The regional newspaper L'Alsace for November 8, 1975, reported about the claims of several 10-year-old children from Merxheim, Haut-Rhin, who had told their local school teacher that they had seen a flying saucer near the village on Thursday. November 6, 1976 around 09:45 p.m. or 10:00 p.m..
Following their statements to the teacher, they were questioned by the gendarmes of Bollwiller, in the presence of at least one journalist from L'Alsace.
The main witness, Denis Dubich, claimed he saw the saucer land in a field about fifty meters from his parents' house. He said he was reading in his room, when he was alerted by the yelling of his dog. He went down to see what was going on, found the dog hiding in his kennel, as if scared, and then he saw, 50 meters from the house, a very luminous object, red, orange, which was landing.
The light would have forced him to hide his face with his forearm. He claimed he distinguished a row of very bright portholes, an antenna on the top, and four trapdoors below the craft, from which three feet unfolded, and an arm with pliers came out and pulled out of cabbages in the field. The cabbages were brought indide the machine, a hood would have opened, and an all-white individual would have emerged up to the torso. The character, he claimed, looked around, then closed the hood, then the machine rose in the air, very quickly, before leaving towards the Southeast.
The child stated that during all this time the craft was emitting a whistling sound, and that he felt a strong heat, and that before rising in the air the machine turned on itself, whereas the portholes appearing to remain motionless.
The child's mother told the newspaper that while she was in bed, she had seen through the shutters a very strong light, and that around 9 p.m., the TV signal and the lighting were disturbed.
Similar statements of this child were recorded by the gendarmes on November 8, 1975: he told that on November 6, 1975, at 10 p.m., while he was already in bed, he heard the dog howling outside. He stood up to see what was happening. While he was with the dog, he noticed a luminous ball descending from the sky, coming from the direction of Guebwiller. The ball was whistling with a sound like a siren. The object grew more and more and ended up landing in a cabbage field about fifty meters from his parent's home.
He said he had then clearly seen this circular machine, about two meters high, surrounded by bright square portholes and surmounted by a dome. It gave off a violent light, especially during its landing.
When it landed, three hatches opened underneath and three legs unfolded and rested on the ground. At one time the cupola was raised and a shape emerged. This shape resembled the head and bust of a human being, who turned to him then entered the machine and closed the cupola.
At the same time, a pair of pliers came out under the machine at the end of an arm. The pliers, in three times, took three sprouts and put them into the machine. Then the craft began to hum "again", it rose slightly, folded its three feet and then took off diagonally towards Reguisheim. Subsequently, the child went to check the landing site, and said he felt a strong indefinable odor. All this lasted about fifteen minutes, and he did not alert his parents who were in bed.
He spoke about it the next morning to his teacher.
The gendarmes questioned his school teacher, who was the school principal, and told that the child is of average intelligence and has not yet been particularly noticeable by his behavior. On the morning of Friday, November 7, 1975, the teacher had noticed that some children, including this one, seemed upset. At the beginning of the class, they told him that Denis had seen a flying saucer. He did not take them seriously, asked them to shut up. But around 10 a.m., seeing that Denis and his comrades were not calming down, he asked them to tell their story.
Denis explained that the day before, he had observed a flying saucer in a field near his home. He made a sketch of the so-called flying saucer - visible further down in this file - which reminded his teacher those see in the comics. Other children later told the teacher that they had seen lights, but the teacher could not say if he! were influenced by Denis' story or if they actually saw something.
He adds that the evening of the observation of the saucer, the German television had shown a science-fiction movue; but Denis had told him he had not been allowed to watch it. The teacher, like other viewers on November 6, 1975, had noted some image losses on the television around 10 p.m., but he noted that this had been happening quite frequently in the recent times.
The newspaper talks about the other children: they lived on the Guebwiller road about 200 meters from the landing place, and they also saw a bright orange light and a ball flying to the southeast. A young girl from the road to Raedersheim, thus on the other side of the village, claimed to have noticed it, too, when she had just returned home with her parents, about the same time. She told it was a dazzling ball flying fast towards Réguisheim.
The journalist(s) learning from the teacher heard that there was no mention of flying saucers at school and that the children told him they did not watch television that night. They went on the terrain, and did not notice any trace, "except the place where cabbages were torn. But by what mystery?"
The Gendarmes noted the statement of [Patrick] K., a 10-year-old schoolboy: on November 6, 1975, around 9:45 p.m., he was in bed and woke up because he was too hot. He opened the window and shutters of his room, and then saw a luminous ball in the sky, coming from the direction of Guebwiller and descending gradually down to a field located 200 meters from his house. This is where he saw "a flying saucer as one can see them on television." In essence: "I can describe this craft in the following manner: it was a large, oval-shaped object, full of dazzling light exactly like in the German films entitled "Space Patrols." He said that when the craft passed over his house, it was whistling or buzzing, but he was sure it was not a plane or a helicopter. He saw the craft immobilize above the ground, emitting multicolored lights.
He then closed the shutters, and went back to bed. He did not see or hear the machine go away as he slept almost immediately. He did not tell his grandmother because he was scared.
He says that although he often watches at science fiction shows on television, he is sure that on November 6 he did not dream what he saw. The next morning, he still did not tell his grandmother, thinking she would not believe him. But at school, he said, he learned that his comrade Denis had also seen the craft.
The gendarmes also heard Christine [R.], a 9-year-old schoolgirl, who told them that on November 6, 1975, she had returned home at around 10 p.m., that she went to bed immediately, and that when she was closing the shutters, she saw, towards Reguisheim, a luminous object, which appeared round, rather large, with multicolored lights all around. She closed the shutters so she did not see where this object was going, whether it was moving or was motionless. The next morning, before going to school, she had told her father about it and arrived at school, she learned that his friend Denis had seen a machine placed on the ground near his house.
