X Quest Daily: The Story of the Hopkinsville Goblins

Kelly Kentucky.... the name does not likely conjure up images of fantastic paranormal activity unless you are a UFO researcher. But, this sleepy little town was the proverbial birthplace of modern ufology. The events that unfolded at a rural farmhouse one evening in 1955 would eventually set the stage for researchers and become the standard that all other encounters would be based. While this story has been told many times, I still find it interesting and pertinent being a resident of Kentucky myself.

Hopkinsville Kentucky

On the evening of August 21, 1955 the Sutton family were entertaining friend Billy Ray Taylor at their small farm near Kelly Kentucky. The number of individuals at the farm that day included a total of eleven people, five children and six adults. The group had enjoyed a normal evening having dinner and playing cards, but what would happen later that night would change their lives forever.

The Sutton's were well known in the area for being honest, hardworking, and religious people, not the type who would make up tales, or who would have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It was even stated by police and researchers who were on the scene following the events that there is little doubt about the fear the family displayed, and that something had scared these people in a serious kind of way.

Around 7:00PM, house guest Billy Ray Taylor had gone outside to fetch water from a pump in the yard. He witnessed a strange series of lights streaking across the sky and landing in the family's field some distance from the house. Taylor described the lights as looking like a "large saucer, glowing with all the colors of the rainbow." He was startled by the sight and ran quickly back to the farmhouse to tell everyone what he had seen.

The Sutton family laughed at Taylor's story thinking he was playing a prank; they reassured him saying it was likely a shooting star. All was quiet until around 8:00PM, when the family dogs began to bark hysterically outside. The individuals in the house soon began to hear strange noises, much like something walking on the roof and scratching on the windows. The family patriarch Elmer "Lucky" Sutton and Billy Ray Taylor grabbed firearms and went outside to investigate the disturbance.

Artists rendition of the showdown.

Several minutes passed as Sutton and Taylor scoured the property from the front porch. The pair soon saw what was reported as a "little man" emerge from the trees that surrounded the farm. The two men watched as the creature made its way closer to them and described its appearance as slightly glowing, and being silver or metallic in appearance. They also claimed the creature had large pointy ears, round eyes, long thin arms with "talon" like hands, and oddly that its legs were very spindly; almost atrophied. This creature also appeared to defy gravity; it reportedly hovered slightly above the ground, and could move rather quickly with a strange swishing motion of its hips.

The creature came to within 20 feet of the men, at which time a 20 gauge shotgun and a .22 rifle were both repeatedly fired at the creature with no apparent damage being inflicted. Both Taylor and Sutton claimed that when each round was fired, a sound like "shooting into a metal wash tub” could be heard and the bullets appeared to do no damage whatsoever. The creature then flipped over, and darted off into the shadow of the woods. Positive they had wounded the invader, Taylor and Sutton decided to go find it. Upon stepping off the porch, the men spotted the creature perched on the roof just above where they had been standing. The two men again opened fire and continued to hear the odd metallic sound when the bullets struck the target; still doing no damage, but they did claim the creature was knocked from the roof.

Elmer's brother J.C Sutton had remained inside the house with the terrified women and children who were hiding with the chaos erupting outside. J.C had also armed himself with a shotgun by the time Billy Ray and Elmer burst through the front door yelling at everyone to get down and be quiet. While the two men recounted the events that had unfolded outside, J.C. spotted the creature peeping through a window. He fired his weapon, breaking the glass and sending the creature flipping backwards.

Three witnesses to the event. Elmer "Lucky" Sutton is in the center.

Over the next few hours, at least two of the entities had been spotted at once and the family claimed there could have been as many as fifteen. The creatures made several assaults on the house, popping up at windows and doorways and scurrying across the rooftop. Many of the children and women that were hiding had never actually seen the attackers, but of the eleven people in the house, seven of them had visual contact with the creatures.

The family matriarch Ms. Lankford then advised everyone to stop the hostilities, claiming "They haven't hurt anyone, or come in the house." and after several minutes of debate, the family gathered the courage to flee to their automobiles and drove madly for thirty minutes to the sheriff’s office in Hopkinsville Kentucky. The story gets more efficiently documented beyond this point with numerous reports being filed from different agencies and newspapers.

At 11pm that evening an unidentified Kentucky State Trooper on patrol near Kelly had reported seeing strange lights hovering in the sky, as well as the sound of what he described as "artillery fire" coming directly from it. Numerous other civilian reports of unidentified lights and noises were also made to officials that night in the same area.

PFC Hodson's Sketches

Back at the sheriff’s office, upon hearing the Sutton family's wild story and evaluating that they were sober and sane, a group of twenty deputies followed them back to the farm where an investigation was conducted. Deputies verified that over one hundred rounds of ammunition had been fired on the property and they had no doubts that something unusual had happened to these people. At this time, the media and military officials at Fort Campbell were contacted. The deputies documented a glowing patch along a fence where one of the creatures had been shot and also noted an odd unidentifiable green light in the woods behind the house. They were able to photograph the suspected "bloodstain", but a sample was never able to be recovered. The stain had mysteriously disappeared by noon the following day.


Project Blue Book File

Officials questioned neighboring farm owners and many of the people described seeing strange lights, hearing noises, and verified the gun battle at the Sutton's farm. The following morning, M.P.s and investigators including Pfc. Gary F. Hodson arrived from Fort Campbell, the military took statements, and made sketches of the creatures using descriptions from the family. The U.S. Government's Project Blue Book, which is known to be very critical, and has debunked many UFO cases throughout the years also took an interest in the story and opened a case file a short time later. But after investigating at the Sutton farm, they were also unable to determine what really happened to the family on that night. To this day the Kelly Kentucky case is listed as open and unidentified with the United States Air Force and Project Blue Book, and has never been explained.

To further lend believability to their story, the Sutton's moved away from the farm the following year, and never attempted to profit or exploit the popularity that followed the story in any way. Below is a lengthy video that dramatizes the events that took place that night.