ALSACAT-1970-04-20-WITTELSHEIM-1
The magazine "Phénomènes Spatiaux" #24 for June 1970 of the GEPA ufology group published an article about sightings reported by the newspaper L'Alsace for April 24, 25 and 26, 1970.
A correspondent of GEPA then investigated and wrote a report on the observations in the week at various points with a score of witnesses interviewed for Mulhouse, Ensisheim and the Ballon de Guebwiller. Except for two inhabitants of Wittenheim, witnesses wished to remain anonymous for fear of ridicule.
He said that on April 20, 1970, at about 10:30 p.m., one Miss Suzanne Meyer, 26, residing in the cities of Wittelsheim, was coming out from a friend's place and was returning to her parents' home.
When she entered the small family garden, she saw before her toward the mounts of the Vosges, at the height of the Thur farm, an unusual glow, resembling the light of the street lamps illuminating the streets, but more red.
The glow suddenly elevated slowly vertically, without changing color, but emitting beams, or more precisely, light strokes.
Arriving at some altitude, the glow marked a pause, then resumed a horizontal movement heading towards an isolated elongated cloud, located at the height of the first peaks of the Vosges. At the same pace, the light penetrated the cloud that was internally lit for about ten minutes, and then suddenly it was gone, all that remained was the lone motionless cloud in the night sky.
Miss Meyer waited twenty minutes to see "if the light came out of the cloud," but nothing happened and she went, without understanding and without trying to understand.
| Date: | Wittelsheim |
|---|---|
| Time: | ~10:00 p.m. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | June 1970 |
| Reporting delay: | Day, 2 months. |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Wittelsheim |
| Place: | From outside a cité home, UFO in the sky. |
| Latitude: | 47.803 |
| Longitude: | 7.237 |
| Uncertainty ratio: | 3 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 1 |
| Witness(es) ages: | 26 |
| Witness(es) types: | ? |
| Reporting channel: | The regional Press, and/or local ufologist. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | From outside home, UFO in the sky. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes |
| 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: | Unidentified, insufficient information. |
[Ref. gpa1:] "PHENOMENE SPATIAUX" UFOLOGY MAGAZINE - GEPA:
On April 27, Mr Jacques Thomas of Belfort, was kind enough to send us three clippings of the newspaper "L'Alsace" dated respectively 24, 25 and 26 April, reporting that at places located some tens of kilometers from Mulhouse, north of this city, several witnesses had seen on April 20, around 9 pm, and on April 24, around 10:30 p.m., unusual objects.
The object of April 20 was described by three witnesses, including Mr. Claude Blumer, of Jeune Bois - Wittenheim, as a kind of luminous ball seen at ground level and then rising from the ground, by a witness, and high in the sky by two other witnesses who specified it was yellow.
[...]
Mr. Jacques Thomas can not investigate in person immediately, so we, on his advice, alerted two of our Alsatian correspondents. One of them, after careful investigation, sent us the following report:
"The week of April 20 to 26 was marked by a number of unexplained space phenomena, in a triangle formed by three points: Mulhouse, Ensisheim and the balloon of Guebwiller in the Haut-Rhin.
"I interviewed twenty witnesses about these apparitions, but if these people were willing to tell me what they had seen, they asked me insistently not to be named, for fear of ridicule, but two inhabitants of Wittelsheim; about whom I give their exact report further below.
"If I summarize all the statements (the interviewed people do not know each other and stay in different places), it is certain that on five consecutive evenings, Monday 20, Tuesday 21, Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 and Friday 24, April, objects were noticed in the sky of southern Alsace, at night, between 08:30 p.m. and midnight.
"The witnesses placed these moving lights, flashing and silent in the triangle already defined and not elsewhere.
"On April 20, 1970, at 10:30 p.m., Miss Suzanne Meyer, 26, living in the suburbs of Wittelsheim, was leaving a friend and returned to her parents' home. When she entered the small family garden, Miss Meyer, saw in front of her, toward the Vosges mountain range, at the height of the Thur farm, an unusual glow, that was like the light of the street lamps illuminating the streets, but more red. Suddenly the light rose slowly vertically without changing color, but while emitting beams, specifically luminous lines.
