ALSACAT-1954-10-29-REICHSTETTHOERDT-1
The Alsatian journalist Christian Valentin, who is interested in UFOs, in his file on 1954 saucer flap in Alsace published in the magazine Saisons d'Alsace in the Summer of 2004, that on October 29, 1954 at 07:50 p.m., two brothers on a motorcycle on the road from Reichstett to Hoerdt distinctly saw a bright cigar-shaped object that moving extremely fast from east to west.
The tip of the cigar was white, the body cast alternately red and green lights, and behind it there was a long straight luminous trail.
Four other people who were driving on the same road gave the same description of the phenomenon.
The description makes me very strongly think that it was a meteor.
| Date: | October 29, 1954 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 07:50 p.m. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | 2004? |
| Reporting delay: | Hour, 6 decades? |
| Department: | Bas-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Reichstett, Hoerdt |
| Place: | In the sky from the road from Reichstett to Hoerdt. |
| Latitude: | 48.6748 |
| Longitude: | -7.774 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 3 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 6 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 0 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | Adults? |
| Witness(es) types: | Two brothers in a car, four other people independently. |
| Reporting channel: | ? |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | In the sky, from road between two villages. |
| 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: | ? |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Probable meteor. |
[Ref. dna1:] JOURNAL "DERNIERES NOUVELLES D'ALSACE":
Strasbourg. -- Two brothers, L[] and R[] N[], from Koenigshoffen, came to alert our editorial staff last night, stating they had seen a strange craft, at 07:50 p.m. on the Reichstett-Hoerdt road, as they were heading by motorcycle towards the latter locality.
For a few seconds the two brothers distinctly saw an object in the shape of a cigar moving extremely rapidly from east to west, at a height of about 500 m.
The curious cigar whose tip was white and whose body was throwing alternately red and green lights, left behind a trail of light in the shape of a stick.
Four other witnesses who were on the same road at the same time, saw the strange craft with an identical appearance.
[Ref. cvn1:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:
Journalist Christian Valentin indicates that on October 29, 1954, at 07:50 p.m., two brothers who were circulating by motorbike on the road of Reichstett to Hoerdt distinctly saw a luminous object in the shape of a cigar, which moved with an extreme speed from the east towards the west.
The point of the cigar was white, the body threw alternatively red and green gleams, and it had behind itself a long and straight luminous trail.
Four other people who were driving by car on the same road made an identical description of the phenomenon.
[Ref. lmy1:] WEB FORUM "LES MYSTERES DES OVNIS":
That forum copied the list of 1954 French sightings from my website, hence the mention of this sighting report, without indicating the source.
[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 on Friday, October 29, 1954, at 07:50 p.m. in Hoerdt in the Bas-Rhin, there was this observation recounted in the newspaper Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace for Saturday, October 30, 1954, in the French-speaking issue of Strasbourg:
Strasbourg. Two brothers, L. and R. N., from Koenigshoffen, came to alert our editorial staff last night, stating they had seen a strange craft, at 07:50 p.m. on the Reichstett-Hoerdt road, as they were heading by motorcycle towards the latter locality.
For a few seconds the two brothers distinctly saw an object in the shape of a cigar moving extremely rapidly from east to west, at a height of about 500 m.
The curious cigar whose tip was white and whose body was throwing alternately red and green lights, left behind a trail of light in the shape of a stick.
Four other witnesses who were on the same road at the same time, saw the strange craft with an identical appearance.
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Above: the road and landscape from Reichstett to Hoerdt en 2014. The distance between the two villages is about 6 km. The place is just north of strasbourg.
My astronomy software indicates it was night time during this observation there.
The description is an obvious description of a meteor. Nothing, as the information exists for now, would support the claim that it was not a meteor.
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Above: a meteor.
Probable meteor.
* = 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 | December 6, 2005 | First published in the France 1954 catalogue, [cv1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 5, 2010 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | October 30, 2011 | A search on the web and in my documentation did not reveal other sources. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | February 15, 2014 | A search on the web and in my documentation did not reveal other sources, except for [lmy1]. Addition of the Summary and of [lmy1]. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | March 14, 2014 | Added to the ALSACAT catalogue. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | May 2, 2015 | Additions [dna1], [cvn2]. |
| 3.0 | Patrick Gross | May 2, 2015 | First published in the ALSACAT catalogue. |
