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 Huningue, on October 24, 1954:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1954-10-24-HUNINGUE-1

Summary:

The regional newspaper L'Alsace, in their French-speaking issue for October 27, 1954, reported the observation of a luminous object in the sky of Huninguein the Haut-Rhin, in the night from Saturday to Sunday, thus on October 24, 1954, at about 1 a.m..

As he was on his way back home, Mr. Charles Bernard, collector at the office of the social housing of Huningue, saw in the sky right above the buildings of the Société Alsacienne de Teinturerie, a yellow orange luminous object whose contours he was unable to distinguish.

The object remained motionless for more than 20 minutes, then suddenly rose vertically to be quickly lost from sight.

With this witness were other witnessess: Mrs Bernard, Mr. Ernest Dillier, city council man of Huningue, and his spouse.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	October 24, 1954
Time:	~01:00 a.m.
Duration:	~20 minutes.
First known report date:	October 27, 1954
Reporting delay:	Hours, 2 days.

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Huningue
Place:	Outside in town, UFO in the sky.
Latitude:	47.594
Longitude:	7.582
Uncertainty radius:	5 km.

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	4
Number of known witnesses:	1 to 4
Number of named witnesses:	4
Witness(es) ages:	Adults.
Witness(es) types:	Man HLM rent collector, woman, city council man, his wife.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	The regional Press.
Type of location:	Outside in town, UFO in the sky.
Visibility conditions:	Night.
UFO observed:	Yes.
UFO arrival observed:	No.
UFO departure observed:	Yes.
Entities:	No.
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	?
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Unidentified.

Sources:

[Ref. lae1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ALSACE":

Luminous object in the sky of Huningue

In the night from Saturday to Sunday, at about 1 o'clock, as they were going back home, Mr. Charles Bernard, collector of the H.L.M. office of Huningue, saw in the sky right above the buildings of the Société Alsacienne de Teinturerie, an orange-colored luminous object of which he was unable to perceive the edges and that remained motionless for more than 20 minutes, then sudenly rose vertically and quickly disappeared. The same phenomenon was observed by Mrs Bernard as well as by Mr. Ernest Dillier, city council member of Huningue and his spouse who were with Mr. Charles Bernard.

[Ref. aldl:] MRS. GUEUDELOT, "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT" ARCHIVE:

OCTOBER 24, 1954.-

HUNINGUE. - (68)

Hour: about I a.m.

Mr. Charles BERNARD, receiver of the H.L.M. Office, of HUNINGUE, saw in the sky a luminous yellow-orange object whose contours he could not distinguish and which, motionless for more than 20 minutes, suddenly rose vertically and quickly disappeared.

This same phenomenon was observed by Mr. BERNARD as well as Mr. Ernest DILLIER, municipal councilor of HUNINGUE and his wife, who were in the company of Mr. Charles BERNARD.

"L'ALSACE" for OCTOBER 27, 1954. p.5

(sent by Mr. Mourier)

[Ref. bbr2:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:

This does not mean that we must neglect the manifestations UFOs in their entirety, but, simply, approach their study in an extremely circumspect way considering that the parameters of the problem, can at one time or another, be distorted. One case among others, appeared in the newspaper "L'Alsace" for October 27, 1954: "October 24 - 01:00 - Mr. Charles Bernard, collector of the HLM office, of Huningue, saw in the sky an orange-yellow luminous object of which he did not could distinguish the outlines and which, motionless for more than 20 minutes, suddenly climbed vertically and disappeared quickly. This same phenomenon was observed by Mrs Bernard as well as Mr. Ernest DiHier, Huningue city councilor and his wife, who were in the company of Mr. Charles Bernard".

First observation: assuming, something we have not verified, that a compiler of records inserts this fact in a catalog, this case observed by Mr. and Mrs. Di Hierdid not not stopped twenty minutes, it did not climb vertically, they could not distinguish the outlines since in fact there was no object, but a luminous phenomenon. We are now in possession of all elements to identify a medium-sized meteorite. It was enough to investigate on this case... but still it had to be dome. A reflection comes immediately to mind. By this reasoning we implicitly admit that if the case had been investigated, we would have immediately realized the error committed. Think again! There is an incredible amount of facts and events that can, if the survey is not carried out with the utmost objectivity (which is the most frequent), tip the pseudo-investigator in favor of the non-negligible nature of the observation.

