Woman left disappointed after ‘Northern Lights-style aurora’ turns out to be local tomato factory
Dee Harrison, 56, spotted the reddish hue while driving to work through Branford, Suffolk, on Wednesday
A woman was left stunned after seeing the so-called mystical glow of a northern lights-style aurora over the skies of southern England.
But 56-year-old Dee Harrison’s excitement soon turned to disappointment after realising the warm magenta-coloured vista was in fact coming from the lights of a nearby tomato farm.
Ms Harrison spotted the reddish hue while driving to work through the village of Bramford, Suffolk, at around 5.15am on Wednesday.
The cleaner posted three photos of her discovery to social media with the caption “guess it is the aurora, not seen one before”.
After attracting hundreds of comments, Ms Harrison was told the “beautiful” glare actually came from Suffolk Sweet Tomatoes’ LED light units, which are used to encourage the growth of its stock.
The social media user who pointed out the lights were coming from the Great Blakenham tomato factory was 34-year-old Adam Cotterell.
Replying to her post, Mr Cotterell said: “They are lights from a local tomato factory. It has full spectrum lights that shine red into the sky when there is low lying fog or cloud. I live up the road and have seen it a few times.”
Data from AuroraWatch UK showed there was “no significant” activity in the area on Wednesday morning, with the chance of seeing the lights unlikely.
Ms Harrison told The Independent: “I was on my way to work and noticed what I thought was something on fire through the trees.
“I parked up and thought I could see what was the aurora borealis. I was a little disappointed to find out it wasn’t as I thought I had it all for myself.”
Ms Harrison is not the first to make an aurora faux pas. In May, two university students said they were “catfished” into mistaking the purple glow of a Premier Inn hotel for the aurora borealis.
Karim Akhtar, 22, and Sully Laurent, 21, were walking home from a night out in Norwich when they saw the purple hue in the night sky.
The pair could be seen laughing and talking excitedly while looking at the glow – but soon realised it came from a nearby hotel.
“We’ve been catfished. I thought it was the Northern Lights”, one of them said in a video posted online – which racked up millions of views.
The pair had visited Iceland in January hoping to see the Northern Lights and joked that they were disappointed to have “missed them again”.
