ALSACAT-1970-04-20-WITTENHEIM-1
The regional newspaper L'Alsace, in the Mulhouse edition of April 22, 1970, reported that a resident of Wittelsheim had seen on the evening of April 20, 1970, a "flying saucer", and had come, intrigued, to the newspaper's press room to let them know about it.
This lady, from the courtyard of her house, looking towards 08:45 p.m. in the direction of the Vosges, saw, rising from the ground, something which resembled a ball of light, surrounded by rays. The thing went up to the sky in a straight line, in front of the background of the mountains, veered towards a small cloud, entered into it and did not come out.
The lady said that it "could be in the Berrwiller area."
The newspaper commented that there are "obviously crowds of natural explanations that come to mind"; which they would refrain from citing, having "no opportunity to verify the facts."
The next day, April 23, 1970, the same newspaper reported that a resident of Lutterbach, Mr. Humbert, phoned the newspaper's Wittelsheim office newspaper the previous morning to confirm this luminous phenomenon. He was looking in the direction of Richwiller and Wittelsheim from his house near the railway line (drawing a line on a map, one finds that it ends up in the Berrwiller area) and suddenly saw, according to his words, "an object the size of a grapefruit and the color of an orange, which rose vertically in the sky, entered a small cloud and did not come out."
Mr. Humbert had listened carefully, but heard no engine noise; which in his opinion precluded the explanation that would be provided by a jet aircraft.
The newspaper commented that the phenomenon is confirmed, and that a resident of the Berrwiller area "maybe will agree to tell us if he saw in his corner aliens or young people having fun with firecrackers or celebrating a boy's farewell."
In fact, the next day, April 24, 1970, the newspaper reported that there is still no explanation, but one more witness, a Mulhouse resident who, after his work, liked to walk to the limit of the city towards the road of Cernay. Having observed the phenomenon, he had located it much closer than hitherto thought: "If it had happened at Berrwiller, I would not have seen the ball of light at ground level. It would have hidden its departure, as I saw it from the ground, it must have taken off in a much closer corner of Wittelsheim, for example on the meadows of the Thur."
The next day, April 25, 1970, the same newspaper added that two other persons, C. B., who lives in the rue d'Auvergne and one of his friends living in Wittenheim Jeune-Bois, saw the UFO in the skies of their locality. It was a yellow ball which, high up in the sky, was heading North-South, seeming to come from the direction of Pulversheim. Both teenagers were positive: it was neither a balloon nor a shooting star.
In the regional newspaper L'Alsace for April 24, 25 and 26, 1970, various observations in the Mulhouse sector were reported.
One of the observations is mentioned in L'Alsace for April 25, 1970, dated April 20, 1970. Claude Blumer from the rue d'Auvergne in Wittenheim and one of his friends from the Jeune Bois district in Wittenheim, reportedly saw a yellow ball passing very high in the sky, coming from the direction of Pulversheim and following a North-South course. The two witnesses, teenagers, had assured that it was neither a balloon nor a shooting star.
A local GEPA investigator, not named in the magazine of this ufology group, had questioned about twenty witnesses about these appearances. All agreed to tell what they saw, only two inhabitants of Wittelsheim had accepted that their name be published. And unfortunately, if some of the observations of the series are described, I found no more accurate account of the observation of the two witnesses at Wittenheim on April 20, 1970.
| Date: | April 20, 1970 |
|---|---|
| Time: | Night? |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | April 25, 1970 |
| Reporting delay: | 4 days. |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Wittenheim |
| Place: | ? |
| Latitude: | 47.809 |
| Longitude: | 7.235 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 4 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 or 2 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 1 |
| Witness(es) ages: | Teenagers. |
| Witness(es) types: | Male teenager residents. |
| Reporting channel: | Reported to the regional Press. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | ? |
| Visibility conditions: | Night? |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | Yes |
| 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: | Not a balloon, not a shooting star. |
| Hynek: | ? |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Unidentified, insufficient information. |
[Ref. lae1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ALSACE":
Two other people, Claude Blumel, who lives in rue d'Auvergne and one of his friends who is living in Jeune-Bois Wittenheim, saw on Monday the unidentified flying object (UFO) in the sky of their locality. It was a yellow ball which, very high in the sky, was heading north-south, apparently coming from the direction of Pulversheim. Both teenagers are positive: it was neither a balloon nor a shooting star.
[Ref. gp1:] "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.
"Ms. 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. uda1:] "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:] UFOLOGY GROUP "SPICA":
| 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 |
yellow None |
Unsolved -lack of info |
[Ref. ubk1:] "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: | Length: Width: |
| 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: | Length: Width: |
| 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 |
|
The situation is rather confusing since there have been multiple observations in the Mulhouse area for several days, but generally poorly documented.
Here for example, there is no hour of observation; it can be assumed that it was in the night since both witnesses said it was not a shooting star, a typically nocturnal thing.
It is therefore possible that this observation confirms that of Suzanne Meyer at Wittelsheim at this time around 10:30 p.m., but this is by no means certain.
The two young people from Wittenheim see their UFO coming from North-North-West (from Pulversheim). Suzanne Meyer in Wittelsheim is 7 km west-southwest of both teenagers and sees the object in the direction of the Valley of Thur, so to the east. It is not yellow but red, it is not high in the sky since it is climbing towards the sky.
The sources referring to "three" witnesses simply took it as obvious that these two observations would be those of the same object, but this is not obvious. Only the SPICA in its listing notes two separate observations (but without any details, and placing them both in Mulhouse and both at 10:30 p.m.).
|
The two teenagers report their observation because the newspaper had reported UFOs in the area. Their description as given in the newspaper does not contain any particular strangeness, perhaps due to lack of data, perhaps because it was nothing more than an airplane.
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 |
| Editeur: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | July 2, 2018 | Creation, [la1], [cpr1], [cpr2], [lcn1], [uda1], [ubk1], [spa4]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | July 2, 2018 | First published. |
