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 Orbey, on November 3, 1954:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1954-11-03-ORBEY-1

Summary:

The regional newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français for November 4, 1954, reported this sighting of the day before, thus November 3, 1954, at 6 a.m. near Orbey:

"Mr. D. D. saw a flying saucer around 6 am yesterday morning on his way to work. It was a round, luminous disc of orange color first and then blue, which moved quickly across the sky."

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	November 3, 1954
Time:	~06:00 p.m.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	November 3, 1954
Reporting delay:	Hours.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Orbey
Place:	Near Orbey, UFO in the sky.
Latitude:	48.126
Longitude:	7.160
Uncertainty radius:	2 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	1
Number of known witnesses:	1
Number of named witnesses:	1
Witness(es) ages:	Young adult, adult or aged.
Witness(es) types:	Male.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	The regional Press.
Type of location:	Near village in valley, UFO in the sky.
Visibility conditions:	Night
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:	NL
ALSACAT:	Totally insufficient information.

Sources:

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

Near Orbey, a flying saucer was seen yesterday

Orbey. -- Mr. D. D. saw a flying saucer around 6 am yesterday morning on his way to work. It was a round, luminous disc of orange color first and then blue, which moved quickly across the sky.

[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

Christian Valentin compiled a dossier concerning the 1954 flap in Alsace, the dossier was published in 2004 in the magazine Les Saisons d'Alsace published by the large regional newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace. This is one of the cases he presented.

On November 3, 1954, in Orbey in the Haut-Rhin, the following events occurred:

While going to his workplace at 6 o'clock in the morning, Mr. D. observed a disk of orangish, then blue color, crossing the sky at a high pace.

[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 case of Wednesday, November 3, 1954, at 06:00 a.m. in Orbey, was report in the newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français for Thursday, November 4, 1954, in its bilingual issue:

Near ORBEY, a flying saucer was seen yesterday

Orbey - M. D. D. saw a flying saucer around 6 am yesterday morning on his way to work. It was a round, luminous disc of orange color first and then blue, which moved quickly across the sky.

Discussion:

The information is so meager that any explanation attempt would be vain.

Evaluation:

Totally insufficient information.

Sources references:

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

[nrf1] * "Près d'Orbey, une soucoupe volante a été aperçue hier", article in the regional newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français, France, November 4, 1954.
[cvn1] * "Il y a 50 ans en Alsace et dans le monde - 1954, l'année des OVNIS", article by Christian Valentin, in the magazine "Les Saisons d'Alsace", Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace publisher, #23, page 94, June 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, pp 56-57, 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	March 19, 2005	First published in the France 1954 catalogue, [nrf1], [cvn1], [cvn2].
1.0	Patrick Gross	March 4, 2009	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version.
3.0	Patrick Gross	July 21, 2015	Additions [nrf1], [cvn2].
3.0	Patrick Gross	July 21, 2015	First published in the ALSACAT catalogue.

This page was last updated on July 21, 2015.