ALSACAT:

OBJECT ON THE GROUND NEAR MULHOUSE

Date: Probably August 28, 1977.
Location: Forest of Hardt ( 10 Kms from Mulhouse)
Moon: Rise 6:03 ( HLF ) Set 5:30.
Weather : Beautiful, few clouds, mild temperatures. Sweet.

Observation:

Nature: Landing with traces.
Subject: Ball orange-red, huge.
Duration: Two minutes approx.
Witnesses: four in number.

Investigation Investigation Service GEOS ref. 288h77.

THE FACTS

At 4 o'clock in the morning, our friends decided to go back home in Mulhouse. They were at a dance in Colmar.

Jean-Claude takes his car, loads his companions and they leave. Arrived about ten kms from Mulhouse the car breaks down suddenly right in a turn of the road (...) and without possible explanation. Only the headlights remain lit. The car crossed the rest of the turn in freewheel and Jean-Claude stops on the edge the road.

Facing an important straight line of about 7 kms. Our friends looked in vain for the nature of the failure. Note that the car, a R.5 Alpine, was less than five months old at the time of the incident.

According to Jean-Claude the car had the engine off as when one falls out of gas.

Inside the car, a radio-cassette decj was functioning. But also at the same time itfailed. And, in the following manner:

"You see, when you plug [sic "load"] a cassette and you disconnect it [sic, "eject it"] without stopping the "play" button, the cassette slows slow, and blam, nothing anymore."

So as if the power was no longer opertating. However the headlights were still working, and so they could pass the turn without trouble.

Seeing that they could not do anything about it, Jean-Claude turns the headlights off and they decide to walk away. And it is a half-hour later that the phenomenon occurred...

Arrived at the Hardt forest, located about ten kms from Mulhouse, they saw a huge object, malformed ball-shaped, come in between two clouds, It was red and orange and a kind of light verging on the white surrounded the object. It is this white color that hurt the witnesses' eyes.

Initially the witnesses think they see the moon. But they quickly change their minds, because the object began a descent to the ground. At least our witnesses supposes it [sic, "suppose"] because they do not really seen [sic, "see"] the descent of the object. It was between two clouds and all of a sudden, it is more on the left....

At this time the white light surrounding the ball disappeared... The object then began its trajectory in Z in space. (see sketch).

Between the positions took [sic, "taken"] by the object, during the descent to the ground, the ball stopped. The path between two points materialized by a bright orange line. This made the witnesse think the speed of movement was extremely fast.

When the ball had finished its Z, it was just above the trees. Majestically and especially impressive for its size.

Witnesses remember they perceived a common noise when the ball had appeared between the two clouds. This sound was muffled, like a vacuum cleaner when it is being turned off. The sound was gentle and loud, but of low volume.

After the appearance of the ball, and when it began its descent, disappeared [sic, "the sound disappeared"?]

Returning to our subject, when it is above the trees. Below the object, a clearing of trees (pine trees - fir trees - etc... ) It measures 50 m in diameter. This is where the object lands.... Arriving on the ground, the ball seemed to take the shape of a rugby ball. Its descent was slow. It exceeded the height of the trees. Our witnesses believe that the object could have been about fifty meters in diameter. The trees measuring at least 25 m.

At this time, the witnesses are about 300 meters from the location and on the other side of the road. They observe it very well be behind the trees. And in silence, they walk towards the ball.

This is when coming from the direction of Mulhouse, a R. 16 [sic "comes" ?]. Immediatley the ball goes out or disappears. We will never know. The landing lasted 10 seconds at most.

Our friends go to spot and find the traces left by the object.....

THE TRACES.

The object landed in this clearing surrounded by trees. The land is covered with grass. Witnesses noted that the air was warmer on the site of the landing than on the surroundings. The grass is yellowed, as if slightly burnt. No smoke. A strange odor... that our witnesses never smelled, but which nonetheless recalls the odor given off during pipe work. But it was lighter, and it didn't bother.

Even today, having visited the place, you can see these traces.

NOTE.

The next day, Jean-Claude returns to the place to get his car back. To his astonishment, it starts up again! As for the radio-cassette player, taking out the cassette, he notices that it is blocked. To be reported in the region a base of Mirage. No high voltage line on the premises. Five weeks after this event, in Mertzein [sic], an object lands in a field and a white man comes out...

WITNESS PSYCHOLOGY.

Jean-Claude GESITS, the main witness, born October 22, 1957, does not believe in UFOs. Now he has changed his mind about it. He seems sincere. He always asks himself a few questions about his observation: Who caused the breakdown of his vehicle, who stopped his radio-cassette, what did he observe that day?.

He an electronics buff. He is brave.

INVESTIGATOR'S COMMENT.

