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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 of Colmar, on August 19, 1947:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1947-08-19-COLMAR-1

Summary:

The regional newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français, in their Colmar issue for August 21, 1947, reported that on Tuesday, August 19, 1947, between 08:00 p.m. and 08:15 p.m., several residents of the rue de Bâle in Colmar saw a luminous ball which moved at high speed from east to west, leaving a trail of sparks behind.

The newspaper estimated it was not a shooting star because the ball moved at a constant height, and headlined their interrogation as follows:

"Was it a flying saucer?"

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: August 19, 1947
Time: Between 08:00 p.m. and 08:15 p.m.
Duration: ?
First known report date: August 21, 1947
Reporting delay: Hour, 2 days.

Geographical data:

Department: Haut-Rhin
City: Colmar
Place: Rue de Bâle, UFO in the sky.
Latitude: 48.066
Longitude: 7.370
Uncertainty radius: 4 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: Several
Number of known witnesses: 0
Number of named witnesses: 0
Witness(es) ages: ?
Witness(es) types: Resident of rue de Bâle.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: Regional Press.
Type of location: City street, UFO in the sky.
Visibility conditions: Day.
UFO observed: Yes
UFO arrival observed: ?
UFO departure observed: ?
Entities: No
Photographs: No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es): No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): No.
Witness(es) feelings: ?
Witnesses interpretation: ?

Classifications:

Hynek: DD
ALSACAT: The August 19, 1947, ~08:10 p.m. meteor.

Sources:

[Ref. nrf1:] NEWSPAPER "LE NOUVEAU RHIN FRANCAIS":

Colmar
Was it a flying saucer?

Tuesday evening between 8 p.m. and 08:15 p.m., several residents of the street of Basel spotted a luminous ball, which moved at high speed from east to west, leaving behind a trail of sparks. It was not a shooting star because the ball moved at a constant height.

We were told of a similar appearance in Lorraine on the night of August 17 to 18, around 11:30 p.m., observed by several residents of Burdoncourt. There were 3 balls of light that moved in a V-shape very quickly from east to west. The fireballs left behind them a shower of sparks visible for some time. The entire observation lasted 20 to 30 seconds.

[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 reports that in the newspaper Le Nouveau Rhin Français, for August 21, 1947, Colmar issue, the following article was published, one of three about a phenomenon seen on August 19, 1947:

COLMAR:
Was it a flying saucer?

Tuesday evening between 8 p.m. and 08:15 p.m., several residents of the street of Basel spotted a luminous ball, which moved at high speed from east to west, leaving behind a trail of sparks. It was not a shooting star because the ball moved at a constant height.

We were told of a similar appearance in Lorraine on the night of August 17 to 18, around 11:30 p.m., observed by several residents of Burdoncourt. There were 3 balls of light that moved in a V-shape very quickly from east to west. The fireballs left behind them a shower of sparks visible for some time. The entire observation lasted 20 to 30 seconds.

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 "extraordinary" 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, on the 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.

I managed to find this article on page 6 of the Swiss newspaper La Feuille d'Avis de Neuchâtel for August 21, 1947; which indeed explains as a meteor and not a flying saucer the thing that passed in the sky on August 19, 1947 about 08:15 p.m.

Scan.

Celestial phenomenon

Several people in the city noticed on Tuesday night around 08:10 p.m., a bright glow that completely crossed the sky rather slowly from south to north. The green and straw-yellow gleams which accompanied the phenomenon made it very beautiful to watch. This is not a projectile (luminous bullet for example) but a meteor. The thesis of the flying saucers can in no way be supported!

Evaluation:

The August 19, 1947, ~08:10 p.m. meteor.

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 September 11, 2014 Creation, [nrf1], [cvn2].
1.0 Patrick Gross October 24, 2014 First published.

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This page was last updated on October 24, 2014.