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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 Mutzig, on September 1, 2012:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2012-09-01-MUTZIG-1

Summary:

On the UFO blog "Area 51", "Jean-Noel" reported on September 2, 2012 to have seen twenty luminous balls lined like a garland for at least 4 minutes "Saturday night" so on September 1, 2009, around 0:15 a.m.

He says he lives in Mutzig in the Bas-Rhin, and that the balls went to the south before disappearing one after another very quickly.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: September 1, 2012
Time: 00:15 a.m
Duration: 4 minutes or more.
First known report date: September 2, 2012
Reporting delay: 1 day.

Geographical data:

Department: Bas-Rhin
City: Mutzig
Place: ?
Latitude: 48.536
Longitude: 7.457
Uncertainty radius: 3 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: 1
Number of known witnesses: 1
Number of named witnesses: 0
Witness(es) ages: ?
Witness(es) types: Male.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: By the web to the "Area 51" blog.
Type of location: City, 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: ?

Classifications:

Hynek: NL
ALSACAT: Probable Chinese lanterns

Sources:

[Ref. odt1:] "AREA51" BLOG:

jean-noel says :
08/02/2012 at 11:30

good evening i also seen about twenty luminous balls alinned like on a garland during at leas 4 minute saturday evening at about 00h15 i live in mutzig in the 67 they took the dirrection of the south bedore dissapearing the one after the other very fast

Discussion:

Map.

This is a very obvious description of a launch of Chinese lanterns. And it occurs on a Saturday evening just after midnight.

Since 2005, Chinese lanterns constitute the bulk of the "testimonies" of UFOs found on websites devoted to the subject of UFOs and essentially publishing such "web report"; generally the only treatment is the publication, without any information on a possible cause, without any investigation or comment.

In Alsace, such releases are especially popular now since fireworks and firecrackers, long tolerated, are now prohibited for use unless special exemptions; Alsatians therefore largely adopted the lanterns.

As these lanterns are usually released at private or public parties, they are most often seen on Saturday nights, often at wedding dates or official festivities such as the National Day or New Year's Eve, usually between 10 p.m. and midnight. They are then usually released in clusters. But sometimes the purchaser performs a "test flight" a few days before, sometimes with a single lantern.

Chinese lanterns.

Above: Chinese lanterns interpreted as UFO by some people, over Mulhouse on October 10, 2013. Image published in the newspaper "Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace".

Evaluation:

Probable Chinese lanterns.

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
Editor: Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version: Create/changed by: Date: Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross March 17, 2018 Creation, [odt1].
1.0 Patrick Gross March 17, 2018 First published.

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This page was last updated on March 17, 2018.