ALSACAT-1987-07-09-LANDSER-1
From a report by the local National Gendarmerie, anonymized and declassified by the official UAP study group GEIPAN in the 2010s, it appears that on July 10, 1987, a man presented himself spontaneously to their brigade where the duty Gendarme collected his statement about an unidentified flying object.
The man explained that on July 9, 1987, he was home, watching television, and at 11:45 p.m., after the series "The Invaders" on the TF1 TV channel, he went to the window from his kitchen to get some fresh air and have a last cigarette.
While staring up at the sky, he noticed a flying object of an elongated cigar-like shape, copper-red in color, which immediately made him think of "a tracer bullet and a July 14 fireworks."
The phenomenon passed just above him, took the direction of the northeast, at a very high speed, the man specifying that he had never seen an object go so fast, that there was no noise and that it left no trail.
It only lasted a few seconds, as if it had been a shooting star, and disappeared either behind a cloud or died out when it was far away on the horizon.
He could not assess the size of the craft, nor its altitude.
At the same time, he had seen two planes, one which had just taken off from an airport or airfield (the name is censored, it could be Basel-Mulhouse or Habsheim) which had "flashing traffic lights", and the other which must have come from the same place and which took a direction censored in the report. The man thought that the pilots of these two small planes could have seen the same phenomenon.
The sky was then slightly cloudy and he was beginning to see the stars.
The gendarmerie conducted an investigation in Landser to find other witnesses, questioning the young people who often stay out late at night, and the municipality, but in vain. The Gendarmerie contacted the airport or airfield, where nothing was known of the phenomenon and where no pilot had written a report of such an observation. The Gendarmerie believed that the witness had probably seen a July 14 firework rocket.
| Date: | July 9, 1987 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 11:45 p.m. |
| Duration: | Few seconds. |
| First known report date: | July 10, 1987. |
| Reporting delay: | Hours. |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Landser |
| Place: | From home, looking out of the open kitchen window. |
| Latitude: | 47.683 |
| Longitude: | 7.388 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 1 km. |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 1 |
| Witness(es) ages: | Adult. |
| Witness(es) types: | Male resident. |
| Reporting channel: | Reported to the local Gendarmerie. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | From home, looking out of the open kitchen window. |
| 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: | Puzzled. |
| Witnesses interpretation: | Resembles a tracing bullet or a fireworks rocket. |
| Hynek: | Nocturnal light. |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Unidentified, low strangeness, poor data. |
[Ref. gen1:] GENDARMERIE NATIONALE:
|
NATIONAL GENDARMERIE
COMPANY [-]
UNIT [-]
UNIT CODE 03553
MINUTES No. 614/1987
MINUTES
OF
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
PART NUMBER 01
SHEET No. 01
PRECISE NATURE OF THE FACTS - REFERENCE
Testimony on an unidentified flying object.
Witness: [-]
WE UNDERSIGN(S) [-]
REPORT THE FOLLOWING OPERATIONS WE HAVE PERFORMED, ACTING IN UNIFORM AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE ORDERS OF OUR CHIEF.
THAT DAY, July ten, nineteen hundred and forty seven, at eight thirty, finding ourselves a permanent police officer in our unit, we receive Mr. [-], from [-]. This person wishes to give us a testimony on the appearance of an unidentified flying object which saw him during the past night.
We hear:
[-], unemployed, residing [-], [-], rue de [-] born on [-] in [-], son of [-] and [-], divorced, who states:
"""" Last night I was at my home, I watched television and at 11:55 p.m., after the series "The Invaders" on TF 1, I went to the window of my kitchen to get some fresh air and have a last cigarette.
While I was staring at the sky I noticed a flying object of an elongated shape similar to a cigar, copper red in color. I could not assess the size of the craft, nor its altitude.
Immediately it made me think of a tracer bullet and a July 14th firework.
The phenomenon happened just above me, took the direction of the northeast, at a very high speed. I have never seen an object go so fast, without noise and leaving no trail.
The fact lasted only a few seconds, as if it had been a shooting star, and disappeared either behind a cloud or died out when it was far away on the horizon.
Last night at the time of the incident the sky was slightly cloudy and I was beginning to see the stars.
At the same time I saw two planes, one which had just taken off from [-] which had the traffic lights flashing, and the other which was also supposed to have come from [-] and which was heading for [-]. I think the pilots of these two small planes could have seen the same phenomenon."""""
July 10, 1987 at 8:55 a.m.
Reading made by me of the civil status information and the statement above, I persist in it and have nothing to change to add or subtract from it.
(Signed in the statements log)
.../...
