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Case of Colmar, on November 5, 1990:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1995-11-05-COLMAR-2

Summary:

On November 5, 1990, at 7 p.m., Patrick Depin came home in Colmar, when a strange light in the sky caught his attention. He got out of his car and saw to the west, a "kind of misfiring firework that creates three small showers of sparks but not very strong."

He didn't pay too much attention to it, and was about to get into the car to drive it into the garage. But when he sat in the car he saw that the sky above him was "completely ablaze... with streaks of light advancing in very parallel fashion... directed uh... from west to east."

He then took his shoulder-mounted VHS camera that he had left in the car, and started filming.

Impressed, he said he had the feeling of an armada, not very high in the sky, and which could land a little further. In 2015, he said he was convinced he had seen an alien armada.

He was joined by his wife, to whom he says, in his 2015 remarks, "They (the extraterrestrials) are coming... They're finally here...."

We are told that he observed the phenomenon through the eyepiece of his camera until it disappeared behind the buildings in front of his house.

This was, of course, one of the numerous sightings of what was absolutely not a "UFO", but flaming debris from a Russian Proton rocket that crossed the sky of France from the South-West to the North-East on that day and time.

The case received some ufological attention because of the video recording, shown on national television on November 8, 1990. It was said that one can see a "triangular object" that the "CNES experts" did not notice, because there are, on still images of the video, two partial streaks which seem to connect two of three of the luminous dots.

Therefore the case was presented by some ufologists as proof that what they call "the UFO wave of November 5, 1990 over France" was not explained at all, or only partially explained, by the re-entry of rocket debris.

Data:

Temporal data:

Geographical data:

Witnesses data:

Ufology data:

Classifications:

Sources:

[Ref. pha1:] "PHENOMENA" UFOLOGY MAGAZINE:

In an article on the sightings of that evening, the magazine indicates that on November 8, 1990, the TF1 TV channel broadcast in its 1 p.m. news an amateur film made by a resident of Colmar and representing the phenomenon, on which in distinguishes three luminous points, "as well as the rear light" often described by witnesses as a "beam" or a "jet exhaust".

The article indicates that the steps their association SOS OVNI undertook to obtain the original of this document have been in vain to date, because the film is a "TF1 exclusive."

[Ref. pha2:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "PHENOMENA":

The magazine printed 6 photos reproduced in black and white at the rate of two per page width, indicating that the "reproduction" is "prohibited" (in [pha1] above it was indicated that the TV channel TF1 reserved the "exclusivity" of the video).

The caption indicates that these are excerpts from a 23-second home video film taken on November 5, 1990 at 7:00 p.m. by a witness who follows the phenomenon in its apparent movement from left to right. The magazine indicates that one "clearly distinguishes the triangular shape with, in the left corner, a sharp gleam followed by a trail", which is not exact; no constant "shape" from one image to another appears, and the "triangle" comes down to the fact that if one consider 3 of these lights, they are necessarily defining a triangle.

The important point is that on none of the 6 images do the "smears" appear which subsequently made people think that there would be visible "sides" of a triangular mass.

[Ref. rai1:] ROBERT ALESSANDRI:

[Ref. pha3:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "PHENOMENA":

The magazine republishes one of the 6 images published in [pha2] with the caption that on November 5, 1990, "thousands of people saw this phenomenon pass, which will become one of the most controversial cases of the 1990s."

The generalist article on the question of UFOs that the photo illustrates indicates that SEPRA "quickly announced" that it was the atmospheric re-entry of debris from the 3rd stage of a Proton rocket, launched on October 3. Then: "Verification made, there was indeed a rocket re-entry that evening, but a rocket that left on November 3!" It is added later that "some very qualified witnesses are formal about the unusual nature of their observation."

[Ref. goe1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:

[Ref. rai2:] ROBERT ALESSANDRI:

[Ref. jbu1:] JEROME BEAU:

A frame of the film from Colmar, where we particularly are 3 points forming a triangle, to be compared with the testimony of Karcher

[Ref. jbo1:] VICENTE-JUAN BALLESTER OLMOS:

The sources are listed as:

Note: There is sighting in Colmar in Franck Marie's book "OVNI Contact"; but it is another one.

