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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 Rixheim, on Winter 1989:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1989-00-00-1

Summary:

A French Facebook group called "Delta Initiative" and described as be dedicated to "triangular UAPs/UFOs" featured a comment circa 2020 from an anonymous participant reporting his/her sighting during a car trip one winter evening in 1989 between Ottmarsheim and Rixheim in Alsace, when he or she was a child, the mother was driving, it seemed to him / her that his sister was also in the car.

The witness said: "I clearly remember the hovering dark triangle with the 3 red dots visible from probably several kilometers above Rixheim with further on a large orange ball hovering in the sky. I never found interpretation consistent with what I saw, despite my interest in experimental aircraft which came a bit later The sky was clear despite the darkness so there is little chance of misinterpretation, I was not under the effect of any psychotropic or similar substance. The testimony is very serious."

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: Winter 1989
Time: Evening.
Duration: ?
First known report date: 2020
Reporting delay: 3 decades.

Geographical data:

Department: Haut-Rhin
City: Rixheim
Place: In a car between Ottmarsheim and Rixheim or in Rixheim.
Latitude: 47.750
Longitude: 7.425
Uncertainty radius: 6 km.

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: 1
Number of known witnesses: 1
Number of named witnesses: 0
Witness(es) ages: Child.
Witness(es) types: Child.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: Facebook groupe about triangular UFOS.
Type of location: Inside a moving car.
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: Puzzled.
Witnesses interpretation: ?

Classifications:

Hynek: NL
ALSACAT: Possible space junk reentry of November 5, 1990.

Sources:

[Ref. dei1:] SUR "DELTA INITIATIVE":

11/01/1989 - Rixheim

Observation made during a car trip on a winter evening in 1989 between Ottmarsheim and Rixheim (Alsace). I was a child then and my mother was driving, it seems to me that my sister was also in the car. I clearly remember the hovering dark triangle with the 3 red dots visible from probably several kilometers above Rixheim with a large orange ball hovering in the sky further on. I never found an interpretation consistent with what I saw, despite my interest in experimental aircraft which came a bit later. The sky was clear despite the darkness so there is little chance of misinterpretation, moreover I was not under the effect of any psychotropic or similar substance. The testimony is very serious.

Discussion:

Map.

The date is given as "11/01/1989" in the title, which would be November 1, 1989, but in the narrative it is "on a winter evening" in 1989.

As a result, I wonder whether the correct date would not be the evening of November 5, 1990, the date for which hundreds of testimonies evoked a UFO often interpreted as triangular and very high in the sky, which was explained well by a now famous re-entry into the atmosphere of Russian space junk on a trajectory from South-West to North-East, widely seen over Alsace.

It should be noted here that the witness indicates that he was then a child, that the story was written 30 years later, that the date is not specified to the day, that it was in the winter, that it was indeed in the evening, that the Facebook group where the testimony appeared easily interpreted the atmospheric re-entry of November 5, 1990, as the passage in the sky of one or more "secret aircraft", that essential data are missing such as the angular size, the duration, the precise place of observation (there are 6 km between Ottmarsheim and Rixheim), the direction of observation, and that there was no ufological investigation on this testimony.

It could also have been some aircraft maneuver, Rixheim is close to both the Euroairport landing trip and the Habsheim airfield, the strangeness is very low and there is no need for a "secret device" here.

Evaluation:

Possible space junk reentry of November 5, 1990.

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 January 21, 2023 Creation, [dei1].
1.0 Patrick Gross January 21, 2023 First published.

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This page was last updated on January 21, 2023.