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 Thann, on October 14, 1954:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1954-10-14-THANN-1

Summary:

The regional newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français reported on October 16, 1954, an observation near Thann of October 14, 1954, at around 06:00 p.m.

Private F., on leave at his parents' in Thann, had seen in the sky south of Thann an "object of great brightness moving very quickly," which first flew straight, then abruptly went down towards the ground.

The sighting lasted between 10 and 15 seconds.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	October 14, 1954
Time:	~06:00
Duration:	10 to 15 seconds.
First known report date:	October 16, 1954
Reporting delay:	2 days.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Thann
Place:	?
Latitude:	47.808
Longitude:	7.104
Uncertainty radius:	3 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	1
Number of known witnesses:	1
Number of named witnesses:	0
Witness(es) ages:	Young adult.
Witness(es) types:	Soldier on leave.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Regional Press.
Type of location:	?
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:	?

Classifications:

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

Sources:

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

The "Saucer" was also seen near Thann

Private F., who was at the time on leave at his parents in Thann, sighted Thursday evening around 6 p.m.? in the sky south of Thann, an object of great brightness moving very quickly. The object flew at first straight and then suddenly moved to the ground. Mr. F was able to follow this phenomenon for between 10 and 15 seconds.

[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 the newspaper "LE NOUVEAU RHIN FRANCAIS" for Saturday, October 16, 1954, in their bilingual issue, reported this case of October 14, 1954:

The "Saucer" was also seen near THANN

Private F., who was at the time on leave at his parents in Thann, sighted Thursday evening around 6 p.m. ?in the sky south of Thann, an object of great brightness moving very quickly. The object flew at first straight and then suddenly moved to the ground. Mr. F was able to follow this phenomenon for between 10 and 15 seconds.

Discussion:

About Christian Valentin's book:

It is not at all my habit to "advertise" a book or anything, and I have no interested relationship with the author, but I wanted to say a word on the book by Christian Valentin, "Mythes et Réalités des Phénomènes Aériens Non Identifiés" (i.e. "Myths and Realities of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" (cover on the left) , ref. [cv2]; which, as its subtitle indicates, is about Alsatian UFO sighting reports and the saucer lore in Alsace.

I think Alsatian ufologists and, generally, people interested in the UFO question, or in the history of Alsace, my region, would probably like this book.

The 144 pages book is sober but well presented, unbiased, richly documented and illustrated. It is the first work in print specifically about UFO sightings in Alsace. (There was another one a few years ago, but it was partly made by copying - pasting without mention of the sources, portions of my website, especially the Alsatians cases I almost exhaustively documented in my catalog of UFO sightings in France in 1954, and copies from another websites; the trivial explanations I proposed or gave there being almost always stripped off!)

The author does not want to prove or disprove the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors or some other so-called "extraordinary" explanation, he rather offers a chronologically ordered review of Alsatian UFO reports, starting from the origin and stopping in 1980, based on known sources ufology, on the articles of the regional Press, and cases less known or even unreleased so far that he collected directly with the witnesses. His own comments are printed in a different color, references to the sources are always given. A very nice work in my opinion!

The author currently has a blog where he shows what libraries in Alsace have the book available, see: christian.valentin.overblog.com

There is not much to say about this observation save that it matches with those of the meteor that day at 06:10 p.m.

Evaluation:

Probably the 06:10 p.m. meteor that day.

Sources references:

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

[nrf1] * "La 'Soucoupe' a également été aperçue près de THANN", article in the regional newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français, France, October 16, 1954.
[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 39, 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	April 28, 2014	Creation, [nrf1], [cvn2].
1.0	Patrick Gross	April 28, 2014	First published.

This page was last updated on April 28, 2014.