ALSACAT-1953-00-00-LAUTENBACH-1
In July 1972, a person who does not give a name wrote to the readers' supplement of the French ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit, telling very briefly about two sightings of his own, in Lautenbach, Haut-Rhin, in 1951, in 1953, and one by his brother in 1968.
For his 1953 sighting, he or she wrote only this: "at approximately 11 p.m., I saw a big ball from Lautenbach the diameter of the full moon silently describing a curve over a mountain ridge."
Date: | 1953 |
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Time: | ~11:00 p.m. |
Duration: | ? |
First known report date: | July 1972 |
Reporting delay: | 19 years |
Department: | Haut-Rhin |
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City: | Lautenbach |
Place: | Seen from Lautenbach the UFO is above a mountain ridge. |
Latitude: | 47.941 |
Longitude: | 7.159 |
Uncertainty radius: | 5 km |
Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
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Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
Witness(es) ages: | ? |
Witness(es) types: | ? |
Reporting channel: | Witness wrote to readers' section of ufology magazine LDLN 19 years later. |
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Type of location: | In valley, UFO above a mountain ridge. |
Visibility conditions: | Night |
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: | Puzzled. |
Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
Hynek: | NL |
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ALSACAT: | LN |
[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
68 - HAUT-RHIN, a. and c. Guebwiller LAUTENBACH
Unfortunately no exact date but interesting for the place is the same.
- 1951, A July evening, about 23 hours, I saw three balls the size of an orange, orange-red, crossing silently each other in the sky between Lautenbach and Soultzmatt.
- 1953, At about 23 hours, I saw from Lautenbach a big ball the diameter of the full moon silently following a curve over a mountain ridge.
- 1968 At 5 a.m. my brother, along with a friend, saw a disc-shaped object successively emitting red, yellow, green and blue lights. The object was silent.
Location: Lautenbach.
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN - "BASE OVNI FRANCE":
General features
Num Base: | 1522 |
Department: | Haut Rhin (68) |
Place of observation: | Lautenbach |
Latitude: | 47.95 |
Longitude: | +7.15 |
Date of observation: | 1953 |
Hour: | 23:00 hours |
Duration (HH:MM:SS): | N.C. |
Weather: | No weather indication |
Type of observation: | Visual: Distant |
Nbr of witness(es): | 1 |
Official investigation: | No |
Features of the object
Nbr of object: | 1 |
Type of object: | Luminous Ball |
Size: | Full Moon |
Color: | not defined |
Luminosity: | Not specified |
Visual characteristics: | No indication |
Speed: | not defined |
Movement/Displacement: | One or more turns |
Object on the ground: | No |
Instantaneous disappearance: | No |
Observation
Observation by a witness of a large ball of the size of the full moon, silently following a curb above the mountains ridges. |
Sources
Lumières dans la Nuit |
[Ref. spa1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "SPICA":
City | Date and hour of observation | General shape Identification |
General color Hypothesis |
Conclusion |
---|---|---|---|---|
LAUTENBACH | 1953 at 11:00 p.m. | ball, balle or melon (3D) Unidentified |
information not communicated None |
Unsolved -lack of info |
Lautenbach is a French commune located in the department of Haut-Rhin in Alsace. The minimum altitude is 353 meters, the maximum altitude is 1160 meters. The town is in the valley of Guebwiller, largely surrounded by the Vosges (see map below), the position of the UFO "over a mountain ridge" makes it impossible to determine a direction.
The witness, who reported this observation with two more sightings in the ufology magazine "Lumières Dans La Nuit" almost 20 years after the occurrence, provides little useful information; there is no sighting date, duration, exact locations, angular velocity etc. The absence of a date does not allow checking for example the absence or presence of the Moon.
Cataloging by Luc Chastan ([lcn1]) adds that the ball was "luminous", hides that the person had two other observations, the issue number of the "Lumières Dans La Nuit" source where the story appeared does not let see it took almost 2 decades to be reported, and that the report is only publication of the "letter to the editor" type, the time becomes "11:00 p.m." when it saw "approximately 11 p.m.", and the "curve" followed by the UFO is changed to "one or more turns."
Nocturnal light, insufficient data, possibly astronomical or aeronautical.
* = 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: |
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0.1 | Patrick Gross | August 19, 2014 | Creation, [ldl1], [lcn1]. |
1.0 | Patrick Gross | August 19, 2014 | First published. |
1.1 | Patrick Gross | May 25, 2015 | Addition [spa1]. |