The Kelly-Hopkinsville Goblin Encounter

On the night of August 21, 1955, a rural Kentucky family engaged in what they described as an hours-long battle against small, otherworldly creatures that besieged their farmhouse. Known as the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter (or the “Hopkinsville Goblins” case), it remains one of the most dramatic close encounter reports in UFO history—and one of the most thoroughly investigated.

The Setting

The Sutton Farm

The Sutton family farmhouse sat in a rural area between the small towns of Kelly and Hopkinsville in Christian County, Kentucky. In August 1955, the household included:

Glennie Lankford (50) — The matriarch, widow of the family patriarch

Elmer “Lucky” Sutton (25) — Glennie’s son, a carnival worker known for his steady nerves

John Charley “J.C.” Sutton (21) — Another son

Alene Sutton (27) — Elmer’s wife

Vera Sutton — J.C.’s wife

Billy Ray Taylor (21) — A friend visiting from Pennsylvania, there with his wife

June Taylor — Billy Ray’s wife

Also present were several children and other family friends—eleven witnesses in total.

The farmhouse was simple: no indoor plumbing, no telephone. The nearest neighbor was a mile away. When trouble came, the Suttons would be on their own.

The Encounter

7:00 PM — The Sighting

Billy Ray Taylor had gone outside to draw water from the well when he saw something streak across the sky. He described:

• A bright, luminous object trailing sparks
• It descended silently
• Landed in a gully about 300 feet from the house

Excited, Billy Ray rushed inside to tell the family. They laughed it off as a “shooting star” or his imagination. Billy Ray insisted it was real, but no one would go outside to look.

For about an hour, nothing happened.

8:00 PM — The First Visitor

The family dog began barking frantically, then ran under the house and refused to come out. This was unusual behavior.

Billy Ray and Lucky Sutton went to the back door to investigate. In the darkness near the trees, they saw something approaching:

The Creature:

• Approximately 3 to 4 feet tall
• Oversized, round head (nearly half its body size)
• Large, pointed ears extending outward
• Huge, glowing yellow eyes set wide apart
• Arms that hung nearly to the ground
• Claw-like hands with talons
• Thin, spindly legs
• The entire body seemed to glow with a silvery luminescence

The creature raised its arms, as if in greeting or surrender. But Lucky Sutton wasn’t taking chances. He grabbed a shotgun; Billy Ray took a .22 rifle. They fired.

The Siege Begins

The First Shot: Lucky hit the creature with a 12-gauge shotgun blast at close range. The witnesses described what happened next:

• The creature did a “flip” backward
• It seemed unhurt
• It scurried away into the darkness
• A metallic “pinging” sound was heard, as if the shot had struck metal

Moments later, another creature appeared at a side window, its glowing face pressed against the glass. The men fired again, shattering the window.

8:00 PM to 11:00 PM — Three Hours of Terror

What followed was a prolonged nightmare. The creatures—there appeared to be multiple entities—repeatedly approached the house from different directions.

Witness Descriptions:

• The creatures would approach windows and doors
• They climbed onto the roof (scratching sounds were heard above)
• They seemed to “float” when leaping or falling
• Gunfire consistently failed to harm them
• When hit, they would tumble but quickly recover
• They never showed aggression—only curiosity

The Talons: At one point, Billy Ray went outside and felt something grab his hair. Looking up, he saw one of the creatures on the roof, reaching down with its clawed hand. His wife June pulled him back inside.

The Numbers: Witnesses couldn’t agree on exactly how many creatures they saw. Estimates ranged from 2 to 15. The creatures seemed identical, making counting difficult.

The Sounds: The creatures made no vocalizations. The only sounds were:

• The metallic ping of bullets striking them
• Scratching on the roof
• Footsteps around the house

11:00 PM — The Escape

After three hours of siege, there was a brief lull in the activity. The family made a decision: run.

All eleven people—men, women, and children—piled into two cars and drove at high speed to the Hopkinsville police station.

They arrived panicked, shaking, and convinced they had been fighting for their lives.

The Investigation

The Police Response

When the Suttons and Taylors burst into the Hopkinsville police station, officers noticed:

• Genuine terror on their faces
• Billy Ray Taylor was pale and his pulse was elevated
• The adults were clearly shaken
• Their story was bizarre but consistent

Chief Russell Greenwell took the report seriously. He assembled a team including:

• City police officers
• State troopers
• A photographer
• Military personnel from nearby Fort Campbell

Approximately 20 officers descended on the farm.

