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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 Triembach-au-Val, on October 11, 1954:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1954-10-11-TRIEMBACH-1

Summary:

Under the title "A 'flying cigar' observed in Triembach au Val", the regional newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français, of Colmar, published on October 13, 1954:

"Villé - We have been informed, from a reliable source that Monday morning, when he was just before 6 am near Triembach au Val, a 14-year-old student saw coming towards him at low altitude and without noise, an elongated object, from Neuve Eglise. Frightened, the young man alerted a nearby house while the object with two red lights, turned around and disappeared over the horizon."

"Our source, trustworthy, managed to get the following details: the witness is named Laurent Humbert de Fouchy and attends the technical college in Strasbourg. He was staying with his parents Sunday and Monday early morning, he left town by bicycle with his father, restaurant owner and Mayor, André HUMBERT. While his father went to Villé, Lawrence continued, as every Monday morning to the sawmill of Mayor Mr. Meyer, whose son also attended the Technical College of Strasbourg. After dropping his bike in the shed he walked to the bus station near the church of Triembach. It is at this time, after crossing the small bridge by little more than a block from the home of the Meyers, that he suddenly saw at a short distance above him an elongated craft equiped with two red headlights. The appearance produced no noise. It slowly made a U-turn to return to Neuve Eglise."

"In the terror which tied his throat, the young man ran to alert the Meyers who once the explanations were given, could only note the disappearance of the craft."

"Note that on Monday morning, the valley of Villé enjoyed excellent visibility without fog and it is not excluded that other people have witnessed the apparition."

Journalist and ufologist Christian Valentin explained that he met Laurent Humbert in June 2009, he had young children who then were about the age he was in 1954. He says he "does not know what it was," at the time "there was a lot of phenomena of this type."

Christian Valentin asked him about the dominant feeling he had at the time of this apparition, and he answers "The fear, you know: it was in the night and at the moment it scared me, even if it did not stop me from sleeping thereafter. Returning from Strasbourg the following weekend, the police came to my parents and questioned me about what I saw. I also learned that the craft had been seen in the valley of Ste-Marie-aux-Mines. I know my father had kept the newspaper article, but I have nothing left, and I did not see anything like this since then."

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: October 11, 1954
Time: Shortly before 06:00 a.m..
Duration: ?
First known report date: October 13, 1954
Reporting delay: 1 day.

Geographical data:

Department: Bas-Rhin
City: Triembach-au-Val
Place: Near the houses of the village, UFO in the sky.
Latitude: 48.336
Longitude: 7.322
Uncertainty radius: 100 m

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: 1
Number of known witnesses: 1
Number of named witnesses: 1
Witness(es) ages: 14
Witness(es) types: Student.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: Local person to regional Press.
Type of location: Near the houses of small village, UFO in the sky.
Visibility conditions: Night, excellent visibility.
UFO observed: Yes
UFO arrival observed: No
UFO departure observed: ?
Entities: No
Photographs: No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es): No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): No.
Witness(es) feelings: Scared.
Witnesses interpretation: ?

Classifications:

Hynek: NL
ALSACAT: Unidentified.

Sources:

[Ref. nrf1:] NEWSPAPER "LE NOUVEAU RHIN FRANCAIS":

A "flying cigar" observed in Triembach au Val

Villé. -- We have been informed, from a reliable source that Monday morning, when he was just before 6 am near Triembach au Val, a 14-year-old student saw coming towards him at low altitude and without noise, an elongated object, from Neuve Eglise. Frightened, the young man alerted a nearby house while the object with two red lights, turned around and disappeared over the horizon.

Our source, trustworthy, managed to get the following details: the witness is named Laurent Humbert de Fouchy and attends the technical college in Strasbourg. He was staying with his parents Sunday and Monday early morning, he left town by bicycle with his father, restaurant owner and Mayor, André HUMBERT. While his father went to Villé, Lawrence continued, as every Monday morning to the sawmill of Mayor Mr. Meyer, whose son also attended the Technical College of Strasbourg. After dropping his bike in the shed he walked to the bus station near the church of Triembach. It is at this time, after crossing the small bridge by little more than a block from the home of the Meyers, that he suddenly saw at a short distance above him an elongated craft equiped with two red headlights. The appearance produced no noise. It slowly made a U-turn to return to Neuve Eglise.

