ufo - UFOs at close sight: ALSACAT, UFOs in Alsace, France

An article in the regional newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles du Haut-Rhin for October 15, 1954, was headlined "flying saucer in the Alsatian sky."

The newspaper said that on October 14, 1954, at about 6:10 p.m., a representative was traveling by car with a friend on the road between Niffer and Kembs, when he suddenly noticed a bright object in the sky in the form of an egg and flying with an "S" trajectory in the cloudless sky.

It moved "at a fantastic speed at about 300 m altitude," it reportedly changed color from orange-yellow to bright white, and it left behind a large luminous trail. This "ball" is said to have gone towards the south.

The observation was cited by Aimé Michel, who unfortunately dated it October 15, 1954, and included in a so-called "alignment" of observations on October 15, 1954. This wrong date was subsequently copied by Jacques Vallée and many others; so that no one thought that this could have been the meteor at 06:10 p.m. on October 14, 1954; which was as widely seen in this region than it is widely ignored by ufologists.

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Date:	October 14, 1954
Time:	~06:10 p.m.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	October 14, 1954
Reporting delay:	Hours.

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Kembs or Niffer
Place:	From inside a moving car on curvy road between Niffer and Kembs, UFO in the sky.
Latitude:	47.701
Longitude:	7.504
Uncertainty radius:	1.5 km

Number of alleged witnesses:	1 or 2
Number of known witnesses:	1 or 2
Number of named witnesses:	1
Witness(es) ages:	Adults
Witness(es) types:	A salesman and his friend.

Reporting channel:	Regional Press.
Type of location:	From inside a moving car on curvy road between two villages, UFO in the sky.
Visibility conditions:	Evening
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:	?
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Hynek:	DD or NL
ALSACAT:	Probably the 06:10 p.m. meteor that day.

Flying saucer in the Alsatian sky

Mulhouse. -- Yesterday evening around 6:10 p.m., while the representative C. A. was traveling with a friend, with his car on the road between Niffer and Kembs, he noticed suddenly in the sky, a bright object in the shape of an egg and describing an S in the cloudless sky. It moved at a fantastic speed at about 300 m altitude. The object changed color from orange to bright yellow - white. In addition, it left behind it a large luminous trail. The ball would have gone towards the south.

THE MYSTERY OF THE SAUCER

In Vaucluse, a luminous machine
escapes two jets

AVIGNON. - In early afternoon yesterday Friday the population of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, was in turmoil.

Indeed, a "white disc" was hovering slowly over the small town and one could clearly distinguish it with good binoculars.

This white disc was surmounted by a spherical cap of the same color.

The lower circular edge carried intermittently two powerful fires varying from white to purple color, passing by the red color.

Caritat Air Base (Vaucluse), alerted, immediately scrambled two jets which soon appeared, and after two turns on Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, they took altitude and dove on the "disc".

The radio installed on the jets was in communication with the base, it announced that the craft was in sight, it was chased, but it escaped because its speed was greater than theirs.

From Vaucluse, one could clearly see the disk go away fast, pursued by the two jets.

Here are also some other information about flying saucers appearances:

Mulhouse. - A trader in a car last night in the company of a friend, between Niffer and Kembs, suddenly saw in the sky a luminous machine in the form of an oval fireball. The latter, according to the trader, followed a large "8" in the sky, moving at a tremendous pace and at an altitude of about 300 meters the craft, which was preceded by a long trail of light, changed color passing from orange to white color, then went to the southeast.

Martigues. - An 8 year old child, who was with his mother and aunt on the road in the hamlet of Saint-Pierre, near Martigues, saw in the sky an elongated luminous machine, from which, she specified, a sort of fireworks came out. The parents have certified to the statements of their child.

Calais. - A baker boy of Calais said he had seen at 3:40 a.m., at the place called "St. Pierre Halte" on the road to Saint-Omer, a yellow and shining craft landing on the railway.

The oddly shaped object was, according to the baker, two meters high and four meters in diameter.

Nimes. - Two people saw last night, returning to their home, a few kilometers north of Nîmes, a greenish glow in a field.

They approached and noted the presence of a vehicle identical in all respects to a rugby ball and appearing to rest on crutches. The strange apparatus suddenly rose in the air while emitting a low noise and gradually taking an orange hue.

