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 Rouffach, on May 23, 2008:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2008-05-23-ROUFFACH-1

Summary:

In 2008, the website of the Alsatian association of ufology SPICA published a testimony of an observation of a "Strange phenomenon resembling a star" in Rouffach in the Haut-Rhin dated May 23, 2008 The testimony was first published on the SPICA web forum.

The witness wrote:

This is the first time I witness a weird phenomenon !!!

At 11:20 p.m., tonight, I am going to walk my dog (as usually) in Rouffach, and often I look at the stars or planes... but there to my amazement, I saw like a star (but bigger) very bright and especially NO NOISE AT ALL head towards Biesheim or just simply to Germany quite fast!!!

Especially since there was no blue light or other light that some big planes or mirages [Mirage French jet fighter] hold!!! ??? So I phoned (a little troubled) to the Gendarmerie who told me that there were no other testimonies for now!

NO I'm not crazy I saw, I even wanted to ring a door to get another person as a witness!!! In short ... it's weird, I do not know whether other people already had to do with this kind of vision?

Thank you for those who believe me!!! in any case the light made my eyes a bit sore by watching constantly !?

See you soon, I hope...

Continued

As I said in my story above, it's much bigger than a star but very bright, and I want to say that it was not a satellite (I know how they move and moreover they are much smaller. So it happened in Alsace -in the Haut-Rhin- Rouffach, and the phenomenon came from North / West to North / East. That's it, can you explain it to me, thank you, I assure you that since then I do not stop thinking about it!

In its listing of sightings in Alsace, published in 2015, SPICA listed this case, indicating that it had been explained: it was a satellite.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	May 23, 2008
Time:	11:20 p.m.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	May 23, 2008
Reporting delay:	Hours.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Rouffach
Place:	Outside near home.
Latitude:	47.957
Longitude:	7.298
Uncertainty radius:	2 km

Witnesses data:

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

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Web board of the SPICA ufology group.
Type of location:	Outside near home.
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:	Very puzzled.
Witnesses interpretation:	Not a satellite, not a plane.

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Unidentified.

Sources:

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

Rouffach (68) 05/23/2008

Source: SPICA Forum

Strange phenomenon looking like a star

This is the first time I witness a weird phenomenon !!!

At 11:20 p.m., tonight, I am going to walk my dog ??(as usually) in Rouffach, and often I look at the stars or planes ... but there to my amazement, I saw like a star (but bigger) very bright and especially NO NOISE AT ALL head towards Biesheim or just simply to Germany quite fast !!!

Especially since there was no blue light or other that some big planes or mirages hold !!! ??? So I phoned (a little troubled) to the Gendarmerie who told me that there were no other testimonies for now!

NO I'm not crazy I saw, I even wanted to ring a door to take another person as a witness !!! In short ... it's weird, I do not know if other people have already had to do with this kind of vision?

Thank you for those who believe me !!! in any case the light made my eyes a bit sore by watching constantly !?

See you soon, I hope...

Continued

As I said in my story above, it's much bigger than a star but very bright, and I want to say that it was not a satellite (I know how they move and moreover they are much smaller. So it happened in Alsace-in the Haut-Rhin- Rouffach, and the phenomenon came from North / West to North / East. That's it, can you explain it to me, thank you, I assure you that since then I do not stop thinking about it!

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

Rouffach (68) on May 23, 2008 at 11:30 p.m.

Source: SPICA Forum

At 11:20 p.m., I am going to walk my dog and often I look at the stars or planes. But there, to my amazement, I saw as a star (but bigger) very bright and above all WITHOUT ANY NOISE head towards Biesheim or just to Germany quite fast! Especially since there was no blue light or anything that some big planes or mirages hold! So I phoned the Gendarmerie who told me that there were no other testimonies for now! NO I'm not crazy I sis see it, I even wanted to ring a door to take another person as a witness.

[Ref. cue1:] "LA CENTRALE UFOLOGIQUE":

UFO testimonies

Map of the testimonies deposited on the network of La Centrale Ufologique until today

Rouffach 23/05/08

Alsace-in the Haut Rhine- Rouffach, and the phenomenon came from North / West to North / East May 23, 2008.

Good evening,

This is the first time I witness a weird phenomenon !!! At 11:20 p.m., tonight, I'm going to walk my dog ??(as usually) in Rouffach, and often I look at the stars or planes... but there to my amazement, I saw like a star (but bigger) very bright and above all NO NOISE AT ALL head towards Biesheim or just simply to Germany quite fast! Especially since there was no blue light or other than some big planes or mirages hold! ! ???

So I phoned (a little troubled) to the Gendarmerie who told me that there were no other testimonies for now! NO I'm not crazy I did see it, I even wanted to ring at a door to take another person as a witness !!! In short ... it's weird, I do not know if other people have ever had to do this kind of vision? Thanks for those who have believed me !!! in any case the light made my eyes a little sore eyes by watching constantly!? See you soon I hope

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

City	Date and hour of observation	General shape Identification	General color Hypothesis	Conclusion
ROUFFACH	Friday 23 May 2008 at 11:20 p.m.	luminous dot Satellite	white Satellite	Solved

Discussion:

I have doubts about a satellite explanation for the following reasons:

There is no indication of an investigation into the case, nor any identification of this satellite.
The witness had thought of a satellite and dismissed that explanation, arguing that she knew what they looked like and that it was "much bigger."
The witness seemed very troubled; which is unusual with a satellite sighting.

The satellite is obviously not de facto excluded here, but I prefer to leave the case as unidentified.

Evaluation:

Unidentified.

Sources references:

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

[spa1] * "Observations d'OVNIS", web page on the website of the SPICA Alsatian ufology association, France, not dated, page deleted, copy from my personal archive.
[spa2] * Ufology bulletin SPICA News of the ufology association SPICA, Alsace, France, #14, page 27, January 2008 [sic, 2009].
[cue1] * Map on "Google Maps" of witness reports received by the UFO website "La Centrale Ufologique", not dated, found in 2014, at https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zGDMfND1idr0.kyVE38dFfIBc&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0
[spa3] * "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

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	August 31, 2022	Creation, [spa1], [spa2], [cue1], [spa3].
1.0	Patrick Gross	August 31, 2022	First published.

This page was last updated on August 31, 2022.