ALSACAT-1952-07-27-STRASBOURG-1
On Sunday, July 27, 1952, there was a sighting in Strasbourg, reported as a "first" in the region, by the regional newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace for Thursday, July 31, 1952 in the Strasbourg issue.
One of their readers from the Neuhof, a Strasbourg district, said to be "absolutely trustworthy", had "the chance to see these mysterious craft that hit the headlines in the world." He had made a drawing, unpublished, and reported on his sighting, and the newspaper published this excerpt:
"The disc came to me suddenly, like emerging from the depths of where at the moment the sun is located at noonday, it followed a flat trajectory from East to West for six seconds, then disappeared behind a small cloud; of which it did not come out, this suggesting that it had left the same way he came there, that is to say at a fantastic speed. The craft seemed to evolve at an altitude of 12,000 to 15,000 meters, at a speed of 13,000 km/hour..."
By the admission of the witness, the "stunning accuracy" of these figures was due the excellent experience of high altitudes assessment that his combat aviation experience enabled him to acquire.
However, he reported that its assessments had "a purely approximate character", and the newspaper "believed his word."
The newspaper commented that the "saucer" was of a glowing white, slightly orange, a little less bright than the moonlight, and emitted no sound.
| Date: | July 27, 1952 |
|---|---|
| Time: | Just before 00:00 |
| Duration: | 6 seconds or more. |
| First known report date: | July 31, 1952 |
| Reporting delay: | 3 days. |
| Department: | Bas-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Strasbourg |
| Place: | Probably from the Neuhof district, UFO in the sky. |
| Latitude: | 48.541 |
| Longitude: | 7.771 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 3 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 1 |
| Witness(es) ages: | Adult or aged. |
| Witness(es) types: | Man. |
| Reporting channel: | Letter to the regional Press. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | Probably from big city suburb, UFO in the sky. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | Yes, unavailable. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | Yes, unavailable. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | Flying saucer. |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Unidentified, possible extraterrestrial craft, possible meteor. |
[Ref. dna1:] NEWSPAPER "DERNIERES NOUVELLES D'ALSACE":
From all sides, from the most remote corners of the globe, flying saucers threw disorder in newsrooms and in nightclubs. A few days ago, we even reported the presence of one of them in the area of Selestat. So this was true! Strasbourg residents were beginning to be jealous, and we must say that in the cycle of apparitions, the European capital was not favored. But we can now raise our heads, swagger and a make knowingly nods to all the reports still arriving: we too have had our own, no later than Sunday evening, shortly before midnight. One of our readers of the Neuhof, absolutely trustworthy, had, in fact, the chance to see these mysterious craft that hit the headlines worldwide. With a sketch in support, he was kind enough to send us the detailed and circumstantial narrative which we are committed to publish and happy to give the most salient passages.
"The disc came to me suddenly, like emerging from the depths of where at the moment the sun is located at noonday, it followed a flat trajectory from East to West for six seconds, then disappeared behind a small cloud; of which it did not come out, this suggesting that it had left the same way he came there, that is to say at a fantastic speed. The craft seemed to evolve at an altitude of 12,000 to 15,000 meters, at a speed of 13,000 km/hour..." By the admission of our correspondent, the stunning accuracy of these figures is due to his great habit of assessment of altitudes that his Combat Aviation technique allowed him to acquire. However, he believes that his modest appreciations have a purely approximate aspect, what we believe on parole.
As for the brightness, it does not differ from that which was noted in other cases, that is to say that the "saucer" was of a white glow, slightly orange, a little less bright than lunar clarity, and made no sound.
So, added to the already voluminous file of past - and future - appearances, the flying saucer seen in Strasbourg by a Strasbourg resident. Everyone is free to interpret the appearance at will; which does not diminish the authentic reliability of our reader's witness.
[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 indicates that on Sunday, July 27, 1952, there was a sighting in Strasbourg, reported as below in Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace for Thursday, July 31, 1952, in the Strasbourg issue:
From all sides, from the most remote corners of the globe, flying saucers threw disorder in newsrooms and in nightclubs. A few days ago, we even reported the presence of one of them in the area of Selestat. So this was true! Strasbourg residents were beginning to be jealous, and we must say that in the cycle of apparitions, the European capital was not favored. But we can now raise our heads, swagger and a make knowingly nods to all the reports still arriving: we too have had our own, no later than Sunday evening, shortly before midnight. One of our readers of the Neuhof, absolutely trustworthy, had, in fact, the chance to see these mysterious craft that hit the headlines worldwide. With a sketch in support, he was kind enough to send us the detailed and circumstantial narrative which we are committed to publish and happy to give the most salient passages.
"The disc came to me suddenly, like emerging from the depths of where at the moment the sun is located at noonday, it followed a flat trajectory from East to West for six seconds, then disappeared behind a small cloud; of which it did not come out, this suggesting that it had left the same way he came there, that is to say at a fantastic speed. The craft seemed to evolve at an altitude of 12,000 to 15,000 meters, at a speed of 13,000 km/hour..." By the admission of our correspondent, the stunning accuracy of these figures is due to his great habit of assessment of altitudes that his Combat Aviation technique allowed him to acquire. However, he believes that his modest appreciations have a purely approximate aspect, what we believe on parole.
As for the brightness, it does not differ from that which was noted in other cases, that is to say that the "saucer" was of a white glow, slightly orange, a little less bright than lunar clarity, and made no sound.
So, added to the already voluminous file of past - and future - appearances, the flying saucer seen in Strasbourg by a Strasbourg resident. Everyone is free to interpret the appearance at will; which does not diminish the authentic reliability of our reader's witness.
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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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This case would have remained completely unknown without Christian Valentin's work.
We see that the newspaper was not yet accustomed to dealing with "flying saucers". And for years to come, the most highlighted issue by the press would be whether the witness is "credible", "worthy of faith", not seeking an explanation; this being left to the opinion of the readers.
Neuhof is a suburb district south-southeast of Strasbourg.
The critical information here was whether the thing had a trail or had no trail.
Unidentified, possible extraterrestrial craft, possible 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 |
| Editeur: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | September 7, 2015 | Creation, [dna1], [cvn2]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | September 7, 2015 | First published. |
