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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 in Alsace, on October 5, 2010:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2010-10-05-ALSACE-1

Summary:

A message presented as a call for witnesses by "jeanvic" on a UFO blog intends to share "a very strange vision last night", October 5, 2010, over Germany or close to the German border.

Walking his dog at 9:30 p.m. as usual, the Alsatian witness was stargazing, and saw in front of him towards Germany a cluster of small lights in the form of drops or tennis racket, located rather high in the clear sky with scattered clouds.

The lights glittered "between them as if there was a communication" and several lights were moving back and forth below or shifted to the right.

Between 5 and 8 lights stood out to hover very high, glittering and turning red, but not like an airplane.

It lasted about an hour.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: October 5, 2010
Time: ~09:00 p.m.
Duration: ~1 hour.
First known report date: October 6, 2010
Reporting delay: 1 day.

Geographical data:

Department: ?
City: ?
Place: Outside, UFO in the sky.
Latitude: 48.168
Longitude: 7.536
Uncertainty radius: 120 km

Witnesses data:

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

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: By the web to a UFO blog.
Type of location: Outside, 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: Puzzled.
Witnesses interpretation: Not a plane.

Classifications:

Hynek: NL
ALSACAT: Probable Chinese lanterns.

Sources:

[Ref. era1:] BLOG "AREA 51":

Call for witnesses - ufos in alsace on october 5, 2010?

Call for witnesses - UFOs in Alsace October 5, 2010?

Message received this morning on my mailbox:

"Hi,
I am a new member of your website...... .and I wanted to share with you a very strange vision last night over Germany or near the German border (about 20km in straight line)

walking my dog last night around 09:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 5, as usual, I look at the sky for stargazing.........

and opposite me in the direction of Germany a mass of small lights in the form of drops or a tennis racket (located quite high in the sky, clear weather with some clouds in places)......

They sparkled between them as if there was a communication and many other lights that move back and forth beneath view shifted to the right............... .This lasted for about 1 hour more some lights stood out (counted from 5 8) to get stationary while sparkling and turning red (but not at all like a plane, it was especially high and stationary)

if you can make another call to witness to exchanging information

unfortunately I have no video equipment suitable for night ...................

cordially
jeanvic "

[Ref. rnc1:] "RESEAU NATIONAL CIVIL DE SURVEILLANCE DU CIEL":

11/05/2010 - 09:30 p.m. - Alsace(67) - Several lights

From: Era

Source: Message

Quote:

"Hi,
I am a new member of your website...... .and I wanted to share with you a very strange vision last night over Germany or near the German border (about 20km in straight line)

walking my dog last night around 09:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 5, as usual, I look at the sky for stargazing.........

and opposite me in the direction of Germany a mass of small lights in the form of drops or a tennis racket (located quite high in the sky, clear weather with some clouds in places)......

They sparkled between them as if there was a communication and many other lights that move back and forth beneath view shifted to the right............... .This lasted for about 1 hour more some lights stood out (counted from 5 8) to get stationary while sparkling and turning red (but not at all like a plane, it was especially high and stationary)

if you can make another call to witness to exchanging information

unfortunately I have no video equipment suitable for night ...................

cordially
jeanvic "

[Ref. isu1:] "ISUNDGAU" BLOG:

This blog published about several Alsatian cases they picked up on the web, including:

Near the German border, Tuesday, October 5, 2010

"I wish to share with you a very strange vision last night over Germany or close to the German border (approx. 20 km in straight line). Walking my dog around 09:30 p.m. last night, Tuesday, October 5, as usual I look at the sky watching the stars... and opposite me in the direction of Germany, a cluster of small lights in the form of drops or a tennis racket (located quite high in the sky, clear weather with some clouds in places)... that are twinkling as if there was a communication and many other lights that move back and forth below, or shifted to the right... That lasted about 1 hour. In addition some lights stood out (counted between 5 and 8) to become stationary while glittering and turning red (but not at all like an airplane, especially it was high and stationary)." Testimony by Jeanvic on: http://area51blog.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/appel-a-temoins-ovnis-en-alsace-le-5-octobre-2010

There is no source reference for this case, cited among other cases. There is simply, at the end of the article, a series of links to several ufology websites and web pages, including a link to the old URL of the home page of my own website.

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

City Date and hour of observation General shape
Identification		 General color
Hypothesis		 Conclusion
UNKNOWN-LOCATION Tuesday 5 October 2010 at 21h30 luminous dot
Unidentified		 red
None		 Unsolved -lack of info

Discussion:

We get several clues that these were Chinese lanterns:

  1. The witness says it was different from planes but does not seem to know about Chinese lanterns, he makes no mention of them.
  2. Lanterns eventually die out, and that is what the witness describes when he says some lanterns stood out from the others, going down and "turning red". These are lanterns that are running out of fuel.
  3. The duration of an hour may seem impossible as a lantern "flies" a few minutes. But here they are numerous, suggesting a continuous release. Nothing prohibits anyone from releasing lanterns for one hour. And the witness noted he saw many lights, like trains of lanterns.
  4. What the witness called "communication" between the lights is also explained. If a wind blow reaches the lanterns, they wobble their candle simultaneously. This produces a simultaneous variation of their brightness.

The story is quite sloppy: there is no location, even approximate, a silly thing for a "call for witnesses." There is no estimate of the number of lights, no indication of their original color, no description of trajectories and directions, no angular sizes, no elevation angle etc. And the story is copied by several websites, with even less information, nobody seemed to realize or try to understand what it could have been.

Evaluation:

Probable Chinese lanterns.

Sources references:

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

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 April 11, 2016 Creation, [era1], [rnc1], [isu1], [spa1].
1.0 Patrick Gross April 11, 2016 First published.

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This page was last updated on April 11, 2016.