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 Lucelle, on May 12, 1975:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1975-05-12-LUCELLE-1

Summary:

The ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit #147 for August - September 1975, listing the Press news, reported that on Monday, May 12, 1975, in Lucelle in the Haut-Rhin, according to the newspaper Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace for May 15, 1975, Mr. Alphonse Gaser, his family and six customers observed around 9:00 p.m., a luminous object near the TV transmitter "Les Ordons" for 3 to 4 minutes. Shaped like an orange ball of fire, the object was gigantic, motionless a few hundred meters southeast of the TV station, above the trees. It suddenly disappeared "as if it had been turned off."

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	May 12, 1975
Time:	09:00 p.m.
Duration:	3 to 4 minutes.
First known report date:	May 15, 1975
Reporting delay:	3 days.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Lucelle
Place:	?
Latitude:	47.421
Longitude:	7.246
Uncertainty radius:	1 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	9 or more.
Number of known witnesses:	1
Number of named witnesses:	1
Witness(es) ages:	?
Witness(es) types:	?

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Newspaper Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace.
Type of location:	?
Visibility conditions:	Night
UFO observed:	Yes
UFO arrival observed:	No
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:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Unidentified, insufficient information.

Sources:

[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":

MONDAY MAY 12, 1975: LUCELLE (Haut-Rhin)

Mr. Alphonse Gaser, his family and six clients were able to observe, at around 9:00 pm, a luminous object near the "Les Ordons" TV transmitter for 3 to 4 minutes. Shaped like an orange ball of fire, the object was gigantic, motionless a few hundred yards SE of the TV relay, above the trees. The object suddenly disappeared "as if it had been turned off".

(Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, for 5/15/75).

[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":

The magazine published a call by Michel Figuet to delegates and investigators; he was looking for information on cases, including:

CE1

051976 Dannemarie

68210 B6

(Lucelle)

[Ref. cnu1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "CNEGU":

F/00/68/75 05 12 (01)

On Monday, May 12, 1975, around 9 p.m., a group of more than 7 people from Lucelle (68) observed a stationary orange ball of fire near the "Les Ordons" TV rebroadcaster to the SE, the object was gigantic and stationary above the trees. It suddenly disappeared.

Source: "Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace" for 15/05/75 in LDLN nr 147 p. 27.

Discussion:

The TV tower "Les Ordons" is at 3.7 km in the South-South-West (196°) of the center of the hamlet of Lucelle.

We are not told exactly where the witnesses were. As we are told of a family and "six customers", it was probably a shop or cafe or restaurant, but there a number of those are in all directions around "Les Ordons". I have identified one which according to my research would be the right one, located 6 km North-North-East of the transmitter. The phenomenon would therefore have been quite far in the direction 209°.

A check of the astronomical situation gives me this:

At 209°, there is nothing remarkable. Venus is at 283°, elevation 22°. The Moon is at 297° (Northwest), elevation 2° 50'. Mars set since 2:30 p.m. So there is nothing that from Lucelle or the place I think I found would have been in the right direction "to the South-East" of the transmitter.

Now, the report is very succinct. Nothing would prevent from thinking of a meteor, or a military drill flare, for example. An "unidentified" therefore, but certainly not enough to assure that this was an extraterrestrial craft.

Evaluation:

Unidentified, insufficient information.

Sources references:

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

[dna1] ? Regional newspaper Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, France, May 15, 1975.
[ldl1] * "Nouvelles Récentes", newspaper clipping by L. Tahon, in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #147, page 27, August - September 1975.
[ldl2] * Ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #239-240, page 44, May / June 1984.
[cnu1] * "Catalogue régional rétroactif de la zone CNEGU années 1948 à 1975, catalogue by the Comité Nord-Est des Groupements Ufologiques (CNEGU), France, page 17, digital issue 2006.

File history:

Authoring:

Main author:	Patrick Gross
Contributors:	None
Reviewers:	None
Editor:	Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	May 29, 2021	Creation, [ldl1], [ldl2].
1.0	Patrick Gross	May 29, 2021	First published.
1.1	Patrick Gross	January 19, 2023	Addition [cnu1].

This page was last updated on January 19, 2023.