ALSACAT-1954-10-14-BATTENHEIM-1
The regional newspaper L'Alsace for October 15, 1954, reported that on October 14, 1954, at 06:10 p.m., an industry executive from Mulhouse was returning from Colmar with his wife and child, being near Battenheim and approaching the Ile Napoléon.
The occupants of the vehicle then saw for two seconds right in fron of them in the sky, going on towards Basel, an elongated body which emitted a bright green light with a vaporous trail.
The driver thought it was impossible that it was a plane, and that it was maybe "flying cigar".
He noticed that the driver of a truck that was ahead of his car on the road must have seen it too becaused he slowed down as if he wanted to better watch what was happening in the sky, before accelerating again.
| Date: | October 14, 1954 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 06:10 p.m. |
| Duration: | 2 seconds. |
| First known report date: | October 15, 1954 |
| Reporting delay: | 1 day. |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Battenheim |
| Place: | From inside moving car on road after Battenheim arriving at the Ile Napoléon, UFO in the sky. |
| Latitude: | 47.785 |
| Longitude: | 7.388 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 1 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 3 or 4 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | 2 adults, 1 child. |
| Witness(es) types: | Industry executive from Mulhouse, his wife, their child. |
| Reporting channel: | Regional Press. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | From inside moving car on road, UFO in the sky. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night |
| 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: | Not a plane, maybe a "flying cigar". |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Probably the 06:15 p.m. meteor that day. |
[Ref. lae1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ALSACE":
This is the question that arose last night during the two seconds exactly that the phenomenon that took place under their eyes lasted, an industry executive from Mulhouse returning from Colmar with his wife and child on the road to Battenheim. It was 6:10. The vehicle approached the Ile Napoleon when the occupants saw passing in the sky right in front of them and disappear in the direction of Basel, an elongated body, which emitted a bright green light with a vaporous trail.
A plane? Impossible, said the motorist. So? ...
The phenomenon also seemed to have been seen by the driver of a truck that preceded the industry executive's car. The latter saw him indeed slow down, as if to follow what was happening in the heavens, before accelerating the truck again.
Anyway, the "saucers" chapter and other unidentifiable objects is not ready to be closed this year.
[Ref. lae2:] NEWSPAPER "L'ALSACE":
We reported in yesterday's issue the phenomenon witnessed the day before, Thursday, at 06:10 p.m., on the road from Battenheim to the Ile Napoleon, by an industry executive from Mulhouse, his wife and their little daughter.
They had seen, rishing straight line in the sky and disappearing in the direction of Switzerland, an elongated object, emitting a bright light. The appearance lasted about two seconds.
As might have been be expected, the mysterious craft was seen by other witnesses, who told us yesterday about their observations.
The first witness, a professor in Mulhouse, was riding a motorcycle on the road of Sierentz. He arrived at the exit of Habsheim, when he saw a thing of a shape difficult to define, especially remarkable by the intense green light that emanated from it, and the trail, also green, it left behind. The object dove straight towards Germany, where it disappeared.
"I first thought of a plane crashing down to the ground. But how to reconcile this hypothesis with the light and the green trail? No reflection by clouds was possible.The sky was already dark, but where the stars were not yet visible, was in fact entirely clear..."
Such are the explanations provided to us by this witness, entirely trustworthy.
It is also at 06:10 p.m. that two millers of Altkirch, who were returning from Colmar where their congress was held witnessed a similar phenomenon. They drove by car between Eguisheim and Hattstatt to return home, and coincidentally they were talking about flying saucers, when suddenly they saw passing in the sky in front of them, a few kilometers away they estimated, a strange object. It was not a saucer or a cigar, but a machine which had substantially the shape of a soup tureen. It was a fiery red and disappeared towards the Rhine at a prodigious speed.
It was by reading in "L'Alsace" the news that we published yesterday, that the two men decided to tell their adventures to our Altkirch newsroom.
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors note this case of October 14, 1954:
"Battenheim - 68 - at about 6 p.m.: investigation. Vivid luminous phenomenon."
[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 at 06:00 p.m.in the South of Alsace, according to L'ALSACE for Friday, October 15, 1954, the following sightings took place on October 14, 1954:
This is the question that arose last night during the two seconds exactly that the phenomenon that took place under their eyes lasted, an industry executive from Mulhouse returning from Colmar with his wife and child on the road to Battenheim. It was 6:10. The vehicle approached the Ile Napoleon when the occupants saw passing in the sky right in front of them and disappear in the direction of Basel, an elongated body, which emitted a bright green light with a vaporous trail.
A plane? Impossible, said the motorist. So? ...
The phenomenon also seemed to have been seen by the driver of a truck that preceded the industry executive's car. The latter saw him indeed slow down, as if to follow what was happening in the heavens, before accelerating the truck again.
Anyway, the "saucers" chapter and other unidentifiable objects is not ready to be closed this year.
He quotes the article of the next day in the same newspaper:
We reported in yesterday's issue the phenomenon witnessed the day before, Thursday, at 06:10 p.m., on the road from Battenheim to the Ile Napoleon, by an industry executive from Mulhouse, his wife and their little daughter.
They had seen, rishing straight line in the sky and disappearing in the direction of Switzerland, an elongated object, emitting a bright light. The appearance lasted about two seconds.
As might have been be expected, the mysterious craft was seen by other witnesses, who told us yesterday about their observations.
The first witness, a professor in Mulhouse, was riding a motorcycle on the road of Sierentz. He arrived at the exit of Habsheim, when he saw a thing of a shape difficult to define, especially remarkable by the intense green light that emanated from it, and the trail, also green, it left behind. The object dove straight towards Germany, where it disappeared.
"I first thought of a plane crashing down to the ground. But how to reconcile this hypothesis with the light and the green trail? No reflection by clouds was possible.The sky was already dark, but where the stars were not yet visible, was in fact entirely clear..."
Such are the explanations provided to us by this witness, entirely trustworthy.
It is also at 06:10 p.m. that two millers of Altkirch, who were returning from Colmar where their congress was held witnessed a similar phenomenon. They drove by car between Eguisheim and Hattstatt to return home, and coincidentally they were talking about flying saucers, when suddenly they saw passing in the sky in front of them, a few kilometers away they estimated, a strange object. It was not a saucer or a cigar, but a machine which had substantially the shape of a soup tureen. It was a fiery red and disappeared towards the Rhine at a prodigious speed.
It was by reading in "L'Alsace" the news that we published yesterday, that the two men decided to tell their adventures to our Altkirch newsroom.
|
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Above: the road after Battenheim and before the l'Ile Napoléon, in 2014.
The witnesses saw the object right in front of them as they were are on the road from Colmar to Mulhouse after Battenheim and before Ile Napoléon, due South. The object went towards the direction of Basel, so to their East. We can deduce that the visual direction of motion of the object was West to East.
Obviously from the date, hour, direction, brevity, description, these people saw the meteor of 06:15 p.m. that day; which was widely observed and often mistaken for a "flying saucer" or a "flying cigar."
Probably the 06:10 p.m. meteor that day.
* = 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 | March 21, 2006 | First published in the France 1954 catalogue. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | April 8, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | April 26, 2014 | Additions [lae1], [lae2], [cvn2]. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | April 26, 2014 | First published in the ALSACAT catalogue. |
