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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 October 29, 1954:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1954-10-29-COLMAR-1

Summary:

On October 30, 1954, the regional newspaper Dernières Nouvelles du Haut-Rhin reported a sighting of October 29, 1954, around 10:40 a.m., in Colmar in the Haut-Rhin, told to the newspaper by a reader:

Several people who were on Place du Saumon (Salmon Square) had noticed a "mysterious celestial body" in the north of Colmar, going at a high speed from the West to the East.

The object was oval shaped, it was whitish, shiny, it was flying at the height of the cirrus clouds.

No engine noise was heard and the object did not look like an airplane; observers have therefore concluded that it might be one of the mysterious flying saucers that were talked about so much at the time.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: October 29, 1954
Time: ~10:40 a.m.
Duration: ?
First known report date: October 29, 1954
Reporting delay: Minutes, 1 day.

Geographical data:

Department: Haut-Rhin
City: Colmar
Place: From city square, UFO in the sky.
Latitude: 48.091
Longitude: 7.375
Uncertainty radius: 200 m

Witnesses data:

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

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: The regional Press.
Type of location: City square, 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: Not a plane, probably a flying saucer.

Classifications:

Hynek: DD
ALSACAT: Possible plane or balloon or meteor. Insufficient information.

Sources:

[Ref. dnh1:] NEWSPAPER "DERNIERES NOUVELLES DU HAUT-RHIN":

A reader informs us: Yesterday morning, about 10:40 a.m., several people who were on Place du Saumon [Salmon square], noticed a mysterious celestial body north of Colmar and going at high speed from West to East (Vosges - Black Forest). The object was oval shaped, whitish, shiny and flew up to the clouds (Cirrus). You could not hear engine sounds and the object did not look like a plane, so that the observers concluded that it could be one of those mysterious flying saucers.

[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

Journalist Christian Valentin indicates that on October 29, 1954, at 10:40, in Colmar, several inhabitants followed from the place of Saumon a celestial body of ovoid shape, of shining white color, moving in a rectilinear trajectory from the eat to the west, without noise and at the level of the clouds.

[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 there was a sighting on Friday, October 29, 1954, at 10:40 a.m. in Colmar in the Haut-Rhin, told like this in Dernières Nouvelles du Haut-Rhin for Saturday, October 30, 1954:

A reader informs us: Yesterday morning, about 10:40 a.m., several people who were on Place du Saumon [Salmon square], noticed a mysterious celestial body north of Colmar and going at high speed from West to East (Vosges - Black Forest). The object was oval shaped, whitish, shiny and flew up to the clouds (Cirrus). You could not hear engine sounds and the object did not look like a plane, so that the observers concluded that it could be one of those mysterious flying saucers.

Discussion:

Map.

Without angular velocity, angular displacement, angular size, and with a brief description that suggests a great distance, it is hardly possible to speculate...

Evaluation:

Possible plane or balloon or meteor. Insufficient information.

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
Editeur: Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version: Create/changed by: Date: Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross October 30, 2005 First published in the France 1954 catalogue.
1.0 Patrick Gross March 5, 2010 Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version.
1.1 Patrick Gross October 30, 2011 A search on the web and in my documentation did not reveal other sources.
3.0 Patrick Gross March 14, 2014 Added to the ALSACAT catalogue.
1.2 Patrick Gross May 1, 2015 Additions [dnh1], [cvn2], Summary.
3.0 Patrick Gross May 1, 2015 First published in the ALSACAT catalogue.

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This page was last updated on May 1, 2015.