ALSACAT-1947-08-19-COLMAR-1
The regional newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français, in their Colmar issue for August 21, 1947, reported that on Tuesday, August 19, 1947, between 08:00 p.m. and 08:15 p.m., several residents of the rue de Bâle in Colmar saw a luminous ball which moved at high speed from east to west, leaving a trail of sparks behind.
The newspaper estimated it was not a shooting star because the ball moved at a constant height, and headlined their interrogation as follows:
"Was it a flying saucer?"
| Date: | August 19, 1947 |
|---|---|
| Time: | Between 08:00 p.m. and 08:15 p.m. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | August 21, 1947 |
| Reporting delay: | Hour, 2 days. |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Colmar |
| Place: | Rue de Bâle, UFO in the sky. |
| Latitude: | 48.066 |
| Longitude: | 7.370 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 4 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | Several |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 0 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | ? |
| Witness(es) types: | Resident of rue de Bâle. |
| Reporting channel: | Regional Press. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | City street, UFO in the sky. |
| Visibility conditions: | Day. |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | ? |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Hynek: | DD |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | The August 19, 1947, ~08:10 p.m. meteor. |
[Ref. nrf1:] NEWSPAPER "LE NOUVEAU RHIN FRANCAIS":
Tuesday evening between 8 p.m. and 08:15 p.m., several residents of the street of Basel spotted a luminous ball, which moved at high speed from east to west, leaving behind a trail of sparks. It was not a shooting star because the ball moved at a constant height.
We were told of a similar appearance in Lorraine on the night of August 17 to 18, around 11:30 p.m., observed by several residents of Burdoncourt. There were 3 balls of light that moved in a V-shape very quickly from east to west. The fireballs left behind them a shower of sparks visible for some time. The entire observation lasted 20 to 30 seconds.
[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 in the newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français, for August 21, 1947, Colmar issue, the following article was published, one of three about a phenomenon seen on August 19, 1947:
Tuesday evening between 8 p.m. and 08:15 p.m., several residents of the street of Basel spotted a luminous ball, which moved at high speed from east to west, leaving behind a trail of sparks. It was not a shooting star because the ball moved at a constant height.
We were told of a similar appearance in Lorraine on the night of August 17 to 18, around 11:30 p.m., observed by several residents of Burdoncourt. There were 3 balls of light that moved in a V-shape very quickly from east to west. The fireballs left behind them a shower of sparks visible for some time. The entire observation lasted 20 to 30 seconds.
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It is not at all my habit to "advertise" a book or anything, and I have no interested relationship with the author, but I wanted to say a word on the book by Christian Valentin, "Mythes et Réalités des Phénomènes Aériens Non Identifiés" (i.e. "Myths and Realities of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" (cover on the left) , ref. [cvn2]; which, as its subtitle indicates, is about Alsatian UFO sighting reports and the saucer lore in Alsace.
I think Alsatian ufologists and, generally, people interested in the UFO question, or in the history of Alsace, my region, would probably like this book.
The 144 pages book is sober but well presented, unbiased, richly documented and illustrated. It is the first work in print specifically about UFO sightings in Alsace. (There was another one a few years ago, but it was partly made by copying - pasting without mention of the sources, portions of my website, especially the Alsatians cases I almost exhaustively documented in my catalog of UFO sightings in France in 1954, and copies from another websites; the trivial explanations I proposed or gave there being almost always stripped off!)
The author does not want to prove or disprove the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors or some other so-called "extraordinary" explanation, he rather offers a chronologically ordered review of Alsatian UFO reports, starting from the origin and stopping in 1980, based on known sources ufology, on the articles of the regional Press, and cases less known or even unreleased so far that he collected directly with the witnesses. His own comments are printed in a different color, references to the sources are always given. A very nice work in my opinion!
The author currently has a blog where he shows what libraries in Alsace have the book available, see: christian.valentin.overblog.com
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I managed to find this article on page 6 of the Swiss newspaper La Feuille d'Avis de Neuchâtel for August 21, 1947; which indeed explains as a meteor and not a flying saucer the thing that passed in the sky on August 19, 1947 about 08:15 p.m.
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Several people in the city noticed on Tuesday night around 08:10 p.m., a bright glow that completely crossed the sky rather slowly from south to north. The green and straw-yellow gleams which accompanied the phenomenon made it very beautiful to watch. This is not a projectile (luminous bullet for example) but a meteor. The thesis of the flying saucers can in no way be supported!
The August 19, 1947, ~08:10 p.m. meteor.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | September 11, 2014 | Creation, [nrf1], [cvn2]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | October 24, 2014 | First published. |
