The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 2-Oct-54-Logelbach.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The regional newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles du Haut-Rhin, on page 8 for October 7, 1954, said a Mrs "X", living road of Colmar in Logelbach, came to them with the following statement:
"I read in your newspaper the article about the flying saucer of Haut-Koenigsbourg. I would like to point out that my husband and I observed a similar phenomenon last Saturday. At 8 p.m., when I looked out our window towards the Galtz, I saw what I took at first for a big star, that at this moment, moved to the petit Hohnack changing color. I called my husband and we saw this bright spot for nearly an hour as it moved to either side and changed color several times; from a bright red to a bright yellow and pale green. Around 9 am, the light disappeared behind the Galtz towards Kaysersberg. Sunday and Monday we attended the same show. The distance did not allow us to determine with certainty the shape of this "saucer" but yet it seemed elongated."
"I finally made a statement to the National Gendarmerie, despite my fear that I would be mocked."
I found that the celestial object that would best explain this observation is the star Arcturus.
[Ref. dnh1:] JOURNAL "DERNIERES NOUVELLES DU HAUT-RHIN":
Mrs X, living road of Colmar in Logelbach presents to our editors for the following statement:
I read in your newspaper the article about the flying saucer of Hochkoenigsbourg. I would like to point out that my husband and I observed a similar phenomenon last Saturday. At 8 p.m., when I looked out our window towards the Galtz, I saw what I took at first for a big star, that at this moment, moved to the petit Hohnack changing color. I called my husband and we saw this bright spot for nearly an hour as it moved to either side and changed color several times; from a bright red to a bright yellow and pale green. Around 9 am, the light disappeared behind the Galtz towards Kaysersberg. Sunday and Monday we attended the same show. The distance did not allow us to determine with certainty the shape of this "saucer" but yet it seemed elongated.
I finally made a statement to the National Gendarmerie, despite my fear that I would be mocked.
[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 there was a case on Saturday, October 2, 1954 at 8 p.m. in the Haut-Rhin in Galtz - Hohnack, reported in the newspaper "Dernières Nouvelles du Haut-Rhin" for Thursday, October 7, 1954, at page 8 of the bilingual issue:
Mrs X, living road of Colmar in Logelbach presents to our editors for the following statement:
I read in your newspaper the article about the flying saucer of Hochkoenigsbourg. I would like to point out that my husband and I observed a similar phenomenon last Saturday. At 8 p.m., when I looked out our window towards the Galtz, I saw what I took at first for a big star, that at this moment, moved to the petit Hohnack changing color. I called my husband and we saw this bright spot for nearly an hour as it moved to either side and changed color several times; from a bright red to a bright yellow and pale green. Around 9 am, the light disappeared behind the Galtz towards Kaysersberg. Sunday and Monday we attended the same show. The distance did not allow us to determine with certainty the shape of this "saucer" but yet it seemed elongated.
I finally made a statement to the National Gendarmerie, despite my fear that I would be mocked.
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When an observation of this kind is repeated several days, it screams for an astronomical explanation, Venus or some star...
It looked like "a big star," said the lady, she first think it was a big star.
The Color changes? "From a bright green to pale yellow and red." This happens when a star or some of the planets are low on the horizon.
I still have to locate the thing in terms of direction and elevation, and temporally.
The elevation: I cannot tell, the lady says nothing about it. Yet, we can at best suspect that it was very low, as she stated it "disappeared behind" a certain place. If it disappears behind a natural obstacle, it cannot have been very high.
The direction: it is reasonable to think that the lady was in Logelbach. She lives there, we are told. She sees something on three consecutive nights, we can assume this was seen as she was home.
The thing is towards the Galtz and moves towards the Petit Hohnack then "behind the Galz towards Kaysersberg." So we get:
Logelbach - now a part of Wintzenheim - to Kaysersberg: 325°.
Logelbach to Galtz: 297°.
Logelbach to the Petit Hohnack: 276°.
Temporally, things are clear: from about 8:00 p.m. to about 9:00 p.m., on October 2, 1954. It was probably at the same hours the next two days.
Firstly, I find that Venus was not visible, it set at 240 ° at 07:06 p.m., assuming a flat horizon which is not the case, and was therefore not visible before 7:06 p.m. Mars is not at the right place: in the South at 180° - 198°. And Mars is not affected by changes in colors such as reported.
At 290° at 08:30 p.m., we have the star Arcturus at an elevation of 9°47 and a visual magnitude (BSC5) of -0.04. It is much brighter than any other star around, and visually, it "descends" to be no longer visible at 09:32 p.m. assuming a flat horizon.
Arcturus is a red star at the end of its life, the brightest in this sector of the sky, its diameter is 20 times that of the Sun, and its distance from the Sun is only 37 light-years. Arcturus is the third brightest star in the sky, the sun being the first. Suffice to say it is a good candidate to explain this observation.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Logelbach, Haut-Rhin, anonymous, couple, star, changing colors, three nights, night
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
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| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | April 21, 2014 | First published. |
