A mum-of-two claims she has been visited by aliens after she said she experienced a string of strange events including spotting a “UFO the size of a football field”, finding “suction markings” on her body and waking up to find herself surrounded by “circling bright lights”.

Joelle Burns, 39, said she has been left with “so many questions” after experiencing three encounters she believes were extraterrestrial and hopes that by sharing her stories, more people will come forward. The mother-of-two was left gobsmacked after spotting a mysterious unidentified disc-shaped object the “size of a football field” hovering over the horizon during a late-night fishing trip which she believes was an alien spacecraft, though Joelle said she and her friends did not take a photograph if it before it disappeared.

Earlier this year, Joelle noticed “perfectly cylindrical” blemishes on her left shoulder, which she said has never happened before and remained for more than week, before she began to wonder whether they could be “alien markings”. A few months later she was awakened in the middle of the night by “circling bright lights” and said she was afraid of opening her eyes for fear “someone or something” would be leaning over her.

“Since these experiences, I do these ‘protection prayers’ to keep me and my family safe, just saying I’m good, I don’t need visitations,” explained Joelle who is sharing her stories in the hope that it will help create a “safe space” for people who have had similar experiences but do not feel comfortable talking about them.

“It has definitely opened my eyes to what is out there in the universe as oppose to just us being here on earth – I kind of get overwhelmed,” Joelle told PA Real Life. “I think we all have that thought, that there’s got be more out there than just us.

“We were all just looking at it for about five minutes, flabbergasted and being like, ‘Are we looking at a UFO?’ This was a big object that we were looking at, probably the size of a football field.”

In the summer of 2021, Joelle went on a night fishing boat trip in a 24ft (7.3m) motorboat with friends and family, who do not wish to be named. The party of eight found a good fishing spot in the bay, about a mile out to sea, before dropping anchor, casting their lines and putting on some music.

“We were the only boat in sight and it was a very quiet evening,” she said. At around 9:30pm, Joelle’s nephew said he was feeling a little “seasick” and made his way to the front of the boat with his father.

The pair were looking back to shore when they spotted something strange on the horizon. “It was where you still have that little bit of glow on the horizon, but the stars are starting to come out,” she said.

“It was a black, almost disk-shaped object hovering over the land,” said Joelle. “We were like, wait, what are we actually looking at?

“Everybody was really stunned and we were all kind of in awe. Then it started moving further away from us and then it came back.”

Based on how far away they were from the shoreline, Joelle estimated that the mysterious apparition was about the size of a football field. Even when they cut the music, Joelle said the strange object did not make any sound.

Then on the way home, Joelle’s nephew claims to have spotted a “shooting star” travelling upwards through the sky. Unfortunately nobody on board took a picture of the unidentified object as they were “too busy wondering what was going on”.

But Joelle, said this was not the only possible alien encounter she has experienced. In April this year, Joelle noticed some strange markings on her body, a cluster of markings in the shape of a triangle.

“I was just getting dressed, and ready for the day, when I noticed I had these strange markings on my left shoulder,” she said. “It had a pink tone, like if something had either been suctioned to me or rubbed against me, but it was these perfectly cylindrical markings in like a diamond shape.

“It was just such an odd marking that it didn’t make sense.”

The marking remained on her shoulder for more than a week, Joelle added, and she began to wonder: “Could this be an alien marking?”. It eventually disappeared, but there was more to come.

Five months later, in September 2023 in the middle of the night, Joelle said she woke up to bright lights, although her eyes were still closed. “With my eyes still closed, I saw these three circling lights,” she said.

“I thought to myself, I’m going to open my eyes and there’s either going to be something or somebody standing there. This time, I was nervous and kind of scared.

“I didn’t want to open my eyes because I wasn’t sure what I would see.”

When she opened her eyes, Joelle found there was nothing there, but she said she had the exact same experience the following night. I just don’t know how to describe or explain it besides that it was an uneasy feeling and that I didn’t like it,” she said.

“It just was so odd that I was getting these bright lights circling in my eyes. I was kind of just kind of spooked and stayed in my bed.”

Joelle said people have been “intrigued” by her experiences. I think definitely having your own experiences makes it a lot more believable,” she said.

“A lot of people were very intrigued and like, ‘Oh wow, that’s kind of neat’ and then they would tell their story.”

While Joelle cannot say for sure that she saw an extraterrestrial but said she is now convinced they exist. “I didn’t actually see an extraterrestrial or some kind of other life-form in front of me, so I can’t put that credibility to it,” she said.

“But I definitely think that there are extraterrestrial and other beings that live out in the universe. That definitely.”