The gendarmes note that the field measures 20 ares, being south-west of Merxheim about fifty meters from the house of the nearest witness Denis, that it is planted with sauerkraut cabbage and two rows of apple trees. The field was partially plowed and some of the cabbage had been torn off, but by the owner Mr. W... according to his needs. The latter told the gendarmes that he did not think that cabbages are missing but that he could not be completely sure. The gendarmes found no evidence of landing, no burns, mothing on the ground at the alleged contact spot of the craft with the ground. The fruit trees above which the craft allegedly landed show no damage.
They add:
"We made contact with the Air Force and Air Base 132 at Colmar-Meyenheim, and after checking, it turned out that the base's radars had not observed any unidentified objects on the evening of the 6th of November 1975. Technicians from the Pégoud center of studies and aerospace achievements in Belfort alerted by the local press took samples and made a field study. They did not detect any radioactivity (gamma radiation 10 to 20 hits / second). The children D..., R... and K..., interviewed separately and in the presence of the parents, did not vary in their declaration. evening of November The paerent of the youg D... noticed a vague glow through the shutters but not hearing any noise and thinking it was the headlights of a car circulating rue du Ballon, they paid no particular attention to these facts. It should be noted that in the evening of November 6. at around 10:00 p.m., three image losses were observed on television sets, but these events occurred quite often during October and November 1975. Despite our research and a call for witnesses in the local press, no adult witness could be found neither in Merxheim nor in the neighboring communes."
The newspaper stated that the craft had not been reported by the guard at Air Force Base 132, although it would not have been very far to the air base. The radar observation center at the Contrexéville air base told them that they had not spotted anything, but added that their radars are "blind" for a craft traveling at very low altitude, and even more so in the valley of Alsace.
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[Ref. la1:] "L'ALSACE" NEWSPAPER:
A flying saucer in Merxheim?"Do flying saucers exist or not?" The problem is far from being solved: from time to time we announce the appearance of unidentified objects, but to this day these extraterrestrial machines seemed to sulk our region. Did they change their flight plan and take an interest in the country between the Vosges and the Rhine? This is the question that can be asked following the statements of several children of Merxheim. These 10-year-old children who attend the community primary school told their teacher and gendarmes Bollwiller, in our presence, to have seen, Thursday around 09:45 p.m., a flying saucer move around the locality. The young Denis Dubich, who lives in Merxheim, would have even seen it land in a field about fifty meters from his house. According to him, while reading in his bedroom, he was alerted by the barking of his dog. Having come down to see what was happening, he noticed that the animal was burrowing in his kennel, as if it were frightened, then he saw 50 m from his house a very luminous object, red, orange, which landed. The light would have forced him to hide his face with his forearm. He would have distinguished a row of very bright portholes and four wickets below the craft, from which three folding feet would have emerged and an arm with pliers that would have collected cabbages from the field. Still according to him an antenna surmounted the machine. It would have been retracted back in the machine, a hood would have opened then, and a completely white individual would have come out to the chest. The individual would have looked around, would have closed the hood, then the machine would have gone up in the air, very quickly, before leaving towards the Southeast. The child stated that all the time the craft was whistling, and that he himself felt a strong heat and that before rising in the air the machine would have turned on itself, the portholes appearing to him to stay still. The mother of the child told us that while she was going to bed, she had seen through the shutters a very strong light, and that at 9 o'clock, the TV shows and the light would have been disturbed. The other children living on the Guebwiller road, about 200 m from the spot, also saw a bright orange light and a ball spinning to the southeast. A young girl who lives on the road to Raedersheim, thus on the other side of the village, would have noticed, too, when she had just come home with her parents, about the same time, a dazzling ball in the direction of Reguisheim. Information received from the teacher, there was no mention of flying saucers at school and the children said they did not watch television that night. Having visited the field we did not notice any trace, except the location where cabbages were torn off. But by what mystery? A sounding balloon?The machine sighted at Merxheim was not reported by the personal at Air Base 132 (it would have been only a few hundred meters south of the base, according to the witnesses, stating that it was following a path facing East). No mention either of the appearance of Merxheim at the radar observation center of the air base of Contrexéville (which controls the whole of the East of France): "though, the assistant of the commander of base specifies, our radars are "blind" for a craft moving at very low altitude, especially in the Rhine basin." For this officer, the hypothesis of a stratospheric balloon used for some scientific experiment at very high altitude, and which would have descended to the ground is not to be rejected: in your region, the fact has already occurred several times before. This is not extraordinary: the flight duration of such balloons is only 8 days on average. There is still a part to the UFO hypothesis that cannot be rejected: didn't Mr. Robert Galley, while he was Minister of Armies, questioned on this matter, even affirm this? At the NATO air base in Bremgarten (Germany), the duty officer was very dubious... although there was no air traffic yesterday. "Often," he says, "fog or atmospheric pressure explains why people believe they see UFOs, which was never the case with one of our pilots." Similarly, no luminous signal appeared on one of our radar set has ever remained unexplained..." |
[Rdf. la1:] "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT"":
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RECENT NEWS (continued from page 27)ON NOVEMBER 6, 1975 : MERXHEIM (Bas-Rhin)On Thursday evening, several witnesses, including a 10-year-old child, Denis Dubich, observed a bright red ball. The child says that having been awakened by the barking of his dog, he was able to see the craft land in a field not far from home. According to him, the machine, equipped with portholes, had an antenna and four hatches from which came out folding feet. Then the object rose while whistling and disappeared towards the East ("Le Méridional" du 8-11-75). |