"Arrived at a certain altitude, the glow marked a pause, then resumed a horizontal movement heading towards an isolated cloud, an elongated cloud located at the height of the first summits of the Vosges mountains. At the same pace, light penetrated the cloud that was internally lit for about ten minutes, then suddenly the light disappeared. There remained only in the starry sky the motionless elongated cloud.
"Mrs. Meyer waited for twenty minutes to see "if the light came out of the cloud," but nothing happened and she went away, without understanding and without trying to understand.
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN - "BASE OVNI FRANCE":
General features
| Num Base: | 304 |
| Department: | Haut Rhin (68) |
| Place of observation: | Mulhouse |
| Latitude: | 47.75 |
| Longitude: | +7.333 |
| Date of observation: | April 20, 1970 |
| Hour: | 22:30 hours |
| Duration (HH:MM:SS): | N.C. |
| Weather: | Sky cloudy low altitude |
| Type of observation: | Visual: Distant |
| Nbr of witness(es): | 3 |
| Official investigation: | 3 |
Features of the object
| Nbr of object: | 1 |
| Type of object: | Sphere |
| Size: | Not specified |
| Color: | Yellow |
| Luminosity: | Halo |
| Visual characteristics: | Halo |
| Speed: | not defined |
| Movement/Displacement: | No indication |
| Object on the ground: | On the ground then take off |
| Instantaneous disappearance: | No |
Observation
|
Three witnesses, observe during at least one minute a round object of yellow color with a halo. It goes off from the ground and takes off to continue a trajectory interrupted of times when it is motionless and times when it is fast. |
Sources
|
Les Universons by Poher Claude ** http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/universons/ |
[Ref. ud1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
20 April 1970 22:30
Mulhouse, Alsace, France
One object was observed by three witnesses for over three minutes (Blumer).
Hynek rating: NO
The sources are indicated as: "Poher, Claude, Etudes Statistiques Portant sur 1000 Temoignag [sic], Author, undated; GEPA, Phenomenes Spatiaux."
[Ref. spa4:] SPICA UFOLOGY GROUP:
| City | Date and hour of observation | General shape Identification |
General color Hypothesis |
Conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MULHOUSE | Monday 20 April 1970 at 10:30 p.m. | Circular, round or disc (2D) Unidentified |
red None |
Unsolved -lack of info |
[Ref. ub1:] "UFODATENBANK":
This German database managed to record the same case three times:
| Case number: | 19700420 |
| New case number: | |
| Date of observation | 20.04.1970 |
| Hour of observation | 22.30 |
| Zip code: | |
| Place of observation | Mulhouse |
| Geocoordinates: | Longueur: Largeur: |
| Federal state: | |
| Country of observation: | France: |
| Witnesses: | |
| Classification: (Explanation) | |
| Note: (Explanation) | |
| Identification: | |
| Investigation:: | |
| Status of investigation: (Explanation) | (WRITTEN) Reproduction |
| Investigator: | |
| Source: | DUFOA-Deutschland - SiDat - 1996-2002 |
| Case number: | 19700424 |
| New case number: | |
| Date of observation | 24.04.1970 |
| Hour of observation | 22.30 |
| Zip code: | |
| Place of observation | Mulhouse |
| Geocoordinates: | Longueur: Largeur: |
| Federal state: | |
| Country of observation: | France: |
| Witnesses: | |
| Classification: (Explanation) | |
| Note: (Explanation) | |
| Identification: | |
| Investigation:: | |
| Status of investigation: (Explanation) | (WRITTEN) Reproduction |
| Investigator: | |
| Source: | DUFOA-Deutschland - SiDat - 1996-2002 |
| Case number: | 19700424 |
| New case number: | |
| Date of observation | 24.04.1970 |
| Hour of observation | 22.30 |
| Zip code: | |
| Place of observation | Mulhouse |
| Geocoordinates: | Longueur: Largeur: |
| Federal state: | |
| Country of observation: | France: |
| Witnesses: | |
| Classification: (Explanation) | |
