The article below was published in the daily newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace, Strasbourg, France, page 13, on July 13, 1952.
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Our readers will no doubt remember that we reported on two occasions the appearance of mysterious flying objects in the Alsatian sky, in Sélestat, in Mommenheim, and in Thann, on Tuesday, between 9 and 10 p.m.
These reports appear to be confirmed by information arriving from other localities.
On Tuesday evening, again between 9:30 and 10 p.m., several people observed the passage of an aerial object. The appearance was that of a fireball with a luminous trail at the rear, colored green and reddish.
This object, moving at great speed, was heading from West to East.
It seems that the path of this mysterious projectile was not limited to the sky of our region, as in Nancy, Miss Meunier, who runs a stand at the exhibition, noticed on Tuesday evening, around 9:50 p.m., a large fireball tracing a luminous arc in the sky. This ball, which seemed to move from West to East, appeared to be the size and shape of a football. (1055)
Two young women who passed by a bit later on rue Gambetta were intrigued by a cone-shaped fireball that shot through the sky, also from West to East and at high speed, though slower than that of a jet aircraft. (1042)
An identical phenomenon was reported shortly after in Sarrebourg by a resident of the town. (1055)
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The consistency in the observations and timing makes hallucination unlikely.
What should we make of these phenomena? Only specialists could answer that. Are we dealing with a new type of aerial craft or with unreported meteors, as one of our correspondents believes—who disagrees with previous witnesses:
During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, around 11:45 p.m., observers noticed a sort of incandescent balloon with a greenish color and a luminous tail.
Our correspondent does not believe in flying saucers but rather in an astronomical phenomenon. (428)
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It should be noted that the shapes reported differ from one correspondent to another, but our source in Sélestat points out that this is to be expected, as the projectile in question may turn at such high speed that it appears to change shape.
What is this mysterious projectile? Time may tell. (R)
[Drawing caption:] This is how our informant from Sélestat saw the mysterious phenomenon on the evening of Tuesday, July 8: a luminous body, whose front part, shaped like a cigar, was greenish in color. In the luminous trail following the projectile, several reddish fireballs could be clearly distinguished. (Dernouvel)
