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Case of Strasbourg, on December 1, 2013:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2013-12-01-STRASBOURG-1

Summary:

"Dany" - this is a pseudonym - contacted by electronic message a ufologist from Quebec whom she knew, to tell her she had seen, with her mother, on December 1, 2013, at 05:26 p.m. in Strasbourg, several orange spheres. At the request of the ufologist, she wrote a report published by the website of the Quebec Association of Ufology.

She recounted having seen, "about ten" for her mother, 8 of them for her, noting there were perhaps been others before her mother went to the window of their apartment on the 8th floor of a building.

She ensures that these were not lanterns because the wind would have shifted them a minimum, "whereas" they were taking off from the "green mountain and place Kleber" bus stop, just opposite her window; which gave them an excellent view.

Three balls passed at a few meters, or a good 13th or 14th floor, above their building, aligned perfectly with a distance of ten meters between them at eyes' estimate.

She leaned out the window watching the underside of these balls. They were balls of fire "whose light narrowed and increased somewhat" and they made no noise. The third one was a little shifted of a "few centimeters", then it again aligned behind the other two.

The time to see this, another ball took off from the same place, and several others did that afterwards.

She cannot give any direction because she has yet to find a compass. It was not raining, the sky was clear. She made two photo-editing of what she saw, visible below in this page.

Her brother's dog, a Golden Retriever, was in the room with the two women. The girl observed its behavior, because it looked out of the window: it was quiet, which relieved "Dany".

"Dany" then told, on January 1, 2014, that the day before, she had spent the whole evening at the window with her family observing a score of small orange dots that formed and deformed straight lines and triangles, taking off, moving slowly in the sky in silence. Between 11:30 p.m. and 0:37 a.m., there were about twenty small orange dots that "crossed the sky of Strasbourg....!"

Thinking "Did they come back or what ???", they thought it was an invasion. "Dany" asked herself "if I was in a movie or what ???"

She adds that with "with the fireworks there was at that time, others must have seen these dots too," and tells that a girl friend told her she saw then at the same hours.

The Canadian ufologist does not provide the explanation, instead, she ensures that the observation is similar to others, like a "worldwide wave of luminous orange spheres in 2013."

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Sources:

[Ref. aqu1:] "ASSOCIATION QUEBECOISE D'UFOLOGIE":

Discussion:

The argument that it would not be Chinese lanterns because the wind did not separate them makes no sense: it is clear on the reconstitution pictures that these were lanterns launched one after the other, meaning that they were likely dropped by a single person. Therefore, they all follow approximately the same path driven by the same air stream. They would have separate, dispersed, only with changes in wind direction, not established here. It is actually if they had parted in different directions that we could have spoken of something weird!

When the orange lights are described as "triangles", it means that three people are performing the launch.)

For the observation during New Year's eve, there were so many lanterns released in the city that there is no wonder that one of them has taken a slightly different course from others.

As for the statement "to see so many of them it's unimaginable", just look at the launches in Thailand, country of origin of the lanterns:

For the first observation, "Dany" says they took of from the bus stop "Montagne Verte - Place Kléber".

The Place Kléber, is the central square of the old city, obvious venue for events and activities, and obvious place to let lanterns go.

But "Dany" and the Canadian ufologist must be thinking implicitly that on that evening, a dozen alien spaceships were parked on the busiest square of the great city in view of all, and would have teken off one after the other in full sight of the people, and no one else was thinking about reporting it... This is not quite fit to me to reconcile myself with Quebec ufology...

Besides, let's be serious: the next sighting by "Dany" is on December 31, 2013, to January 1, 2014, the evening of New Year, when obviously Chinese lanterns are launches. She was not tipped by the fact that there were fireworks, that it was the New Year's Eve, she sees lanterns and still does not recognize them...

The Canadian investigator does not recognize them either, for that matter. While the witness herself mentioned the possibility lanterns, the ufologist does not understand it, being so absorbed by the fact that "Similar phenomena occurred in California" on the same date (which one? December 1 or January 1st?). Amazing... There are millions of lanterns sold in these years all around the world and occasionally reported as "UFOs" by those people who do not know them yet. And some ufologists still do not know about that.

About Chinese lanterns:

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.

Note that the lanterns have also evolved: if initially they were almost always white in color, giving an orange light during their flight, there are now all colors available and they produce other colors in flight than the usual "reddish", orange, yellow.

Above: a Chinese lantern.

Evaluation:

Chinese lanterns.

Sources references:

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

• [aqu1] * "Plusieurs sphères orangées sur Strasbourg", web page by Annie Thériault, on the website of the "Association Québécoise d'Ufologie", Canada, December 7, 2013, and January 1, 2015, at http://ovni-expert.com/2013/12/07/plusieurs-spheres-orangees-sur-strasbourg/

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This page was last updated on July 25, 2015.