Closing date July 24, 1987
|
Part n° 1 sheet n° 2
Following this testimony, we tried to obtain other information from the population of [-].
During our investigations in the village we made contact with the young people, most of whom stay on the streets until late at night. We also contact municipal services; no information was obtained to confirm the testimony of Mr. [-].
For verification, we contact the airport of [-], Mr. [-], Chief of Air Traffic did not receive any information that day about the phenomenon. The pilots saw nothing, otherwise they would have made a mandatory report.
In this whole affair it appears that Mr. [-] must have mistaken a July 14 rocket for a UFO, otherwise other witnesses among the local population would have been found, and no doubt the pilots would also have seen the phenomenon.
ACTIONS TAKEN
ATTACHMENT
Done and closed at [-] July 24, 1987
The Constable [-]
RecipientS
|
Caption
Route and direction taken by the UFO.
Itinerary taken by the 1st plane.
Itinerary taken by the 2nd plane.
[Ref. jbu1:] JEROME BEAU:
July
Thursday 9 at 11:55 p.m. A Sierentz (Haut Rhin), one witness observed from his window an elongated shape similar to a cigar. From this observation which lasted only a few seconds, it appears that this object was a coppery red color, it moved very quickly without trace 4.
Note: the "4" footnote indicator at the end leads to no source reference.
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
9 July 1987 :
Sierentz, Alsace, France
GEPAIN SIERENTZ (68) 1987
Hynek rating: DD
The sources are indicated by a link to the GEIPAN home page at http://www.cnes-geipan.fr/geipan/index.html
[Ref. spa1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "SPICA":
| City | Date and hour of observation | General shape Identification |
General color Hypothesis |
Conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SIERENTZ | Thursday 9 July 1987 at 11:55 p.m. | elongated (cigar) Unidentified |
red None |
Unsolved -lack of info |
[Ref. gei1:] GROUPE D'ETUDES ET D'INFORMATIONS SUR LES PHENOMENES AEROSPATIAUX NON IDENTIFIES (G.E.I.P.A.N.):
SUMMARY
Observation o an object in the shape of a cigar moving at high speed.
DESCRIPTION
On July 9, 1987 around 11:55 p.m., a witness observed from his window an elongated object similar to a cigar. From this observation which lasted only a few seconds it appears that this object had a coppery red color, that it moved very quickly without leaving a trace. No further observations of this phenomenon will be reported.
| WITNESS | |
| DATE OF THE OBSERVATION | 07/09/1987 |
| AGE | 60 |
| SEX | M |
| CONDITION | |
| ENVIRONMENT OCCUPATION OF GROUND | Artificialized territories - Urban areas |
| WEATHER CONDITIONS | Unknown |
| LOCAL DATE AND TIME | 07/09/1987 |
| REFERENCE FRAME | Sky |
| START OF THE OBSERVATION | Conditions of appearance provoked by the witness |
| END OF THE OBSERVATION | Conditions of disappearance provoked by the witness |
| LOCALIZATION | |
| NATURE OF THE OBSERVATION OR DESCRIPTIVE TERMS | Object Phenomenon |
| CHARACTERISTIC OF THE OBSERVATION | Single object |
| GLOBAL SHAPE | 3D - 1 symmetry axis - Cylindrical |
| COLOR | Red |
| APPARENT SPEED | Fast |
| NOISE | None, total silence |
| EFFECT ON THE ENVIRONMENT | Unknown - Not specified |
A peculiarity of this case is that, while the place is censored in the Gendarmerie report, the GEIPAN who declassified it had initially titled "Sierentz", then in a later version, "Landser". Basically, [gei0] and [gei1] were the same except for tris change of location.
|
The case is not very strong due to the uniqueness of the witness. The "skeptics" would smile at the fact that the man had just watched the TV series "The Invaders."
What he saw was perhaps a firework rocket, a test for July 14, the national holiday. This is not certain because the description bears little resemblance to this.
I do not follow the reasoning of the Gendarmes: they believe that the man must have mistaken a July 14 rocket for a UFO, because "otherwise witnesses among the local population would have been found, and no doubt the pilots would also have seen the phenomenon".
But if there was a fireworks display, we can find it just as surprising that there were no other witnesses.
In the end, the case is of modest strangeness, and rather poorly documented (no angular sizes, no angular displacement etc.)
Unidentified, low strangeness, insufficient information.
* = 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 |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | July 27, 2022 | Creation, [gen1], [gei1]. |
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | February 7, 2018 | Creation, [gen0], [gei0], [jbu1], [uda1], [spa1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | February 7, 2018 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | July 27, 2022 | Addition [gen1], [gei1], Place changed from Sierentz to Landser, explained and reflected in the Discussion. |
