ALSACAT-1954-10-14-HABSHEIM-1
The regional newspaper L'Alsace for October 16, 1954, published several sighting reports on the observation of October 14, 1954 at 06:10 p.m.
One of the reports came from an "entirely trustworthy" professor in Mulhouse who was riding a motorcycle on the road of Sierentz. He arrived at the exit of Habsheim, when he saw +a thing of a shape difficult to define, especially remarkable by the intense green light that emanated from it, and the trail, also green, it left behind. The object dove straight towards Germany, where it disappeared."
He told: "I first thought of a plane crashing down to the ground. But how to reconcile this hypothesis with the light and the green trail? No reflection by clouds was possible. The sky was already dark, but where the stars were not yet visible, was in fact entirely clear..."
| Date: | October 14, 1954 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 06:10 p.m. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | October 16, 1954 |
| Reporting delay: | 2 days. |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Habsheim |
| Place: | On the motorbike at the exit of Habsheim, UFO in the sky. |
| Latitude: | 47.712 |
| Longitude: | 7.419 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 500 m |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | Adult. |
| Witness(es) types: | A professor in Mulhouse. |
| Reporting channel: | Contacted the regional Press after they reported a similar sighting. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | On the motorbike at the exit of a village, UFO in the sky. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | First thinks of a falling plane but discards it. |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Probably the 06:10 p.m. meteor that day. |
[Ref. lae1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ALSACE":
We reported in yesterday's issue the phenomenon witnessed the day before, Thursday, at 06:10 p.m., on the road from Battenheim to the Ile Napoleon, by an industry executive from Mulhouse, his wife and their little daughter.
They had seen, rushing in straight line in the sky and disappearing in the direction of Switzerland, an elongated object, emitting a bright light. The appearance lasted about two seconds.
As might have been be expected, the mysterious craft was seen by other witnesses, who told us yesterday about their observations.
The first witness, a professor in Mulhouse, was riding a motorcycle on the road of Sierentz. He arrived at the exit of Habsheim, when he saw a thing of a shape difficult to define, especially remarkable by the intense green light that emanated from it, and the trail, also green, it left behind. The object dove straight towards Germany, where it disappeared.
"I first thought of a plane crashing down to the ground. But how to reconcile this hypothesis with the light and the green trail? No reflection by clouds was possible. The sky was already dark, but where the stars were not yet visible, was in fact entirely clear..."
Such are the explanations provided to us by this witness, entirely trustworthy.
It is also at 06:10 p.m. that two millers of Altkirch, who were returning from Colmar where their congress was held witnessed a similar phenomenon. They drove by car between Eguisheim and Hattstatt to return home, and coincidentally they were talking about flying saucers, when suddenly they saw passing in the sky in front of them, a few kilometers away they estimated, a strange object. It was not a saucer or a cigar, but a machine which had substantially the shape of a soup tureen. It was a fiery red and disappeared towards the Rhine at a prodigious speed.
It was by reading in "L'Alsace" the news that we published yesterday, that the two men decided to tell their adventures to our Altkirch newsroom.
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors note this case of October 14, 1954:
"Habsheim - 68 - 06:15 p.m.: no investigation. Obvious description of a meteor."
[Ref. aldl:] MRS GUEUDELOT, "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT" ARCHIVE:
|
OCTOBER 14, 1954.-
HABSHEIM. - (68)
Time: 06:15 p.m.
An object was seen by a teacher who was riding his motorbike towards SIERENTZ just after HABSHEIM.
It was green and left behind a green trail. It disappeared towards GERMANY and SWITZERLAND.
"L'ALSACE"
[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 at 06:00 p.m.in the South of Alsace, according to L'ALSACE for Friday, October 16, 1954, the following sighting took place:
We reported in yesterday's issue the phenomenon witnessed the day before, Thursday, at 06:10 p.m., on the road from Battenheim to the Ile Napoleon, by an industry executive from Mulhouse, his wife and their little daughter.
They had seen, rishing straight line in the sky and disappearing in the direction of Switzerland, an elongated object, emitting a bright light. The appearance lasted about two seconds.
As might have been be expected, the mysterious craft was seen by other witnesses, who told us yesterday about their observations.
The first witness, a professor in Mulhouse, was riding a motorcycle on the road of Sierentz. He arrived at the exit of Habsheim, when he saw a thing of a shape difficult to define, especially remarkable by the intense green light that emanated from it, and the trail, also green, it left behind. The object dove straight towards Germany, where it disappeared.
"I first thought of a plane crashing down to the ground. But how to reconcile this hypothesis with the light and the green trail? No reflection by clouds was possible. The sky was already dark, but where the stars were not yet visible, was in fact entirely clear..."
Such are the explanations provided to us by this witness, entirely trustworthy.
It is also at 06:10 p.m. that two millers of Altkirch, who were returning from Colmar where their congress was held witnessed a similar phenomenon. They drove by car between Eguisheim and Hattstatt to return home, and coincidentally they were talking about flying saucers, when suddenly they saw passing in the sky in front of them, a few kilometers away they estimated, a strange object. It was not a saucer or a cigar, but a machine which had substantially the shape of a soup tureen. It was a fiery red and disappeared towards the Rhine at a prodigious speed.
It was by reading in "L'Alsace" the news that we published yesterday, that the two men decided to tell their adventures to our Altkirch newsroom.
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Above:: The road to Sierentz at the exit of Habsheim in 2014.
The direction of movement of the object given as straight on to Germany indicates that visually for the witness the object seemed to go from West to east.
What this witness saw, both by description, by geographic and temporal data, corresponds very well to the meteor seen that day by many others at 06:10 p.m.
Probably the 06:10 p.m. meteor that day.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editeur: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | May 8, 2005 | First published in the France 1954 catalogue. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | April 8, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | April 26, 2014 | Additions [lae1], [cvn2]. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | April 26, 2014 | First published in the ALSACAT catalogue. |
| 3.1 | Patrick Gross | August 8, 2023 | Addition [ald1]. |
