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 Goersdorf, on April 11, 1980:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1980-04-11-GOERSDORF-1

Summary:

The newspaper L'Alsace for April 12, 1980, reported that on April 11, 1980, between 11:00 p.m. and 00:30 a.m., a dozen people in the region of Goersdorf saw a dark orange or red luminous sphere, spinning on itself, and moving from the south-east to the north-east.

According to the gendarmerie of Merkwiller - Pechelbronn who received the testimony of the witnesses, the craft was first spotted by the passengers of two cars who alerted several other people.

The UFO that moved slowly reportedly made a pause over a mountain, and then disappeared very quickly.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	April 11, 1980
Time:	11:30 p.m.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	October 1981
Reporting delay:	18 months

Geographical data:

Department:	Bas-Rhin
City:	Goersdorf
Place:	?
Latitude:	48.952
Longitude:	7.768
Uncertainty radius:	5 km

Witnesses data:

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

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	?
Type of location:	?
Visibility conditions:	Night
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:	NL
ALSACAT:	Totally insufficient information.

Sources:

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

UFO

In the Bas-Rhin too...

Four days after the UFO in Kembs, a second unidentified craft was observed Saturday between 11:00 p.m. and 00:30 a.m. by a dozen people in the region of Goersdorf, 40 km from Strasbourg.

It was reportedly a dark orange or red luminous sphere, spinning on itself, and moving from the south-east to the north-east.

According to the gendarmerie of Merkwiller-Pechelbronn who received the testimony of the witnesses, the craft was first spotted by the passengers of two cars who alerted several other people. The UFO that moved slowly reportedly made a pause over a mountain, and then disappeared very quickly.

[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN - "BASE OVNI FRANCE":

Goersdorf (67) on April 11, 1980

General characteristics

Num Base:	2534
Department:	Bas Rhin (67)
Place of observation:	Goersdorf
Latitude:	48.95
Longitude:	+7.766
Date of observation:	April 11, 1980
Hour:	11:30 p.m.
Duration (HH:MM:SS):	N.K.
Weather:	No weather indication
Type of observation:	Visual: Distant
Nbr of witness(es):	Undetermined number
Official investigation:	No

Characteristics of the object

Nbr of object:	1
Type of objet:	Luminous Ball
Size:	Not specified
Color:	Orange
Luminosity	Brilliant
Visual characteristic:	No indication
Speed:	not defined
Movement/Displacement:	In straight line
Object on the ground:	No
Instantaneous disappearance:	No

Observation

Observation of a bright orange ball spinning on itself and moving in a South to North east direction.

Sources

Lumières dans la Nuit issue 208

[Ref. spa1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "SPICA":

City	Date and hour of observation	General shape Identification	General color Hypothesis	Conclusion
GOERSDORF	Friday 11 April 1980 at 11:30 p.m.	ball, balloon or melon (3D) Unidentified	orange None	Unsolved -lack of info

Discussion:

As often, the source [lcn1], "Base OVNI France" by Luc Chastan was copied by dozens of websites, with or without credit; I do not republish these copies, they are useless here.

Here's an observation for which the information is totally insufficient for the moment. It could have been a balloon, or a Chinese lantern, for example.

Evaluation:

Totally insufficient information.

Sources references:

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

[lae1] * Article in the regional newspaper L'Alsace, France, April 12, 1980.
[lrn1] ? Article in the regional newspaper Le Républicain Lorrain, Nancy, France, April 14, 1980.
[dle1] ? Article in the regional newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré, Dauphiné, France, April 14, 1980.
[ldl1] ? Ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #208, October 1981.
[lcn1] * "Goersdorf (67) le 11 avril 1980", case record by Luc Chastan, on his ufology website Base OVNI France, France, circa 2004, at http://baseovnifrance.free.fr/listgen.php?typlist=1&page=0&numobs=2534
[spa1] * "DEPARTEMENT 67 - BAS-RHIN", listing of UFO sighting reports by the Alsatian ufology group SPICA, Alsace, France, not dated, found in May 2015, at http://www.spica.org/Page_Listing_67.htm

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	May 8, 2015	Creation, [la1], [lcn1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	May 8, 2015	First published.
1.1	Patrick Gross	June 11, 2015	Addition [spa1].

This page was last updated on June 11, 2015.