"Jean Sider, Inforespace, 96, May 1998, pp 4-21" is a general article about the event without any mention of the Colmar video.

It goes the same for LDLN N° 303, "James Oberg, Cuadernos de Ufología, 1995, pp 64-70", etc.

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

[Ref. dsn1:] TV SHOW "DOSSIERS SURNATURELS":

This documentary claims that November 5, 1990 over France was "the night of UFOs". Testimonials are presented, in a sensationalist manner, without any hindsight, without quantitative details, until the middle of the show. Real witnesses are interviewed, actors "play" the scenes. In the middle of the show, the explanation for the return of rocket debris is exposed, at the end of the show, with a remarkable atypical case, the question of the explanation is left open.

Among the testimonies presented, that of Patrick Depin in Colmar. The talks held in the show are:

Voiceover: "Unfortunately, we were surprised to find that there were hardly any photos of this strange phenomenon. It must be said that twenty-five years ago, no one was equipped with a smartphone as is the case today. However, a video exists."

On the TF1 channel in the television news of the time, appears Patrick Dupin (Image above.), stating:

"What struck me first was the regularity and the very parallel direction of these spots of light."

Voiceover: "And we found its author. [Distressing music] Patrick Depin, graphic arts teacher, is the only witness who had the chance to film what happened crossed the skies of France that evening."

Voiceover: "Colmar, 7 p.m. Patrick is about to go home when a strange light catches his eye."

2015 interview of Patrick Depin by the show, illustrated by an actor playing a "re-enactment":

"I get out of the car, and uh... mechanically my eyes are drawn towards the sky on the... west side, so the sky was very dark already at this hour, and I see a kind of ... [cut] Fireworks a bit off that creates three small showers of sparks but not very strong. Going back to the garage [cut] it's when I'm sitting in the car that I see the sky above me completely ablaze, can I say by light trails which advance in a very parallel way [cut] directed uh ...from west to east. Without further ado, I rush to get the camera I had left in the car [cut] I had used the camera repetitively, so I take out my camera, it was a shoulder camera at the time, and I start filming."

Follows an "X-Files" style music, including statements by Patrick Depin:

"What stroke me was [cut] mostly the feeling, so it was certainly misleading, since it was night [cut] it wasn't very high in the sky. It looked to be uh... here we had the feeling that it was an armada which arrived and which went, which was going to land a little further, you see."

"What I saw with the naked eye was this sort of connection, apparent, in any case, between the three dots, as if these three dots were the three extremities of an object."

"It was fantastic, it was... absolutely incredible. I really had the feeling of seeing an absolutely unique phenomenon. A kind of feeling of happiness, when you see that."

Voiceover: For long minutes, Patrick Depin stares captivated at this unidentified flying object in the sky. He is then joined by his wife, worried not to see him return.

superna

"The first words I said to her were but can't you see? It's coming, they're coming, ha ha ha...' They're finally here. That's going to happen, actually."

Voiceover: Patrick observes the phenomenon through the eyepiece of his camera until it disappears behind the buildings in front of his house. With this appearance, he forges a conviction.

"For me there was no doubt, it could only be extra-terrestrial. With obviously a landing uh... in full view of all."

Note: Patrick Depin's video is not shown, except for few still images.

Sequences follow with other testimonies from other places, then the voiceover resumes:

"After the testimony of the gendarmes, thousands of others continued. Especially since on November 6, millions of viewers discovered that their neighbors, colleagues or relatives had no collective hallucination, because the strange phenomenon was even filmed."

Voiceover: "Patrick Depin, the plastic arts teacher in Colmar, has the only visual proof that the phenomenon really existed that evening."

Patrick Depin says:

"But curiously there was no one else who had the opportunity to film this."

Voiceover: "A very precious video that the media will soon be snapping up."

Patrick Depin says:

"I contacted France 3 the same evening, it seems to me, to let them know what I had been able to see." [We hear a voiceover say "but they're not interested."] "Yes, given France 3's reluctance, I contacted France 2, which offered me straight away, uh... indeed, money. 10,000 francs at the time to recover these images. TF1, which naturally had heard of the affair, also offered me uh... money, but curiously much less, at the start 1500 Francs, and it was when I had given my agreement for France 2, that Patrick Poivre d'Arvor contacted me again to tell me 'listen, no, come to our offices, we'll be on prime time and we'll give you 15.000'

We then see Patrick Poivre d'Arvor on TF1's 8 p.m. newscast, who introduces Patrick Depin's and shows the video. The TF1 voiceover says:

"These images shot in 8 millimeters were shot last night in Colar at 7 p.m., says Mr. Depin. The testimony of the author of these images."

