ALSACAT-1979-05-11-STRASBOURG-1
The newspaper Le Républicain Lorrain for May 13, 1979, reported that a "strange colored rain fell", on May 11, 1979, on a district of Strasbourg, smearing a hundred cars small purple spots, and that "first analyzes suggest that it is a non-toxic product."
The newspaper estimated that the cloud at the origin of this rain, which followed a period of nice weather, could have formed at a certain distance from Strasbourg and have been pushed by a south-easterly wind. The newspaper mentioned that a similar phenomenon had occurred in early May in Lyon, in the Guillotière district, where a blue rain had also stained cars.
This obviously does not appear to be a "UFO sighting" at all but was nevertheless published in a ufology magazine, Ufologia, of the Cercle Français de Recherches Ufologiques (CFRU), in issue #22 of April - May - June 1980.
| Date: | May 11, 1979 |
|---|---|
| Time: | ? |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | May 13, 1979 |
| Reporting delay: | 2 days. |
| Department: | Bas-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Strasbourg |
| Place: | |
| Latitude: | 48.574 |
| Longitude: | 7.738 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 4 km. |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | ? |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | ? |
| Number of named witnesses: | ? |
| Witness(es) ages: | ? |
| Witness(es) types: | ? |
| Reporting channel: | The Peess. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | City. |
| Visibility conditions: | ? |
| UFO observed: | No. |
| UFO arrival observed: | N/A. |
| UFO departure observed: | N/A |
| Entities: | No. |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Hynek: | N/A |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | ? |
[Ref. ufa1:] UFOLGY BULLETIN "UFOLOGIA":
|
A strange colored rain fell on a district of Strasbourg on Friday, smearing a hundred cars with small purple spots. The first analyzes suggest that this is a non-toxic product.
The cloud at the origin of this rain, which followed a period of nice weather, could have formed some distance from Strasbourg and have been pushed by a south-easterly wind.
At the beginning of the month, a similar phenomenon occurred in Lyon, in the Guillotière district, where blue rain had also stained cars.
"Républicain Lorrain" 5/13/79
|
Ancient tales speak of rains of various colors, notably red, and often interpreted as "rains of blood".
A more recent case, widely publicized, occurred in the Kerala region of India in 2001. Only around 2006, red rains were studied by observing drops under a microscope, in which scientists said they saw cells, or "cells without DNA", or even cells of "extraterrestrial origin"... ie, "microscopic particles resembling biological cells, possibly originating from fragments of comets." More serious studies have shown that they were algal spores of very terrestrial Trentepohlia lichens, dispersed in the atmosphere.
For this case of Strasbourg, it is obvious that the data is insufficient, we do not even know who would have carried out "the first analyzes" which suggested "that it is a non-toxic product."
One thing is quite certain for me: the link with the UFO question seems to me the most tenuous.
Not UFO-related.
* = 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 | August 1, 2022 | Creation, [ufa1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | August 1, 2022 | First published. |
