The Thing at Winterfold Forest, Surrey, England
Since 1967 a mystery has loomed over Winterfold Forest in Surrey, England. A creature, ghost, or even an alien appeared to a motorist on their way home. It hasn’t been seen since and to this day remains a mystery. What was the thing at Winterfold?
The Winterfold Creature Appears
Just after midnight on November 13th, 1967 22-year-old Philip Freeman was driving his friend, 20-year-old Angela Carter, home through Winterfold Forest before heading home himself.
Taking a shortcut through the forest, the two came upon a thick fog that clouded the car's windows. Philip pulled over to wipe off the mist that had built up on the windshield and noticed a disgusting smell he would later describe as a stink bomb or food that was “burning badly”.
Philip scanned the surrounding area for the source of the smell but he could barely see anything in the surrounding darkness. Philip wiped the windshield and made his way back into the car. Before getting in, he noticed something terrifying standing outside of Angela’s window.
It stood around 4 and a half feet tall and though it had a face, the thing had no eyes, nose, or mouth. To Philip, it appeared to be emitting a faint light where the details of its oblong face should have been. He then noticed something that could be an arm touching the hood of his car but the thing made no other movements or gestures.
Philip’s sketch of the creature that appeared in Flying Saucer Review
Philip slipped into the car and Angela instantly noticed the terror that lived on his face. Worried about what she might see, Angela dared not look out of her window and told Philip to drive. In an interview later Angela would say “I knew by the look on Philip’s face, and by my own ‘feeling’ that something horrible was out there.”
Between the moment Philip shifted the car into gear, the thing moved from the side of the car to the back. As he drove away, Philip looked at the thing through his rear-view mirror and saw the rest of its body but didn’t recall seeing any legs.
Aftermath
After driving a short distance, the pungent smell that permeated the air completely disappeared. Philip grew curious as to what the being was and asked Angela if she would be okay with them driving back. Angela refused and asked to just be taken home as soon as possible.
Philip told his parent and co-workers of his experience and both times he was ridiculed until they saw how serious Philip was. Despite the mockery, Philip never changed his story and insisted what he saw was real.
A reporter for the Woking Review heard the story and returned to the area with Philip but they could not locate any evidence of the thing Philip saw. Unfortunately, I could not find any archived issues of the monthly Woking Review to read what else was explored in that interview.
In fact, it appears there is almost no other information on this event or any follow-ups with Philip and Angela except for an article in the Flying Saucer Review by Charles Bowen. On November 26th, 1967 just two weeks after the incident, Charles heard of the story from a friend and went to investigate.
He met with Philip, Philip’s parents, and Angela where they each told their version of the events that night. Most articles available on the Winterfold creature, including this one, originate or source their information from what Charles Bowen was able to get from Philip and others.
In 1975 one other article was written about the incident that appeared in issue #10 of the bimonthly magazine The News — “A Miscellany of Fortean Curiosities” which would later become the Fortean Times.
Although it appears the writer of that article did not interview Philip or Angela and has some of the details wrong. For example, the article claims the event took place on December 16th and that Philip pulled over near an abandoned mansion.
Despite there really being no follow-up information on the Winterfold incident, there are still a few theories on what the creature was.
Monster, Ghost, or Alien?
The most common theory is that the thing Philip saw was a monster or creature, often times the thing is given the name the “Acrid Critter of Winterfold”, acrid being an allusion to the smell that Philip describes in his interview.
As far as “critter”, there’s no reason to believe what Philip saw was a critter, creature, or anything that could be defined as a monster. That theory appears to originate from The News — “A Miscellany of Fortean Curiosities”.
In Charles Bowen’s write-up, he alludes to it as some type of ghost or possible demon but never a monster. Since Charles Bowen was writing for the Flying Saucer Review it’s no surprise that a theory that the thing was alien has been circulated.
Apart from the supernatural or alien theories there really isn’t a good solid theory we can propose since there isn’t any more information on the incident. There were no follow-ups, no newspaper articles written, I couldn’t find any other information on Philip Freeman or Angela Carter, and there have been no other sightings of the thing at Winterfold.
Philip could have seen something else and was confused because of the thick fog/mist, we don’t have any information as to if he had been drinking, and we have no other witnesses as Angela didn’t turn to look at the thing. It’s possible the whole thing was made up by Philip Freeman or even Charles Bowen but there isn’t any reason to believe that either.
Whether it was a monster, ghost, alien, or made-up, the only thing we know for sure is that this incident will remain a mystery.
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