[Ref. bo1:] JEAN-CLAUDE BOURRET:
November 6, 1975: THE SAUCER STEALING... THREE CABBAGES!Minutes of preliminary investigation, December 22, 1975, group of the Haut-Rhin, company of Guebwiller, Bollwiller brigade. On November 7, 1975 at 11:30 we are informed by telephone by Mr... in Merxheim Haut-Rhin that children of the town had watched the night before a flying object that would have landed in a field. These facts were reported to Messrs ... by the school principal. The flying object would have landed in a field located to the southwest of the Greater Merxheim Haut-Rhin. The field has a surface of about twenty acres. It is planted of sauerkraut cabbage and two rows of apple trees. It is located fifty meters from the house nearest of the witness, the young Denis D... The field is partially plowed and part of the cabbage was collected by the owner Mr. W... as it is needed. No landing trace, burning or other was found on the ground at the alleged place of contact of the machine with the ground. Fruit trees above which the craft would have arisen are not damaged. From the statements of the young Denis D..., aged ten, the machine would have landed near his home in the field on November 6, 1975 at 10p.m., coming from the direction of Guebwiller, flight path west-east. It took off again toward Reguisheim so practically on the same west-east axis. It would be a circular machine rimmed of bright square portholes and with a dome. The young Christine R... whose home is located about 300 meters from the landing site saw this object in the sky towards Reguisheim. Denis D... who reported that an arm came out of the machine and had picked three cabbages, we contacted Mr. W..., owner of the field, who told us that a priori no vegetables seemed to have disappeared but he was not able to tell us exactly if sprouts were missing. He did not desire to give us his written statement. We contacted the air gendarmerie and the air base 132 in Colmar-Meyenheim. After verification, it was found that the radar base had observed no unidentified object in the evening of November 6, 1975. Technicians from the Pégoud center of Aerospace Studies and Achievements in Belfort alerted by the local press conducted sampling and field studies. They detected no radioactivity (gamma radiation 10 to 20 hits /minute), no residual magnetism. The children D..., K... R..., interrogated separately and in the presence of parents, did not change their statement. the parents of the young D... on the evening of November 6, noticed a dim light through the blinds but hearing no noise, and thinking it was the headlights of a car traveling on the Rue du Ballon, they did not pay attention to these facts. Note that in the evening of November 6 at about 10 p.m., three image losses were noted on the television, but these events were happening often enough during October, November 1975. Despite our research and publishing of a notice in the local press, no adult witness could be found neither in Merxheim or in neighboring municipalities. Closure of the minutes To date no new testimony has been brought to our attention, we close this procedure. Minutes of the hearing of D... ten years old schoolboy. On November 6, 1975, at 10 p.m., while I was already in bed, I heard the dog howling outside. I got up to see what was happening. While I was with the dog, I noticed a luminous ball descending from heaven from the direction of Guebwiller. This ball was the size of a large balloon. it emitted a whistling sound like a siren scream. This object grew and eventually landed in a cabbage field about fifty meters from my parents' home. So I could see that craft clearly. It was a circular machine, high of about two meters, rimmed of bright square portholes and with a dome. When this object had landed three hatches opened underneath and three legs unfolded and rested on the ground. At one time the dome was raised and a form emerged. This form resembled the head and torso of a human being, This form turned to me and then went back into the machine and the dome closed. At the same time, a clamp came out under the craft at the end of an arm, the clamp, in three times, took three cabbages and brought them inside the machine. Then the craft started to hum again, rose slightly above the ground, clinched the three feet then took off diagonally towards Reguisheim. I went to the spot after its departure, and I felt a strong indefinable odor. This whole thing lasted about fifteen minutes. I did not call my parents who were in bed and it was only yesterday morning that I reported these facts to my teacher. The description I gave of this machine is correct, and I also state that it gave off a harsh light especially when landing. On 8 November 1975 at 05:45 p.m., the above statement is read by the person concerned and his parents. Persists and signs. Audition of K ..., ten years old schoolboy. Thursday, November 6, 1975, around 09:45 p.m., I was in bed, I woke up because I was too hot. I opened the window and the shutters of my bedroom, that's when I saw a bright ball in the sky. This ball came from the direction of Guebwiller, and descended gradually downwards to a field 200 meters from my house. This is where I saw a flying saucer as it shows on TV. I then closed the shutters and I went back to bed. I can describe this machine in the following manner: it was a large object, oval, full of dazzling light exactly as in the German films titled "Space Patrol". I often watch science fiction shows on TV, but I am sure that on November 6th I did not dream what I saw. The next morning at school, I learned that my friend D... had also seen this thing. I have not told my grandmother because I was scared and the next morning I also shut up because I thought my grandmother would not believe me. I said that when the craft passed above the house it was emitting a kind of whistling or buzzing sound, but I'm sure it was neither a plane nor a helicopter. I also state that this craft came to rest above the ground and it emitted multicolored lights. I did not see or hear this thing go away as I went back to bed and fell asleep almost immediately. November 12, 1975 at 12:35 noon, read, confirmed and signed. Mr. C..., school principal. The young D... is in my class since 1973, this is a child of average intelligence who, until now, was not particularly noted for his behavior. On Friday, November 7 in the morning I noticed that some children with D ... had an upset look. At the beginning of the class, they told me that D... had seen a flying saucer. Believing in a children's invention, I asked them to be quiet and I did not particularly pay attention to their words. Around 10 a.m., seeing that D... and his comrades did not calm down, I asked them to tell their