Patrick Depin is shown by TF1 stating:

"What struck me first was the regularity and the very parallel direction of these dots of light."

The voice-over of the program "Dossiers Sunaturels" ("Supernatual Files") resumes: "These images will be seen by nearly 10 million viewers. And many other testimonies will be broadcast."

[Ref. rai3:] ROBERT ALESSANDRI:

Discussion:

On November 5, 1990, one or two minutes after 07:00 p.m., a very commonplace phenomenon occurred, explained, and devoid of any actual strangeness, but it nevertheless started a UFO delirium of some of the French ufologists.

The sightings started with an explosive decay over the Bay of Biscay in France, resulting in combustion fragments seen from afar, and generally, as they approached, seen as a group of three main lights - hence it was called a "triangle" - of large angular size, and followed by trails of smoke and sparks.

Once over land, the thing was seen from different angles and at various distances by people on the ground, which gives a range of quite diverse descriptions.

The thing crossed France following a line approximately from Bordeaux to Strasbourg, in silence, in a straight line without any maneuver, in two to three minutes, reaching Strasbourg at about 07:06 p.m.

There were also sightings reported from the South of England, London, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, but not beyond.

In the evening, several Gendarmerie brigades contacted the National Center for Space Studies to report what people told them. Gendarmes brigades of Angers and Tulle got the chance to see the display themselves. In the evening, the Press service of the armies, SIRPA, confirmed that military pilots had seen something without being able to formally identify it. Near Paris airports of Orly and Roissy, the luminous phenomenon was seen from the control towers. Hundreds or even thousands of civilians reported their sightings to the authorities, the Press and other media.

Radio stations, television channels, newspapers, talk of a UFO, then a meteor, and finally the correct explanation appeared through information given by NASA: it was the entering in the atmosphere of the remains of a Russian Proton rocket launched from the Baikonur space center to put a Gorizont 21 satellite in orbit. Calculations had predicted the fallout of the rocket debris at its 36th orbit, crossing France from the South West to the North East on November 5, 1990 around 07:00 p.m. SEPRA, then officially in charge of such matters, provided this explanation to news agencies on November 9, 1990.

On November 5, 1990 already, an amateur expert in satellites and space debris impact trajectory calculations, Pierre Neirinck, had seen himself, and had also identified the phenomenon, independently of NASA, as space junk from the Proton rocket.

Any sensible ufologist should have understood what is was from the beginning, given the descriptions, and at least understand thereafter that it was a classical space junk case. But some ufologists refused to hear anything about a rocket and continued to talk and write about it as a "UFO flap", of "400 UFOs" or even "thousands of UFOs", often mixing other, unrelated sightings that were more or less of the same day, sighting who have other explanations. This resulted in the continuing presence of this explained case as massive UFO sightings in some of the UFO literature, and of course this includes observations made in Alsace.

Now let's see this Video case in Colmar.

Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos [jbo1] listed, among the numerous sources, the book "OVNI. La Science Avance" by " & J.C. Bourret", pp 40-48.

The book, "OVNIS - La Science Avance", published by Robert Laffont, France, in 1993, was written by journalist and UFO enthusiast Jean-Claude Bourret, with the collaboration of Jean-Jacques Velasco, who was at the time of this event the head of the official SEPRA, the service of the CNES in charge of "PAN", i.e. UFO sightings. But the book says nothing of this video. The few pages deal with the story of the event, and explain it as the re-entry of the Proton rocket space junk, but it says nothing at all about the video and sighting in Colmar. So I do not list it among my sources references.

Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos [jbo1] also listed
www.ufomelden.nl/nieuws/tornado/index2.html
as a source. Unfortunately, this web page does not seem to exist anymore. However, in my memory, it did not deal with the Colmar sighting and video, but with a sighting reported by Tornado jet fighters pilot in the Netherlands, who had also seen the re-entry and were puzzled by it. Probably James Oberg's "www.zip.com.au/~psmith/pilot-ufos.htm" says nothing about Colmar and also deals with the pilots sightings.

