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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 Walbourg, in November 2000:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2000-11-00-WALBOURG-1

Summary:

A woman reported on June 14, 2012, to a UFO forum, that 12 years ago, she and a female friend saw a UFO at night at 06:05 p.m. in November, around the year 2000.

She says she was quietly walking back home with her friend, when she stopped to observe a star that did not "ring a bell" to her, because she took that way every day at that hour and never saw it. She asked her friend if she had seen the star the day before, and the friend confirmed that she had not seen it.

They resumed walking, observing the "star" and discussing.

Suddenly the "star" began to "swell", to take at least three times its original size.

The thing shot straight into the sky at an incredible rate, "unheard of except in the movies" until disappearing completely.

She states that they did not see the thing again the next night, that there was no noise when observing, that the thing had shone strangely and intensely, with change of colors.

She could not say how many meters away the thing had been, but it had seemed not very distant and quite low. She attached sketches of the phases of observation, visible below in this case file.

She stated that it occurred in Alsace, seen from Walbourg, and the thing was above the Morsbronn forest.

Following her testimony, on interrogation, she added the following information.

She says they were on the sidewalk at the level of the house of 72 Grand Rue in Walbourg, that they came from the college and were returning to their home, located 300 meters from there, the friend lived right opposite her in the same street.

There was no cloud, they could see many perfectly visible stars although not as many as on her sketch, there was no fog, nothing special to disturb the observation.

The "thing" did not pass either in front or behind any landmarks. She remembers very well that just below the thing one could distinguish the power cable connected to homes, visible on a photo she attached.

She did not understand the question about the angular elevation, giving only an apparent position. She could not give the rise at the end of the observation either, because the thing had gone so fast when it disappeared, but it went "very high".

She indicates that the phase of swelling lasted at least 5 seconds, and the phae of the move to the disappearance lasted 2 seconds.

She added that she spoke again of the sighting with her friend a few weeks ago because the memories date back 12 years, and the friend confirmed her memories, she was still a little scared. After the observation already, the two friends had got scared and run the way of the way home.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: November about 2000
Time: ~06:05 p.m.
Duration: ~7 seconds
First known report date: June 14, 2012
Reporting delay: 12 years.

Geographical data:

Department: Bas-Rhin
City: Walbourg
Place: From the sidewalk next to 72 Grand Rue, Walbourg, UFO in the sky.
Latitude: 48.887
Longitude: 7.787
Uncertainty radius: 50 m

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: 2
Number of known witnesses: 1
Number of named witnesses: 0
Witness(es) ages: Teenagers.
Witness(es) types: Female high school mates.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: To a UFO web forum.
Type of location: Street of home village, 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): Yes.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): No.
Witness(es) feelings: Puzzled, frightened.
Witnesses interpretation: ?

Classifications:

Hynek: NL
ALSACAT: Unidentified, possible bouncing meteor.

Sources:

[Ref. ict1:] REPORT ON THE "ICI ET MAINTENANT" WEB FORUM:

I saw a ufo 12 years ago with a friend (sketch).

"on: June 14, 2012 at 11:13:57"

Hello everyone,

I'm new here and I finally decided to describe what I saw with my [female] friend in 2000.

Here is a sketch (not good I grant you), of what I [female too] saw with my friend.

Image 1: It was about 06:05 p.m. in November (so it was already night time), and it must have been in 2000. We walked quietly to go home, then I stop to observe a star that meant nothing to me (we were using that way everyday and at the same hour). I ask Claire if she had seen the star the day before she tells me she didn't. We resume walking, while observing that "star" and discussing.

Image 2: When suddenly it started to "swell" to take three times for sure its original size. (ok, I did not represent very well the size of the picture, I am a really clumsy with drawing software I used).

Image 3: I've drawn in red, the path taken by this thing, this one spun right in the sky at incredible speed, never seen except in movies ... until it disappears completely.

A small clarification: We have never seen this thing the next nights, there was no noise during the observation, and this thing shone strangely and intensely, with changing colors, I am not able to tell at how many meters the thing was, but it did not seem far away, and was quite low. It was in Alsace, we saw it from Walbourg and I would say that it was above the forest of Morsbronn (sorry I'm not good at describing locations, geo and me that's two...).

Here is the sketch, but it's pretty bad. I wanted to show the trajectory of the thing when it spun.

Scan.


Admin: message modified to include the image.