[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

Journalist Christian Valentin indicates that on Sunday, October 24, 1954, at 1 o'clock in the morning, two couples going to their homes in Huningue have seen a luminous orange object in the sky.

The object was above the buildings of the Société Alsacienne de Teinturerie company, during more than 20 minutes, and then suddenly flew up vertically and disappeared completely.

[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 the case of Sunday, October 24, 1954, in Huningue in the Haut-Rhin was reported in L'Alsace newspaper for Wednesday, October 27, 1954, in the French-speaking issue:

Luminous object in the sky of HUNINGUE

In the night from Saturday to Sunday, at about 1 o'clock, as they were going back home, Mr. C. B., collector of the H.L.M. office of Huningue, saw in the sky right above the buildings of the Société Alsacienne de Teinturerie, an orange-colored luminous object of which he was unable to perceive the edges and that remained motionless for more than 20 minutes, then sudenly rose vertically and quickly disappeared. The same phenomenon was observed by Mrs B. as well as by Mr. D., city council member of Huningue and his spouse who were with Mr. C. B.

Discussion:

Barthel and Brucker, "skeptics" literally "in a rage" on occasion, sometimes solved some of the French 1954 affairs. But sometimes, too, their words are so ambiguous and poorly written that I do not even understand exactly what they meant, and sometimes their reasoning shows real foolishness. It is the case here.

For example, they say that the UFO "did not stop for twenty minutes, it did not climb vertically, they could not distinguish the contours", thus contradicting the story in L'Alsace. But what reason do they give? It would be "because in fact there was no object, but a luminous phenomenon." It is obviously extremely stupid to reason like this. It is obvious that a luminous phenomenon can not only be the visual appearance that a luminous or reflective material object takes (example the moon, a meteor), but above all, a luminous phenomenon can perfectly stop for 20 minutes, climb vertically, and have indistinct contours!

Here we have an edifying example of the total stupidity that Barthel and Brucker sometimes showed, whom - sometimes with good reason - critize foolishness of their opponents.

But did they actually investigate? Their statement is most ambiguous about this: "It was enough to investigate this case... but still it had to be done." And one realizes that in this case, the "investigation" to which one is asked to refer seems to be merely their absurd reasoning, according to which only an "object", and not a "luminous phenomenon", could stop for 20 minutes, climb vertically, and have indistinct contours...

I am therefore not convinced that it was indeed a meteor, especially since there was, to my knowledge, no temporally and geographically concordant testimony that would indicate a meteor entry.

Evaluation:

Unidentified.

Sources references:

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

[lae1] * "Objet lumineux dans le ciel de Huningue", article in the regional newspaper L'Alsace, French'speaking issue, October 27, 1954.
[ald1] * Record of the archive by Mrs. Gueudelot, of the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, not dated, published circa 2020 by the ufology association SCEAU, France, at https://sceau-archives-ovni.org/fonds/fond_gueudelot/base_guy_jpr_fiches_gueudelot.html
[bbr2] * "Le ressac d'une vague", article by Jacques Brucker and Gérard Barthel, in the ufology magazine Inforespace, SOBEPS, Belgium, Special Issue #3, page 39, December 1979.
[cvn1] * "1954, l'Année des OVNIS - en Alsace et dans le Monde", dossier by Christian Valentin, in the quarterly magazine "Saisons d'Alsace", #23, page 93, summer 2004.
[cvn2] * "Mythes et Réalités des Phénomènes Aériens Non Identifiés - Histoire des soucoupes volantes en Alsace jusqu'en 1980", book by Christian Valentin, Grimoires d'Alsace publishers, France, page 52, 2012.

File history:

Authoring:

Main author:	Patrick Gross
Contributors:	None
Reviewers:	None
Editeur:	Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	November 5, 2005	First published in the France 1954 catalogue.
1.0	Patrick Gross	March 2, 2009	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version.
3.0	Patrick Gross	May 28, 2021	Additions [lae1], [cvn2].
3.1	Patrick Gross	May 2, 2019	Addition [bbr2], Discussion.
3.0	Patrick Gross	May 28, 2021	First published in the ALSACAT catalogue.
3.1	Patrick Gross	September 9, 2023	Addition [ald1].

This page was last updated on September 9, 2023.