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 Lapoutroie, on October 14, 1954:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1954-10-14-LAPOUTROIE-1

Summary:

The regional newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français for October 16, 1954, reported several observations of October 14, 1954, including this one shortly after noon:

Mr. G. G. and Miss M. H., Lapoutroie residents, had seen two craft whose shape reminded a cigar or a "barrel", which sailed together at "high height" and "disappeared very suddenly."

The "skeptics" researchers Barthel and Brucker wrote in 1979 that Mr. Gaudel, the witness, told them that there was one object, not two, a tiny ball and not a "barrel", and the wife of a witness told them that it was a very fast luminous ball.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	October 14, 1954
Time:	~00:15 p.m.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	October 14, 1954
Reporting delay:	2 days.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Lapoutroie
Place:	?
Latitude:	48.153
Longitude:	7.168
Uncertainty radius:	2 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	2
Number of known witnesses:	2
Number of named witnesses:	2
Witness(es) ages:	Adults.
Witness(es) types:	A local man, a local woman.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Regional Press.
Type of location:	Village.
Visibility conditions:	Daytime
UFO observed:	Yes
UFO arrival observed:	?
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:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	DD
ALSACAT:	Possible meteor or plane, insufficient information.

Sources:

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

"Flying Cigars" in the Kaysersberg Valley!

Lapoutroie. -- Thursday, October 14, shortly after noon, Mr. G. G. and Miss M. H., living in the village, saw two vehicles whose shape reminded a cigar or a "boat." Both cigars sailed together at great heights. They disappeared very suddenly.

Similar phenomena have been seen above the Tête des Faux and the Bonhomme, near Rossberg (between Le Bonhomme and the Bagenelles Pass).

[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:

The two authors note this case of October 14, 1954:

"Lapoutroie - 68 - 12:15 (doubt on the time): investigation. The wife of a witness confirmed the observation to us: luminous very fast ball. The press was literally delirious on this case."

Three pages further, they say that the witness is Mr. Gaudel, that there were not two but one object, as opposed to what "claimed the newspaper L'Alsace", that the object did not have the shape of a barrel but of a tiny ball, and that they happily grant the status of unidentified to "this little incident" to the "unconditional saucerists."

[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

Christian Valentin indicated that on October 14, 1954, a day with an intense activity on the southern half of Alsace, at approximately midday, two objects with cigar or rowboat shapes have been seen flying together at a high altitude, and then suddenly disappear.

[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 there was a sighting on October 14, 1954, at 12:00 in Lapoutroie, told in "Le Nouveau Rhin Français for Saturday, October 16, 1954:

"Flying Cigars" in the KAYSERSBERG VALLEY!

Lapoutroie: Thursday, October 14, shortly after noon, Mr. G. G. and Miss M. H., living in the village, saw two vehicles whose shape reminded a cigar or a "boat." Both cigars sailed together at great heights. They disappeared very suddenly.

Similar phenomena have been seen above the Tête des Faux and the Bonhomme, near Rossberg (between Le Bonhomme and the Bagenelles Pass).

Discussion:

It is obviously impossible to me to say what these people had seen; the information is totally insufficient, the description is insufficient.

This can suggest a meteor or a plane, for example.

Evaluation:

Possible meteor or plane, insufficient information.

Sources references:

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

[nrf1] * "'Cigares volants' dans la vallée de Kaysersberg!", article in the regional newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français, France, October 16, 1954.
[lae1] ? Article in the regional newspaper L'Alsace, Mulhouse, France, 1954.
[bbr1] * "La Grande Peur Martienne", book by Gerard Barthel and Jacques Brucker, Les Nouvelles Editions Rationalistes publishers, France, page 199, 1979.
[cvn1] * "1954, l'année des OVNIS - Des observations par dizaines, des témoins par centaines", article by Christian Valentin in "Saisons d'Alsace", quarterly magazine, Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace publisher, Strasbourg, page 92, summer 2004.
[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 37, 2012.

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	January 16, 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 25, 2014	Additions [nrf1], [cvn2].
3.0	Patrick Gross	April 25, 2014	First published in the ALSACAT catalogue.

This page was last updated on April 25, 2014.