Then, his "Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network", "page 17, October 31, 1990" reference is dated October 1990. If this is correct, this bulletin published by the National Museum of Natural History, USA, is a publication in which the space re-entry may have been announced, but the Colmar sighting cannot have been reported in advance.

I think many of the sources I do not have, that are listed in [jbo1] do not really deal with this sighting and video, but with the November 5, 1990 space junk case in general. This is not to say that these sources are not interesting or useful to understand the event globally, it is just that I cannot include them here, where only sources providing specific information about this specific case must appear.

About the "Triangular UFO" that "the officials did not see" in the video:

The explanation by Robert Alessandri [rai2], is just perfect. It is indeed, three of the flaming space junk spots, as seen and pictured by another witness, one has a trail in the same direction as the big trail, the top "edge" of the triangle is a typical VHS tape artefact line (there is another one on the top debris and a larger one on the larger debris trail - I underlined those in green below), the right edge is imaginary.

Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos [jbo1] listed, among the numerous sources, the book "OVNI. La Science Avance" by " & J.C. Bourret", pp 40-48.

The book, "OVNIS - La Science Avance", published by Robert Laffont, France, in 1993, was written by journalist and UfO enthusiast Jean-Claude Bourret, with the collaboration of Jean-Jacques Velasco, who was at the time of this event the head of the official SEPRA, the service of the CNES in charge of "PAN", i.e. UFO sightings. But the book says nothing of this video. The few pages deal with the story of the event, and explain it as the re-entry of the Proton rocket space junk, but it says nothing at all about the video and sighting in Colmar. So I do not list it among my sources references.

Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos [jbo1] also listed "http://www.ufomelden.nl/nieuws/tornado/index2.html" as a source. Unfortunately, this web page does not seem to exist anymore. However, in my memory, it did not deal with the Colmar sighting and video, but with a sighting reported by Trnado jet fighters pilot in the Netherlands, who had also seen the re-entry and were puzzled by it. Probably James Oberg's "www.zip.com.au/~psmith/pilot-ufos.htm" says nothing about Colmar and also deals with the pilots sightings.

Then, his "Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network", "page 17, October 31, 1990" reference is dated October 1990. If this is correct, this bulletin published by the National Museum of Natural History, USA, is a publication in which the space re-entry may have been anounced, but the Colmar sighting cannot have been reported in advance.

I think many of the sources I do not have, that are listed in [jbo1] do not really deal with this sighting and video, but with the November 5, 1990 space junk case in general. This is not to say that these sources are not interesting or useful to understand the event globally, it is just that I cannot include them here, where only sources providing specific information about this specific case must appear.

About the "Triangular UFO" that "the officials did not see" in the video:

The explanation by Robert Alessandri [rai2], is just perfect. It is indeed, three of the flaming space junk spots, as seen and pictured by another witness, one has a trail in the same direction as the big trail, the top "edge" of the triangle is a typical VHS tape artefact line (there is another one on the top debris and a larger one on the larger debris trail - I underlined those in green below), the right edge is imaginary.

Regarding this case, it is perfectly obvious that everything is consistent with the reentry of rocket debris. I remind you that if there had been a "real UFO", the witness should have seen also the re-entry of the debris.

The only element that has been disputed is that, according to Joël Mesnard, there is indeed a triangle shape with visible contours.

An obvious difficulty is that to date, the original video, broadcast on the 1 p.m. news of the TF1 channel on November 8, 1990, has never been made available.

The most telling image I have to defend the triangle thesis appears in the documentary series "Dossiers Supernaturels" in 2015.

The video is not shown there in full screen, it is shown projected on a TV screen that the witness is watching (see [rai3] above.) We can extract the part that interests us:

This allows us to see that the "trails" which are supposed to show the triangle shape, are at least not reflections of room lighting on the screen, since they are also found on the other images published.

