ALSACAT-1954-10-01-HAUTKOENIGSBOURG-1
The regional newspaper Dernières Nouvelles du Haut-Rhin reported on October 5, 1954, that a "flying saucer" was seen "above the Hochkoenigsbourg" on October 1, 1954:
"In the night from Friday to Saturday, around 2 a.m., construction master Mr. C. V. (aged 42), saw a flying saucer above the Hochkoenigsbourg. It took the form of a luminous disc where blue, green and red rays came from. Mr. V. woke up his wife and two sons and the whole family was able to contemplate this rare spectacle. The disk would repeatedly change color. Then, after about 6 minutes, it reportedly disappeared going up vertically, leaving a luminous trail."
| Date: | October 1, 1954 |
|---|---|
| Time: | ~02:00 a.m. |
| Duration: | 6 minutes or more. |
| First known report date: | October 5, 1954 |
| Reporting delay: | 4 days. |
| Department: | Bas-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | ? or Orschwiller |
| Place: | From home, UFO in the sky above or in the direction of the Haut-Koenigsbourg. |
| Latitude: | 48.249 |
| Longitude: | 7.344 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 15 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | ? |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | 42, adult, 2 young adults or children |
| Witness(es) types: | A man, construction master, his wife, their 2 children. |
| Reporting channel: | Regional Press. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | From home, UFO in the sky above or in the direction of a castle in the Vosges mountains. |
| 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: | Puzzled. |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Unidentified, insufficient information. |
[Ref. dnh1:] NEWSPAPER "DERNIERES NOUVELLES DU HAUT-RHIN":
Rombach le Franc. -- In the night from Friday to Saturday, around 2 a.m., construction master Mr. C. V. (aged 42), saw a flying saucer above the Hochkoenigsbourg. It took the form of a luminous disc where blue, green and red rays came from. Mr. V. woke up his wife and two sons and the whole family was able to contemplate this rare spectacle. The disk would repeatedly change color. Then, after about 6 minutes, it reportedly disappeared going up vertically, leaving a luminous trail.
[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:
Christian Valentin indicates that on October 1, 1954, a luminous disc hovered during a few minutes above the Haut-Koenigsbourg. He changed colors several times and emitted blue, green and red rays, then he fled away vertically.
[Ref. jgy1:] JEAN-JACQUES GOETSCHY:
Jean-Jacques Goetschy indicates that in the night of October 1, 1954, a disc stations above the Haut–Koenigsbourg, a very known castle in Alsace.
The author indicates that the source is "Les Saisons D’Alsace 2004 Un Dossier Complet sur la Vague de 1954 en Alsace by Christian Valentin".
[Ref. spa1:] UFOLOGY ASSOCIATION "SPICA":
[... Other cases...]
In the night of October 01 a disc stations above the Haut – Koenigsbourg (Castle very well known in Alsace.
[... Other cases...]
[Ref. mps1:] MICHEL PADRINES:
The author indicates:
On 10/01/1954: a stationary disc obove the castle of the Haut-Koenigsbourg.
No source is given.
[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 on Saturday, October 2, 1954 at 2 o'clock in the morning in the Haut-Rhin at the Hochkoenigsbourg, there was this observation that the "Dernières Nouvelles du Haut-Rhin" for Tuesday, October 5, 1954, reported like this in their bilingual issue:
Rombach le Franc: In the night from Friday to Saturday, around 2 a.m., construction master Mr. C. V. (aged 42), saw a flying saucer above the Hochkoenigsbourg. It took the form of a luminous disc where blue, green and red rays came from. Mr. V. woke up his wife and two sons and the whole family was able to contemplate this rare spectacle. The disk would repeatedly change color. Then, after about 6 minutes, it reportedly disappeared going up vertically, leaving a luminous trail.
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Haut-Koenigsbourg or Hochkoenigsbourg is a castle on the steps of the Vosges mountains and a touristic highlight in Alsace:
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It is impossible to know whether the thing was really above the Haut-Koenigsbourg, or simply in that visual direction. There are no locating of the witnesses, which could have been miles away from the castle, in the plain for example. And there is no distance.
The color change may suggest a star, the trail could suggest a meteor, but the combination of the two here seems to exclude the one and the other. No star goes up with a trail and no meteor is visible for 6 minutes or more. Unless there were both, a star and a meteor...
Unfortunately the very poor information in the newspaper does not allow any certain explanation.
Unidentified, insufficient information.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editeur: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | January 11, 2004 | First published in the France 1954 catalogue. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | February 12, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Addition [jgy1]. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | April 23, 2014 | Additions [dnh1], [cvn2]. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | April 23, 2014 | First published in the ALSACAT catalogue. |
| 3.1 | Patrick Gross | October 13, 2016 | Addition [spa1]. |
| 3.2 | Patrick Gross | June 2, 2018 | Addition [mps1]. |