Many of the side effects caused by UFOs can be found here:

- Traces.
- Odor
- Noise.
- Car breakdown.
- Radio and headlights failure.
- Effects of lights on the eyes of witnesses.

What seems most incredible is the size of the object. The kind of traces noted, is also rare [sic] described during landings.

File not closed. To be continued therefore.

Ref. F/00/68/77 08 28 (01) IQ: 1,0,1,1,1 (4) IE: 0

Sunday August 28, around 4 a.m. (UTC: 2 a.m.) 4 residents of Mulhouse (68) are returning home in a R5 alpine on the road that runs along the Hart forest. Arrived at about ten kms from Mulhouse, the car breaks down before a bend. Fortunately the headlights are still on and the driver manages to park his vehicle in neutral gear. They decide to continue on foot. After half an hour of walking at night, they see a huge orange glow between the clouds. The phenomenon seems to descend while zigzagging towards the ground. A thud is heard as the ball seems to land behind the trees in the distance (300m). A vehicle then appears and lights up the landscape, when it moves away everything has disappeared. The witnesses go to the place and note traces in a clearing and note a strange smell. The traces of yellowed grass were noted by the investigator.

Explanation: reconciliation of facts with no real link with a probable confusion with the moon (E.Maillot 91).

Source: GEOS investigation ("Les E. T. 11 nr6 April 78), Delaval cat. 90.

Object on the ground near Mulhouse
On August 28, 1977 at 05h in the morning.

This case was the subject of a pre-investigation on November 28 and 29, 1977. Only the main witness could be heard, being of the same corporation as me (77/02). I noted this when writing my report: "A site visit proves therefore essential as well as additional investigation with the three other witnesses."

Date: Very probably August 28, 1977, at about 5 am.
Location: Forest of the Hardt (10 km from Mulhouse).
Moonrise: 7:16 p.m.
Moon set: 5:30
Sunrise: 06:30
Sunset: 7:49
Full moon on August 28 at 21:10
Weather: Clear beautiful, little clouds, mild weather, warm weather.
Observation: landing traces.
Subject: Huge red orange ball.
Duration: two minutes.
Witnesses: 4, the main one being Jean-Claude G ...

Narrative summary:

Around 4 am, four friends decide it's time to go home in Mulhouse (97) [sic, 68]. They are then in Colmar at a ball.

J Claude takes his car, his companions get inside and he starts. About ten kilometers before Mulhouse, the car suddenly fails in a turn. Only the headlights are on and the vehicle passes in freewheels but fortunately at

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moderate speed, the rest of the curve without real danger! J Claude manages to then stop the vehicle on the low side.

Facing them, a long straight line is drawn (approximately 7 km). They seek in vain the cause of the failure, especially incomprehensible as the car, a R5 Alpine, is only five months old.

According to J Claude, the only witness interviewed, engine cut itself as if it had been out of gas. Inside, the radio cassette player continues to operate then it also fails. The failure is so odd that J Claude describes it:

"You see, when a casette [sic] tape is inserted and you turn it off without using the "play" button the tape slows down and blam, nothing! (Sic)"

So if we want to understand this part, it is as if the battery power no longer flowed. But the headlights still functioned, though!

Noting that efforts to restart the vehicle were vain, J Claude decides to turn off the headlights and encourages his companions in a forced walk by foot.

It was after a good half hour walk that the phenomenon manifested itself.

Arrived at the edge of the forest of the Hart, they see a huge object shaped like a "malformed" ball arise between two clouds. It was red orange in color with a kind of whitish halo, hurting the eyes! A deaf sound seemed to accompany it.

At first, they think of the moon, but they change their mids quickly because the object initiated a descent to the ground. At least they assume it did, because the phenomenon that was the moment before between two clouds finds itself suddenly leftmost and visually lower.

At this point, the white light disappears. The object then begins a path following a "Z" in space. Between the

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positions of each leg of the "Z", the ball observe a stop time. The path between the points is materialized by a bright orange line. This, for our witnesses, is reminiscent of an extremely fast speed.

When the "Z" is completed (the object is just behind the trees, majestic and especially impressive in size ) J Claude remembers he perceived a sound like the one heard at the beginning of the phenomenon. A loud noise similar to that of a vacuum cleaner that is turned off.

A well perceptible noise although of low volume.

During the trajectory "Z", the noise had stopped!

While the object is behind the trees, the witnesses are unaware that underneath lies a clearing measuring fifty meters. This is where the subject object lands. Once on the ground, it takes the form of a shape close to that of a rugby ball.

The descent is very slow. the huge size is described by the witness who narrates the events as "exceeding the trees (?)"

According to J Claude, he was with his friends about 300 meters of the object, he claims it was about 50 m in diameter. The trees are reaching 25/30 meters in height.

