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 the Rossberg, on October 14, 1954:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1954-10-14-LEROSSBERG-1

Summary:

The regional newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français for October 16, 1954, reported several observations of October 14, 1954, including one at "the Bonhomme, near Rossberg (between Le Bonhomme and the Bagenelles Pass)".

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	October 14, 1954
Time:	?
Duration:	?
First known report date:	October 16, 1954
Reporting delay:	2 days.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Le Bonhomme
Place:	Between the pass of the Bagenelles and the village of Le Bonhomme.
Latitude:	48.482
Longitude:	7.114
Uncertainty radius:	5 km

Witnesses data:

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

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Regional Press.
Type of location:	In the mountain?
Visibility conditions:	?
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:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	DD or LN
ALSACAT:	Possibly the meteor of 06:15 p.m., totally 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. cvn1] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

Christian Valentin indicated that on October 14, 1954, a day with an intense activity on the southern half of Alsace, a sighting similar to that at Lapoutroie on the same day occurred at the Rossberg.

[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 were sightings on October 14, 1954, inclusing those 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:

Of course there is almost no information about the sighting, so no explanation would be better than another.

It is true that the newspaper said it was "similar" to another observation; but it does not help as the description of this other observation was put into doubt.

It was not specified what was "similar", anyway: the hour, the description...?

It is said that it was "between Le Bonhomme and the Col [pass] des Bagenelles", which gives a location with a precision of a few kilometers. Le Bonhomme is the village. The Rossberg is a nearby summit, 1191 km of altitude, not to be confused with the Rossberg village 40 km further to the south.

The problem is that we do not know if this is the location of witnesses or location of the phenomenon. For example, witnesses may have been tens of kilometers away in the plain of Alsace and may have indicated the Rossberg as the direction where the phenomenon was visible.

Evaluation:

Possibly the meteor of 06:15 p.m., totally 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.
[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	July 5, 2007	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.