story. So D... told me that the day before, he had observed a kind of flying saucer in a field near his home. He also made me a drawing of the flying saucer type, such as is seen in the comics. Other children said later that they had seen lights, but I could not tell if they were influenced by the story of D... or if they actually saw something. I should mention that on Thursday afternoon, we showed a film called "The Wonderful Lamp". And in the evening of observation of the saucer, that is to say November 6, German television was broadcasting a science fiction movie. Nevertheless, according to the words of D... he was not allowed to watch this film. On the evening of November 6, I noted like other viewers television image losses around 22 hours, but this was fairly frequent lately. On November 12, 1975 at 11:25, reading the statement, confirmed and signed. Hearing of R... Nine years old schoolgirl. On November 6, 1975, I had left with my parents, we returned home around 10 p.m., I went straight to bed and when I closed the shutters, I saw, towards Reguisheim, a luminous object. This object seemed round, quite big, it had multicolored lights all around. I closed the shutters and so I do not see where this object was. The next morning before going to school, I told about it to my father and arrived at school, I learned that my comrade D... saw a craft posed on the ground near his house. When I saw this object in the sky I do not know if it was motionless because I still have not looked long enough. November 12, 1975 at 9 am 30, having read, confirmed and signed. NOTE. [From the author Jean-Claude Bourret, not from the gendarmes.] - What part of reality and the imagination in these stories? Were the children really witnesses or do they tell stories? At this age, we used to live with the wonderful. The stories of "flying saucers" are part of the children's cultural environment (television and comics). We can note:
But:
So? True or false? As I am in doubt I would class this file as not significant. |
[Ref. fr1:] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:
106111975 22 h Merxheim 68500 C4.WITNESSES Denis Dubich, 10, Miss Christine R... Mr. K, 10 years, schoolchildren. OBSERVATIONS Observation Mr. Denis Dubich. a) A circular machine rimmed of bright red square portholes and a dome lands in a field on three legs. b) The dome of the UFO opens, a shape resembling the head and torso of a human being emerges and reinstate the device. The dome closes. EVENTS. At 10 p.m., the young Denis Dubich hears a dog howling. He gets up to see what happens and notices a luminous ball descending from the sky from the direction of Guebwiller. It whistles like a siren scream and lands in a cabbage field about fifty meters from his parents' home. When the craft landed, three doors below open and three feet are unfolded to land. At one point, the dome rises and a form emerges. This form turns to the witness then enters the machine and closes the dome. At the same time, a clamp comes out of the machine at the end of an arm, and takes three times three sprouts. The device starts to hum, rises, folds its three feet and takes off diagonally towards Reguisheim. Around 09:45 p.m., M. K.. wakes up because it is too hot. He opens the window and shutters of his bedroom, then he sees a luminous ball going down to a field located 200 m from the house of his parents. The child compares the oval shaped object, full of dazzling lights, with the saucer German movie titled "Space Patrol". The young witness did not see the vehicle go away because he goes to bed and falls asleep immediately. Around 10 p.m., Christiane R... just returned to her home with her parents. She closes her shutters and observes a luminous object towards Reguisheim. D... would also have observed a saucer in a field near his home. TO NOTE.
EFFECTS. There have been television image losses at the time, but these losses are common. At the end of his observation, the young Denis D... went to the place of landing and noted an indefinable smell. SOURCE. Jean-Claude Bourret, Le Nouveau Défi des OVNI. U.F.O. information of A.A.M.T., No. 10, p. 23. -. Le Méridional for 11/08/1975 |
[Ref. mf1:] "FRANCAT" - MICHEL FIGUET:
| CASE NR | CLASSIFICATION | DATE | TIME | PLACE | ZIP CODE | CREDIBILITY | SOURCES |
| 992 | CE3 | 11/06/1965 | 10 p.m. | Merxheim | 68500 C4 | NI OVNI p. 586 |
[Ref. ro1:] RAOUL ROBE:
The catalogue compiled by Raoul Robé is described as publishing the "humanoids" appearances - in a broad sense - that occurred since 1900 on the action area of the 'ufology group CNEGU, comprizing Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin. It is said the work has been done thanks to the collaboration of associations members of CNEGU, and people from "Lumières Dans La Nuit", including Alain Gamard.
There is a "List of the Humanoid cases in the N.E.", where this appears, inter alia:
| CASE Nr | DATE | HOUR | PLACE | WITNESSES | SEX |
| 31 | 11/06/75 | 22.00 | Merxheim (68) | 1 child | M |
Further on, the following information is given:
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Case #31 On November 6, 1975 in Merxheim (68). At 10 p.m., young Denis Dubich (10 years old), hears his dog howling. He gets up to see what was happening and noticed a luminous ball which descends from the sky from the direction of Guebwiller. It whistles like a siren scream and landed in a cabbage field located about fifty meters from the family home. When the craft lands, 3 hatches open on the underside and 3 feet unfold and touch the ground. At one point, the dome rises and a shape resembling the head and torso of a human being emerges. This form turns to the witness then enters the machine and closes the dome. Meanwhile, a clip comes out of the machine, and at the end of an arm, takes in 3 times 3 sprouts. The device starts to snore, rises, folds its 3 feet and leaves diagonally to Réguisheim. Two other children observe the luminous device from different locations. No trace was found on the ground but a strong odor was noticed on site, as well as disturbances in television sets. (Ref.: JC Bourret, p. 208-214, according to the Bollwiller police investigation; M. Figuet, p. 586). |
[Ref. go1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:
1975, November 6FRANCE, Merxheim (Haut Rhin)Three young local children interviewed by the gendarmes never varied in their statements: Denis Dubich, 10, was lying around 10 p.m. when he heard the dog howling. He got up and when he was with the dog he saw a ball like a big balloon coming from Guebwiller. The UFO hissed like a siren. It ended up landing in his parents' cabbage plantation 50 m from the house. It was round, about 2 m high, with a belt of bright square portholes surmounted by a cuppola. Three hatches opened underneath and three feet unfolded to land. At some time the dome rose and a shape emerged that resembled the head and bust of a human. The form turned to him, then entered the craft and the dome closed. At the same time a forceps came out under the machine at the end of an arm and this pincer took in three times, three cabbages, which it put in the machine. The apparatus began to snore, rose, folded its feet, and took off diagonally towards Reguisheim. It lasted 15 minutes. (J.C. BOURRET: "Le nouveau défi des OVNI" - France Empire 1976 - p. 208 to 214) 1975, November 6FRANCE, Merxheim (Haut Rhin)10-year-old K. says that when he was lying down around 9:45 p.m. he woke up because he was too hot. He opened the windows and shutters and saw a ball coming down from Guebwiller gradually descending to land in a field 200 m from the house. That's how he saw it was a flying saucer. He closed the shutters and went back to bed. (J.C. BOURRET: "Le nouveau défi des OVNI" - France Empire1976 - p. 208 to 214) 1975, November 6FRANCE, Merxheim (Haut Rhin)Little Christine, 9, said she had just returned with her parents around 10 p.m. and she went to bed right away. By closing the shutters she saw on the Reguisheim side a round object, quite big, with multicolored lights all around, but she did not look long enough to tell if the object was still or not. (J.C. BOURRET: "Le nouveau défi des OVNI" - France Empire 1976 - p. 208 to 214) |
[Ref. uw2:] "UFOWEB" WEBSITE:
| CITIES | DEPT | LATITUDES | LONGITUDES | YEARS | |||
| Merxheim | 68 | 47.917 | 7.283 | 1975 | |||
[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:
Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Merxheim Haute [sic] Rhin France, on November 6, 1975, at 10:00 p.m., "Several independent witnesses, mostly young men were awaken by the sound of a dog barking. One of the witnesses saw an approaching luminous sphere that descended towards the ground emitting a loud whistling sound. The object then landed on a nearby cabbage patch field. The object, now clearly seen was described as circular and encircled with brightly lit square windows and a dome on top. It landed on three large legs like protrusions. Moments later a hatch on the dome was pushed open and the head and shoulders of a human like figure appeared. The figure looked briefly in the direction of the witness then went back inside. Soon after a pincer like apparatus emerged from the bottom of the object and began collecting cabbages. After a while the pincer like instrument retracted into the object so did the legs. It then emitted a loud whistling then shot away diagonally at very high speed. The main witness felt at that moment a very strong undetermined type of odor in the air. The other witnesses were apparently farther away and were only able to see the object. Ground traces were reportedly found."
Albert Rosales indicates that the source is "J C Bourret, El Nuevo Desafio de Los Ovnis", that there was an "Entity reportedly seen inside UFO.", that "High Strangeness Index: 7", "ROS: 8".
He comments that it is a UFO "seen collecting specimens, in this case, cabbages. It is interesting that the UFO occupant remained inside the craft during the whole 'operation'."
[Ref. dj1:] DONALD JOHNSON:
November 61975 - A domed disc landed on three legs in Merxheim, France at 10:00 p.m. The dome on the craft opened, and the head and shoulders of an occupant was seen partially emerging from it. The dome closed and the UFO rose up into the air, then took off toward the east-southeast (Source: Larry Hatch, U computer database, case #11518). |
[Ref. lc1:] LUC CHASTAN - "BASE OVNI FRANCE":
Merxheim (68) on 06 November 1975General features
Features of the object
Features of the entity(ies)
Type of effects observed
Observation
Sources
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[Ref. ni1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
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Nov. 6, 1975; Merxheim, France 10:00 p.m. A domed disc landed on three legs. The dome on the craft opened, and the head and shoulders of an occupant was seen partially emerging from it. The dome closed and the UFO rose up into the air, then took off toward the east-southeast (Source: Larry Hatch, U computer database, case #11518). |
[Ref. rr1:] RAOUL ROBE:
A CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE THIRD TYPE...
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[Ref. my1:] FORUM "LES MYSTERES DES OVNIS":
A forum manager published there a transcript of the Gendarmes report as published by Jean-Claude Bourret, with the source reference "extract from the book "le nouveau défi des ovnis", and without Jean-Claude Bourret's comments.
[Ref. is1:] "ISUNDGAU" BLOG:
That blog presents several cases in Alsace they fished on the web, including this one::
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1975: confirmed by the army In Merxheim, on December 6, 1975, at 10 p.m., three witnesses have a close ancounter of the third kind with a sphere. |
There is no source reference for this case, cited among other cases. There is only, at the end of the web page, a series of links to UFO websites, including a link to the old URL of the home page of this website.
[Ref. ud1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
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6 November 1975 22:00 Merxheim, Alsace, France Domed disc landed on three legs. Dome opened, head and shoulders emerged. UFO rose up, took off rapidly to the ESE. A domed disc landed on three legs in Merxheim, France at 10:00 p.m. The dome on the craft opened, and the head and shoulders of an occupant was seen partially emerging from it. The dome closed and the UFO rose up into the air, then took off toward the east-southeast A flying disc was observed. Occupants of the craft were seen. One domed disc was observed in a town for five minutes. Several independent witnesses, mostly young men were awaken by the sound of a dog barking. One of the witnesses saw an approaching luminous sphere that descended towards the ground emitting a loud whistling sound. The object then landed on a nearby cabbage patch field. The object, now clearly seen was described as circular and encircled with brightly lit square windows and a dome on top. It landed on three large legs like protrusions. Moments later a hatch on the dome was pushed open and the head and shoulders of a human like figure appeared. The figure looked briefly in the direction of the witness then went back inside. Soon after a pincer like apparatus emerged from the bottom of the object and began collecting cabbages. After a while the pincer like instrument retracted into the object so did the legs. It then emitted a loud whistling then shot away diagonally at very high speed. The main witness felt at that moment a very strong undetermined type of odor in the air. The other witnesses were apparently farther away and were only able to see the object. Ground traces were reportedly found. Hynek rating: CE3 Vallee rating: CE3 |
The sources are indicated as: "Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002; Rosales, Albert, Humanoid Sighting Reports Database."