J Claude silently waved so that all head to the object, but, from Mulhouse, "a R 16 comes and immediately the luminous ball takes off or disappears. The object seems to have only stayed about ten seconds on the ground.

When J Claude and his friends arrive at the estimated location of the landing, in making his way through the vegetation, they find traces they believe to have been left by the object.

The traces

The UFO landed in a clearing surrounded by trees.Tthe ground is covered with grass. Witnesses on the scene note that there is no object but the air seems warmer than

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outside of the clearing, and inside, the grass is burned, yellowed, to be more accurate.

J Claude remembers the presence of an odor similar to the smell that emerges when one opens or "works on the sewer pipes." When he tells me this story, J Claude says the traces can still be seen where nothing seems to grow anymore at this place. Near the traces, a cleanly cut tree!

Notes

The very day of the observation, J Claude returned to the spot to retrieve his car. To his amazement it restarts correctly. There is a military base 5 km away, sheltering Mirages and Fouga-Magister. No high voltage line. J Claude remembers that five weeks after his adventure, he had heard that an object had landed in a field at Mertzein [sic] and that a white man had emerged.

J Claude was born on 22 October 1957, this main witness seems sincere. He admits he did not believe in this kind of phenomenon before the observation. He wonders if the failure of the vehicle is linked. He had no particular fear and it was actually him who first went to the object on the ground. He would not claim to be very brave though.

This leaves in wondering.

In this story (not investigated - recall), we find the characteristic atmosphere of the stories of UFO sightings at the time and even now. there are the famous side-effects such as noise, peculiar smell, the failure of the car, which, even if it occurred before the appearance is tempting to link to it.

This failure raises questions, however, at least should ask questions, to those who think an exotic object can produce this kind of effect, even at distances (space and time). Indeed, how to

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explain that the second vehicle then arriving when the object was on the ground had not "suffered" the same effect?

Is the moon set really foreign to all this? The description of the witness ("between the clouds" and "close to the ground") irresistibly evokes an effect of "slip" characteristic of a moon lying in front of tired witnesses.

I have seen this many times. But the path does not match anything so classic! The yellowed grass as described by Jean Claude is not in the realm of proof of any landing. Only a site visit could check if this yellowing exists and if so if it is out of a natural yellowing, for starters. The dimensions given by our narrator for the clearing are exactly those he considers for the object. Does this reinforces the consistency at all? For hime maybe, and it could be unconsciously.

Fifty meters! Hell! But even considering this as perfectly true I know at least one case (duly investigated) where the refraction of the rising sun on a low layer of clouds had caused some excitement on the part of witnesses. A mass greater than a house! (We'll see this later).

In conclusion, items not so strange than they seem and other more disturbing and an absence of checks. This is the case of many testimonials about the UFO phenomenon, especially at this time when the means had nothing to do with those that can be used nowadays particularly via the Internet. It is the same ignorance by ufologists of the memorial reconstruction and adaptation to the specific language of each witness by his studies and his experience. This aspect of the phenomenon inside the phenomenon appeared to me essential for a proper reading grid.

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Going back to the above case, another information still: even if this road has little traffic at the time of observation and it our witnesses had to walk nearly 7 kilometers before arriving to a city (Mulhouse), it would have been very important to find the driver of the R 16 who must have seen something before the light turned off suddenly. Indeed, if the ball actually the exceeded trees, such a phenomenon was seen from afar by the occupant of the vehicle. Why did he not stop then? Has he recognized the object in question? Was there nothing to see?

What is even more extraordinary is the publication of the case in a UFO magazine in the Paris region at the time of the facts, without any warning, as a case verified in situ, unequivocal and unambiguous!

Better, I learned that another magazine, of the tiny group of "Frontières de la Science", whom I belonged then, is said to have published this case in 1978 at pages 11/14 titles "D. S. investigation... the name of their president then?"

I can not endorse this as no investigations were made either by me nor by this gentleman. Nobody saw the ground traces that are "still visible today" (ie 1978 according to this magazine).

Again, a false information. ufology does not need this. Anyway, a quick check via Stellarium made later indicates that the moon was very close to the ground as it was at a 10° angular height in the west-southwest. Visually, a moon near

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the horizon appears larger than when it is high in the sky. It is a fact that everyone can check. Less than 24 hours later, it was the full moon (illuminated upfront at 99.2%).

How could the witness could not see the moon? Simply by confusing it with another object. The discussions we had before about UFOs have had some influence despite an apparent skepticism.

Although surprising, the assertion that misunderstandings with the moon or other planets are more common than it appears, is a verified fact. (See the work of CNEGU about this thanlks to the SAROS cycle) and the reader will have some examples in reading the rest of this booklet.