| Note: (Explanation) | |
| Identification: | |
| Investigation:: | |
| Status of investigation: (Explanation) | (WRITTEN) Reproduction |
| Investigator: | |
| Source: | DUFOA-Deutschland - SiDat - 1996-2002 |
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFODATENBANK":
| Case ID | 19700420 |
| Global case number: | 19700420-0001-UDB |
| Date of observation (Day) | 20 |
| Date of observation (Month) | 4 |
| Date of observation(Year) | 1970 |
| Hour of observation | 22.30 |
| Zip Code | |
| Place of observation | Mulhouse |
| County | |
| Federal state | |
| Country | France |
| Witnesses | |
| Hynek Classification | |
| Vallee Classification | |
| Ruthledge Classification | |
| Henke Classification | |
| Evaluation | |
| Identification | |
| Investigations | |
| Status of the investigation | |
| Domain | UFO-Datenbank |
| Case added by | |
| Latest change by: | |
| Investigator in charge of the case | |
| Source | DUFOA-Deutschland - SiDat - 1996-2002 |
| State of the information | 25.04.2015 22:16 |
| Accesses to this record | 2 |
| Link to Openmap | http://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search?q=Mulhouse,France |
| Link to theobservation | http://www.ufo-db.com/WfrmSetupSichtung.aspx?uid_Sichtung=345ff730-9c49-4ab4-9064-0769d6dbf61b |
| Summary for guests | Les faits et éventuellement d'autres documents seront publiés progressivement. Nous vous remercions de votre patience. |
| Preview image |
| Case ID | 19700420 |
| Global case number: | 19700420-0002-UDB |
| Date of observation (Day) | 20 |
| Date of observation (Month) | 4 |
| Date of observation(Year) | 1970 |
| Hour of observation | 22.30 |
| Zip Code | |
| Place of observation | Mulhouse |
| County | |
| Federal state | |
| Country | France |
| Witnesses | |
| Hynek Classification | |
| Vallee Classification | |
| Ruthledge Classification | |
| Henke Classification | |
| Evaluation | |
| Identification | |
| Investigations | |
| Status of the investigation | |
| Domain | UFO-Datenbank |
| Case added by | |
| Latest change by: | |
| Investigator in charge of the case | |
| Source | DUFOA-Deutschland - SiDat - 1996-2002 |
| State of the information | 25.04.2015 22:16 |
| Accesses to this record | 2 |
| Link to Openmap | http://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search?q=Mulhouse,France |
| Link to theobservation | http://www.ufo-db.com/WfrmSetupSichtung.aspx?uid_Sichtung=f7570a2a-f722-4511-bec7-098bb5b1e266 |
| Summary for guests | Les faits et éventuellement d'autres documents seront publiés progressivement. Nous vous remercions de votre patience. |
| Preview image |
|
It is not known exactly where the woman was during the observation. We are told she was returning to her parents living in the cités of Wittelsheim, but that does not give a more precise position than: one of the home cities of Wittelsheim.
The Thur Valley in the part where the farm must have been, is the Thann valley. There are for example the farm-inn of the Gsang, but many others, so that the indicated direction can only be described as the direction to the Thann valley.
This gives a direction of observation which must be approximately East, considering that the entry of the Thur valley is about 10 kilometers East of Wittelsheim.
The maneuvers described are such that I do not think an astronomical explanation can seriously be claimed; and this did not seem to match typical movements of a plane or helicopter. Unfortunately, no duration is given, so that if I do not have an identification for the phenomenon, I have nothing to support a claim that it must have been coming from another planet.
Unidentified, 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 | March 17, 2016 | Creation, [gpa1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 17, 2016 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | January 25, 2018 | Addition [ubk1]. |
