Sandling Park, Kent being encounter — November 16, 1963

On 16 November 1963, John Flaxton, Mervyn Hutchinson, Jenny Holloway and, in later investigative accounts, Tony Harrison were walking toward Sandling railway station near Saltwood, Kent. They reported an unusual reddish or yellow-red light near the hills and trees. Descriptions differ between a stationary glow lost behind trees and a descending light. No definite spacecraft structure was described. Farther along the road they encountered a human-sized figure. Early newspaper accounts mention a scarlet cloak, a lantern and an upper body too poorly illuminated for a head to be seen. Later Flying Saucer Review descriptions call it black, apparently headless, with bat-like side projections and webbed feet. The young people fled. These versions should remain attributed rather than combined into a fully specified biological monster. The illustration uses an unresolved cloak-or-wing outline and a lantern, with its sequence-composite label visible. David Barr’s source comparison reproduces the contemporary press and Charles Stickland’s investigation, showing how the familiar bat-beast story evolved. Stickland considered an ordinary railway employee possible but did not thoroughly investigate that explanation. No witness saw the figure enter or emerge from a craft. Later local lights and alleged footprints were separate reports and do not establish a connection with this roadside figure.