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 Eschentzwiller, on March 1, 1978:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1978-03-01-ESCHENTZWILLER-1

Summary:

The regional newspaper L'Alsace for March 4, 1978, wrote that on Wednesday evening, March 1, 1978, around 11 p.m., in Eschentzwiller, a couple had noticed a strange object flying in the sky.

It was ovoid, red, blue and green, shimmering, and appeared to move towards Bruebach then seemed to split in two, before disappearing.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	March 1, 1978
Time:	~11:00 p.m.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	March 4, 1978
Reporting delay:	Hours, 3 days.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Eschentzwiller
Place:	From Eschentzwiller, UFO in the sky.
Latitude:	47.713
Longitude:	7.398
Uncertainty radius:	1 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	2
Number of known witnesses:	1 to 2
Number of named witnesses:	0
Witness(es) ages:	Adults or aged.
Witness(es) types:	A couple.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	The regional Press.
Type of location:	From village, 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:	A weird flying object.

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Possible planes or helicopters, insufficient information.

Sources:

[Ref. lae1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ALSACE":

UFO here, UFO there...

Wednesday evening [March 1, 1978] in the Mulhousian area. At about 11 p.m., in Eschentzwiller, a couple noticed an odd object flying in the sky. Ovoid, of red, blue and green scintillating colors, the UFO appeared to move in direction of Bruebach, then seemed to duplicate, before disappearing.

In Mulhouse, a reader of the Mathias Grunewald street, from her balcony, on the 10th floor, saw above the Rebberg, at about 11:30 p.m., a dark red ball, black in its center, and motionless. The ball disappeared, and at once five pink gleams appeared, very sharp, also motionless, laid out on a line and very regularly spaced.

The five "headlights" disappeared, reappeared, and died out. The ball of fire was re-ignited during a few moments. After that the observant did not see anything anymore.

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

ON MARCH 1st, 1978. ESCHENTZWILLER - MULHOUSE (Haut-Rhin)

At about 11 p.m. a couple observed in the sky an ovoid object of red blue and scintillating green color, moving towards Bruebach. The object seemed to make a copy of itself before disappearing.

("L'Alsace" for 3/4/78)

[Ref. aldl:] MRS. GUEUDELOT, "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT" ARCHIVE:

MARCH 1st, 1978.-

ESCHENTZWILLER - MULHOUSE. - (68)

Time: about 11 p.m.

A couple observed in the sky an ovoid object of red and blue and green color shimmering, heading towards Bruebach. The object seemed to split in two before disappearing.

"L'ALSACE" for MARCH 4, 1978

LDLN #174 (APRIL 1978)

[Ref. ofe1:] FORUM "OVNIS FRANCE":

The article I published in [la1] was copied as is without source reference onto this forum, introduced as "Forum of discussion and information about the ufo phenomenon, ufo, secret, conspiracy, manipulation etc... Welcome on ovnisfrance.fr our forum."

[Ref. spa1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "SPICA":

City	Date and hour of observation	General shape Identification	General color Hypothesis	Conclusion
ESCHENTZWILLER	Wednesday 1 March 1978 at 23:00	saucer, rugby ball (3D) Unidentified	Several colors None	Unsolved -lack of info

Discussion:

It should be noted that 12 km southeast of Eschentzwiller, we have the Basel - Mulhouse Airport strip, and the strip goes almost in the direction of Eschentzwiller (along the red line on the map below).

The "move towards Bruebach" indicates that the object, if it came from the runway, came almost towards the witness, going barely to their right. Bruebach is 3 kilometers east-south-east of Eschentzwiller.

The object could also have been two small planes from the Habsheim airfield 3 kilometers from Eschentzwiller, or two helicopters passing by.

The "duplication" of the object could be that there were two objects at first at positions where one would have thought to see only one object.

There is obviously a severe lack of information: no duration, no angular size, no angular velocity, no direction, no noise information, etc. Thus, any interpretation is speculative.

Evaluation:

Possible planes or helicopters, insufficient information.

Sources references:

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

[lae1] * Article in the regional newspaper L'Alsace, France, March 4, 1978.
[ldl1] * "Nouvelles Récentes", column of the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #174, page 20, April 1978.
[ald1] * Record of the archive by Mrs. Gueudelot, of the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, not dated, published circa 2020 by the ufology association SCEAU, France, at https://sceau-archives-ovni.org/fonds/fond_gueudelot/base_guy_jpr_fiches_gueudelot.html
[ofe1] * UFO web forum OVNIS France, not dated, found in 2014, at http://ovnisfrance.forumactif.com/t101-les-ovnis-dans-la-presse-quotidienne
[spa1] * "DEPARTEMENT 68 - HAUT-RHIN", listing of UFO sighting reports by the Alsatian ufology group SPICA, Alsace, France, not dated, found in May 2015, at http://www.spica.org/Page_Listing_68.htm

File history:

Authoring:

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

Changes history:

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	July 5, 2015	Creation, [lae1], [ldl1], [ofe1], [spa1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	July 5, 2015	First published.
1.1	Patrick Gross	September 8, 2023	Addition [ald1].

This page was last updated on September 8, 2023.