ALSACAT-1952-07-08-THANN-1
The regional newspaper L'Alsace in the Colmar issue for July 10, 1952, reported that on Tuesday, July 8, 1952, in the evening, two female residents of Thann going through the Kléber street had seen very distinctly two vertical discs of bluish color come out of the clouds and move fast from west to east where they were lost from sight in the clouds.
The newspaper said that these saucers, "if there were saucers" were accompanied by a small trail of light, they seemed to fly quite low, and they were observed only for about twenty seconds.
The same information was given the next day in the regional newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, but with the time of the observation added: 9:45 p.m.
The story was later falsely dated July 6, 1952 and cataloged as a UFO, without mention of the trail, by French ufologist Jacques Vallee, copied by others.
Date: | July 8, 1952 |
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Time: | 09:45 p.m. |
Duration: | ~20 seconds. |
First known report date: | July 10, 1952 |
Reporting delay: | 1 day. |
Department: | Haut-Rhin |
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City: | Thann |
Place: | From rue Kléber, UFO in the sky. |
Latitude: | 47.802 |
Longitude: | 7.101 |
Uncertainty radius: | 1 km. |
Number of alleged witnesses: | 2 |
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Number of known witnesses: | 1 or 2 |
Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
Witness(es) ages: | ? |
Witness(es) types: | Female residents. |
Reporting channel: | Local Press. |
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Type of location: | From city street, UFO in the sky. |
Visibility conditions: | Evening or night. Visible clouds. |
UFO observed: | Yes |
UFO arrival observed: | Yes |
UFO departure observed: | Yes |
Entities: | No |
Photographs: | No. |
Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
Hynek: | DD or NL |
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ALSACAT: | Probable meteor. |
[Ref. lae1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ALSACE":
Tuesday evening, two female residents of Thann, going through the Kléber street saw very clearly coming out of clouds two vertical discs of bluish color, moving at a great speed from west to east to disappear back into the clouds. The saucers, if there were saucers, were accompanied by a small luminous trail. They seemed to fly quite low. The apparition lasted only twenty seconds.
[Ref. dna1:] NEWSPAPER "DERNIERES NOUVELLES D'ALSACE":
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THANN. -- On Tuesday evening, at 9:45 p.m., two women from Thann saw, while passing along Rue Kléber, two luminous bluish-colored discs emerge from the clouds and disappear with very great speed, moving from west to east. The two discs left behind them a luminous trail. The sighting lasted barely twenty seconds. (1041)
[Ref. dnal:] NEWSPAPER "DERNIERES NOUVELLES D'ALSACE":
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Our readers will no doubt remember that we reported on two occasions the appearance of mysterious flying objects in the Alsatian sky, in Sélestat, in Mommenheim, and in Thann, on Tuesday, between 9 and 10 p.m.
These reports appear to be confirmed by information arriving from other localities.
On Tuesday evening, again between 9:30 and 10 p.m., several people observed the passage of an aerial object. The appearance was that of a fireball with a luminous trail at the rear, colored green and reddish.
This object, moving at great speed, was heading from West to East.
It seems that the path of this mysterious projectile was not limited to the sky of our region, as in Nancy, Miss Meunier, who runs a stand at the exhibition, noticed on Tuesday evening, around 9:50 p.m., a large fireball tracing a luminous arc in the sky. This ball, which seemed to move from West to East, appeared to be the size and shape of a football. (1055)
Two young women who passed by a bit later on rue Gambetta were intrigued by a cone-shaped fireball that shot through the sky, also from West to East and at high speed, though slower than that of a jet aircraft. (1042)
An identical phenomenon was reported shortly after in Sarrebourg by a resident of the town. (1055)
* * *
The consistency in the observations and timing makes hallucination unlikely.
What should we make of these phenomena? Only specialists could answer that. Are we dealing with a new type of aerial craft or with unreported meteors, as one of our correspondents believes—who disagrees with previous witnesses:
During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, around 11:45 p.m., observers noticed a sort of incandescent balloon with a greenish color and a luminous tail.
Our correspondent does not believe in flying saucers but rather in an astronomical phenomenon. (428)
* * *
It should be noted that the shapes reported differ from one correspondent to another, but our source in Sélestat points out that this is to be expected, as the projectile in question may turn at such high speed that it appears to change shape.
What is this mysterious projectile? Time may tell. (R)
[Drawing caption:] This is how our informant from Sélestat saw the mysterious phenomenon on the evening of Tuesday, July 8: a luminous body, whose front part, shaped like a cigar, was greenish in color. In the luminous trail following the projectile, several reddish fireballs could be clearly distinguished. (Dernouvel)
[Ref. jve1:] JACQUES VALLEE:
Jacques Vallée indicates that on July 6 [sic], 1952, two bluish "discs" were seen in Thann in Alsace.