Graulhet. - A barrel-maker from Graulhet stated to have seen late yesterday afternoon, at high altitude, a silver craft heading toward the northwest, he first thought it was a jet plane, but discerning no contrail, the barrel-maker fetched binoculars and distinctly saw a broad flexible disc that undulated on itself while moving at a high speed.

That's when the craft seemed to explode in flight. A silver ball, one meter in diameter, escaped the mass and continued on his way, soon disappeared from view, while the rest of the craft fell into pieces similar to sheets of various sizes that hung in the sky and some of which clung to telegraph son. Fifteen people have testified to this singular event and material fragments were collected. They were in the form of agglomerated silver filaments and crumbling to the touch.

Melun. - Near Montargis on National Road No. 7, a resident of this city, said he saw in the sky a yellow mass of rounded and very brilliant form.

Marseille. - Two luminous craft flying high were seen in the sky of the Rove earlier this afternoon. Observers noted that these apparatuses were immobilized a moment and then resumed their flight.

Draguignan. - Several residents of Draguignan observed towards the end of the afternoon, a luminous object crossing the sky at the speed of a meteor.

Casablanca. - Workers of the military logistics of Casablanca stated to have seen this afternoon, above the city, a kind of phosphorescent cigar that, after gently going down like a dead leaf resumed its horizontal course at breakneck speed and eventually disappear.

Angers. - A resident of the village of Méral (the Mayenne), said he saw in the sky, a bright orange ball which landed on the ground.

The disc, with a flattened dome, of a diameter of five to six meters produced a blinding light, illuminating the countryside in a radius of 200 meters.

The craft was transparent and inside, one observed a black shape. The disc remained like this for ten minutes, turned reddish, and quickly disappeared to the north. The observer then went to the place where the object had landed. There was, he says, a kind of brilliant cloud that fell slowly to the ground.

Arrived at his home he noticed that his clothes were covered with a white layer of a slightly sticky material like paraphine [sic].

NO "SAUCER" IN BRITAIN WHERE NATURAL EXPLANATION ARE GENERALLY ENOUGH

London. - The Ministry of the British Air does not believe in the existence of "saucers", "cigars" and other flying contraptions.

While refusing to comment on the craft reported in France, official spokesmen stated that natural explanations are usually given to these phenomena in Britain and that only insufficient explanations let the mystery survive.

No mysterious object was reported in the skies of Britain in recent weeks.

Aimé Michel notes that on October 15, at the fall of the night, two motorists who were driving on the national road RN 68 between Niffer and Kembs in Haut-Rhin, saw a very luminous object shining of orange color arriving. The object slowed down, then made a zigzag at an altitude that the witnesses estimated to be of 300 meters, changed color, then turned white, accelerated and disappeared towards the south-east.

Thus, at the first glance, something appears. On October 15 for example, there were 8 sightings: in Southend in England, in Calais, one in Aire-sur-la-Lys, one on Main Road 68 between Niffer and Kembs (Franco-German border), one in the mouth of Pô, one in the east of Paris, one on Main Road 7 in the south of Montargis, and finally in Fouesnant, near Quimper.

It is in Niffer-Kembs that an observation was made on October 15, 1954.

The author indicates that on Friday October 15, 1954, one announced a series of observations in Western Europe, including one in "Nipfer-Kembs" [sic] at the Franco-German border on the road RN 68. He indicates that if these observations are considered separately they could be dreams or the inventions, the more so as there are only two witnesses for this case, but they are all on a line.

OCTOBER 15, 1954.-

N. 64 between NIFFER and KEMBS. - (68)

Nightfall.

Two motorists are driving on the road when they see a very bright shiny red object coming. The object slows down, follows a zigzag while descending at low altitude (approximately 300 m), changes color, turns white, accelerates and disappears towards the SOUTH-EAST.

"A PROPOS DES SOUCOUPES VOLANTES" MICHEL page 221.

The author indicates that on October 15, 1954, there were 8 sightings, 5 were in a line, one of them was on the RN68 à Niffer - Kembs.

Encounters With Aliens on This Day

October 15

[...]

1954 - At 9:00 p.m. a fireball was seen by two witnesses driving in a car as it zigzagged over the N68 highway between Niffer and Kembs, France. It headed off to the southeast toward the Rhine River. (Source: Aime Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 182).

[...]

