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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 of Mulhouse, on March 16, 2011:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2011-03-16-MULHOUSE-1

Summary:

On March 16, 2011, the regional newspaper L'Alsace had evoked a "mysterious nocturnal slamming noise" heard by many residents of the sector of Kingersheim, Wittenheim, Ruelisheim and Mulhouse North, pulled out of bed by a big noise described as a "noise of sheet metal", a "huge reactor" or "a strident siren", the previous night - so, the 15th or 16th of March 2011 - between 4:30 a.m. and 5 a.m.

A woman from Wittenheim said, "It was an amazing noise, everyone I talked to was awake." A resident of Kingersheim said in an email: "I was awakened by a kind of siren, with what is happening in Japan, we immediately thought of Fessenheim." (the nearby nuclear plant)

Several citizens had sought to get reassured by the town hall, the police or firefighters, but received always the same answer: nothing serious happened in the area.

The newspaper concluded:

"After questioning all the services likely to be involved and considering with them all kinds of hypotheses, from the explosion of a flour storage to the untimely triggering of an alarm, the most likely answer finally came from the gendarmes. At this time, a helicopter was in the process of conducting a low-level patrol mission in the area."

However, a blog "UFO" had to mention the story without a mention of an helicopter but ensuring that the "mysterious recent noise" is "possibly linked to a UFO in Alsace in France especially in the region of Mulhouse".

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: March 16, 2011
Time: ~04:45
Duration: ?
First known report date: March 16, 2011
Reporting delay: Hours.

Geographical data:

Department: Haut-Rhin
City: Mulhouse
Place: Kingersheim, Wittenheim, Ruelisheim, North of Mulhouse.
Latitude: 47.795
Longitude: 7.336
Uncertainty radius: 4 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: Numerous.
Number of known witnesses: 5 or more.
Number of named witnesses: 0
Witness(es) ages: Adults.
Witness(es) types: Residents.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: Told to authorities and local Press.
Type of location: Urban area.
Visibility conditions: Night.
UFO observed: No
UFO arrival observed: N/A
UFO departure observed: N/A
Entities: No
Photographs: No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es): No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): No.
Witness(es) feelings: Puzzled.
Witnesses interpretation: Incident.

Classifications:

Hynek: N/A
ALSACAT: Probable sound of jet engine malfunction.

Sources:

[Ref. lae1:] JOURNAL "L'ALSACE":

Scan.

Various facts

Mysterious nocturnal smashing sound

Many people in the area of ??Kingersheim, Wittenheim, Ruelisheim and Mulhouse North were pulled out of bed by a big noise described as a "noise of sheet metal", a "huge reactor" or "a strident siren" yesterday, between 4:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. "It was an extraordinary noise, everyone I talked to was awakened," says a women of Wittenheim. "I was awakened by a kind of siren, with what is happening in Japan [Fukushima nuclear plant disaster], we immediately thought of Fessenheim [nuclear plant near Mulhouse]," says in an e-mail a resident of Kingersheim. Several people have tried to reassure themselves with the mayor, the police or firefighters, always with the same answer: nothing serious has happened in the area... but the mystery of the noise remains intact. After questioning all the services likely to be involved and considering with them all sorts of hypotheses, from the explosion of a flour storage to the accidental triggering of an alarm, the most likely answer finally came from the gendarmerie. At that time, a helicopter was in the process of conducting a low-level patrol mission in the area. Phew.

[Ref. cme1:] CHRISTIAN MACE:

Scan.

March 8, 2011

Mysterious recent noise may be linked to a UFO in Alsace in France, particularly in the Mulhouse region

Mysterious recent noise may be related to an UFO in Alsace, in eastern France, especially in the Mulhouse region. Read the article posted on March 18, 2011 on the website here...:

http://sitemap.dna.fr/articles/201103/18/mysterieux-bruits-nocturnes,mulhouse,000010556.php

Part of the article also here:

"Article published in the edition of Friday, March 18, 2011 Mulhouse Miscellanous Mysterious nocturnal noise:

Funny noise last night on a vast area around Mulhouse. Many people in the area of ??Kingersheim, Wittenheim, Ruelisheim, Battenheim, Pfastatt and Mulhouse Nord were pulled out of bed by a loud crash described as a "noise of sheet metal", a "huge reactor" or "a strident siren" Wednesday between 4:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. Some people immediately thought, because of the current situation and the events in Japan, that there was a problem with the Fessenheim plant. ... ".

On this matter, Great Thanks to our Reader from the Alsace region, who reported this in his commentary to our article below:

http://ovniparanormal.over-blog.com/article-deux-temoins-ont-vu-un-ovni-dans-la-region-de-mons-en-belgique-mardi-soir-15-mars-211- 69509199.html

"Living in Alsace we heard around 4am in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday a strange noise that caused the sound of a fire alarm, a strident sound, unique and arrived just before the alarm that has only once, could it have any connection with the facts that occurred in Belgium?"

Discussion:

Map.

I do not buy that the residents of Mulhouse - I am one of them - are so generally incapable of indentifying a helicopter noise. A helicopter sound is a helicopter sound, nothing else. We in Mulhouse are used to hear them, the flights of helicopters do occur, and it does not create any big fuss.

However, I do not think that the gendarmes invented for the journalist of L'Alsace the passage of a helicopter. That may have been the case, without it being the solution of the affair.

I do not think this really has anything to do with any UFO - which no one has seen, apparently.

I think I found the solution in a post on the "iSundgau" blog. the blog had republished the article of L'Alsace [lae1] and it prompted some readers comments, including this one:

(Voir: http://www.isundgau.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/commentaires-article-grand-bruit-mysterieux-2011.pdf )

Scan.

good evening, I see you're talking about the noise at around five o'clock... I was outside and coming back home from work when that noise made me look up as I got out of my car. it was not a helicopter but a big plane that had a jet engine problem because it had one engine that was shining and the sparkles of one of the jet engines stopped just before the stop of the sound that had lasted 4 at 5 seconds... that's it.

Here is a testimony not only auditory but also visual; which explains the unusual character of the noise, not an usual sound like that of a helicopter.

In addition, the areas involved as mentioned in L'Alsace do match the most usual places overflown by airliners near Mulhouse approaching or departing from the Basel-Mulhouse airport. However, I did not find a BEA [Aviation Incident Investigation authority in France] report on this.

Map.

Evaluation:

Probable sound of jet engine malfunction.

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
Editor: Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version: Create/changed by: Date: Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross MArch 16, 2018 Creation, [lae1], [cme1].
1.0 Patrick Gross MArch 16, 2018 First published.

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This page was last updated on March 16, 2018.