VOUGEOT (21) 03.09.2025

On 3 September 2025 at 21:44, two people on foot at the entrance to the Château du Clos de Vougeot (21) saw an oval white light to the north, at about 45° elevation. It made repeated curved movements apparently above the clouds, occasionally showing a white trail partly hidden by cloud. No sound was heard. Each movement cycle lasted about 5 seconds. T1 recorded three videos and one photograph. They watched for nearly 5 minutes before the light disappeared. T1 rejected a ground projection because its source seemed elevated and no terrestrial light source was visible. The case has substantial evidential strength*, although only T1 completed a GEIPAN questionnaire. Analysis of the videos and photograph strengthens the value and reliability of the information. *Under GEIPAN's criteria, evidential strength is the amount of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively substantiated. For T1, the strangeness lay in the unusual appearance and repetitive movement, with no trace seen on the ground. The investigation examined a skytracker, a powerful ground searchlight aimed into the sky and making regular, repetitive, often circular movements exactly as described. The videos and photograph confirm the reported details. They show the UAP against apparently low cloud, faintly illuminated by light pollution probably from Dijon, broadly in the viewing direction. Weather data from Dijon-Longvic airbase, about 15 km northeast of the witnesses, show uniform low-to-mid-level cloud cover of 8 eighths at about 1, 900–2, 400 m (appendix 1). These conditions favor a bright spot on the cloud base from a powerful ground searchlight. White is common for such equipment. The 'trail sometimes hidden by cloud' probably corresponds to part of the beam becoming visible through suspended water droplets. Dijon is about 15–20 km north-northeast of the witnesses, within these searchlights' usual stated range of up to about 20 km. However, no exceptional event in the city was reported that night, and no information was found confirming skytracker use. The repetitive motion nevertheless reduces the strangeness under this hypothesis. Depending on cloud density, the light may appear to come from above the cloud. GEIPAN classifies the case B: probable observation of a skytracker used at a private party or event.