ALSACAT:

ALSACAT is my comprehensive catalog of UFO sighting reports in Alsace, the region is the North-East of France, whether they are "explained" or "unexplained".

The ALSACAT catalog is made of case files with a case number, summary, quantitative information (date, location, number of witnesses...), classifications, all sources mentioning the case with their references, a discussion of the case in order to evaluate its causes, and a history of the changes made to the file. A general index and thematic sub-catalogs give access to these Alsatian case files.

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Case of Saint-Louis, in mid October 1951:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1951-10-00-SAINTLOUIS-1

Summary:

With the heading "A meteor in Alsace", the regional newspaper La Liberté de l'Est, from Epinal, for October 19, 1951, indicated that witnesses both from Mulhouse and from Saint-Louis "claim to have been able to observe" a luminous body moving in the direction North to South. "The glowing body followed a trajectory like that of a tracer bullet and then burst into several parts having a greenish glow before extinguishing."

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	Mid October, 1951
Time:	?
Duration:	?
First known report date:	October 19, 1951
Reporting delay:	Day, days.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Saint-Louis
Place:	?
Latitude:	47.616
Longitude:	7.565
Uncertainty radius:	5 km.

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	?
Number of known witnesses:	?
Number of named witnesses:	?
Witness(es) ages:	?
Witness(es) types:	?

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	?
Type of location:	?
Visibility conditions:	Night
UFO observed:	Yes
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	Yes
Entities:	No
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	Puzzled.
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Negative case, meteor.

Sources:

[Ref. ler1:] NEWSPAPER "LA LIBERTE DE L'EST":

A meteor in Alsace

Witnesses both from Mulhouse and from Saint-Louis claim to have been able to observe a luminous body moving in the N-S direction. The glowing body followed a trajectory like that of a tracer bullet and then burst into several parts having a greenish glow before extinguishing itself.

Discussion:

This is what in ufology, we designate as a "negative case"; that is to say that the phenomenon being the cause of the report was identified either immediately by the witnesses, or quickly, without the intervention of ufologists to find the explanation.

But nothing says that this event was not interpreted as mysterious by other witnesses, of which I would not have found a report yet. It is useful to note the "negative cases", as they may provide information on the explanation of still unpublished related reports, or even have their explanation contradicted by other more detailed reports afterwards.

Evaluation:

Negative case, meteor.

Sources references:

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

[ler1] * "Un météore en Alsace", article in the regional newspaper La Liberté de l'Est, Epinal, Vosges, France, October 19, 1951.

File history:

Authoring:

Main author:	Patrick Gross
Contributors:	None
Reviewers:	None
Editor:	Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	June 3, 2021	Creation, [ler1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	June 3, 2021	First published.

This page was last updated on June 3, 2021.