The article below was published in the daily newspaper L'Alsace, France, on November 3, 1982.
See the case file.
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A strange adventure happpened Monday around 11:30 pm to a young motorist of Zillisheim, Thierry Stehlé, 18-year-old, while crossing the forest of the Hardt, between Petit-Landau and Habsheim. His story is reminiscent of that lived in April 1980 in the same area by a young woman from Bollwiller, Miss Patricia Dziomba. Like her, Thierry Stehlé is convinced of having been pursued by a UFO.
Thierry Stehlé had accompanied a female friend back to Petit-Landau, and was returning home in his red Opel Manta. Crossing the Hardt forest, after the Huningue canal bridge, the whole car was suddenly bathed in a blue light, "the rays coming from above, ten meters away, from the car". Some light rays would go out, then come back on. "I felt my car start to sway, and then several times I had the impression that it was going to take off, as if it was being sucked in, by a magnetic attraction. The engine was only running on three pistons, had misfires. I also heard strange noises from the vehicle's speakers although the radio was not on. Me, I was paralyzed, petrified. I felt a great cold in the car, and yet the heating was working", the young man says.
"I also smelled a strong smell of burning coming from the car, he continues. I was scared, and I drove slowly, at forty kilometers an hour. But the light followed me, as if the UFO was advancing over my car. It lasted five minutes, maybe more. I looked in the inside rearview mirror and I saw a big white light, ball-shaped, in the sky, behind the vehicle." At the entrance of Habsheim the light faded and Thierry Stehlé saw the luminous craft gradually disappear above the forest, changing color towards the orange red. When he got home, he called "police-emergency".
Today, Thierry Stehlé wonders wether there have been other witnesses to the phenomenon, in particular people who were driving on the highway. He is convinced that he had dealt with a UFO, "I, you know, he said yesterday, to make me believe in something, I have to see it".
J.-M. S. [Jean-Marie Stoerckel]