[Ref. cv2:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:
Former journalist Christian Valentin published in 2012 a very interesting book telling the story of UFO sightings, flying saucers sightings, in Alsace, from the beginning to 1980.
In this book, he reports that the case of Thursday, November 6, 1975, in Merxheim, was reported in the newspaper L'ALSACE for Saturday, November 8, 1975:
A flying saucer in Merxheim?"Do flying saucers exist or not?" The problem is far from being solved: from time to time we announce the appearance of unidentified objects, but to this day these extraterrestrial machines seemed to sulk our region. Did they change their flight plan and take an interest in the country between the Vosges and the Rhine? This is the question that can be asked following the statements of several children of Merxheim. These 10-year-old children who attend the community primary school told their teacher and gendarmes Bollwiller, in our presence, to have seen, Thursday around 09:45 p.m., a flying saucer move around the locality. The young D. D., who lives in Merxheim, would have even seen it land in a field about fifty meters from his house. According to him, while reading in his bedroom, he was alerted by the barking of his dog. Having come down to see what was happening, he noticed that the animal was burrowing in his kennel, as if it were frightened, then he saw 50 m from his house a very luminous object, red, orange, which landed. The light would have forced him to hide his face with his forearm. He would have distinguished a row of very bright portholes and four wickets below the craft, from which three folding feet would have emerged and an arm with pliers that would have collected cabbages from the field. Still according to him an antenna surmounted the machine. It would have been retracted back in the machine, a hood would have opened then, and a completely white individual would have come out to the chest. The individual would have looked around, would have closed the hood, then the machine would have gone up in the air, very quickly, before leaving towards the Southeast. The child stated that all the time the craft was whistling, and that he himself felt a strong heat and that before rising in the air the machine would have turned on itself, the portholes appearing to him to stay still. The mother of the child told us that while she was going to bed, she had seen through the shutters a very strong light, and that at 9 o'clock, the TV shows and the light would have been disturbed. The other children living on the Guebwiller road, about 200 m from the spot, also saw a bright orange light and a ball spinning to the southeast. A young girl who lives on the road to Raedersheim, thus on the other side of the village, would have noticed, too, when she had just come home with her parents, about the same time, a dazzling ball in the direction of Reguisheim. Information received from the teacher, there was no mention of flying saucers at school and the children said they did not watch television that night. Having visited the field we did not notice any trace, except the location where cabbages were torn off. But by what mystery? A sounding balloon?The machine sighted at Merxheim was not reported by the personal at Air Base 132 (it would have been only a few hundred meters south of the base, according to the witnesses, stating that it was following a path facing East). No mention either of the appearance of Merxheim at the radar observation center of the air base of Contrexéville (which controls the whole of the East of France): "though, the assistant of the commander of base specifies, our radars are "blind" for a craft moving at very low altitude, especially in the Rhine basin." For this officer, the hypothesis of a stratospheric balloon used for some scientific experiment at very high altitude, and which would have descended to the ground is not to be rejected: in your region, the fact has already occurred several times before. This is not extraordinary: the flight duration of such balloons is only 8 days on average. There is still a part to the UFO hypothesis that cannot be rejected: didn't Mr. Robert Galley, while he was Minister of Armies, questioned on this matter, even affirm this? At the NATO air base in Bremgarten (Germany), the duty officer was very dubious... although there was no air traffic yesterday. "Often," he says, "fog or atmospheric pressure explains why people believe they see UFOs, which was never the case with one of our pilots." Similarly, no luminous signal appeared on one of our radar set has ever remained unexplained..." |
Christian Valentin indicates that Bollwiller gendarmerie investigated these observations with the young people and their parents, establishing several hearing minutes.
The young D. was the only witness who declared to have attended the event in its entirety, but two other children confirmed to the gendarmes the presence of a luminous object at 10 p.m. over Merxheim.
The reports of the gendarmerie were published in 1976 by Jean Claude Bourret in his several times reprinted book "Le Nouveau Défi des OVNI", under the title "The saucer that stole three cabbages!".
There was, given the texts that followed this title, no will to scoff, at most a highlight of the incongruity of the observed phenomenon. Yet it is often these details that retain public opinion and ultimately obscure the facts for the benefit of sensationalism.
In a late 2009 interview, the witness has indicated to him that for a period of ten years after the events, the policemen had returned several times to question him.
Perhaps more than the event itself, is its media coverage that was traumatic for D. as the teenager he was at the time.
