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 from Hirtzbach to Altkirch, on July 5, 2002:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2002-07-05-HIRTZBACH-1

Summary:

Following our call for witnesses in the regional newspaper L'Alsace about a sighting East of Mulhouse, our French Federation of Ufology hotline received a dozen phone calls by people reporting generally unrelated sightings.

Among them, there was the call by a Henflingen resident on July 11, 2002, giving a name but requesting anonymity (which we therefore respect). This witness said that on July 5, 2002, at a time estimated to be around 10 p.m. or 10:10 p.m., he had seen a "bright triangle object with two steady white lights, all the way from Hirtzbach to Altkirch by car."

Because of the large number of such feedback in the same period, due to time constraints, and due to the lack of answer on the indicated phone number, we were unable to start an investigation directly with this witness.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	July 5, 2002
Time:	~10:00 p.m. or 10:10 p.m.
Duration:	~10 minutes.
First known report date:	July 11, 2002
Reporting delay:	1 week.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	from Hirtzbach to Altkirch
Place:	From car driving between Hirtzbach and Altkirch, UFO in the sky.
Latitude:	47.615
Longitude:	7.219
Uncertainty radius:	2 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	1
Number of known witnesses:	1
Number of named witnesses:	1
Witness(es) ages:	Adult.
Witness(es) types:	?

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Phone call to FFU after call for witnesses in the newspaper.
Type of location:	From car driving between two close villages, UFO in the sky.
Visibility conditions:	Night
UFO observed:	Yes
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	?
Entities:	No
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	?
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Possible plane.

Sources:

[Ref. ffu1:] FEDERATION FRANCAISE D'UFOLOGIE:

Sighting report phone call

Filled by	[I censored this.]
Call taken and noted on:	July 11, 2002
Name, first name of the caller:	[I censored this.]
Address:	HENFLINGEN
Phone number:	[I censored this.]
Call hours, restrictions:
Date of observation:	July 5, 2002
Hour of observation:	10:00 p.m.
Number of witnesses indicated:	1
Preliminary observation features:	Luminous object in triangle with two white lights motionless, during all the trip from Hirtzbach to Altkirch by car.
Reason for call:	Newspaper notice Call for witnesses in "L'Alsace" for 07/10/2002
Anonymity requested:	Yes
Rendez vous set:	August 2002
Place of rendez-vous:

Additional notes:

Phone call not answered. Hour of observation estimaated between 10:00 p.m. 10:10 p.m..

[Ref. pgs1:] MYSELF:

Through the regional newspaper L'Alsace for July 10, 2002, a local member like me of the Fédération Française d'Ufologie (French Federation of Ufology, FFU) had a call to witness published about a sighting report in our area, the Haut-Rhin department:

Following this call to witness, the FFU secretary had received a dozen phone calls, all without direct connection with the sighting report that prompted our call to witnesses.

Among them, there was that of a person from Henflingen who called our "hot-line" on July 11, 2002, and had reported, giving his name but requesting anonymity (which I therefore respect), on July 5, 2002, at a time estimated to be around 10 p.m. or 10:10 p.m., she had seen a "bright triangle object with two steady white lights, all the way from Hirtzbach to Altkirch by car."

Discussion:

The international EuroAirport Basel - Mulhouse is at 23 kilometers about the east, visible on the far right on the map below.

Airliners on landing approach to land there with their landing lights on, their apparent illusory immobility are often mistaken for UFOs or possible UFOs in this area. Here, it would be an airplane bypassing Mulhouse by the South, headlights on facing the witness, and then on the left after the turn in Carspach.

The distance from Hirtzbach to Altkirch is 3 kilometers in straight line, by road, on Rue Principale then Rue de l'Illberg (D17), then left through Rue des Primevères (D432), it is 4.7 kilometers long, taking about 10 minutes by car. For most of the trip, the view on the right (East) is largely blocked by the hill and trees, while the view to the West is much clearer.

Evaluation:

Possible plane.

Sources references:

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

[ffu1] * "Signalement téléphonique d'Observation", phone call written record card by the secretary of the Federation Française d'Ufologie (FFU), July 11, 2002.
[pgs1] * Noted by myself from the phone call written record card by the secretary of the Federation Française d'Ufologie (FFU), July 11, 2002.

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	December 15, 2014	Creation, [ffu1], [pgs1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	December 15, 2014	First published.

This page was last updated on December 15, 2014.