ALSACAT-2011-09-00-ALSACE-1
On September 24, 2011, someone posted on his Youtube channel a video, with the title "Ufo in Alsace?".
There is no more precise place, no date, no time.
The video shows Chinese lanterns; the soundtrack allows to understand that a group of people saw and commented on them, and that after a joke about an "extraterrestrial invasion", they thought it was the fall of an American satellite, which was annoucned in the Press.
The "flames" aspect is noted the disintegration of some of the lanterns is observed by these people.
| Date: | September 2011? |
|---|---|
| Time: | Night. |
| Duration: | 2 minutes 28 or more. |
| First known report date: | September 24, 2011 |
| Reporting delay: | Day, months? |
| Department: | ? |
|---|---|
| City: | ? |
| Place: | ? |
| Latitude: | 48.229 |
| Longitude: | 7.500 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 70 km. |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 5 or more. |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 5 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 1 |
| Witness(es) ages: | Young and adults. |
| Witness(es) types: | ? |
| Reporting channel: | Published video on Youtube. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | ? |
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | ? |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | Yes, vidéo. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | Puzzled. |
| Witnesses interpretation: | Satellite reentry. |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Chinese lanterns. |
[Ref. you1:] ON "YOUTUBE":
ufo in alsace ?duss jean claude Category TheNhf67100 4 years ago +unsurx @unsurx sht up its not lanterns the ufos exist your stupid not to believ in that ok bye unsurxil 4 years ago The nice Chinese lanterns, |
The video soundtrack allows to hear a dialgue comprizing:
"The aliens.... ha ha ha... we're invaded"
"I don't know at all what hat is."
"There's a big one over there. It's coming faster.
"When they get here it's falling apart you don't see them anymore"
"You would say it's like flames."
"Isn't it a satellite? Well yeah..." "I don't you what else this could be."
Chinese lanterns are one cause of some old tales of UFO sightings: During the "airship" wave of 1896 - 1897 in the USA, during the wave of 1972 in the US Midwest, etc.
Since these miniature hot air paper balloons can be ordered on the Internet at very low cost - they also commonly found in Alsace now in stores - there is no need anymore to take the trouble of manufacturing them yourself.
So since 2005, about everywhere and of course in Alsace, many people who do not yet know about them report them as UFOs or at least as a subject of puzzlement: "It was not planes, not satellites, not helicopters, etc...", commonly appears in the stories. Indeed they aren't.
In principle, any ufologist worthy of the title should be able to recognize a story related for sure or at least possibly to Chinese lanterns, but there are still ufologists who do not want to listen, or quibble, demanding that a guilty lantern is handed to them otherwise they want the story to remain a "UFO report".
Most of the time, I certainly cannot "scientifically prove" or provide "hard evidence" that this or that report is explained by Chinese lanterns; but I see nothing opposes it and nothing would justify to call it spacecraft from another world or who knows what else.
It is sometimes possible to find that there was, precisely at that time, in the vicinity, a release of lanterns, during a party, a wedding party, a birthday party etc. But these releases are now so usual in Alsace at least that they are not necessarily mentioned on festivity calendars.
Since 2005, they 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.
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Above: a Chinese lantern.
Chinese lanterns.
* = 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 |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | July 5, 2021 | Creation, [you1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | July 5, 2021 | First published. |
