ALSACAT-1954-10-22-SCHERLENHEIM-1
In 2004, the journalist Christian Valentin published a detailed article on the Alsatian case of "flying saucers" that took place during the great wave of 1954 in France.
He reported that on October 22, 1954, at 09:00, p.m., in Scherlenheim, a 15-year-old young man saw a luminous craft from his garden.
He ran to get his father's gun and shot it down. The object fell to the ground, and the young man found it was an ordinary rubber balloon with a paper lantern using a wax candle.
In other words, modern word: a Chinese lantern.
Since I published this negative case with its explanation on my website in 2005, no less than three other website copied it but omitting all the parts if my file that provided the explanation.
| Date: | October 22, 1954 |
|---|---|
| Time: | ~09:00 p.m. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | 1954? 2004? |
| Reporting delay: | Day, 6 decades? |
| Department: | Bas-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Scherlenheim |
| Place: | Outside from witness' garden. |
| Latitude: | 48.765 |
| Longitude: | 7.537 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 3 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 0 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | 15 |
| Witness(es) types: | Young man. |
| Reporting channel: | The regional Press. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | Seen by witness in the sky from his garden. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | N/A, crash |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | Puzzled. |
| Witnesses interpretation: | Luminous craft that reveals to be a Chinese lantern. |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Chinese lantern. |
[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:
The journalist reports that on October 22, 1954, at 09:00 p.m., in Scherlenheim, a 15 year old young man saw a luminous machine from his garden.
He ran to get his father's rifle and shoot at it. The object fell on the ground, and the young man found that it was an ordinary rubber balloon with a paper lantern using a wax candle.
[Ref. lmy1:] "LES MYSTERES DES OVNIS" WEB FORUM:
This French-speaking web forum copied my web page that lists the cases of the 1954 French flap. So this case appears there so but the reader cannot access my file showing that the case is negative because the link to the file was removed. There is a link to the page of my site that lists the 1954 French cases, but this link is pointing to the old address of my website so that the page is not found.
[Ref. oio1:] "OVNI INFO LE FORUM":
This French-speaking web forum indicated in one of their pages:
Scherlenheim
"The journalist reported that on October 22, 1954, at 09:00 p.m., in Scherlenheim, a 15-year-old young man saw a luminous craft from his garden..."
One can see that the text was amputated, so the reader cannot see that this case was explained by the witnesses.
There is a link on the word "Scherlenheim", but it points to the old address of my website; so it gives a "page not found" error, and the reader cannot get the trivial explanation.
[Ref. ide1:] IGNACIO DARNAUDE:
This Spanish ufologist indicated in a page of his website:
Scherlenheim
"The journalist reported that on October 22, 1954, at 09:00 p.m., in Scherlenheim, a 15-year-old young man saw a luminous craft from his garden..."
One can see that the text was amputated, so the reader cannot see that this case was explained by the witnesses.
There is a link on the word "Scherlenheim", but it points to the old address of my website; so it gives a "page not found" error, and the reader cannot get the trivial explanation.
[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 Nouvel Alsacien for Sunday, October 24, 1954, told that in Scherlenheim, a prank occurred that could have ended tragically.
On October 22 at about 9 p.m., a 15-yard-old young man saw from his garden a luminous craft, and ran to get his father's shotgun.
What had to happen happened: he fired, and the flying object fell to the ground.
The young man then discovered that it was an exploded rubber balloon, with a paper lantern with a wax candle.
|
Scherlenheim is a village in the district of Strasbourg-Campagne, county of Hochfelden.
This is a classic case of the old "candle-on-a-stick" prank; which is now referred to as "Chinese lanterns."
This is a case ufologist call "a negative case", meaning that the witness himself found the trivial explanation of his sighting.
|
Above: a Chinese lantern.
Chinese lantern.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editeur: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | October 9, 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 | February 16, 2014 | Additions [lmy1], [oio1], [ide1]. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | March 14, 2014 | Added to the ALSACAT catalogue. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | March 14, 2014 | First published in the ALSACAT catalogue. |
| 3.1 | Patrick Gross | February 5, 2015 | Addition [cvn2]. |