What They Found

At the farmhouse, investigators discovered:

• Numerous bullet holes in the windows and walls
• Spent shell casings littering the property
• The dog still hiding under the house
• Strange marks on the ground near where creatures were shot
• An unusual “glowing patch” on the grass that faded as they watched

What they didn’t find:

• Bodies of creatures
• The crashed object Billy Ray had described
• Blood or physical evidence of the entities

The investigation continued until approximately 2:00 AM. Finding nothing definitive, the officers departed.

They Returned

Around 3:30 AM, after the police had left, the creatures came back.

Glennie Lankford reported seeing one of the beings staring through her bedroom window. The family endured another round of visitations until dawn, when the creatures finally departed for good.

The Aftermath

Public Reaction

News of the encounter spread quickly. The next day, the farm was overrun with:

• Reporters from major newspapers
• Curiosity seekers (hundreds of cars)
• UFO investigators
• Skeptics and debunkers

The Sutton family found themselves famous—and not in a way they wanted.

The Witnesses’ Credibility

Investigators were impressed by several factors:

Consistency: All eleven witnesses told essentially the same story. Their descriptions of the creatures matched in every significant detail.

Character: The Suttons and Taylors were not publicity seekers. They refused to profit from the story, turning down paid interviews and offers for their account.

Physical Evidence: The family had clearly been firing at something. The damage to the house was real.

Behavior: Police and reporters noted the witnesses’ genuine fear. These were not people enjoying attention—they were traumatized.

Lucky Sutton’s Statement: “I’ve been in the army. I know what fear looks like, and I know what I saw. Those things were real, and they weren’t human.”

Skeptical Explanations

Over the years, skeptics have proposed alternatives:

Great Horned Owls: Some researchers suggest the family encountered aggressive owls. Their “floating” movement could be flight; their glowing eyes could be natural reflectance.

• Counter: Owls are not three feet tall, do not have humanoid shapes, and are harmed by shotgun blasts.

Mass Hysteria: The suggestion that one person’s imagination infected the group.

• Counter: Mass hysteria typically doesn’t last four hours or produce consistent descriptions from eleven people.

Alcohol or Drugs: The family was accused of being drunk.

• Counter: Police found no evidence of intoxication; the family was known to abstain from alcohol.

Hoax: Perhaps the entire event was staged.

• Counter: The family gained nothing from the attention and consistently wished it had never happened.

UFO Research Interest

Project Blue Book

The U.S. Air Force’s official UFO investigation, Project Blue Book, examined the case. Their file notes the witnesses’ credibility but offers no explanation.

The case was eventually classified as “unidentified.”

J. Allen Hynek

The famed astronomer and UFO researcher investigated the Kelly-Hopkinsville case and found it compelling. He noted that hoaxes typically involve fame-seeking behavior, which the Sutton family actively avoided.

Influence on UFO Culture

The Kelly-Hopkinsville goblins have become iconic in UFO lore:

• They match the “grey alien” archetype that would emerge decades later
• The case predates most pop culture alien imagery
• They represent one of the first “siege” encounters—creatures actively approaching humans

The annual Kelly “Little Green Men” Days festival in Kentucky celebrates the encounter, though the original witnesses never described the creatures as green.

The Witnesses’ Lives After

The Sutton family retreated from public life as much as possible. They maintained their story until their deaths but rarely discussed it voluntarily.

Lucky Sutton occasionally gave interviews in later years. He never changed his account: “I know what I saw. I know what I shot at. And I know it wasn’t anything from this earth.”

The farmhouse no longer stands. The land has changed hands multiple times. But the story endures.

What Were They?

The Kelly-Hopkinsville creatures remain unidentified. Possibilities include:

Extraterrestrial Beings: Occupants of the craft Billy Ray Taylor saw landing. Their appearance matches descriptions from other close encounter cases.

Ultraterrestrial Entities: Beings from another dimension, briefly visible to our world.

Unknown Terrestrial Species: A creature unknown to science, explaining their apparent bullet-resistance.

Psychological Phenomenon: Something that exists in the space between reality and perception.

Whatever they were, eleven people spent a terrifying night convinced they were fighting for their lives. Their fear was real. Their ammunition was real. The damage to their home was real.

Only the explanation remains elusive.

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On an August night in 1955, something besieged a Kentucky farmhouse. The witnesses were ordinary people—farmers, workers, mothers, children. They fired hundreds of rounds at creatures that should not exist. The creatures eventually left, but the questions remain. What came to Kelly that summer night? And where did they go when the sun rose?