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Case of Ribeauvillé, maybe in the 1800's:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1800-00-00-RIBEAUVILLE-1

Summary:

An article by Frédéric Dumerchat proposing to bring together the study of UFO sighting reports and that of folklore, in particular Alsatian folklore, by arguing about similarities in the events described, in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit #237-238 of March / April 1984, reports this:

A young boy was caught by an empty coach, without a coachman, which was following a journey on Christmas night, near Ribeauvillé (Haut-Rhin). He climbed in and was found the next day perched on a poplar tree.

Frédéric Dumerchat indicated the 1919 book by folklorist Jean James Variot as the source; the story is in fact one of those collected by the very popular Alsatian folklorist Auguste Stoeber and published in his 1852 book.

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Sources:

[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":

The source (82) is noted further non as: "Variot, t.II, p. 319-320."

[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

In his first chapter devoted to legends and celestial wonders before the era of flying saucers in Alsace, Christian Valentin points out that there are stories of the Alsatian folklore from the middle of the 19^th century collected and published by the folklorist Auguste Stoeber, about "phantom stagecoaches" and "flying coaches", with or without coachman, with some variations, at Kirrwiller, Bouxwiller, Ribeauville, Grussenheim and Biesheim.

These coaches rise in the air and cause great fright to the passengers, and when they fail to jump before the coach gets too high, they find themselves, either in no time at their destination, or waking up hours later in an unknown and distant place.

He notices that these stories on the border between the world of the living and the imagination are often tinged with phantasmagoria and strange visions, that they are repeated from generation to generation. He remarks that it is tempting to draw a parallel between these accounts and the accounts of alien abductions, and "missing time", of modern times.

He wonders whether the "flying saucers" to come would not be a modern adaptation of a broader and more complex phenomenon, present in all eras, an opinion which will be developed at the end of the 1960s by Jacques Vallée in his book "Chronique des apparitions extraterrestres" ["Passport to Magonia"], Denoël 1972, which brought together popular beliefs from oral tradition and the phenomenon of flying saucers.

Discussion:

I am willing to admit that a "flying saucer abduction" from the 1800's could have been described this way in folklore; however, it remains to be proven that this was what it was all about.

The "big" issue with this sort of "cases" is that one "filters" folklore stories to keep those that may be related to the UFO sighting reports matter. But a huge proportion of the folklore tells stories that are can clearly not be linked to the UFO sighting reports topic, that are very varied and verge on the absurd:

• After midnight, night wanderers met the Queen of Sheba and her golden coach without horses in the streets of Bollwiller. She crosses the village at full speed, sitting on an armchair decorated with diamonds, her hair blowing in the wind and wearing a large white tunic.
• The "Night Hunter" passed with a din, with his mad troop, from north going west to Illzach. His hunting cry was: "Huhde, Huhdada!" and his dogs roared more than they barked.
• Charles, Duke of Lorraine, after a particularly successful hunt, was so euphoric that he jumped off a rock with his horse; the horseshoes left traces in the rock still visible today.
• A charming young girl offers a seasonal worker to taste a very appetizing grape; after the first bite he grows wings and flies away.
• At night in the streets of Colmar, a strange creature, the Nachtkalb, (the "night calf"), whose silhouette nobody has really managed to define, attacks the drunkards.
• A sundgau miller meets a man dressed all in green and wearing a hat with a rooster's feather who asks him how to get to the next village as quickly as possible, then he vanishes. The miller understands that he met the devil, and his flour turns black.
• Etc. etc.

This is essentially why, though I understand the effort, I cannot really believe that stories such as this one can really help ufology to decide what UFO sightings reports are. Other, more scientific approaches, must be used,

Evaluation:

Legend, no credibility.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

• [ldl1] * "En passant par l'Alsace. Note sur l'intérêt du folklore (2 - Suite et fin)", article by Frédéric Dumerchat, in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #237-238, page 5, March / April 1984.
• [cvn1] * "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 6, 2012.

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This page was last updated on February 26, 2023.