[Ref. aldl:] MRS. GUEUDELOT, "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT" ARCHIVE:
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JULY 8, 1952 .-
THANN .- (68)
Hour: 09:45 p.m.
Two female Thann residents passing by the Kléber street saw very distinctly, coming out of the clouds, two vertical discs of a bluish color, moving at a very high speed, from WEST to EAST, to disappear again in the clouds. The "saucers" were accompanied by a small luminous trail. They seemed to fly quite low. The apparition only lasted about twenty seconds.
"L'ALSACE" for JULY 10, 1952, page 3
(search by Mr. Nourier)
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH:
2273: 1952/07/06 12:00 3 7:05:00 E 47:49:00 N 3331 WEU FRN HRH 6:6
THANN,Ht RHIN,FR:2 BLUISH DISKS SEEN:OBS+TIME UNK:NFD:/JIMMY GUIEU.
Ref# 2 VALLEE:UFOS IN SPACE:Anatomy/phenon. Page No. 84 : TOWN &CITY
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH:
2273: 1952/07/06 12:00 3 7:05:00 E 47:49:00 N 3331 WEU FRN HRH 6:6
THANN,Ht RHIN,FR:2 BLUISH DISKS SEEN:OBS+TIME UNK:NFD:/JIMMY GUIEU.
Ref# 2 VALLEE:UFOS IN SPACE:Anatomy/phenon. Page No. 84 : TOWN &CITY
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
6 July 1952 12:00
Thann, Alsace, France
Unidentified objects were sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. Two objects were observed in a town for a few seconds.
Hynek rating: DD
Vallee rating: FB1
The sources are indicated as: "Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073); Vallee, Jacques, Anatomy of a Phenomenon, Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1965; Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002."
[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 the newspaper L'Alsace published in their Colmar issue what followed on Thursday July 10, 1952:
Tuesday evening (July 8, 1952), two female residents of Thann, going through the Kléber street saw very clearly coming out of clouds two vertical discs of bluish color, moving at a great speed from west to east to disappear back into the clouds. The saucers, if there were saucers, were accompanied by a small luminous trail. They seemed to fly quite low. The apparition lasted only twenty seconds.
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It is quite tempting to think, with this mention of the trails, the brevity of the observation, and the total absence of anything that would that contradict it, that the two residents saw a double meteor.
Below, an aerial view of Thann with the position of the Kléber street.
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Update as of July 3, 2025:
The other sightings I have now found on the same date, are consistent with the possibility that this sighting in Thann was the sighting of a meteor.
Moreover, the observation locations are spanning a distance of more than 100 kilometers:
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Table of the observations of the suspected meteor:
Place: | Time: | Trail: | Color: | Fragments: | Direction: |
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Ingwiller (Bas-Rhin) | Between 09:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. | Yes | Green and red | Not indicated | West to East |
Mommenheim (Bas-Rhin) | About 09:45 p.m. | Not indicated | Not indicated | Not indicated | Not indicated |
Sélestat (Bas-Rhin) | About 10:00 p.m. | Yes | Greenish, reddish, suphur green, yellow | Yes | Northeast to Southwest |
Thann (Haut-Rhin) | 09:45 p.m. | Yes | Bluish | Yes. | West to East |
Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) | About 09:50 p.m. | West to East | |||
Sarrebourg (Moselle) | Not indicated | Not indicated | Not indicated | Not indicated | Not indicated |
Probable meteor.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
Main author: | Patrick Gross |
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Contributors: | None |
Reviewers: | None |
Editeur: | Patrick Gross |
Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
---|---|---|---|
0.1 | Patrick Gross | April 9, 2014 | Creation, [lae1], [jve1], [cvn2]. |
1.0 | Patrick Gross | April 9, 2014 | First published. |
1.1 | Patrick Gross | July 9, 2015 | Addition [uda1]. |
1.2 | Patrick Gross | May 20, 2021 | Addition [lhh1]. |
1.3 | Patrick Gross | August 4, 2023 | Addition [ald1]. In the Discussion, addition or the paragraph "However, the other sightings..." Evaluation changed, was "Possible meteor." |
1.4 | Patrick Gross | July 3, 2025 | Additions [dna1], [dna2]. In the Summary, addition of the information from [dna1]. In the Discussion, addition or the "Update as of July 3, 2025" part. |