ALSACAT-2013-10-13-ESCHAU-1
On October 14, 2013, Virginie, 30, kindergarten employee, reported on a ufology web forum a sighting she made the previous night of October 13, 2013 at 09:35 p.m. from her home in Eschau, Bas-Rhin.
In the circumstantial report, she said it was a puzzling phenomenon that left her quite scared.
She was sitting on the floor of her terrace, head down, writing a message on her cellphone, when the ground near her legs became illuminated by a green light "beam*, very strong, which moved towards her knees.
She then looked up at the sky and saw a bright silver white "ball", "about 1 cm and a half between the thumb and forefinger."
She had barely noticed it when it started moving very quickly to the right, in an "unreal" manner. There was a blue trail, or turquoise trail, which followed, Virginia adding that she had "never seen such a color", except maybe in photographs of aurora borealis.
After 2 seconds, it was gone, and about a minute later, she heard a muffled explosion sound that made the terrace guardrail tremble, as she had put her hands on it.
She added that the sky was very starry but the stars were really tiny compared to the "ball", and that she can "certify that it was not a shooting star!"
She said she is still quite anxious because in this "adventure" she had the feeling to have been "watched", because "this thing set in motion as soon as I saw it (or was it a coincidence)."
She thinks she witnessed something exceptional, everything is still very clear in her mind as it shocked her. She hopes for explanations.
The explanation is given on the ufology forum, a participant thought it was likely a meteor, and actually found other corroborating observations reports to prove it beyond doubt.
| Date: | October 13, 2013 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 09:35 p.m. |
| Duration: | 2 minutes |
| First known report date: | October 14, 2014 |
| Reporting delay: | 1 day. |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Eschau |
| Place: | Outside on terrace, UFO in the sky. |
| Latitude: | 48.485 |
| Longitude: | 7.715 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 1.5 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | 30 |
| Witness(es) types: | Woman, kindergarten employee. |
| Reporting channel: | Web report to ufology forum "Les Mystères des OVNIS". |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | Home terrace in village, UFO in the sky. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night, starry. |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | Uncertain |
| 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, shocked, scared, feeling of being watched. |
| Witnesses interpretation: | UFO |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | The 9:36 p.m. meteor on the Vosges. |
[Ref. myo1:] WITNESS WEB REPORT AND COMMENTS ON "LES MYSTERES DES OVNIS":
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THEFIRSTCRY |
Subject: Re: 2013: on 10/13 at 09:35 p.m. - Disc-shaped Ufo - ESCHAU - Bas-Rhin (dep.67) Mon 14 Oct 2013, 22:27 Firstname of pseudo: VIRGINIE City: ESCHAU Department: Bas-Rhin (dep.67) Region: Alsace start a call to witnesses: http://www.lalsace.fr Country: France Date: 10/13/2013 Hour of beginning of observation: 09:35 p.m. Duration of observation: 2min Weather conditions: clear sky Number of witnesses: 1 Type of phenomenon: Disc-shaped Ufo Official report: not specified Complete observation report: good evening, there was a lot of stars yesterday, but they were really tiny compared to that ball, and i can certify that it was not a shooting star! I remain quite scared because i keep from this "adventure" the feeling i have been observed that thing having started to move as soon as i saw it (or way it just a coincidence).. i admit that i have the feeling of having witnessed something exceptional everything is still very clear in my mind because it shocked me.. I hope you can give some explanations to me.. Thanks Precise description: white silver ball, green beam, turquoise trail, unbelievably bright Color: #1AE1E8 Size of the phenomenon: a 10 centimes coin at arm's length Behaviour: extremely fast, wolloed a curve Trajectory: NNW 70° - north-west60° Specific noise: No specific odor spécifique: No Direction of the object relative to the wind: i don't know Presence of installations: not specified Similar photo: None Table: No pictures https://maps.google.com/maps?q=france&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.273162,79.013672&hnear=France&t=m&z=5 Field investigation requested: to specify Investigator responsible for the case file: Keywords: Ufo, , Alsace start a call to witnesses: http://www.lalsace.fr, France, 21h35, 13, , I certify on my honor the correctness of the information communicated and the authenticity of the given documents. I cannot indentify this phenomenon thanks in advace for your answers. Regards VIRGINIE |
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Polyèdre57 |
Subject: Re: 2013: on 10/13 at 09:35 p.m. - Disc-shaped Ufo - ESCHAU - Bas-Rhin (dep.67) Tue Oct 15 2013, 12:28 Thanks for your testimony Virginie, this is apparently a fireball, we will try to trace it... They have been numerous for some times, a peak is announced for the night of October 21 between midnight and dawn... It still remains a nice display to watch ;-) Edit: We can conclude that the case is closed, click on this link ;-) Source: Cidehom.com See you |
|
wacapou |
Subject: Re: 2013: on 10/13 at 09:35 p.m. - Disc-shaped Ufo - ESCHAU - Bas-Rhin (dep.67) Mar 15 Oct 2013, 18:21 Hello THEFIRSTCRY Indeed it seems that Polyèdre57 is right, you have observed a fireball. There is some confusion in the Press telling about the event, some testimonies put the hour before midnight ... but the majority of the witnesses indicate "at approximately 09: 30 - 09: 40 p.m.". On the website Ciel des hommes, witness Isabelle from Rosenwiller: "... Good evening I just saw at 09:40 p.m. approximately a huge shooting star as I was walking my dog,i have been very impressed because all of a sudden all the area where I was was lighted as if a big projector had been directed to the ground.then maybe 1m30 or 2 mn later I heard like a bang. Can you tell me what I witnessed? Thanks..." As the website mentions it seems you have observed a "thundering" fireball; which is quite rare. Good evening. |
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Robert04
Forum team member |
Subject: Re: 2013: on 10/13 at 09:35 p.m. - Disc-shaped Ufo - ESCHAU - Bas-Rhin (dep.67) Mar 15 Oct 2013, 19:45 Link to the website fro other testimonies http://www.cidehom.com/question.php?_q_id=5251 |
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This was indeed a large meteor, seen by many, in Bavaria, Alsace, Lorraine etc.
