattner, witness like his father. The son told 50 years later, on 23 February 2004, to Christian Valentin, that he remembers that a few days after the observation, the newspaper published a photo of a "Martian" carved in a beetroot. The object had been brought to the Zimmerman coffee shop where witnesses of observation had gathered on October 22, 1954. The son notes that the irony and skepticism had greatly affected her father, who had been deeply upset by the scoffing.
Christian Valentin reproduces the article and photograph of the newspaper Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace (See [dna1] above), give the source reference and his French translation:
Recently in Wittenheim, a "flying saucer" was observed, showing over the conurbation all its fancy in front of several witnesses. Two days later a policeman of Wittenheim, Mr. M., who had also witnessed the nocturnal exhibition of the "saucer", offered to a fellow citizen a small inhabitant of Mars (our picture) that the peacekeeper had found in his garden. And since, in Wittenheim, Martians are the only talk of the town...
He adds that other, less rigorous publications had then presented the affair in a more "attractive" manner, like the weekly magazine Radar #300 for November 7, 1954, who had published the photo with this caption:
"... I saw it in my garden! You can believe me, swears the police officer M., the Martian who was prowling in my garden of Wittenheim was like this black radish)."
Valentin adds that 25 years later, in their book "La Grande Peur Martienne" ("The Great Martian Scare"), Gerard Barthel and Jacques Brucker highlighted the Radar version indiscriminately.
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This database recorded the case four times:
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541023 | 23.10.1954 | Wittenheim | France | Night | CE III | |||||
| 19541023 | 23.10.1954 | Wittenheim | France | 23.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541023 | 23.10.1954 | Wittenheim | France | 23.00 | CE III | |||||
| 19541023 | 23.10.1954 | Wittenheim | France | Night | CE III |
[Ref. prn2:] PETER ROGERSON - "INTCAT":
November 7 1954.
WITTENHEIM (HAUTE RHINE [sic] : FRANCE)
Messes Muller, Meyer, Settner and Mrs Zimmerman saw a little being that resembled a black radish.
Jacques Bonabot citing an undated 1954. edition of Radar
[For previous and next cases in his catalog, Peter Rogerson quoted my present catalog as a source, but this time he apparently did not see what I said here about this case. So, his date is wrong, etc.]
[Ref. cnu2:] UFOLOGY GROUP "CNEGU":
Case nr 27:
The weekly Radar published this information on November 7, 1954: "Police officer Muller from Wittenheim (68) affirms "the Martian who prowled in my garden looked like this black radish". Explanation: prank between friends or journalistic hoax?.
Source: Radar for 11/07/1954 nr 300; Barthel & Brucker page 85; J.Sider "Dossier 54..." pages 64,65 (1997).
[Ref. ezr1:] ERIC ZURCHER:
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| 094 | 10/23/54 | Evening | Wittenheim | 68 | DI | Mrs Zimmerman, Mr. Muller Mssrs. Sottner and Meyer |
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This is not in any manner, and never was, an observation of a UFO or occupants, it was never presented as such neither by the "witnesses" nor by ufologists except for UFOCAT, a database started by the Condon committee in the US where the radish is claimed to have been walking! The "witnesses" were perfectly conscious of the reality: they found a radish with an unusual and funny shape and told about it. It was fun stuff, and certainly not intended to convince people that the radish really was an extraterrestrial. The story was used by the press to ridicule the flying saucer topic, and much later by French debunkers Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker to ridicule ufology.
And as if to prove them right, the case was then disseminated mainly in brief summaries and without explanation on the web.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Wittenheim, Haut-Rhin, prank, joke
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | April 30, 2008 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 24, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Addition [djn1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | February 28, 2010 | Additions [uda1], [djn2]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | August 19, 2010 | Addition [rre1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | August 15, 2013 | Addition [prn1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | October 10, 2014 | Addition [tai1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | October 23, 2014 | Addition [nip1]. |
| 1.6 | Patrick Gross | April 30, 2015 | Additions [cvn2], Summary. |
| 1.7 | Patrick Gross | January 24, 2017 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.8 | Patrick Gross | December 8, 2018 | Additions [mft2], [rre2], [rre3], [prn2]. |
| 1.9 | Patrick Gross | October 24, 2019 | Additions [rre4]. |
| 2.0 | Patrick Gross | December 5, 2019 | Addition [cnu1]. |
| 2.1 | Patrick Gross | September 9, 2021 | Addition [tbw1]. In thre Summary, addition of ", and in the "CE3" catalog by Ted Bloecher and David Webb, believing that the radish shown in Radar magazine would be a recreation of a "real" Martian resembling a radish." |
| 2.2 | Patrick Gross | June 1, 2022 | Addition [rdr1]. |
| 2.3 | Patrick Gross | June 30, 2022 | Addition [jsr1]. |
| 2.4 | Patrick Gross | January 19, 2023 | Addition [cnu2]. |
| 2.5 | Patrick Gross | February 3, 2023 | Addition [ezr1]. |
