ALSACAT-1968-07-23-MULHOUSE-1
In the "Contact Lecteurs" supplement #96 for November 1968 of the ufology magazine "Lumières Dans La Nuit", it is said that in Mulhouse on July 23, 1968, at 01:45, after a storm, Mr. A. Bouaziz saw "a huge luminous oval disc rising behind the trees at about 2 km. Of pale orange color, it was not flashing, did not change color, and the central portion was dark. It was heading South to North-East at a fairly high speed."
The observation lasted about a minute, after what the sic that seemed to take some altitude entered a formation of low altitude clouds and never emerged of it.
| Date: | July 23, 1968 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 01:50 a.m. |
| Duration: | ~1 minute. |
| First known report date: | November 1968? |
| Reporting delay: | Months? |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Mulhouse |
| Place: | ? |
| Latitude: | 47.750 |
| Longitude: | 7.335 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 10 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 1 |
| Witness(es) ages: | ? |
| Witness(es) types: | ? |
| Reporting channel: | Ufology magazine LDLN. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | ? |
| 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: | ? |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Unexplained, but insufficient information. |
[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
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68 RHIN-HAUT MULHOUSE
July 23. 1968, 1:45
F. yes
After the storm, I see in front of me, a little to the right, an enormous luminous disc of oval shape emerging from behind the trees about 2 kms away.
Pale orange in color, it did not flicker or change color, and its central part was dark. It was heading S. towards N.E. at a fairly high speed. The sighting lasted about 1 minute, after which this disc which appeared to be rising slightly in altitude entered a low-level cloud formation and did not come out again.
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I certify on my honor the truthfulness of my statement.
Witness statement of Mr. A. BOUAZIZ
[Ref. ldl2:] MAGAZINE "LUMIERE DANS LA NUIT":
On 23.7.68 it was M. Bouaziz who observed an enormous luminous disc of pale orange color (Contact 96 bis of November 68).
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH:
8859: 1968/07/23 01:50 2 7:21:00 E 47:45:00 N 3333 WEU FRN HRH 6:6
MULHOUSE,FR:1 OBS:HUGE ORG.DISK > BHND TREES 2km AWAY:FAST GRADUAL ASCENT >>NE
Ref#230 LDLN CONTACT LECTEURS series '68-'72 Volume 1 Issue 4 : FOREST
[Ref. cnu1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "CNEGU":
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F/00/68/68 07 23 (01)
On Tuesday July 23, 1968, at 1:45 a.m., a witness (A. Bouaziz) from Mulhouse (68) observed in front of him, a huge disc emerging behind the trees about 2 km away, pale orange in color with a dark central part. Heading south to northeast at a high speed, it enters a cloud formation at an altitude.
(Source: testimony in LDLN n°96 bis-Nov. 1968 p;8).
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
23 July 1968 01:50
Mulhouse, Alsace, France
Hynek rating: NL
The sources are indicated as: "Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002."
[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 a case for July 23, 1968, at 1:45 in Mulhouse in the Haut-Rhin was published in Lumières Dans La Nuit - Contact Lecteurs #96 bis for November 1968:
After the storm, Mr. A. B. sees a huge luminous oval disc arising behind the trees about 2 kms away. Of pale orange color, it was not blinking, did not change color, and the central portion was dark. It was heading South to East at a fairly high speed. The sighting lasted about a minute, after that the disc that seemed to take some altitude entered a cloud formation of low altitude and did not come out of it.
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My first thought was the possibility that it was the moon. Certainly, the Moon is not likely to move "at a considerable speed", I'm not foolish enough to believe such a thing, but yet I know for a fact that if by luck Mr. Bouaziz was driving a car - who knows, it is not specified - he could have been a victim of this very famous illusion of movement of the Moon.
But it turns out that the moon was not visible in Mulhouse at that date and time.
The mention of the thunderstorm made me think about the phenomenon of ball lightning. It occurs, it seems, during thunderstorms. This is a very rare but documented phenomenon.
But the ball of the famous ball lightning is very small, a few inches to a few feet at most; then it is quite difficult to understand how Mr. Bouaziz could have located it 2 kilometers away from him. Certainly estimates of distances are not good for unknown objects in the night, but here, if it was ball lightning, we know the dimensions and it rather strongly implies that it is in the field of the human stereoscopic vision, about fifty meters, with little chance then to be evaluated as be 2 kilometers.
There is of course also the entrance into the clouds. I know no case of ball lightning seen passing from behind the trees into a cloud layer, even when it is a low cloud layer. This implies a certain distance upwards, while ball lightning generally stays at ground level.
The dark center is another feature incompatible with the observations of ball lightning.
In fact this central dark part is a real curiosity - for example I do not know any description of a plane mistaken for a UFO described like this ... So if Mr. Bouaziz or somebody with information on the case reads this, he should get in touch. More information would help mostly on the apparent size of the thing, the exact location, etc.
Unexplained, but insufficient information..
* = 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 |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | August 17, 2014 | Creation, [ldl1], [ldl2], [uda1], [cvn2]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | August 17, 2014 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | May 18, 2021 | Addition [lhh1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | January 15, 2023 | Addition [cnu1]. |
