ALSACAT-1977-12-08-MOERNACH-1
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.
| Date: | December 8, 1977 |
|---|---|
| Time: | ~06:00 p.m. |
| Duration: | 7 minutes. |
| First known report date: | December 14, 1977 |
| Reporting delay: | 6 days. |
| 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 |
| 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. |
| 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: | ? |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Unidentified. |
[Ref. lae1:] NEWSPAPER "L'ALSACE":
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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":
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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:
|
| 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":
|
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:
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.
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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
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I have no ordinary explanation to submit.
There is indeed a location called "Auf dem Stock" in Moernach.
Unidentified.
* = 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 | 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]. |
