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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 Moernach, on December 8, 1977:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1977-12-08-MOERNACH-1

Summary:

Christian Valentin, former journalist interested in the UFO phenomenon in Alsace, uncovered in the regional newspaper L'Alsace for December 14, 1977, an observation of December 8, 1977, at about 6 p.m. in Moernach.

Mr. Henri Metzger was the first to see, as he was leaving his garage, a luminous phenomenon, and he immediately called his wife and children playing hide and seek in the vicinity.

His attention had been attracted by a bright white light coming from a kind of sphere moving in the sky. The object stopped, then went away in various directions.

It then dove to the ground, stopped again and at this time, its color changed to a bright red, and it seemed oval-shaped, rotating on itself fast, like a spinning top.

Then it disappeared into a hollow of the ground, at a place called "Stock", illuminating with its red light an isolated oak tree growing there.

It reappeared, came to rest again at twenty meters from the ground, changed its color from red to green, rose up again, change to the white, and sped away towards the East.

The phenomenon was observed for a period estimated at 7 minutes.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: December 8, 1977
Time: ~06:00 p.m.
Duration: 7 minutes.
First known report date: December 14, 1977
Reporting delay: 6 days.

Geographical data:

Department: Haut-Rhin
City: Moernach
Place: Near his garage near the "Auf dem Stock" location, UFO in the sky and near the ground.
Latitude: 47.503
Longitude: 7.255
Uncertainty radius: 1 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: 4 or more.
Number of known witnesses: 1 to more.
Number of named witnesses: 1
Witness(es) ages: 2 adults, children.
Witness(es) types: Couple and children of the village.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: The regional Press.
Type of location: Near his garage in a village, UFO in the sky and near the ground.
Visibility conditions: Night
UFO observed: Yes
UFO arrival observed: No
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: Unidentified.

Sources:

[Ref. lae1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ALSACE":

Scan.

In the sky of Moernach: a UFO

Thursday, at about 6 p.m., a luminous phenomenon was observed in the sky of Moernach by several people. Mr. Henri Metzger saw it first, as he left his garage. He immediately called his wife and children playing hide and seek in the vicinity.

The phenomenon was observed for a period estimated at 7 minutes.

Mr. Metzger's attention had been attracted by a bright white light coming from a kind of sphere moving in the sky. The object stopped, then returned in various directions.

It dove to the ground, stopped again. At that time, the color veered to a bright red, and it seemed oval-shaped, rotating on itself fast, like a spinning top.

Then it disappeared into a hollow of the ground, at a place called "Stock", illuminating with red light an isolated oak tree growing there. It reappeared, stopped again at twenty meters from the ground, change from red to green, rose again, veered to the white, and very quickly moved away to the east.

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

Scan.

ON DECEMBER 8. 1977. MOERNACH (Haut Rhin)

At approximately 6 p.m., Mr. Henri Metzger and other people observed for 7 minutes, a sphere moving in the sky, emitting a bright white light. Twice the object seemed to "dive" towards the ground while changing color, then spinning on itself at high speed like a top. It disappeared towards the east.

("L'Alsace" for 12/14/77)

[Ref. mft1:] MICHEL FIGUET:

Scan.

CASE Nr CLASSIFICATION DATE HOUR PLACE ZIP CODE CREDIBILITY
SOURCES
840 CE0 01/12/1978 6 p.m. Moernach 68480 C6 NI Ufologia nr 12

[Ref. cnu1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "CNEGU":

Scan.

Ref. F/00/68/77 12 08 (01) IQ: 1,0,0,1,0 (2) IE: 0,I,0,0,0 (1)

On Thursday, December 8, around 6 p.m. (UTC: 5 p.m.) in Moernach (68), several people observed for 7 minutes a sphere moving in the sky, emitting a strong white light. The object seems to dive towards the ground changing color and spinning like a top before disappearing to the east.

Source: "L'Alsace" for 12/14/77 (LDLN nr 172), "UFOLOGIA" nr 12 p. 13.

[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 there was a case on December 8, 1977, in Moernach in Haut-Rhin reported in L'Alsace for Wednesday, December 14, 1977:

In the sky of MOERNACH: a UFO

Thursday, at about 6 p.m., a luminous phenomenon was observed in the sky of Moernach by several people. Mr. H. M. saw it first, as he left his garage. He immediately called his wife and children playing hide and seek in the vicinity.

The phenomenon was observed for a period estimated at 7 minutes.

Mr. M.'s attention had been attracted by a bright white light coming from a kind of sphere moving in the sky. The object stopped, then returned in various directions.

It dove to the ground, stopped again. At that time, the color veered to a bright red, and it seemed oval-shaped, rotating on itself fast, like a spinning top.

Then it disappeared into a hollow of the ground, at a place called "Stock", illuminating with red light an isolated oak tree growing there. It reappeared, stopped again at twenty meters from the ground, change from red to green, rose again, veered to the white, and very quickly moved away to the east.

Discussion:

Scan.

About Christian Valentin's book:

It is not at all my habit to "advertise" a book or anything, and I have no interested relationship with the author, but I wanted to say a word on the book by Christian Valentin, "Mythes et Réalités des Phénomènes Aériens Non Identifiés" (i.e. "Myths and Realities of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" (cover on the left) , ref. [cv2]; which, as its subtitle indicates, is about Alsatian UFO sighting reports and the saucer lore in Alsace.

I think Alsatian ufologists and, generally, people interested in the UFO question, or in the history of Alsace, my region, would probably like this book.

The 144 pages book is sober but well presented, unbiased, richly documented and illustrated. It is the first work in print specifically about UFO sightings in Alsace. (There was another one a few years ago, but it was partly made by copying - pasting without mention of the sources, portions of my website, especially the Alsatians cases I almost exhaustively documented in my catalog of UFO sightings in France in 1954, and copies from another websites; the trivial explanations I proposed or gave there being almost always stripped off!)

The author does not want to prove or disprove the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors or some other so-called "extraordinary" explanation, he rather offers a chronologically ordered review of Alsatian UFO reports, starting from the origin and stopping in 1980, based on known sources ufology, on the articles of the regional Press, and cases less known or even unreleased so far that he collected directly with the witnesses. His own comments are printed in a different color, references to the sources are always given. A very nice work in my opinion!

The author currently has a blog where he shows what libraries in Alsace have the book available, see: christian.valentin.overblog.com

Map.

I have no ordinary explanation to submit.

There is indeed a location called "Auf dem Stock" in Moernach.

Evaluation:

Unidentified.

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 July 13, 2015 Creation, [lae1], [cvn2].
1.0 Patrick Gross July 13, 2015 First published.
1.1 Patrick Gross May 22, 2021 Addition [ldl1].
1.2 Patrick Gross June 30, 2021 Addition [mft1].
1.3 Patrick Gross January 11, 2023 Addition [cnu1].

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This page was last updated on January 11, 2023.