The Kelly-Hopkinsville Goblin Encounter

On the night of August 21, 1955, members of the Sutton family and their guest Billy Ray Taylor engaged in a terrifying four-hour battle with small, silvery creatures at their rural Kentucky farmhouse. The beings had oversized heads, pointed ears, and glowing eyes. Bullets seemed to have no effect. By the time police arrived, the creatures had vanished—leaving only shell casings, damage, and eleven frightened witnesses. The Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter remains one of the most thoroughly investigated and bizarre cases in UFO history.

The Encounter

The Sutton family farmhouse sat in rural Christian County, Kentucky, near the small community of Kelly. That evening, the house was occupied by Glennie Lankford, her sons and their wives, their guest Billy Ray Taylor, and several children.

Around 7:00 PM, Billy Ray Taylor went outside to draw water from the well. He saw a bright object streak across the sky and appear to land in a nearby ravine. The family laughed off his “flying saucer” story.

An hour later, the family dog began barking frantically, then hid under the house. Taylor and Elmer Sutton went to the door and saw a creature approaching—approximately three to four feet tall with a large, round head, oversized pointed ears, eyes that glowed with an inner light, thin limbs with claw-like hands, and a silvery or metallic appearance.

The men fired—Taylor with a .22, Sutton with a shotgun. The creature flipped backward and disappeared. But they kept coming. Throughout the night, creatures appeared at windows and claws scraped at the roof. Taylor was grabbed when he stepped outside, a claw seizing his hair. Bullets hit the creatures with a metallic clang but didn’t stop them. When shot, the creatures would “float” down rather than fall. For approximately four hours, the family fought off multiple beings. Strangely, the creatures showed no aggression beyond their presence—they never entered the house or directly attacked.

Around 11:00 PM, the family piled into two cars and fled to the Hopkinsville police station.

The Investigation

State police, city police, and military personnel from Fort Campbell investigated the scene. They found shell casings and bullet holes, damage consistent with the family’s story, and noted the family’s terror was genuine. They found no evidence of alcohol or drugs—but also no bodies, no blood, and no creatures.

All eleven witnesses told the same story despite their different ages, backgrounds, and perspectives. None ever recanted. Several made statements under oath. And after the police left, the creatures allegedly returned, continuing their siege until just before dawn.

The Creatures

Witnesses consistently described beings three to four feet tall with oversized, round heads and large, pointed ears. Their eyes glowed or were luminous. They had thin, almost skeletal bodies with arms ending in clawed hands and silvery or metallic skin. They appeared to float or hover rather than walk. They approached the house repeatedly, peered through windows, and seemed curious rather than aggressive. They were unaffected by gunfire and never entered the house.

Explanations

Some researchers suggest great horned owls, appearing large and threatening in the dark, could explain the sightings—the “metallic” sound might have been bullets hitting tree branches. Others proposed escaped circus monkeys, though no circus was in the area. The family might have fabricated the story, though they received no money and faced ridicule.

Believers point to the number of witnesses, the story’s consistency over decades, the physical evidence of a firefight, and the lack of any motive for hoax. The encounter matches other “goblin” reports from the era and remains one of the most credible in UFO research. The town of Kelly now holds an annual “Little Green Men” festival, and the case is often cited as evidence for extraterrestrial visitation.

The Suttons and Billy Ray Taylor went to their graves insisting on what they saw. Something came to that farmhouse in Kentucky, and whatever it was, bullets couldn’t stop it.

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For four hours on an August night in 1955, a Kentucky family fought creatures from somewhere else. Small, silver beings with glowing eyes came out of the darkness and wouldn’t be stopped by shotguns or rifles. By morning, they were gone—leaving shell casings, terrified witnesses, and questions that have never been answered.