"Modified: June 20, 2012 at 10:30:49 by DecemberTen"

Logged IP

Duncan

Re: I saw a UFO 12 years ago with a friend (sketch)

"Reply #1 on: June 19, 2012 at 11:25:07 p.m."

Hello Catarina,

The sketch you made is not so bad: few people bother to draw their observation in the first statement ... I will help you clarify your observation with some questions below:

- On what road or path were you? Can you precisely locate the place of observation?

- If it is not intrusive: where did you come from and where you were going to?

- How was the weather and visibility you had? Could you see the stars as you suggest in your picture? Was there not a little mist? Clouds?

- Did the 'Star' pass in front of or behind an object in the neighborhood: house, tree, tower ...?

- How high on the horizon did it stand at the beginning of observation? (if you extend your arm, how many times do you have to "stack" the width of your thumb from the horizon to reach that star -> a thumb is about two degrees of arc, arm outstretched)

- How high did stood when you lost sight of it?

- How long before it began to swell, and when it moved until you lost it from sight?

All these aspects seem important to describe your observation.


Logged IP

catarina38

Re: I saw a UFO 12 years ago with a friend (sketch)

"Answer #2 on: June 24, 2012 at 10:47:21 p.m."

Good evening,

Thank you for the reply, I will try to answer your questions as best as possible.

- On what road or path were you? Can you precisely locate the place of observation? You can see on google map, at the level of the house on 72 grand rue in Walbourg. I enclose a photo of the place, I added a black dot in the sky that is approximately the place where the thing was.

- If it is not intrusive: where did you come from and where you were going to? We were leaving college to go home (300 m from our house, my friend lived right across from me)

- How was the weather and what visibility did you have? Could you see the stars as you suggest in your picture? Was there not a little mist? Clouds? No cloud, we could see the stars (not as much as the image I borrowed to do the editing of course, but many stars were perfectly visible), no, no mist, nothing special to disturb the observation.

- Did the 'star' pass in front of or behind an object in the neighborhood: house, tree, tower ...? Nothing in front or behind the object, absolutely nothing to disturb the show. I remember very well that just below one could distinguish the electric cable connected to the houses (as in the photo)

- How high on the horizon did it stand at the beginning of observation? (if you extend your arm, how many times do you have to "stack" the width of your thumb from the horizon to reach that star -> a thumb is about two degrees of arc, arm outstretched) I give you the photo taken from google map where I added the black dot that shows (approximately), where the thing was. We were walking on the sidewalk, but the thing was perfectly in front of us, no obstacle to disturb the visibility

- How high did it stand when you lost sight of it? Hula, I am unable to tell, it went so fast when it disappeared, but very high.

- How long before it began to swell, and when it moved until you lost it from sight? I would say that it has swollen in a good 5 seconds and 2 seconds to disappear or even less and was immediately gone.

All these aspects seem important to describe your observation.

I hope I have been able to answer the questions, it goes way back, but it's nevertheless still pretty precise in my head. I talked about it again with my friend a few weeks ago, for it goes back all the same to 12 years now. But she confirmed my recollection, she was still a little scared.

Good evening :)


Logged IP

catarina38

Re: I saw a UFO 12 years ago with a friend (schematic)

"Answer #3 on: June 24, 2012 at 10:48:48 p.m."

The photo taken on google map, is where we were during the observation (we were walking on the sidewalk of course;)). But it was at that level.

Logged IP

catarina38

Re: I saw a UFO 12 years ago with a friend (schematic)

"Answer #4 on: June 24, 2012 at 10:53:48 p.m."

Another clarification, the thing was motionless for about 8 seconds when we had noticed it and when I asked my friend if she had seen it the day before because I did remember it. Then it began to swell to three times its size, then it immediately disappeared doing the prowess I drew on the sketch, then it went up, it's was gone very / too fast at that time. We got scared and run for the rest of the path.

Discussion:

Map.

Given the brevity of the appearance and the description of the two phases, I tend to think that the best explanation is that the two college girls saw a meteor come opposite them, and then bounce off on the upper layers of the atmosphere to head back to space.

Obviously, I cannot prove that this explanation is correct, and I cannot prove that it was not an alien craft.

Evaluation:

Unidentified, possible bouncing meteor.

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 March 15, 2016 Creation, [ict1].
1.0 Patrick Gross March 15, 2016 First published.

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This page was last updated on March 15, 2016.