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 Uhrwiller, at the end of October, 1954:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1954-10-00-UHRWILLER-1

Summary:

The former journalist Christian Valentin published in 2012 a very interesting book retracing the history of UFO sightings and other flying saucers in Alsace, from the origins until 1980.

In this book, he rightly relates the "explained" cases as much as the others. One of them, which he found in the newspaper Le Nouvel Alsacien for Friday, October 29, 1954, is that several inhabitants of the Haguenau region had seen a cigar-shaped or melon-shaped craft move slowly in the sky.

In reality it was a large balloon with, instead of the nacelle, had a whole device equipped with a flashlight intended to illuminate the inside of the balloon.

This balloon was discovered deflated near Uhrwiller, and had required a lot of expense and ingenuity on the part of its maker.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	End of October, 1954
Time:	?
Duration:	?
First known report date:	October 29, 1954
Reporting delay:	Hours, days.

Geographical data:

Department:	Bas-Rhin
City:	Uhrwiller
Place:	?
Latitude:	48.877
Longitude:	7.578
Uncertainty radius:	3 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	Several.
Number of known witnesses:	?
Number of named witnesses:	0
Witness(es) ages:	?
Witness(es) types:	Residents.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Regional newspaper "Le Nouvel Alsacien".
Type of location:	Outside.
Visibility conditions:	?
UFO observed:	Yes
UFO arrival observed:	Yes
UFO departure observed:	N/A
Entities:	No
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	Puzzled.
Witnesses interpretation:	Handcrafted balloon for prank.

Classifications:

Hynek:	?
ALSACAT:	Chinese lantern.

Sources:

[Ref. cvn2:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

The former journalist Christian Valentin published in 2012 a very interesting book retracing the history of UFO sightings and other flying saucers in Alsace, from the origins until 1980.

In reality it was a large balloon with, instead of the nacelle, had a whole device equipped with a flashlight intended to illuminate the inside of the balloon.

This balloon was discovered deflated near Uhrwiller, and had required a lot of expense and ingenuity on the part of its maker.

Discussion:

Handcrafted Chinese lantern or handcrafted helium balloon.

This is what ufologists call a "negative case", that is to say that the facts received a trivial explanation without any ufological investigation or research having to be carried out.

Evaluation:

Handcrafted Chinese lantern or handcrafted helium balloon.

Sources references:

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

[lna1] * Article in the regional newspaper Le Nouvel Alsacien, France, October 29, 1954.
[cvn2] * "Mythes et Réalités des Phénomènes Aériens Non Identifiés - Histoire des soucoupes volantes en Alsace jusqu'en 1980", book by Christian Valentin, Grimoires d'Alsace publishers, France, page 65, 2012.

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	February 14, 2021	Creation, [cvn2].
0.2	Patrick Gross	February 14, 2021	First published in the "France 1954" catalogue.
1.0	Patrick Gross	June 10, 2021	First published.

This page was last updated on June 10, 2021.