[Ref. dm1:] DONALD MILLIARD:
1975, November 6, FRANCE, Merxheim (Haut Rhin)Three young local children interviewed by the gendarmes never varied in their statements: Denis Dubich, 10, was lying around 10 p.m. when he heard the dog howling. He got up and when he was with the dog he saw a ball like a big balloon coming from Guebwiller. The UFO hissed like a siren. It ended up landing in his parents' cabbage plantation 50 m from the house. It was round, about 2 m high, with a belt of bright square portholes surmounted by a cuppola. Three hatches opened underneath and three feet unfolded to land. At some time the dome rose and a shape emerged that resembled the head and bust of a human. The form turned to him, then entered the craft and the dome closed. At the same time a forceps came out under the machine at the end of an arm and this pincer took in three times, three cabbages, which it put in the machine. The apparatus began to snore, rose, folded its feet, and took off diagonally towards Reguisheim. It lasted 15 minutes. (J.C. BOURRET: "Le nouveau défi des OVNI" - France Empire 1976 - p. 208 to 214) 1975, November 6, FRANCE, Merxheim10-year-old K. says that when he was lying down around 9:45 p.m. he woke up because he was too hot. He opened the windows and shutters and saw a ball coming down from Guebwiller gradually descending to land in a field 200 m from the house. That's how he saw it was a flying saucer. He closed the shutters and went back to bed. (J.C. BOURRET: "Le nouveau défi des OVNI" - France Empire1976 - p. 208 to 214) 1975, November 6, FRANCE, MerxheimLittle Christine, 9, said she had just returned with her parents around 10 p.m. and she went to bed right away. By closing the shutters she saw on the Reguisheim side a round object, quite big, with multicolored lights all around, but she did not look long enough to tell if the object was still or not. (J.C. BOURRET: "Le nouveau défi des OVNI" - France Empire 1976 - p. 208 to 214) |
[Ref. eg1:] EDUARDO MARTINEZ GONZALEZ:
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On November 6, 1975 in the French Merxheim, in the Upper Rhine, some children saw a UFO land in the field. One witness said that like a mechanical arm came out that collected 3 cabbages. It shows that there are vegetarian extraterrestrials. There were no trace of landing and or adult witnesses... |
[Ref. jg1:] JULIEN GONZALEZ:
The author indicates that in Merxheim, in the Haut-Rhin, on November 6, 1975, at 10:00 p.m., Mr. Denis Dubich, 1O years old, Miss Christine R., Mr. K., 1O years old; schoolchildren, were involved in a close encounter of the third kind.
He said that at 10 p.m. Denis Dubich heard a screaming dog, stood up to see what was going on and noticed a luminous ball coming down from the sky from Guebwiller's direction. It was hissing like a siren scream and landed in a cabbage field about 50 meters from his parents' home.
He described it as a circular-shaped machine of red color encircled by luminous square portholes and surmounted by a dome.
When the craft landed, three hatches opened below and three legs unfolded and touched the ground. At one point, the cupola was raised and a shape resembling the head and bust of a human being emerged, turned to the witness and entered the craft and closed the dome.
At the same moment, a pair of pliers came out of the machine and, at the end of an arm, took three sprouts in three times. The craft hummed, climbed, folded its three feet and took off diagonally towards Reguisheim.
The author notes that:
At around 9:45 p.m., Mr. K. had woken up because it was too hot, he opened the window and the shutters of his bedroom, and then saw a luminous ball descending towards a field located 200 m from his parents' house. The child compared the oval-shaped machine, full of dazzling lights, to the saucer of the German films titled "Space Patrouls". He did not see the machine leave because he went back to bed and as was immediately asleep.
Around 10 p.m., Christiane R ... had just returned home with her parents, she closed her shutters and observed a luminous object in the direction of Reguisheim.
There had been image losses in television at the time, but these losses were frequent.
At the end of his observation, Denis D ... went to the landing site and noted an indefinable smell.
No evidence of landing, burning or other trace was found on the ground at the point of alleged impact.
The author indicates that his sources include: "Jean-Claude Bourret, Le nouveau défi des OVNI, pages 208-214 (which reproduces the National Gendarmerie report of the Bollwiller Brigade of December 22, 1975)", "Michel Figuet and Jean-Louis Ruchon, OVNI, le premier dossier complet des rencontres rapprochées en France, pages 586-587 "; and "L'Alsace for November 8, 1975."
[Ref. sp4:] SPICA UFOLOGY GROUP:
| City | Date and hour of observation | General shape Identification |
General color Hypothesis |
Conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MERXHEIM | Thursday 6 November 1975 at 10:00 p.m. | saucer, rugby ball (3D) Unidentified |
red None |
Unsolved -lack of info |
Since 2007, the "CNES" (French space agency) service in charge of UFO affairs, GEIPAN, published most gendarmerie reports for at least the 1970s on itheir website. But not this one.
Having noted that this happened for some of the other cases, I think I can tell the reason for this silence. This happens in each case for which personal data that had to remain anonymous had been previously published by ufologists or the press. In many Alsatian and other cases, for which it is certain that the Gendarmerie had intervened and therefore certain that a report was written, and each time in such cases a witness name had appeared in the pesse or the ufological literature, GEIPAN seems to let the Gendarmerie report unpublished. And this happens even if only the relevant Gendarmerie office location was disclosed.
Thus, in this case, the local gendarmerie office having been published in the Press, as well as the main witness name, GEIPAN did not publish the Gendarmes' report. But it turns out that in those years, TV journalist and UFO buff Jean-Claude Bourret obtained a clearance that allowed him to reproduce the anonymized texts of the reports.
Note that the version of the report given by J. C. Bourret does not pose problems. Raoul Robé, whose skepticism is evident in this case, and who tells us that he also read the report, would certainly not have failed to point out any error in the transcription by J. C. Bourret.
Following the gendarmes report, there could have been an intervention of official investigators; but GEPAN, the service in charge of this, was not formed until 1977, two years later. So there is little hope to get additional "official" data.
No one thought of asking the children about the nature of what they saw. What did they think it was?
No angular size, quantized direction, elevation, height, duration of the different phases of observation, has been seriously documented.
The girl talked about what she saw at night to her father in the morning before going to school; so she would not have made up the story with her classmates on arriving at school unless they had conspired about it earlier. But we are not told explicitly that her father confirms that she told him about it before going to school. We learn that the children were heard in the presence of their parents, so the father would have denied if this was appropriate, but it is not formally written that he confirmed. It is very regrettable that a serious investigation has not been conducted. Measuring possible radioactivity is one thing, but it was also necessary to look for any flaw or corroboration of each aspect of the story of each child.
I want to map some of the mentioned locations to eiscuss the question of the directions reported by the children.
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The air base (BA 132) at Meyenheim is, at the closest part, 8 km from the landing site.
