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Case of Muhlbach-sur-Munster, on December 11, 1980:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1980-12-11-MULBACHSURMUNSTER-1

Summary:

The ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit #215-216 of May - June 1982 published an investigation of a member of the ufology groups GHREPA - SAHR on a phenomenon seen in the Haut-Rhin near Munster on Friday, December 12, 1980.

The witness had called the local ufologist after having obtained his phone number from the Munster gendarmerie.

On December 13, 1980, the ufologist went to see this witness, Mr. Henri Poussel, 49-year-old, married, with two children, residing on Chemin du Mittelberg in Mulhlbach-sur-Munster, commercial executive in photography, who had been a non-commissioned officer in the Air Force for 20 years as a secretary and had flown 4000 hours in about 8 years on all types of sailplanes, including in competition, which meant that he was a "glider and airplane instructor".

He told the investigator:

"This Thursday, December 11, after storing my vehicle in a garage in the village, I walked home. I closed the gate, put my suitcase on the ground and locked it. That's when my gaze was attracted to a bright spot in the sky, resembling a large star, at about 45°. It had a brilliance greater than a star. It was growing, as if this bright spot was descending, rather quickly. I said to myself: could it be a satellite, a fireworks rocket coming down towards me?... Then it reached the size of half a full moon, off-white in color. There was diffraction of this light and emission of small rays, very very short, always off-white in color. It seemed to descend and grow in size as it came towards me. I said to myself: it's a descending plane with its landing light on which is going to land in Colmar. But there is sudden disappearance of this light. And almost at the same time I had the impression that there was only a mass (for a very very short time), illuminated below. I then saw numerous luminous dots, red, green, white, fixed, which seemed placed regularly. Most of them were red in color. There was no noise. The place is very quiet."

In answer to questions, he indicated that he estimated the altitude of the luminous mass at 1000 or 2000 meters maximum, the speed between 300 and 500 km/h maximum approximately.

The witness continued:

"Before this luminous mass disappeared behind the ridge of the roof of my house, I heard a noise, very short (2 to 3 seconds) which resembled between a distant, reduced jet engine noise, or a displacement of air made by a glider, soft and powerful, while being modulated once (sound rising and falling). To keep this phenomenon in sight, I moved to the right, one foot in the snow. (After question:) This mass has always had a straight trajectory. The silence was total. No traffic on the road below, no barking dogs (After question:) I still wanted to believe this was a plane. But it was not possible, otherwise it would have veered left to land on the Colmar-Houssen airfield, and there were too many lights. At constant speed, this phenomenon passed to the left of the "Petit Ballon" mount. I still saw several lights, mostly red ones. Then I saw a pulsating red light, which seemed far above the other steady lights."

"I didn't have time to take my binoculars or call my wife who was sleeping, because I was afraid I wouldn't see this phenomenon again if I got home."

The investigator noted that the time of sighting was around 10:15 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., this being an estimate because the witness did not look at the watch. He had left the city of Strasbourg at 9:05 p.m. in his CX vehicle, the distance from Strasbourg to his home was 87 km, with very little traffic that evening. The sighting had lasted one to two minutes.

He indicates that the weather was cool with temperatures between 0°C and -1°C on the ground, with a few cirrus clouds at 7,000 meters altitude, a weak West - South - West wind at altitude (20 to 25 knots) and zero wind on the ground. A few stars were visible, the moon was not visible, the excellent visibility was of 15 km.

The investigator gives angular sizes, for the white light seen from afar: n° 2 to the comparator; for the closest seen white light n° 5 to the comparator; for the ten lights: between 1 and 2 on the comparator. He deduces that it could correspond to an "object" of about 9 meters in diameter seen at closest, estimating it at 1000 meters high or about 12 meters by estimating it at about 1500 meters altitude.

About the colors, he gives for green "Green" in the Pantone color chart, for red: "Vivid, very bright + 206 in the color chart."

The investigator reports that there were no street lights in the immediate vicinity.

He comments that the witness seemed to him particularly sincere, this idea being confirmed by the observation, made the same evening and at the same time, 40 km instraight line from this place, to the south, investigated by the GHREPA of Guebwiller. He notes that moreover, due to his former profession, the witness has the sense and the habit of observation and evaluation.

He explains that the witness, after seeing this phenomenon, on returning home, wanted to look at the time, but he did not do so and cannot explain why.

He explains that the witness "does not believe in UFOs but was persuaded to see some bizarre phenomenon one day or another (sic)."

He adds that the witness is a keen photographer, who reads very little outside of photo magazines, who has seen the film "Star Wars", that he is in excellent health, has very good eyesight, though wearing glasses to read.

The investigator concluded:

This observation cannot be the fruit of the imagination and be confused with an airplane whose sound (which is always behind the apparatus) could not be perceived. In any case, current known flying objects do not have so many lights. Moreover, the trajectory followed by this phenomenon (N.N.W. S.S.E. trajectory) does not match the air corridors taken, and no military flight took place that evening.

Data:

Temporal data:

Geographical data:

Witnesses data:

Ufology data:

Classifications:

Sources:

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

Discussion:

A determining element is that this observation agrees rather well with that of Wittelsheim the same day at 22:31. Wittelsheim is located in straight line 28 kilometers south-south-east of the place of this observation, not 40 kilometers as indicated in the investigation report in [ldl1].

Another element is that this witness had contacted the Gendarmerie brigade of Munster; no Gendarmerie report on this observation has yet been published, but this may be the case in the next few years. In those years, local ufologists and local Gendarmes collaborated willingly; a few years later, following possible leaks about radar traces linked to an observation in the Haut-Rhin, a memorandom asked the Gendarmes to no longer communicate with ufologists. The collaboration will resume with the GEIPAN around 2007, under conditions of discretion as to the identities of the witnesses.

The sighting itself is vaguely reminiscent of an airplane, the witness himself thought about it; but as the sighting progressed, he considered it implausible. This is also the case in Wittelsheim's observation, one giving credence to the other.

Evaluation:

Sources references:

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

• [ldl1] * "Enquête du S.A.H.R. - Wittelsheim (Ht Rhin)", in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #219-220, pp 21-23, September/October 1982.

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