Betty Driver and her sister had a "frightening" close encounter with a UFO.
Betty Driver
Freda Driver - the younger sister of the late 'Coronation Street' star, who died in 2011 aged 91 - has revealed the siblings spotted a strange "ball of light" while growing up in West Didsbury, Manchester, in March 1977, but decide to keep their sighting a secret.
Freda told UFO expert John Hanson about the odd encounter, saying: "I was sitting in the lounge at the house where we lived at the time, one stormy evening, and happened to glance through the window, when I saw this large circular yellow 'ball of light' hovering above some trees, apparently unaffected by the gale force wind blowing outside.
"I watched it, noting it had a slightly misty halo around it, and thought to myself it's watching me as well!
"After about 15 minutes, I decided to summon up the courage and venture outside, asking my sister, Betty, to come with me.
"When we opened the door, accompanied by the three boxer dogs, the wind was so strong we had trouble standing.
"As soon as the dogs saw the UFO they ran back inside and hid under the table, at which stage we began to feel frightened and went back inside the house.
"After five mins or so, it shot up into the sky and disappeared, followed by the wind dropping dramatically."
She went on to claim that they saw another unusual object close to their car while driving near Ellesmere Port in 1978.
According to John's book 'Haunted Skies: The Encyclopaedia of British UFOs', Freda said: "I stopped the car to have a closer look at this object, and was surprised to see it had also stopped, motionless in the air, as if somehow watching us.
"It stayed with us for about 20 miles and was clearly seen by other motorists, some of whom stopped their cars."
Betty appeared in more than 2,800 episodes of 'Coronation Street' as Betty Turpin.
The character was known for cooking up a storm in the Rovers Return kitchen and had a signature dish, Betty's Hot Pot, a Lancashire stew baked in a heavy pot on a low heat.