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 Barr, on June 9, 2018:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2018-06-09-1

Summary:

A testimony was deposited by "Virgile" on the website OVNI France about "luminous balls" seen on June 9, 2018, at 11:30 pm, for about a minute, in Barr in the Bas-Rhin.

It is said that it was three perfectly aligned luminous balls advancing in parallel, very slowly, silently, at equal distance from each other, before disappearing behind clouds.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	June 9, 2018
Time:	11:30 p.m.
Duration:	1 minute.
First known report date:	2021
Reporting delay:	Day, 3 years.

Geographical data:

Department:	Bas-Rhin
City:	Barr
Place:	?
Latitude:	48.407
Longitude:	7.450
Uncertainty radius:	2 km.

Witnesses data:

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

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	By the Web to the "OVNI-Frnce.fr" Website.
Type of location:	?
Visibility conditions:	Night.
UFO observed:	Yes
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	Yes
Entities:	No
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	?
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Possible Chinese lanterns.

Sources:

[Ref. ofe1:] SITE WEB "OVNI FRANCE":

09-06-2018 - (Dep.67) - Luminous balls

Date: 06-09-2018

Department: 67 (Bas-Rhin)

Location: BARR

Time: 11:30 p.m.

Numbers [sic] of witnesses: 1 people

Type of observation: NL: Nocturnal Lights

Approximate duration of the observation: 1 minutes [sic]

What has been seen: luminous balls

Description of the facts:

3 perfectly aligned luminous balls advancing in parallel and very slowly silently and at equal distance from each other before disappearing behind clouds.

Virgile

Discussion:

The very brief testimony does not allow very strong statements to be made; but it is quite obvious that the three luminous balls could have once again been Chinese lanterns.

Since 2005, the Chinese lanterns constituted the bulk of the "testimonies" which one finds on Websites about UFOs and publishing primarily such "testimonies" brought via the web and whose only treatment is in general the publication, without any information on a possible cause, without investigation or research.

As these miniature hot air balloons are generally launched at private or public parties, they are most often seen on Saturday evenings and during calendar holidays such as New Year's Day or July 14, between 10 p.m. and midnight. They are then generally released in clusters. But sometimes the purchaser makes a test a few days before, sometimes with only one lantern.

Above: a Chinese lantern.

Evaluation:

Possible Chinese lanterns.

Sources references:

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

[ofe1] * Witness report on the OVNI France Website, France, found in 2021, at http://www.ovni-france.fr/index.php?ou=temoignages_vu&id_tem=3098&id=16

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	June 28, 2021	Creation, [ofe1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	June 28, 2021	First published.

This page was last updated on June 28, 2021.