STARGATE Suffolk is in the grip of UFO fever today after more strange sightings were reported across the county.

Tom Potter

STARGATE Suffolk is in the grip of UFO fever today after more strange sightings were reported across the county.

An Ipswich couple are convinced they had a close encounter when they spotted a mystifying orange light in the sky above their Frobisher Road home.

Cathy Calthorpe was putting her children to bed when her partner Chris Betts screamed for her to join him at the window.

She rushed to his side and was stunned by what she saw.

“It was a perfect formation of a geometric shape with five bright orange lights,” she said.

“I could see metal detail on it and the object moved quite fast and kept spinning in the sky and changing direction.”

Ms Calthorpe was staggered by what she had seen but was quick-witted enough to grab her camera and capture the extraordinary display.

The mum-of-two is not convinced by the usual sceptical explanations for what she saw.

“I have never believed in anything like this,” she said. “But I knew it was a UFO as soon as I saw it.

“I had my glasses on at the time so I could see quite well!”

Ms Calthorpe and her partner saw the unusual light formation moving towards Nacton Road, after hovering above Orwell Bridge, at around 10pm on Saturday night.

On the same evening, psychic healers Tom and Carol Spencer claim to have seen 30 bright orange UFOs in convoy above Thetford.

Meanwhile, Gary Clark, of Fisk Farm, near Badingham, said he and wife Beverley saw a “tremendous ball of fire” flying above the sea at Sizewell beach.

The night before, Evening Star photographer Simon Parker was driving home through Lower Hacheston when he too saw a “big ball of fiery orange light in the sky”.

“There's no way it was a sky lantern,” he said. “This was moving faster than any air traffic.

“I have no idea what it was but there had been thunderstorms in the area so I wondered whether it might have been ball lightning.”

As recently as Monday night, David Galvan, of High Street, Wickham Market, was checking the garden for hedgehogs when he saw a large red light moving across the sky.

Mr Galvan said: “I don't know what I saw. It may have been an experimental aircraft but it made no sound.

“It may have been a hot air balloon, with a yellow light at the bottom, only it must have been in a jet-stream as it was moving very fast.”

- Have you had a paranormal encounter? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

Timeline of UFO sightings:

- Friday, July 24: Evening Star photographer Simon Parker sees a “big ball of fiery orange light” in the sky above Lower Hacheston.

- Saturday, July 25: Cathy Calthorpe and Chris Betts spot several bright lights moving in perfect formation over the Orwell Bridge before disappearing near Nacton Road.

Psychic healers Tom and Carol Spencer see 30 bright orange objects follwing each other across the Thetford skies.

- Monday, July 27: David Galvan has can't explain what was hovering above his garden in Wickham Market.