The landed UFO and the main witness Denis were at the post marked (O). Denis tells the gendarmes that the saucer came from the direction of Guebwiller (red line on the left to represent the direction range, with the uncerntainty of nearly 50°). Denis claimed he saw the saucer leave towards Réguisheim.
Patrick K. is on the road to Guebwiller, shown partly by the green Line. He gives the same direction of arrival as Denis: the saucer cames from the direction of Guebwiller, he told.
Christiane is somewhere along the blue line, on the road to Raedersheim. She saw the "ball" in the direction of Reguisheim.
There is no apparent contradiction. Patrick K. sees it coming from Guebweiller, he does not see it landing and leaving because he stoped observing. Denis also sees it arrive from Guebwiller, then he sees it land, then leave towards Réguisheim. The girl would have seen it when it was going away, directed to Reguisheim; she did not follow its move.
My French readers probably understand what the expression refers to, my foreign readers may not know. "La Soup aux Choux" ("The Cabbage Soup")is a French comedy movie with notably the "star" of the genre Louis de Funès. The story is that two very caricatured farmers, soaked drunk, receive the visit of an alien in flying saucer who finds their cabbage soup so delicious that he brings it back to his planet.
The film, directed by Jean Girault, was released in 1981, so it is out of the question that it influenced this report of 1975. Maybe the opposite occurred.
At that time of the birth of the "New Ufology" in Fraqnce, ufologists previously convinced that we do have extraterrestrial visits suddenly were sure that we never had. In short, one had believed everything and now beleievd nothing except misinterpretations. But one thing was then still quite unpopular: the accusation of false testimony. It was then much more "politically correct" to find some cause for misinterpretation than to assert that the UFO had been just a hoax... Whence the helicopter, as unlikely as it is. Indeed, how would a helicopter have three retractable feet, a row of square red portholes all around it, a pincher on the end of an arm, and especially, since when do helicopter crews steal cabbage in fields at night with such a pincer helicopter?
The two sketches, one being from the main witness, the other from inspired by the first, we are told, can make one smile. This craft with feet and arm seems pretty childish. An argument that is not very decisive: one only has to look at the configuration of the Viking probes (from 1976) with their feet and their mechanical arm to find a machine that would just as naive looking, and yet it was operational, picking samples on another planet...
Something else. The "Orion" spaceship of the Franco-German TV series of 1966 does not rest on three feet, but only on one telescopic foot:
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Almso missing, the arm with the clamp, the antenna, and its fins are too much. Moreover "Orion" is a very large ship, the craft described by the main witness is almost an "one seater" craft. See below the tiny crewmen that I circled in green, or in the article by Raoul Robé, the huge size of the machine's foot.
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In the series, a smaller craft serves as a "shuttle" between Orion and the explored planets. This is the machine shown in his last photo by Raoul Robé, and the image I show below.
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And another shuttle "model", much smalled is shown here inside the "Orion" mothership:
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It is in my opinion the most likely explanation, with on the one hand the elements given by Raoul Robé, the fact of the total lack of any landing evidence, but also because of somenting I collected on my own:
It happened that in the 2000s, I had been several times in Merxheim because my girlfriend at the time had family there. Inevitably, my interest in UFO reports wa was mentioned, and a cousin of my girlfriend then mentioned the Merxheim affair. He told me on hos own the name of the main witness - I did not tell him this name. hje told me how the affair had made a lot of media fuss then, and that in his opinion, this ruckus was far too much for a simple reason: the young main witness was known for his propensity to "tell tall stories". A simple child's story; which had such an echo because, in my idea, the teacher became involved.
I do not make this explanation a certainty at all. There is no "proof" of a hoax. But there is no evidence of a true extraterrestrial visit either. On the contrary, there is the absence of traces - even if they should be cabbage-stealing helicopter landing traces.
The statements collected by the gendarmes is only a quite brief report. And there is at least one contradiction, that the gendarmes do not seem to have noted or attempt to clarify. When it arrived, the craft whistled like a siren, said Denis. At its departure, it hummed. So far so good. Except that the child says it starts to hum again. Did he just forgot meanwhile that it was supposed to make a siren's noise?
Another contradiction concerns the girl, Christiane: for the newspaper L'Alsace, she told that the "ball" was moving in the sky going in the direction of Réguisheim. But for the gendarmes, she told she did not know if the thing was moving or motionless, not having observed it long enough before closing her shutters. Now, of course, this could be just a journalist's lack of care for the witnesses words.
Another fact: all children are the same age of 10 (Christiane is 9, but the school age may be the same as that of the others). Simple coincidence? Would it not be because they were all in the same class, where the story was concocted?
They could have been corroborating testimonies. But it is not so. Simply because the children had talked to each other before school, a lot, it seems, if one reads what the teacher sais. It was therefore perfectly possible that the child at the origin of the story convinced some comrades to corroborate it, perhaps just to fool other children.
But nothing is totally certain here. How should I believe that the mother who reported to the newspaper that she had seen a strong light through the closed shutters, so a quite strong light, would have participated in a simple children tall tale?
In the end, I still feel pretty indecisive, between the "probable hoax" and the "possible hoax"...
| Id: | Topic: | Severity: | Date noted: | Raised by: | Noted by: | Description: | Proposal: | Status: |
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| 1 | Data | Severe | August 10, 2018 | Patrick Gross | Patrick Gross | Missing official report. | Help needed. | Opened. |
Probable children invention
* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.
| Main Author: | Patrick Gross |
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| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Created/Changed By: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | August 10, 2018 | Creation, [la1], [bo1], [fr1], [mf1], [ro1], [uw2], [ar1], [dj1], [lc1], [my1], [is1], [ud1], [cv2], [dm1], [eg1], [jg1], [sp4]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | August 10, 2018 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | August 28, 2018 | Addition [ld1]. |
