Beautician spooked by UFO mystery (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Close encounter of the silent kind in Tendring

9:10am Tuesday 28th September 2010 in News

A FLYING saucer sceptic says the truth might be out there after all after having a close encounter of her own.

Victoria Whale didn’t believe stories of spaceships and little green men ... until she came face to face with a UFO on her way home from work.

The beautician was driving back to Clacton when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

“It was like a dark shadow,” she said.

“I was relieved because I thought it was just a helicopter but then a split second later I realised it had no lights.

Victoria, 33, slowed down and turned off her radio.

She was astonished to discover the mystery aircraft was totally silent.

It was less than 100 yards away and hovering at about roof height.

“It can’t have been a helicopter because the trees would have been moving but there was nothing at all,” she said.

“It was so close I should have been able to feel the vibrations but there was no noise or lights.

The incident happened near Tendring village last Thursday night.

“It was a full moon so it was pretty light,” said Victoria, of St Mary’s Road.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before.

“I don’t usually take any notice of UFO stories to be honest but I can’t get it out of my mind.

“I don’t like driving down that road at the best of times but this really frightened me.

“I won’t be going down there again - I’ll be taking the long way round.”

Victoria, who works at Waves hairdressing salon in Harwich, added: “I’m just hoping someone will tell me that there was a helicopter in the area that night.”

Police say they didn’t receive any other sightings that night.

Both the police and air ambulance confirmed their helicopters weren’t in the area.

An air ambulance spokesman said: “They are very noisy - she would have known if it was one of ours.”

When the Gazette told Victoria it couldn’t have been a rescue helicopter, she said: “What was it then? That’s really spooked me.”