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 Schopperten, on September 22, 2002:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2002-09-22-SCHOPPERTEN-1

Summary:

The SPICA ufology and astronomy association in Alsace mentioned on the web and in their bulletin an observation in Schopperten on September 22, 2002; which was the subject of an investigation by their member Christian Kiefer.

Around 10 p.m., two witnesses reportedly observed a triangular shape, very high in the sky. They did not actually see the shape, just three red lights, lined with white lights on all three sides, lights that were reflected in the clouds giving them a white-pink hue.

A low sound resembling that of an airplane was perceived.

The thing was moving from west to east.

SPICA published a sketch mmade by one of the witnesses, said to be "young"; which can be seen below.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	September 22, 2002
Time:	~10:00 p.m.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	March 2003
Reporting delay:	Days, 7 months

Geographical data:

Department:	Bas-Rhin
City:	Schopperten
Place:	?
Latitude:	48.946
Longitude:	7.050
Uncertainty radius:

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	2
Number of known witnesses:	?
Number of named witnesses:	0
Witness(es) ages:	1 young.
Witness(es) types:	1 young.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Local ufology group SPICA.
Type of location:	?
Visibility conditions:	Night
UFO observed:	Yes
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	?
Entities:	No
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	Yes.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	Yes.
Witness(es) feelings:	?
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Possible plane.

Sources:

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

September 22, 2002, around 22:00

Two witnesses observed in Schopperten (67) a triangular shape, very high in the sky. like the previous witnesses they have not seen the form, but it was delimited by three red lights, but this time lined with white lights on the three sides, lights that were reflected in the clouds giving a white - pink hue.

A loud sound resembling that of a plane was heard.

Its displacement was west-east.

[Ref. spa2:] "SPICA" UFOLOGY ASSOCIATION:

In an article on another observation report, the SPICA newsletter referred as an example of observations of "flying triangles" to reports a sighting in Schopperten on September 22, 2002; which was the subject of an investigation by Christian Kiefer of the SPICA group.

Two witnesses had observed a triangular shape which was very high in the sky.

They had not seen the shape of the triangle, it was bounded by three red lights, lined with hard white lights on the three sides.

The lights were reflected in the clouds, giving them a white-pink color.

A loud noise resembling that of an airliner had been heard by the witnesses.

The phenomenon was moving from west to east, it caused no specific effect.

Opposite this, we get this sketch captioned "Drawing by a young witness":

[Ref. spa3:] "SPICA" UFOLOGY ASSOCIATION:

City	Date and hour of observation	General shape Identification	General color Hypothesis	Conclusion
SCHOPPERTEN	Sunday 22 September 2002 at 22h00	triangular Unidentified	white None	Unsolved -lack of info

Discussion:

I can only wonder why this would not just be a plane. In my own investigations, I also stumbled on two yougsters who "saw a UFO", until one ogf them admitted it was liekly just a plne.

(See my investigation report here).

Evaluation:

Possible plane.

Sources references:

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

[spa1] * Was published on the news page of the website of the SPICA alsatian ufology association, undated disappeared page, saved in my archive.
[spa2] * In "Phénomène du 21 août 2002", article by Christian Morgenthaler, in the ufology bulletin SPICA News of the SPICA ufology group, Alsace, France, #3, page 19, March 2003.
[spa3] * "DEPARTEMENT 67 - BAS-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_67.htm

File history:

Authoring:

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

Changes history:

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	January 16, 2018	Creation, [spa1], [spa2], [spa3].
1.0	Patrick Gross	January 16, 2018	First published.

This page was last updated on January 16, 2018.