It also shows that 1) the horizontal streak starting from the spot at the top left is aligned with one of the horizontal streaks that sweep the entire screen, this can be seen in the image of the documentary; a "video smear". 2) The other trail, starting from the bottom spot, is aligned with the global trail of the biggest light, which is completely consistent with burning debris, more than those at the other two "corners".

None of these two "trails" is therefore conclusive, and the third is missing, the one that would connect the bottom spot to the top left one. And even so... why should these trails be interpreted as edges defining a mass?

The witness says, but only in 2015, that "What I saw with the naked eye is this sort of connection, apparent, in any case, between the three spots. As if, these three spots were the three ends of an object."

The first problem is that this is said in 2015, 25 years after the sighting, and has not been said before to my knowledge. But the witness must have watched his video carefully many times since, and simply thought in good faith that he had seen this with the naked eye.

Second problem, he said in 2015 that he had seen with the naked eye "this sort of connection, apparent, in any case, between the three spots", "as if these three spots were the three ends of an object." But the video shows only two connections. (Also, let's note that he never said he saw any mass.)

Then the witness was filming, and filmed 23 seconds. It is therefore quite plausible that he was looking at the phenomenon through the viewfinder of his VHS camera. We were told in 2015 that he watched the phenomenon "through the eyepiece of his camera until it disappeared." Having had a VHS camera at the same time, I can say that there is little chance of seeing such a detail through the viewfinder.

Finally, it is obvious that the witness was under the influence of very strong emotions: "fantastic, it was... absolutely incredible." "I really had the feeling of seeing an absolutely unique phenomenon. A kind of feeling of happiness, when you see that." "They're coming, they're coming, ha ha ha... They're finally here." "For me there was no doubt, it could only be extra-terrestrial. With obviously a landing uh... in full view of all."

Evaluation:

Space junk.

Sources references:

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

• [tf11] ? Video by a witness from Colmar, in the 1 p.m. TV news broadcast of the national channel TF1, France, November 8, 1990.
• [ldl1] ? Ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #304, pp 11-13, July / August 1990.
• [ldl2] ? Ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #305, September / October 1990.
• [ldl3] ? Ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #306, pp 3-24, November - December 1990.
• [pha1] * Insert in "The UFO of November 5, 1990: Proton and its sequel?", in the ufology magazine Phénomèna, SOS OVNI ufology group, France, #1, page 6, January - February 1991.
• [ldl4] ? Ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #309, cover and pp 9-12, May / Juin 1991.
• [pha2] * Ufology magazine Phénomèna,ufology group SOS OVNI, France, #2, page 13, March / April 1991.
• [ldl6] ? Ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #318, pp 22-31, november / December 1992.
• [rai1] * "Le culte du 5 novembre 1990", article by Robert Alessandri, in the ufology magazine Univers OVNI, France, #2, page 24, October / December 1993.
• [pha3] * Ufology magazine Phénomèna, ufology group SOS OVNI, France, special issue, #35, pp 37-38, 1997.
• [goe1] * "Chronologie OVNI", catalogue by Godelieve Van Overmeire, Belgium, was on the Web circa 1999.
• [rai2] * Web page by Robert Alessandri, on his ufology association website I.N.H. Evidence, France, circa 2005, at http://perso.numericable.fr/~wolf424/univers.ovni/ufologie/5novembre40cas.html
• [jbu1] * "L'observation du 5 novembre 1990", web page by Jérôme Beau, on his ufology website RR0, France, circa 2010, at http://rr0.org/science/crypto/ufo/enquete/dossier/5Novembre/
• [jbo1] * "France Fotocat: National Catalogue of UFO photographs", catalogue compiled by Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, Spain, July 2010, at http://www.ufomania.fr/pdf/FRANCE-FOTOCAT2010_VicenteJuanBallesterOlmos.pdf
• [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
• [dsn1] * "05/11/1990 - La Mystérieuse nuit des OVNIS", in the TV show of the series "Dossiers Surnaturels", by Isabelle Le Guen and Julia Durrande, bradcast on the "Numéro 23" TV channel, France, 2015.
• [rai3] * "Colmar (Haut-Rhin)", in "5 novembre 1990: Les ovnis fabriqués par des ufologues - (05/11/2011)", Web page by Robert Alessandri, France, update of June 30, 2015, à http://univers-ovni.com/ufologie/5novembre40cas.html#colmar

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