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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 the Ballon de Guebwiller, on May 12, 2015:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2015-05-12-BALLONDEGUEBWILLER-1

Summary:

"Bernard", a 67-year-old retired man from Essey-lès-Nancy, aviation buff, reported this to the ufology web forum "Les Mystères des OVNIS" - of which he is a participant since 2011, on May 22, 2015.

On May 12, 2015, at or about 03:30 p.m., he was near the top of the Ballon de Guebwiller; which he locates in the Vosges department, under a strong wind making the hell of a noise, with a clear sky.

He saw an airliner fly over the mountain top, and took a picture of the air traffic control radar station at the mountain top.

Looking at the picture later on his computer, he saw an "ovoid ufo" located above the radar station.

Although he did not see anything, he indicates an observation length of about 1 minute, he also indicates "disc" shape of "black metal", he said it was the "size of an airplane," and says his wife was a witness too.

Unfortunately, the publication of his photo on the forum did succeed, and after a forum member asked him to attempt publication again and asked hom some question, the man no longer communicated anything.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: May 12, 2015
Time: 03:30 p.m.
Duration: ~1 minute.
First known report date: May 22, 2015
Reporting delay: 10 days.

Geographical data:

Department: Haut-Rhin
City: Guebwiller
Place: From the Grand Ballon, UFO in the sky.
Latitude: 47.901
Longitude: 7.098
Uncertainty radius: 300 m

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: 1
Number of known witnesses: 1
Number of named witnesses: 0
Witness(es) ages: 67
Witness(es) types: Retired man.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: By the web to the ufology forum "Les MYstères des OVNIS".
Type of location: From mountain top, UFO in the sky.
Visibility conditions: Sunny day.
UFO observed: No
UFO arrival observed: No
UFO departure observed: No
Entities: No
Photographs: Yes, failed publication.
Sketch(s) by witness(es): No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): No.
Witness(es) feelings: ?
Witnesses interpretation: UFO.

Classifications:

Hynek: BLURFO
ALSACAT: Probable bird or insect.

Sources:

[Ref. myo1:] FORUM D'UFOLOGIE "LES MYSTERES DES OVNIS":

Flirden
Sympathetic participation
Male Age: 67
Number of messages: 12
Registered on: 05/13/2011
Localization: Essey les Nancy
Occupation: retired
Hobbies: aviation

Subject: 2015: on 05/12 at 03:30 p.m. - Disc-shaped Ufo - Ufos at ballon de guebwiller - Vosges (dep.88) Fri May 22 2015, 02:12 p.m.

Ufo observation 2015: on 05/12 at 03:30 p.m. - Disc-shaped Ufo - Ufos at ballon de guebwiller - Vosges (dep.88)

Firstname or pseudonym: Bernard.F586

City: ballon de guebwiller
Department: Vosges (dep.88)
Region: Lorraine
Country: France
Date: 05/12/2015
Hour of the beginning or the observation: 03:30 p.m.
Duration of the observation: 1mn approximately

Weather conditions: clear sky
Number of witnesses: 2
Type of phenomenon: Disc-shaped Ufo
Official report: No

Complete observation report:

Hiking with my wife towerds [sic] the summit of the Ballon de Guebwiller -88, while there was a strong wind and clear sky, a hellish noise of the wind with the passage of an airliner over the summit, I took a photo of the aviation radar and without realizing it at the time, after viewing it on my computer, it contains an ovoid Ufo above the said radar. It was about 3:30 p.m..

(photo attached)

Precise description: black metal
Color: black
Size of the phenomenon: plane
Behaviour: motionless
Trajectory: non30° - 30°
Specific noise: Yes strong wind, airliner
Specific odor: not specified
Direction of the object relative to the wind: not specified
Presence of installations: Industrial radar area for aviation
Similar photo: not specified
Table: saucer D1

Field investigation requested:

Investigator in charge of the file:

Keywords: Ufo,Ufology, Testimonies, Lorraine, France, 03:30 p.m., 12, ,

I certify on my honor that the communicated information and the documents given are truthful. I do not know how to identify this phenomenon thanks in advance for your answers.

Regards Bernard.F586

wacapou
Observations analyst
Male Age: 67
Number of messages: 3078
Registered on: 08/07/2012
Localization: Nantes
Occupation: retired
Hobbies: informatics

Subject: 2015: on 05/12 at 03:30 p.m. - Disc-shaped Ufo - Ufos at ballon de guebwiller - Vosges (dep.88) Fri May 22m 2015, 04:53 p.m.

Hello Flirden

Before bringing any precision it seems the photo reported in your testimony is missing.

This may help determine the apparent size of the object at arms lengtt which you did not give.

@Flirden wrote:
Size of the phenomenon: airplane

OK but what kind of plane?
At what altitude?

@Flirden wrote:
Trajectory: non30° - 30°

Do you mean North?
30° indicate the height in the sky (0° = horizon, 90° = abovehead), is that it?

Good evening.

Discussion:

Map.

"Ballon de Guebwiller" is another name for the Grand Ballon, which is not in Lorraine in the Vosges but in Alsace in the Haut-Rhin.

The Grand Ballon.

The summit, at 1,424 meters, is equipped with a radar station for civilian air traffic since 1997, for the management of air traffic for the control centers of Reims and the approach of the international airports of Mulhouse and Strasbourg.

For the rest, we see that the witness, who has actually seen nothing visually, did not publish the photo in which he thinks he captured a UFO. Therefore, it is impossible to say what that it might have been, but typically, this type of "surprize-photo" or BLURFO usually consist of birds or insects.

Here one might think that the UFO might even be the airliner he said he saw pass over the mountain top, but the black color is not very conform, airliners are mostly reflective and appearing bright.

Evaluation:

Probable bird or insect.

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
Editor: Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version: Create/changed by: Date: Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross July 2, 2015 Creation, [myo1].
1.0 Patrick Gross July 2, 2015 First published.

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This page was last updated on July 2, 2015.