Fifteen-year-old Emma Broadbent, a pupil at Hereford School, was visiting a friend's house in Laceby, at about 7.45pm last Monday, when she saw what she describes as a "dome" of light in the sky.

She said: "It was very clear in the sky, and I was pointing out a star in the sky when I saw a flash.

"It was like a dome, protractor shaped, which met the horizon. It was grey on the inside and brighter on the outside. Had I not been looking in that direction I would have missed it.

"It seemed to cover the field behind Morrisons, just off Laceby Road, which was to my left at the time.

"We pulled over and waited for a moment. Then there was this second flash about five minutes later which covered Bradley Woods."

However, this was not Emma's first close encounter – she also saw a strange light in the sky with her mother at Christmas time close to the Bradley Inn.

Mum Sharon (46) said it was unlikely to be a Chinese paper lantern, which often makes headlines as being mistaken for alien craft.

She said " It was definitely much bigger than that.

"It was salmon coloured, and at first seemed to move across the sky slowly. Then it shot upwards into the sky and was gone within seconds!"

Meanwhile, Nige Allison (35), from Grimsby's Wybers Wood, was driving with his four daughters, having visited his mother's house.

He said: "We were close to the Click 'Em Inn, near Brookenby, when we saw the flashes. We don't know what time the first one was, but the second we know was at 8.15pm, and a third at 8.17pm, because my daughter was trying to time them, to see if it was lightning.

"My daughters are aged between six and 15. They were a bit worried at first."

Can you help?

Do you know what the mysterious flashes in the night sky were? Contact Conrad Emmett in the Grimsby Telegraph newsroom on (01472) 372236 or leave a comment on the bottom of this story.