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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 Mulhouse, on September 23, 1954:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1954-09-23-MULHOUSE-1

Summary:

The regional newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, at least in their bilingual issue Strasbourg, reported on September 25, 1954:

"Curious appearance in Mulhouse: Thursday night", thus on September 23, 1954, "ten minutes after the passage of a squadron of fighter jets in the sky of Mulhouse, several witnesses saw a cigar-shaped craft that was traveling at high speed towards the East."

A different version for this observation in Mulhouse at this date and given as "at 07:00 p.m." was written by ufologists Figuet and Ruchon in 1979, and copied from ufology sources to ufology sources:

"Observations of transparent cigars moving at high speed towards the Black Forest."

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: September 23, 1954
Time: 07:00 p.m.?
Duration: ?
First known report date: September 23, 1954
Reporting delay: Minutes to 2 days.

Geographical data:

Department: Haut-Rhin
City: Mulhouse
Place: ?
Latitude: 47.750
Longitude: 7.334
Uncertainty radius: 5 km

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 local Press?
Type of location: City?
Visibility conditions: Uncertain, start of evening.
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: A cigar-shaped craft.

Classifications:

Hynek: DD or NL
ALSACAT: Unidentified, possible plane, insufficient information.

Sources:

[Ref. dna1:] NEWSPAPER "DERNIERES NOUVELLES D'ALSACE":

Competition in the aerial maneuvers

Curious appearance in Mulhouse: Thursday night, ten minutes after the passage of a squadron of fighter jets in the sky of Mulhouse, several witnesses saw a cigar-shaped craft that was traveling at high speed towards the east.

[Ref. smh1:] NEWSPAPER "SYDNEY MORNING HERALD":

Scan.

France In Grip Of Flying Saucer Fever

From June GODDARD In Paris

FRANCE, the land of logic, is in the full grip of the fever of flying saucers and of little men in space helmets, who make friendly, if unintelligible, advances to startled peasants, or nail them to the spot with a hypnotic "green ray."

For the past 10 days there have been unnumerable flying saucer reports from peasants, doctors, milkmen, butchers, farmers, housewives, gendarmes, teachers, from the Channel coast to the Mediterranean, from the Pyrenees to the Ardennes, from Britany to Alsace.

According to all these witnesses, the sky over France is alight with sparkling yellow "saucers," bluish globes, "flying cigars," (Once as dramatically reported from Mulhouse in Alsace, surrounded by "12 little cheroots"), plain aluminum "saucers," luminous "cigars," 10 "saucers" which seemed to perform a sort of ballet in the sky, and sometimes just plain "mysterious machines."

Unlike earlier flying saucers, those reported hovering over France fly low, sometimes at about 600 ft, and do not flash across the sky, but remain in view for as long as 15 minutes, or remain apparently immobile.

They variously spit flames, form luminous curtains of light, change color, land and take off vertically without a sound.

MANY French scientists, hitherto skeptical on the flying saucer question, are reported to be somewhat shaken by the multiplicity of reports, and by the fact that some are group observations, or individual reports which tally with others received from adjacent regions.

On the subject of little men or Martians, they reiterate that astronomers have never made any observations which could indicate a high form of life on Mars.

They point out that Mars is a thousand million years older than the earth, and that, if life did once exist there, it probably disappeared in the pink icy deserts which appear now to abound on the planet.

The protagonists of the flying saucers and the little men from Mars have been greatly encouraged by an article in the serious journal, "Forces Aériennes Françaises" (French Air Forces) written by a young aeronautical engineer, Lieut. J. Plantier, and approved by an engineer-in-chief of the Air Ministry.

Lieut. Plantier does not take sides, but merely demonstrates theoretically and by mathematical study that all the phenomenal behavior attributed to flying saucers is perfectly explicable if such machines were using cosmic ray energy,

Lieut. Plantier shows that the reports that flying saucers remain motionless in the sky, accelerate from immobility to 10,000 m.p.h. in a few seconds without any noise, and that living beings can fly in them without being harmed by the acceleration, are completely logical if it is admitted that energy of cosmic rays has been harnessed and that machines can fly at the speed of light.

IRRESPECTIVE of the views of scientists, however, French men and women continue to report daily appearances of saucers and cigars and their encounters with the space men.

First reaction of the honest French citizen in the face of any unusual happening or danger - including, it seems, phenomena from outer space - is to inform the gendarmes.