Luc Chastan indicates that in the Haut Rhin in Kembs on October 15, 1954 at an unknown hour, "At the fall of the night, two motorists who drive on the road RN 68 between Niffer and Kembs in the Haut-Rhin, see arriving a very luminous object shining of orange color. The object slows down, then does a zigzag at an altitude which the witnesses estimated to be of 300 meters, changes color, then changes to the white, accelerates and disappears towards the south-east."

The website indicates that 15 October 1954 at 21:00 between Niffer and Kembs, Rhine River, Niffer, France, "Fireball zigzagged over road, headed to the southeast toward Rhine River."

And: "An object was observed. It zigzagged through the air. One fireball was observed by two witnesses on a river for over one minute. No sound was heard."

The sources are noted as Michel, Aime, Flying Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery, S. G. Phillips, New York, 1958; Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073); Vallee, Jacques, Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma, Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1966; Vallee, Jacques, Preliminary Catalog (N = 500), (in JVallee01); Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002.

Donald Johnson indicates that Aimé Michel found that on Friday, October 15, 1954, there was a sighting at a site on Route N-68 close to the German border.

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 the bilingual issue of the newspaper "DERNIERES NOUVELLES DU HAUT-RHIN" for Friday , October 15, 1954, reported this observation of October 14, 1954:

Flying saucer in the ALSATIAN SKY

Mulhouse: yesterday evening around 6:10 p.m., while the representative C. A. was traveling with a friend, with his car on the road between Niffer and Kembs, he noticed suddenly in the sky, a bright object in the shape of an egg and describing an S in the cloudless sky. It moved at a fantastic speed at about 300 m altitude. The object changed color from orange to bright yellow - white. In addition, it left behind it a large luminous trail. The ball would have gone towards the south.

The author considers "the myth of the SOUPO alignment", i.e. the claim by Jacques Vallée and Aime Michel that there was an alignment of 8 UFO observations on October 15, 1954, in Europe. The author shows that none of the cases is at the good date except perhaps one, that the alignment is doubtful and the observations also.

Concerning the case of Niffer-Kembs, he indicates that it was not on October 15, but October 14, quoting the newspaper "Dernières Nouvelles du Haut-Rhin" for October 15, 1954:

"Mulhouse. -- Yesterday evening around 6:10 p.m., while the representative C. A. was traveling with a friend, with his car on the road between Niffer and Kembs, he noticed suddenly in the sky, a bright object in the shape of an egg and describing an S in the cloudless sky. It moved at a fantastic speed at about 300 m altitude. The object changed color from orange to bright yellow - white. In addition, it left behind it a large luminous trail. The ball would have gone towards the south."

Discussion:

Obviously, with the date, hour, location, the trail, the egg shape, the color change, this must have been the meteor of October 14, 1954 at 06:10 p.m.

But I immediately thought, since witnesses were in a movin car, that there is a good chance that the road was curvy and created this illusion normally well-known to the ufologists.

City	Date and hour of observation	General shape Identification	General color Hypothesis	Conclusion
KEMBS	Friday 15 October 1954	information not communicated Unidentified	orange None	Unsolved -lack of info

I checked, and bingo! I found that the stretch of road between Niffer (top) and Kembs (bottom) is very curvy:

Evaluation:

Sources references:

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

Case Nr.	New case Nr.	Investigator	Date of observation	Zip	Place of observation	Country of observation	Hour of observation	Classification	Comments	Identification
19541015			15.10.1954		Niffer	France	Abends	NL
19541015			15.10.1954		Niffer	France	21.00	NL
19541015			15.10.1954		Niffer	France	21.00

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

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	March 12, 2004	First published in the France 1954 catalogue.
1.0	Patrick Gross	April 24, 2009	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Addition [lc1].
1.1	Patrick Gross	February 11, 2010	Addition [jca1].
1.2	Patrick Gross	February 28, 2010	Additions [djn1], [uda1], [djn2].
1.3	Patrick Gross	June 30, 2010	Addition [jve5].
3.0	Patrick Gross	April 27, 2014	Additions [dnh1], [cvn2].
3.0	Patrick Gross	April 27, 2014	First published in the ALSACAT catalogue.
3.1	Patrick Gross	May 12, 2015	Addition [spa1].
3.2	Patrick Gross	October 26, 2016	Additions [cmn1], [ubk1].
3.3	Patrick Gross	November 22, 2016	Additions [jsh1], [ara1], [dcn2].
3.4	Patrick Gross	August 8, 2023	Addition [ald1].

ALSACAT:

Case of Kembs, on October 14, 1954: