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 Guebwiller, on October 22, 1954:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1954-10-22-GUEBWILLER-1

Summary:

On October 24, 1954, the newspaper L'Alsace reported a "luminous craft in the sky Guebwiller."

It was reportedly seen, among other people, by three 12-year-old boys, residents of Guebwiller, on Friday night, thus on October 22, 1954, at approximately 06:30 p.m. at sunset.

They described it as silent, "of oblong shape and of an intense brightness," and they saw it "for a few seconds", "particularly over the Guebwiller vineyard."

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	October 22, 1954
Time:	~18:30
Duration:	Some seconds.
First known report date:	October 24, 1954
Reporting delay:	Hour to 2 days.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Guebwiller
Place:	In the village or the country near the village, UFO in the sky.
Latitude:	47.909
Longitude:	7.211
Uncertainty radius:	3 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	3
Number of known witnesses:	?
Number of named witnesses:	0
Witness(es) ages:	12, 12, 12
Witness(es) types:	Three children from the town.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Regional Press.
Type of location:	Village or country near village, UFO in the sky.
Visibility conditions:	End of day.
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:	Possible meteor.

Sources:

[Ref. lae1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ALSACE":

Luminous apparatuses
in the sky of Guebwiller

Three young boys, twelve years old, residents of Guebwiller, saw on Friday night around 06:30 p.m., in the twilight sky, an object they describe as an oblong shape and of an intense brightness. They managed to look for a few seconds the silent flight of what appears to be a flying cigar, especially over the vineyard of Guebwiller.

In addition, the employees of S.N.C.F. [national railway company], on duty at the railway station of Bollwiller, state to have seen during the same evening a luminous machine which evolved at a few hundreds of meters above them.

[Ref. fle1:] FERNAND LAGARDE:

This ufologist thought that UFO sightings occur at geologically active places and noted this case in a table:

FLYING SAUCER Ref.	Departements Nr.	Localities name	Fault just above	Fault at 2.5 km	Fault at à 5 km	Observations	Numbering
146	68	GUEBWILLER	1			in the angle of 2 faults b	117

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

The two authors indicate, in order to illustrate their opinion on the poor content of the saucer reports in the press, the following extract of which they indicate that the source is the newspaper L'Alsace.

"Three young people saw in the sky of Guebwiller an UFO of oblong shape and an intense brilliance."

"A luminous balled followed by a long white trail crossed the sky..."

The two authors either are unaware of or do not indicate the date of publication of the newspaper article they quote.

[Ref. aldl:] MRS. GUEUDELOT, "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT" ARCHIVE:

OCTOBER 22, 1954.-

GUEBWILLER. - (68)

Hour: 06:30 p.m.

Three young people saw a U.F.O. in the sky over GUEBWILLER, oblong in shape and intensely shiny.

"L'ALSACE" 24-25/10/54

[Ref. bul1:] "BUHL - PAGE D'HISTOIRE":

[...]

Source: "L'Alsace" from October 1st to December 31, 1954

[...]

October 24: a flying saucer makes in 10 minutes duration an extraordinary demonstration in the sky of Wittelsheim. 3 young 12 year old boys living in Guebwiller saw towards 06:30 P.M. in the twilight sky an object which they described as being of oblong shape and an intense brilliance. They could particularly follow during several seconds the silent evolutions of what seems to be a "flying cigar," above the vineyard of Guebwiller.

[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:

Luc Chastan indicates that in the Haut Rhin in Wittelsheim [sic] on October 24, 1954 at 18:30 hours, "an object made a 10 minutes long extraordinary demonstration in the sky of Wittelsheim. Three young 12-year-old boys living in Guebwiller saw towards 06:30 p.m. in the twilight sky an object which they described as being of oblong form and an intense brilliance. They particularly managed to follow during several seconds the silent operations of what seems to be a "flying cigar," above the vineyard of Guebwiller."

The source is indicated as being my website at http://ufologie.net [Its old URL].

[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

Journalist Christian Valentin notes in his file an observation on Friday, October 22, 1954 at 06:30 p.m.:

Three 12 year old boys followed the silent evolutions of an object of elongated shape above the vineyard of Guebwiller.

[Ref. rre1:] RAOUL ROBE:

In the article on an Alsatian alleged sighting, that of Merxheim, the author shows a series of other "known UFO sightings around" that location, including:

GUEBWILLER - 10/22/54 at 5,300 km West [from Merxheim]

[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 L'Alsace for October 24, 1954, published, on page 7, this article, telling of the observation im Guebwiller in the Haut-Rhin on October 24, 1954, at 06:30 p.m.:

A luminous craft in the sky of Guebwiller

[Ref. spa1:] "SPICA" UFOLOGY ASSOCIATION:

City	Date and hour of observation	General shape Identification	General color Hypothesis	Conclusion
WITTELSHEIM [sic]	Sunday 24 October 1954 at 06:30 p.m.	elongated (cigar) Unidentified	information not communicated None	Unsolved -lack of info

[Ref. spa2:] "SPICA" UFOLOGY ASSOCIATION:

City	Date and hour of observation	General shape Identification	General color Hypothesis	Conclusion
WITTELSHEIM	Wednesday 20 October 1954 at 18h30	elongated (cigar) Unidentified	information not communicated None	Unsolved -lack of info

Discussion:

The date given as October 24, 1954, by [bul1], [lc1], [spa4] is wrong. The error started with [bul1] who said the source is L'Alsace for October 31, 1954, but it is actually l'Alsace for October 24, 1954 [lae1].

[lc1] misunderstood the affair: it is not in Wittelsheim; the Wittelsheim sighting is a different one.

SPICA listed the same case twice [spa4] [spa2], each time with the wrong date.

Anove: a part of the vineyard of Guebwiller seen in daytime in 2016.

With so little information - a bright and silent oblong thing in the sky - we can only assume that it was possibly a meteor.

Evaluation:

Possible meteor.

Sources references:

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

[lae1] * Article in the regional newspaper L'Alsace, Mulhouse, France, page 7, October 24, 1954.
[fle1] * "Corrélation M.O.C. et failles", article by Fernand Lagarde, in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #98, page 13, February 1969.
[bbr1] * "La Grande Peur Martienne", book by Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker, Les nouvelles Editions Rationalistes publishers, France, page 139, 1979.
[ald1] * Record of the archive by Mrs. Gueudelot, of the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, not dated, published circa 2020 by the ufology association SCEAU, France, at https://sceau-archives-ovni.org/fonds/fond_gueudelot/base_guy_jpr_fiches_gueudelot.html
[bul1] * "C'était en 1954 - Cela fait déjà 50 ans", article on the web page "Buhl - Page d'Histoire", at perso.wanadoo.fr/mjc.buhl/Elfaluter/1954.htm.
[lcn1] * Base OVNI France website, by Luc Chastan, France, circa 2003, at baseovnifrance.free.fr/detobs.php?numobs=1186
[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, France, page 93, summer 2004.
[rre1] * "Une Rencontre du IIIe Type... Type Soupe aux Choux Allemande", electronic article by Raoul Robé, CNEGU ufology group, found in 2014, at http://cnegu.info/manuals/UNE%20RENCONTRE%20DU%20IIIE%20TYPE%20Merxheim.pdf?osCsid=ee817df634b558cb272432e5a3b3ed17
[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 49, 2012.
[spa1] * "DEPARTEMENT 68 - HAUT-RHIN", listing of UFO sighting reports by the Alsatian ufology group SPICA, Alsace, France, not dated, found in May 2015, at http://www.spica.org/Page_Listing_68.htm
[spa2] * "DEPARTEMENT 68 - HAUT-RHIN", listing of UFO sighting reports by the Alsatian ufology group SPICA, Alsace, France, not dated, found in May 2015, at http://www.spica.org/Page_Listing_68.htm

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	September 24, 2005	First published in the France 1954 catalogue.
1.0	Patrick Gross	January 14, 2010	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version.
1.1	Patrick Gross	October 24, 2014	Additions [lae1], [cvn2]. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet. Probable meteor."
3.0	Patrick Gross	October 24, 2014	First published in the ALSACAT catalogue.
3.1	Patrick Gross	June 6, 2021	Addition [fle1].
3.2	Patrick Gross	September 1, 2023	Addition [ald1].

This page was last updated on September 1, 2023.