Accordingly, in villages and towns, bold gendarmes have been "alerted" as the French Press has it, and have been kept busy checking reports and examining alleged flying saucer landing areas for "traces."

Two gendarmes at Chateauroux in Central France themselves saw three luminous green flying objects.

Their police training immediately asserted itself, and they stopped a motor car driver and a cyclist so that they too could look and bear witness. Then the gendarmes made out a full report.

The only tangible evidence to date of a landing is that produced by Mr. Marius Dewilde, a 28-year-old metal worker in the North near Valenciennes.

M. Dewilde, a young man with a hairline moustache, a long - and it must be admitted, humorous - face, said he first saw the "Martians" from his garden near the railway line.

"Two little beings, not more than three feet high," he reported, "each wearing a sort of diving suit with metal helmet, were standing near a 'flying cigar,' which had landed on the railway sleepers."

M. Dewilde had no chance to shake hands or welcome the visitors in the name of the Fourth Republic for, as soon as they saw him, they hypnotized him with a "green ray" while they leapt into their machine which, of course, took off vertically in a thick cloud of smoke without making a sound.

Next day the gendarmes "alerted" at once by M. Dewilde and two inspectors of the Air Force police, found a series of strange regular marks on the railway sleepers, which could have been caused by the "saucer" in landing.

MOST intimate contact with the space men was reported by M. Antoine Mazaud, a farmer, aged 58, with a bushy grey moustache, who lives near Limoges in the Massif central plateau of France.

M. Mazaud alleges that a "Martian" about three feet high emerged from a "flying cigar" and began to talk in an unintelligible tongue. When he realized that M. Mazaud could not understand him, he kissed the farmer on the cheek.

M. Mazaud's argumentative fellow-countrymen, questioning this strange story, immediately wanted to know why a creature from another world should adopt the habit - not even universal on earth, they pointed - of kissing.

"It is surprising that he did not pin a medal on your chest and kiss you on both cheeks," they scoffed.

In view of this unsympathetic response to M. Mazaud's story, it is not surprising, therefore, that M. Yves David, a farmer of Chatellerault, concealed for some days the fact that he had been touched on the arm by a "space man" before being momentarily hypnotized by the "green ray" like M. Dewilde.

M. David was afraid of being laughed at, he said, but eventually asked a friend if anyone else had seen the space man. The friend spread the news and, of course, told the gendarmes.

Two women in the Yonne department gave independent reports of having seen a strange machine in a clearing with a pilot standing next to it. Neither stayed to investigate, however.

DAILY the stories continue. No Parisians have yet reported an encounter with a "Martian," altough, as the wits point out, you would expect them to land on the "Champs de Mars" ("Field of Mars"), the esplanade in the front of the military school.

Cartoonists are fully exploiting the "Martian" and flying saucer season. One, in true Gallic vein, has drawn the classic wronged husband who returns home unexpectedly. He has thrown open the cupboard door to reveal a strange little figure in a spaceman's suit and helmet, and is saying to his guilty wife, cowering in bed: "And that, I suppose, you'll tell me, is a Martian."

Most celebrated flying saucer "spotter" to date in Paris is film star Michele Morgan, who reported seeing one near the Eiffel tower at about 10 p.m.

When Mademoiselle Morgan later complained of the flood of telephone calls from fans and friends who wanted to hear further details, her mother made the dry and essentially French comment:

"You lost a good opportunity that night to hold your tongue."

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

Scan.

SEPTEMBER 23, 1954.-

MULHOUSE. - (68)

Time: 7 p.m.

A Mulhouse man, living on the quay of Algiers, known for a serious man, told us that he observed the passage of a dozen jet planes which, in all probability, took part in the maneuvers which are currently taking place. Continuing to scan the sky, he saw ten minutes later, to his great surprise, an extraordinary craft in the shape of a cigar. The craft was completely transparent and was heading with very high speed towards the Black Forest.

"Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace" for 09/25/1954.

(sent by Mr. DUQUESNOY)

[Ref. fru1:] MICHEL FIGUET AND JEAN-LOUIS RUCHON:

The two authors indicate that in Mulhouse in the department of the Haut-Rhin, on September 23, 1954, at 07:00 p.m., there were observations of transparent cigars moving at high speed towards the Black Forest.

