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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 Schiltigheim, on January 16, 1969:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1969-01-16-SCHILTIGHEIM-1

Summary:

One Mr. Knoll reported a case that occurred on January 16, 1969, in the Bas-Rhin to "Contact Lecteurs" #99 bis for May 1969, a supplement of the ufology magazine Lumières dans la Nuit:

"This happened in Schiltigheim, from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. in front of about ten witnesses, including Mr. H. and Mr. W."

"The observation lasted for an hour, during which the object moved angularly 6 inch, while undergoing a series of transformations."

"The witnesses located the object above a building 200 m from them, West or Northwest, 1 or 2 km in altitude and the direction of movement was to the north."

"Initially, a sphere, 3 cm in diameter at arm's length (12 m in the witnesses' subjective evaluation). It shone a very white light."

"Advancing slowly, it decreased in size until being nothing more than a grey point, then grew again (always moving) to recover its original diameter, then again shrunk to become a grey dot and disappeared."

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: January 16, 1969
Time: 06:45 p.m.
Duration: 1 hour.
First known report date: May 1969
Reporting delay: 5 months or less.

Geographical data:

Department: Bas-Rhin
City: Schiltigheim
Place: ?
Latitude: 48.605
Longitude: 7.748
Uncertainty radius: 2 km.

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: ~10
Number of known witnesses: ?
Number of named witnesses: 0
Witness(es) ages: ?
Witness(es) types: ?

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: Correspondent of the ufology magazine LDLN.
Type of location: Village.
Visibility conditions: Day
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: ?

Classifications:

Hynek: DD
ALSACAT: Possible extraterrestrial visitors.

Sources:

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

Scan.

This happened in Schitigheim [sic], from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. in front of about ten witnesses, including Mr. H. and Mr. W.

The observation lasted for an hour, during which the object moved angularly 6 inch, while undergoing a series of transformations.

The witnesses located the object above a building 200 m from them, West or Northwest, 1 or 2 km in altitude and the direction of movement was to the north.

Initially, a sphere, 3 cm in diameter at arm's length (12 m in the witnesses' subjective evaluation). It shone a very white light.

Advancing slowly, it decreased in size until being nothing more than a grey point, then grew again (always moving) to recover its original diameter, then again shrunk to become a grey dot and disappeared.

[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:

16 January 1969 00:45

Strasbourg, Alsace, France

One object was observed.

Hynek rating: NL

Vallee rating: FB1

The sources are indicated as: "CICA, Boletin Informative, Santiago."

[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 a case on January 16, 1969, at 6:45 p.m. in the Bas-Rhin in Schiltigheim was reported in Lumières Dans La Nuit - Contact Lecteurs #99 bis for May 1969 as a communicated by M. Knoll:

This happened in Schiltigheim, from 6:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. in front of about ten witnesses, including Mr. H. and Mr. W.

The observation lasted for an hour, during which the object moved angularly 6 inch, while undergoing a series of transformations.

The witnesses located the object above a building 200 m from them, West or Northwest, 1 or 2 km in altitude and the direction of movement was to the north.

Initially, a sphere, 3 cm in diameter at arm's length (12 m in the witnesses' subjective evaluation). It shone a very white light.

Advancing slowly, it decreased in size until being nothing more than a grey point, then grew again (always moving) to recover its original diameter, then again shrunk to become a grey dot and disappeared.

Discussion:

Map.

A detailed investigation would have been nice as the case is rather interesting: multiple witnesses, long duration, the night that had not yet fallen, an angular size, etc.

3 cm at arm's length - this is quite large - and a one-hour observation by several people, I would practically exclude the weather balloon that the shape and brightness may suggest, as it should have been carried away up or down in much less than an hour. A hot air balloon does not seem to be a good explanation either, the pod should have been seen, and the change in size suggestive of a round trip does not fit well with a hot air balloon's ride either.

I can regret the lack of individual records ot the statements of each witness, which would have ensured the accuracy of the information reported here.

Evaluation:

Possible extraterrestrial visitors.

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 August 20, 2014 Creation, [ldl1], [uda1], [cvn2].
1.0 Patrick Gross August 20, 2014 First published.

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This page was last updated on August 20, 2014.