In the terror which tied his throat, the young man ran to alert the Meyers who once the explanations were given, could only note the disappearance of the craft.

Note that on Monday morning, the valley of Villé enjoyed excellent visibility without fog and it is not excluded that other people have witnessed the apparition.

[Ref. aldl:] MME GUEUDELOT, ARCHIVES "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":

Scan.

OCTOBER 11, 1954.-

TRIMBACH AU VAL [sic]. - (68)

Time: 6 p.m. approximately

Laurent HUMBERT, aged 14, living in Fouchy, saw a cigar in the sky of TRIMBACH AU VAL.

The young man, a student at the Technical College of Starsbourg [sic], went shortly before 6 to the bus station located not far from the local church.

As he crossed a small bridge, he saw above him, coming from the direction of NEUVE EGLISE, flying at low altitude and without noise, an elongated body with red headlights. The craft turned slowly and moved away.

"L'ALSACE" for OCTOBER 14, 1954 p.4

(sent by Mr. Mourier)

[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

Journalist Christian Valentin reports that on October 11, 1954, at 6 o'clock in the morning, a young pupil was walking to the bus stop of Triembach-au-Val to go to the Technical School of Strasbourg, when he saw above him, at low altitude, and silent, an elongated body equipped with two red headlights coming from the direction of Neuve-Eglise.

The machine veered slowly above him before moving away.

[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 on Monday, 11 October 1954 à 06:00 a.m. in Triembach au Val, there was a sighting reported by the Nouveau Rhin Français for Wednesday, October 13, 1954, in their bilingual edition of Colmar:

A "flying cigar" observed in TRIEMBACH AU VAL

Villé - We have been informed, from a reliable source that Monday morning, when he was just before 6 am near Triembach au Val, a 14-year-old student saw coming towards him at low altitude and without noise, an elongated object, from Neuve Eglise. Frightened, the young man alerted a nearby house while the object with two red lights, turned around and disappeared over the horizon.

Our source, trustworthy, managed to get the following details: the witness is named Laurent HUMBERT FOUCHY and attends the technical college in Strasbourg. He was staying with his parents Sunday and Monday early morning, he left town by bicycle with his father, restaurant owner and Mayor, André HUMBERT. While his father went to Villé, Lawrence continued, as every Monday morning to the sawmill of Mayor M. Mayor, whose son also attended the Technical College of Strasbourg. After dropping his bike in the shed he walked to the bus station near the church of Triembach. It is at this time, after crossing the small bridge by little more than a block from the home of the Ms., that he suddenly saw at a short distance above him an elongated craft equiped with two red headlights. The appearance produced no noise. It slowly made a U-turn to return to Neuve Eglise.

In the terror which tied his throat, the young man ran to alert the Meyers who once the explanations were given, could only note the disappearance of the craft.

Note that on Monday morning, the valley of Villé enjoyed excellent visibility without fog and it is not excluded that other people have witnessed the apparition.

Christian Valentin explains that he met Laurent Humbert in June 2009, he has young children who now are about the age he was in 1954. He says he "does not know what it was," at the time "there was a lot of phenomena of this type."

Christian Valentin asked him about the dominant feeling he had at the time of this apparition, and he answers "The fear, you know: it was in the night and at the moment it scared me, even if it did not stop me from sleeping thereafter. Returning from Strasbourg the following weekend, the police came to my parents and questioned me about what I saw. I also learned that the craft had been seen in the valley of Ste-Marie-aux-Mines. I know my father had kept the newspaper article, but I have nothing left, and I did not see anything like this since then."

Discussion:

Map.

Neuve-Eglise is in the South-East of the observation place. At the time of the sighting, it was still night, shortly before sunrise. The moon was not visible, it went under the horizon at 05:40 a.m. in the West.

Evaluation:

Unidentified.

Sources references:

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

File history:

Authoring:

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

Changes history:

Version: Create/changed by: Date: Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross July 12, 2005 First published in the France 1954 catalogue, [cvn1].
1.0 Patrick Gross December 20, 2008 Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version.
3.0 Patrick Gross April 20, 2014 Additions [nrf1], [cvn2].
3.0 Patrick Gross April 20, 2014 First published in the ALSACAT catalogue.
3.1 Patrick Gross August 6, 2023 Addition [ald1].

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This page was last updated on August 6, 2023.