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 in the Sundgau, on October 23, 1954:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1954-10-23-SUNDGAU-1

Summary:

Former journalist Christian Valentin published in 2004 and 2012 a quickly explained case in Alsace, reported in the regional newspaper L'Alsace.

Late in the night of October 23, 1954, a frightened man was driving fast in his car on the Sundgau roads because he was chased for some short time by a luminous disc.

Panicked, he stopped near a farm and woke up the residents. They welcomed him and reassured him in the end. Calmed down, the man resumed his night trip, accompanied by the shiny round shape of the Moon.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	October 23, 1954
Time:	Late night.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	1954
Reporting delay:	Days, weeks.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Sundgau
Place:	Driving on country roads, UFO in the sky.
Latitude:	47.580
Longitude:	7.278
Uncertainty radius:	15 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	1
Number of known witnesses:	1
Number of named witnesses:	0
Witness(es) ages:	Adult or aged.
Witness(es) types:	Male.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Reported in regional newspaper.
Type of location:	Driving on country roads, UFO in the sky.
Visibility conditions:	Night
UFO observed:	Yes
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	N/A
Entities:	No
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	Frightened.
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	Negative case.
ALSACAT:	Negative case, the Moon.

Sources:

[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

Journalist Christian Valentin notes that some of the cases in Alsace in 1954 were quickly explained: on October 23, 1954, late in the night, a man in his car believed to be chased by a luminous disc. He was thrown into a panic, drove very quickly on the roads of the Sundgau, and ended up awaking the inhabitants of a farm. It then proved that the luminous disc was that of the moon, and the reassured man resumed his travel.

[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, also collected some cases in 1954 in Alsace that were quickly solved, such as this one, reported in L'Alsace for Saturday, October 16, 1954.

Late in the night of October 23, 1954, a frightened man was driving fast in his car on the Sundgau roads because he was chased for some short time by a luminous disc.

Discussion:

This is one of many cases of misinterpretation caused by the moon while driving. It is almost a "negative" case as is gets identified soon.

Mists, fogs, natural obstacles, and a "Red moon", are often factors preventing to recognize the Moon. The main factor is generally the illusion of being pursued: the Moon "stops" when the car stops, it "accelerates" when the car accelerates, it "veers" in the road turns.

Above: In yellow, the region called the Sundgau, in the South of the Haut-Rhin in Alsace. Switzerland is in grey, Germany in red.

Let's note that the Press source Note given in [cvn2] must have a typo or error, since it is dated a few days before the events. Or maybe it is the date of the case that is erroneous.

Evaluation:

Negative case, the Moon.

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, France, October 1954.
[cvn1] * "1954, l'Année des OVNIS - en Alsace et dans le Monde", dossier by Christian Valentin, in the quarterly magazine Saisons d'Alsace, Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace publisher, France, #23, page 97, 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 65, 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	December 9, 2005	First published in the France 1954 catalogue.
1.0	Patrick Gross	January 24, 2010	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version.
3.0	Patrick Gross	March 4, 2016	Addition [cvn2], Summary, Discussion.
3.0	Patrick Gross	March 4, 2016	First published in the ALSACAT catalogue.

This page was last updated on March 4, 2016.