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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 Durlinsdorf, on September 4, 2004:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2004-09-04-DURLINSDORF-1

Summary:

"Felix" said by email to the website of the Swiss ufology group GREPI on September 4, 2004, that he saw a flying object that afternoon in the Alsatian sky, quite by chance.

As he had his camera with him, he photographed it. The object passed silently, quickly and very low. He says he does not know what it is, but he puts "his honor on the fact that this picture is authentic."

A picture is attached, visible below in this case file, with inserts: "Durlinsdorf, France, Sundgau in Alsace", and "Saturday, 11/04/2004 around 4 p.m."

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: September 4, 2004
Time: ~04:00 a.m.
Duration: Quite short.
First known report date: September 4, 2004
Reporting delay: Minutes, hours.

Geographical data:

Department: Haut-Rhin
City: Durlinsdorf
Place: Near the Saint-Pierre Church in Durlinsdorf, UFO in the sky.
Latitude: 47.583
Longitude: 7.243
Uncertainty radius: 50 m

Witnesses data:

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

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: Email to the Swiss ufology group GREPI.
Type of location: Near a church in the country, UFO in the sky.
Visibility conditions: Day.
UFO observed: Yes
UFO arrival observed: ?
UFO departure observed: Yes
Entities: No
Photographs: Yes.
Sketch(s) by witness(es): No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): No.
Witness(es) feelings: ?
Witnesses interpretation: ?

Classifications:

Hynek: BLURFO
ALSACAT: Bird.

Sources:

[Ref. gri1:] WITNESS REPORT ON THE G.R.E.P.I. WEBSITE:

Hello,

I saw a flying object that afternoon (testimony received September 4, 2004 - GREPI) in the Alsatian sky, and, quite by chance. Since I had my camera with me, I have photographed it. The object passed without noise, quite quickly and very low. I do not know what it is, but I put on my honor on the fact that this picture is authentic!

Félix (Durlinsdorf - France)

Scan.

[Ref. jbo1:] JUAN-VICENTE BALLESTER-OLMOS:

This ufologist lists that there was a UFO photograph case on 04/11/2004 at 16:00 in "Durlinsdorf, Haute-Rhin (France)".

The UFO was unseen by the photographer, and explained as a bird.

The source is said to be the "Catalogue of Stéphane Bernard".

Discussion:

Map.

The picture does shows the Saint-Pierre church in Durlinsdorf.

The image has date put in, November 4, 2004, so normally the report cannot have been received by the GREPI group on September 4, 2004. Or, the date put in the image is wrong.

First, September 4, 2004 is a Saturday, while November 4, 2004 is a Thursday. Then, the trees, in the image, have all their leaves, so it is not possible that this is a photo taken on a November 4 in Durlinsdorf. GREPI and the written story probably give the correct date, and the date embedded in the image has the month wrong.

I think "Felix" did not see any flying object. I think this is obviously, visibly, a bird, and that "Felix" invented he saw a UFO after discovering it the photo.

Or, "Felix", perhaps very young, very briefly saw the bird and stuck his eyes too fast to the camera, so that he had no time to recognize the bird as such.

Evaluation:

Bird.

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 December 11, 2014 Creation, [gri1].
1.0 Patrick Gross December 11, 2014 First published.
1.1 Patrick Gross July 10, 2015 Addition [jbo1].

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This page was last updated on July 10, 2015.