This is an opportunity to note the observation hours and to compare them. We have - from the astronomy website "Ciel des Hommes" in particular (http://www.cidehom.com/question.php?_q_id=5250):
As I have said about other cases, the "rounded" hours are "5 minutes approximations", often indicated as approximate. They must be taken as such, and one should not start to imagine that there were different phenomena just because we have some "21:30" and some "21:40", as ufologist Charles Garreau did in the fifties, imagining for a meteor sighting that the UFO has "zigzagged" during 10 minutes! When not-rounded minutes are given, if often means that the precise hour was checked immediately. The approximation here was apparently about more or less six minutes.
I searched more witnesses reports of a meteor at that date and time and in a consistent place.
I found a meteor that day seen from Rosheim at 09:36 p.m.:
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October 15, 2013 10:51 PM
Sunday evening October 13, 2013, at 09:36 p.m. Local Time 07:36 p.m. UTC, observed from Rosheim near Obernai in Alsace, a very large meteorite was seen entering the atmosphere between the stars Alpha and Gamma Cygni south of Zenith. It went across the entire south-eastern part of the sky to disappear between Delta and Eta Aquarius. Its trajectory stretched over more than 50 degrees across the sky. The track began with a beautiful golden yellow color to green at Epsilon Pegasus. Then it expanded by taking a fluorescent green color. Its speed slowed down to a fifth during the travel. At Lamda Aquarius the meteorite exploded in a violent green ball surrounded by a yellow halo. The size of the ball had reached the diameter of the Moon (~ 0.5°). The light was so violent that it lit the place of observation more than the Moon in Aquarius with its 0.71 gibbous phase and its -11 magnitude. However no particular sound was heard in the minute that followed. The phenomenon lasted between 3 and 4 seconds, resulting in a very strong emotion.
In fact, witnesses are not lacking, I found for example, at allskycamfrance.frenchboard.com/t557-bolide-au-dessus-de-la-lorraine-13-10-2013-21h36-13-lt:
Hello,
This won't serve much, but I want to emphasize that this re-entry [sic] was reported to me by a relative last night Sunday, October 13th at 10 p.m. (he gave me a probable time between 9:40 p.m. 9:30 p.m.)
He was then on the road from Mulhouse to Strasbourg (northbound), specifically on the RN83/A36 between Colmar and the Haut-Koenigsbourg which should be in the left visual field.
He and his wife did not see the object directly, but saw the sky light in blue "like a full moon night" for 3 to 4 seconds. The moon was already present in the South (Gibbous 189 ° and 29 ° az elec, -11.61 mag according to Stellarium), it seems to suggest a magnitude much higher than the measure actually recorded by the fireball camera.
I will try to clarify the observation according to the witnesses feedback.
[...]
This website provides a video of this meteor recorded on an automatic camera.
A participant in the website's forum indicates that despite the lack of astrometric data, this meteor likely disintegrated and/or fell down in a triangle roughly formed of Luneville - Epinal - Saint-Dié.
The witness in this case thought the "UFO" started to move only when she looked up. But she was clearly mistaken about that, as she does say the "beam" was moving towards her knees when she was still looking downwards at her mobile phone. What she saw was the displacement of the shadow of the already moving meteor.
This case shows that when witnesses think they are being "watched" by the UFO, they can be wrong about it. The witness was "shocked", "quite scared", "puzzled"... This shows that even a natural phenomenon can be impressive to an observer who does not recognize it as such.
Finally, there is at least one other case in which it was reported in a UFO context: case ALSACAT-2013-10-13-CHAMPENAY-1.
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Above: a green meteor.
The 9:36 p.m. meteor on the Vosges.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editeur: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | March 14, 2014 | Creation, [myo1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 14, 2014 | First published. |