[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":

3823: 1954/09/23 19:00 1 7:20:00 E 47:45:00 N 3333 WEU FRN HRH 8:6

MULHOUSE,FR:XPARENT CIGARs >>E VFAST::30SEPT CGR+12 SML OBJs:/r107p56

Ref#197 WEINSTEIN, D: French Newsclips 1954 Page No. 78 : MOUNTAINS

[Ref. goe1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:

The Belgian ufologist indicates that in 1954, on September 23, in France, in Mulhouse (the Haut Rhin), "A 19 hours transparent flying cigars, move at high speed towards the 'Black forest'".

The source is noted "M. FIGUET/J.L. RUCHON: 'Ovni, le premier dossier complet..' - Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979, p. 84".

[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:

Luc Chastan indicates in his database that in the Haut Rhin in Mulhouse on September 23, 1954 at 19:00 hours there were "Observations of transparent cigars moving at high speed towards the black forest."

The source is indicated as "Ovni, Premier dossier complet... by Figuet M./ Ruchon J.L. ** Alain Lefeuvre pub. 1979".

[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:

The website indicates that on 23 September 1954 at 19:00 in Mulhouse, France "Transparent cigars rapidly to the east very fast." And: "Cigar-shaped objects were observed. Two transparent cigar-shaped objects were observed at a mountain."

The source is indicated as Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002.

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

Fifty years ago
"The ufos in Alsace"

[... Other cases...]

In September several observations, [...] a cigar flying in the East of Mulhouse etc.

[... Other cases...]

[Ref. cvn2:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

Former journalist Christian Valentin published in 2012 a very interesting book about the history of UFO or flying saucers sightings in Alsace, from the beginnings to 1980.

In this book he reports that the "Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace" for Saturday, September 25, 1954, in the bilingual issue of Strasbourg, said about a sighting on Thursday, September 23, 1954, in Mulhouse, according to his translation:

COMPETITION in the aerial maneuvers

Curious appearance in Mulhouse: Thursday night, ten minutes after the passage of a squadron of fighter jets in the sky of Mulhouse, several witnesses saw a cigar-shaped craft that was traveling at high speed towards the east.

[Ref. sme1:] "SCIENCE ET MAGIE" WEBSITE:

The regional press reported apparitions and sometimes landings of UFOs in their classical shape; ball, cigar, saucer, in Mulhouse (09/25/54), Sélestat (10/14/54), Ungersheim (10/24/54), Brumath (09/25/54), [... other years...], etc.

[Ref. spa2:] UFOLOGY GROUP "SPICA":

City Date and hour of observation General shape
Identification
General color
Hypothesis
Conclusion
MULHOUSE Thursday 23 September 1954 at 07:00 p.m. elongated (cigar)
Unidentified
transparent
None
Unsolved -lack of info

Discussion:

Map.

There is not enough information for me to get a clear idea of what was seen.

As there were planes maneuvers just before, one might assume that the "cigar" was also one of these planes, if it was not really a cigar and not really transparent, as in the case of a high flying airplane, when the metallic wings reflecting the sky are not really visible, and whose cabin also reflect the color of the sky giving the impression of transparency. But at 7 p.m., night was falling and this scenario is not entirely plausible.

There is the possibility that it was a meteor, not well described by the witnesses or by the Press.

There were at least 20 sightings reports in France that day. Most are very briefly documented, but the hours and descriptions differ enough to discard the possibility that a single meteor was seen over France. For example, ufologist Aimé Michel had briefly reported that in Malakoff in Paris, there were vague indications of an observation that day, saying it was impossible to decide if it was a shooting star or not, although the reported movement seems to have been too slow for a shooting star.

On the same date, according to the newspaper La Suisse for September 24, 1954, Mrs Périat made an observation in Porrentruy, but it was in the morning.

Evaluation:

Unidentified, possible plane, 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 September 24, 2005 First published in the France 1954 catalogue.
1.0 Patrick Gross January 28, 2010 Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [go1], [lc1], [ud1].
2.0 Patrick Gross March 28, 2014 Additions [dn1], [cvn2].
2.0 Patrick Gross March 28, 2014 First published in the ALSACAT catalogue.
2.1 Patrick Gross June 3, 2015 Addition [spa4].
2.2 Patrick Gross October 13, 2016 Addition [sp6].
2.4 Patrick Gross September 9, 2019 Additions [lhh1], [sme1].
2.5 Patrick Gross August 6, 2023 Addition [ald1].

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This page was last updated on August 6, 2023.