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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 in the forest of Kaysersberg, about 1820:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1820-00-00-KAYSERSBERG-1

Summary:

An old Alsatian legend recounted by Auguste Stoeber in 1852 told that in the forest of Kaysersberg, at an hour's walk away, there is a clearing where one can see in the evening, on the ground, a glowing circle consisting of a juxtaposition of glowing treasures guarded by a young boy dressed in white. When one approached, the boy let out a terrifying screech, the treasures disappeared at once: there remained only traces of horses' hooves and legs of cows.

This story was mentioned in relation with UFO sightings, much later, in 1954.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: About 1820
Time: Evening
Duration: ?
First known report date: 1852
Reporting delay: Days, centuries?

Geographical data:

Department: Haut-Rhin
City: Kaysersberg?
Place: In an isolated clearing of the forest of Kaysersberg
Latitude: 48.138
Longitude: 7.264
Uncertainty radius: 5 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: Books on local legends.
Number of known witnesses: ?
Number of named witnesses: ?
Witness(es) ages: ?
Witness(es) types: ?

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: ?
Type of location: Isolated clearing.
Visibility conditions: Night
UFO observed: ?
UFO arrival observed: ?
UFO departure observed: ?
Entities: Yes
Photographs: N/A.
Sketch(s) by witness(es): No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): No.
Witness(es) feelings: Terrified.
Witnesses interpretation: ?

Classifications:

Hynek: ?
ALSACAT: Uncheckable legend, probably not related to the UFO question.

Sources:

[Ref. aar1:] AGNES ACKER:

In the forest of Kaysersberg, at an hour by foot, there is a clearing where in the evening you could see on the ground a glowing circle formed by the juxtaposition of precious treasures. The burning fire is guarded by a young boy dressed in white. When approached [...] hair stood on the head of those who contemplated the phenomenon and the inflamed treasures disappeared at once; in their place [...]

(This legend, citée by STINTZI P. in Die Elsässischen Sagen, tome I, Alsatia Colmar, is born from the interpretation [...]

[Ref. cvn2:] 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 tells of a reader of the newspaper Le Nouveau Haut-Rhin Français, who during the flap of flying saucers in 1954 in France, wrote to the newspaper to suggest that saucers weren't new, proposing various old stories.

One story the man cited, telling it could have something to do with the inhabitants of Mars, came from "Légendes d'Alsace" by Stoeber, and told that in the forest of Kaysersberg, at a good hour from the city, there is a place where at the end of the day, a "flaming circles of glowing treasures" is often seen.

A boy all in white goes around it and watches it. If one tries to approach, he yells a scaring shrieking sound and everything disappears, except that horseshoes mark ans cow feet marks are left on the spot.

Discussion:

Scan.

About Christian Valentin's book:

It is not at all my habit to "advertise" a book or anything, and I have no interested relationship with the author, but I wanted to say a word on the book by Christian Valentin, "Mythes et Réalités des Phénomènes Aériens Non Identifiés" (i.e. "Myths and Realities of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" (cover on the left) , ref. [cvn2]; which, as its subtitle indicates, is about Alsatian UFO sighting reports and the saucer lore in Alsace.

I think Alsatian ufologists and, generally, people interested in the UFO question, or in the history of Alsace, my region, would probably like this book.

The 144 pages book is sober but well presented, unbiased, richly documented and illustrated. It is the first work in print specifically about UFO sightings in Alsace. (There was another one a few years ago, but it was partly made by copying - pasting without mention of the sources, portions of my website, especially the Alsatians cases I almost exhaustively documented in my catalog of UFO sightings in France in 1954, and copies from another websites; the trivial explanations I proposed or gave there being almost always stripped off!)

The author does not want to prove or disprove the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors or some other so-called "extraodinary" explanation, he rather offers a chronologically ordered review of Alsatian UFO reports, starting from the origin and stopping in 1980, based on known sources ufology, onthe articles of the regional Press, and cases less known or even unreleased so far that he collected directly with the witnesses. His own comments are printed in a different color, references to the sources are always given. A very nice work in my opinion!

The author currently has a blog where he shows what libraries in Alsace have the book available, see: christian.valentin.overblog.com

Map.

The Alsatian writer, folklorist and poet Auguste Stoeber (1808-1884) reported numerous Alsatian legends; of course largely unverifiable, and there is no good reason to think that they are truly related to the issue of the UFO sightings reports, intrinsically at least.

Evaluation:

Uncheckable legend, probably not related to the UFO question.

Sources references:

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

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 August 20, 2014 Creation, [aar1], [cvn2].
1.0 Patrick Gross August 20, 2014 First published.

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This page was last updated on August 20, 2014.