Were aliens sapping energy from homes in Berkhamsted and beyond?

It was a quiet evening on Sunday and as darkness fell, a series of flickering lights were spotted by people across town as well as in Little Gadesden, Potten End, Chaulden and Northchurch.

The creepy dimming of the lights stopped church-goers in their tracks at a Northchurch Baptist Church service.

People took to community Facebook groups to share their concerns and many were quick to spread the word and raise the possibility of an alien invasion.

Paul Shears spotted a “UFO in Ashridge”, Geoffrey Lambourne speculated that Arcadians are “sapping power from earth”, and Peter Grimshaw said “Oh god, they are invading.”

“The flickering was fuelled by the big object coming towards the earth that NASA said they were picking up radio signals from,” coach driver Jason Labross said.

“I just thought perhaps the newly-built Death Star was sucking all the energy from the earth.”

Jason who lives in Ashridge Rise with his wife Kelly, was one of a number or residents who let their imaginations run wild.

Their eight-year-old daughter Brooke and two-year-old son Frankie were noticing the dancing lights too and they were keen to work out what was going on.

“They were flickering a lot,” Jason said. “And being a big Star Wars fan the idea just popped straight into my head

“My daughter saw the funny side when I told her jokingly what I thought it was – she also likes Star Wars.”

Karen Athill said she “thought it was her eyes” playing tricks on her and Carly Ann Ledge thought her home “had ghosts”.

It turns out there were in fact problems with overhead cables at Lye Green which were affecting around 900 houses across the area. Chesham and Amersham were also affected.

If indeed aliens are not sapping your town, electricity issues can be tracked at www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk

Check the live map to see if UK Power Networks is aware of any powercuts and when it is estimated that power will be back on.

Alternatively, you can call 105 from most landlines or mobile phones.