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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 Ribeauvillé, maybe in the 1800's:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1800-00-00-RIBEAUVILLE-1

Summary:

An article by Frédéric Dumerchat proposing to bring together the study of UFO sighting reports and that of folklore, in particular Alsatian folklore, by arguing about similarities in the events described, in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit #237-238 of March / April 1984, reports this:

A young boy was caught by an empty coach, without a coachman, which was following a journey on Christmas night, near Ribeauvillé (Haut-Rhin). He climbed in and was found the next day perched on a poplar tree.

Frédéric Dumerchat indicated the 1919 book by folklorist Jean James Variot as the source; the story is in fact one of those collected by the very popular Alsatian folklorist Auguste Stoeber and published in his 1852 book.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: In the 1800's
Time: Night.
Duration: Hours.
First known report date: 1852
Reporting delay: Decades.

Geographical data:

Department: Haut-Rhin
City: Ribeauvillé
Place: Near Ribeauvillé.
Latitude: 48.812
Longitude: 7.497
Uncertainty radius: 4 km.

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: 1
Number of known witnesses: ?
Number of named witnesses: 0
Witness(es) ages: Young adult.
Witness(es) types: Young man.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: Folklorist Auguste Stoeber.
Type of location: Outside.
Visibility conditions: Night
UFO observed: Yes
UFO arrival observed: Yes
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: A coach without driver.

Classifications:

Hynek: CE4
ALSACAT: Legend, no credibility.

Sources:

[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":

Scan.

A young boy was caught by an empty coach, without a coachman, which was following a journey on Christmas night, near Ribeauvillé (Haut-Rhin) (81). He climbed in and was found the next day perched on a poplar tree (82).

The source (82) is noted further non as: "Variot, t.II, p. 319-320."

[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

In his first chapter devoted to legends and celestial wonders before the era of flying saucers in Alsace, Christian Valentin points out that there are stories of the Alsatian folklore from the middle of the 19th century collected and published by the folklorist Auguste Stoeber, about "phantom stagecoaches" and "flying coaches", with or without coachman, with some variations, at Kirrwiller, Bouxwiller, Ribeauville, Grussenheim and Biesheim.

These coaches rise in the air and cause great fright to the passengers, and when they fail to jump before the coach gets too high, they find themselves, either in no time at their destination, or waking up hours later in an unknown and distant place.

He notices that these stories on the border between the world of the living and the imagination are often tinged with phantasmagoria and strange visions, that they are repeated from generation to generation. He remarks that it is tempting to draw a parallel between these accounts and the accounts of alien abductions, and "missing time", of modern times.

He wonders whether the "flying saucers" to come would not be a modern adaptation of a broader and more complex phenomenon, present in all eras, an opinion which will be developed at the end of the 1960s by Jacques Vallée in his book "Chronique des apparitions extraterrestres" ["Passport to Magonia"], Denoël 1972, which brought together popular beliefs from oral tradition and the phenomenon of flying saucers.

Discussion:

Map.

I am willing to admit that a "flying saucer abduction" from the 1800's could have been described this way in folklore; however, it remains to be proven that this was what it was all about.

The "big" issue with this sort of "cases" is that one "filters" folklore stories to keep those that may be related to the UFO sighting reports matter. But a huge proportion of the folklore tells stories that are can clearly not be linked to the UFO sighting reports topic, that are very varied and verge on the absurd:

This is essentially why, though I understand the effort, I cannot really believe that stories such as this one can really help ufology to decide what UFO sightings reports are. Other, more scientific approaches, must be used,

Evaluation:

Legend, no credibility.

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 June 17, 2021 Creation, [ldl1].
1.0 Patrick Gross June 17, 2021 First published.
1.1 Patrick Gross February 26, 2023 Addition [cvn1].

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This page was last updated on February 26, 2023.