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 Aspach-le-Haut, on March 19, 2011:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2011-03-19-ASPACHLEHAUT-1

Summary:

"Inti" published his video on "DailyMotion" indicating as headline: "UFO March 19, 2011, Aspach-le-haut Alsace".

The 38 seconds video taken by night shows aluminous orange-colored spot in the dark night.

His comment said: "about 10:10 pm on Saturday,March 19, 2011" and "if you were witness of an unidentified aerospace Phenomenon, I would be happy to record your testimonies...thanks in advance ;) "

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	March 19, 2011
Time:	~10:10 p.m.
Duration:	38 seconds or more.
First known report date:	2014
Reporting delay:	Hours, 3 years.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Aspach-le-Haut
Place:	?
Latitude:	47.776
Longitude:	7.132
Uncertainty radius:	2 km

Witnesses data:

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

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Publication of video and comment on "DailyMotion".
Type of location:	?
Visibility conditions:	Night.
UFO observed:	Yes
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	?
Entities:	No
Photographs:	Yes.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	?
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Probable Chinese lantern.

Sources:

[Ref. dmn1:] ON "DAILYMOTION":

UFO March 19, 2011 Aspach-le-haut Alsace

By inti

Discussion:

This is what the video shows:

This is exactly how a Chinese lantern appears when I film it with my smartphone.

Chinese lanterns are one cause of some old tales of UFO sightings: During the "airship" wave of 1896 - 1897 in the USA, during the wave of 1972 in the US Midwest, etc.

Since these miniature hot air paper balloons can be ordered on the Internet at very low cost - they also commonly found in Alsace now in stores - there is no need anymore to take the trouble of manufacturing them yourself.

So since 2005, about everywhere and of course in Alsace, many people who do not yet know about them report them as UFOs or at least as a subject of puzzlement: "It was not planes, not satellites, not helicopters, etc...", commonly appears in the stories. Indeed they aren't.

In principle, any ufologist worthy of the title should be able to recognize a story related for sure or at least possibly to Chinese lanterns, but there are still ufologists who do not want to listen, or quibble, demanding that a guilty lantern is handed to them otherwise they want the story to remain a "UFO report".

Most of the time, I certainly cannot "scientifically prove" or provide "hard evidence" that this or that report is explained by Chinese lanterns; but I see nothing opposes it and nothing would justify to call it spacecraft from another world or who knows what else.

It is sometimes possible to find that there was, precisely at that time, in the vicinity, a release of lanterns, during a party, a wedding party, a birthday party etc. But these releases are now so usual in Alsace at least that they are not necessarily mentioned on festivity calendars.

Since 2005, they constitute the bulk of the "testimonies" of UFOs found on websites devoted to the subject of UFOs and essentially publishing such "web report"; generally the only treatment is the publication, without any information on a possible cause, without any investigation or comment.

In Alsace, such releases are especially popular now since fireworks and firecrackers, long tolerated, are now prohibited for use unless special exemptions; Alsatians therefore largely adopted the lanterns.

As these lanterns are usually released at private or public parties, they are most often seen on Saturday nights, often at wedding dates or official festivities such as the National Day or New Year's Eve, usually between 10 p.m. and midnight. They are then usually released in clusters. But sometimes the purchaser performs a "test flight" a few days before, sometimes with a single lantern.

Above: a Chinese lantern.

Evaluation:

Probable Chinese lantern.

Sources references:

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

[ld1] * Video published with no publishing date by "Inti" on Dailymotion, found 2014, at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhq2bb_ovni-19-mars-2011-aspach-le-haut-alsace_tech

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	September 5, 2015	Creation, [dmn1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	September 5, 2015	First published.

This page was last updated on September 5, 2015.