1955: THE HOPKINSVILLE ALIEN INVASION

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THINK ABOUTIT ABDUCTION REPORT

Date: August 21, 1955

Sighting Time: 7:00 PM

Day/Night: Night

Location: Hopkinsville, Kentucky

Urban or Rural: Rural

Hynek Classification: CE-III (Close Encounter III) Close observation with animate beings associated with the object.

Duration: 12 hours

No. of Object(s):  Multiple

Size of Object(s):

Distance to Object(s):

Shape of Object(s):

Color of Object(s):

Number of Witnesses: Multiple

Special Features/Characteristics:   Goblins

Source:  Isabel L Davis for CSI & Bed Ledwith; Anatomy 173; Magonia 372

Summary: At a short distance from the front door, both men were stopped dead in their tracks by the sight of a glowing hovering light, which came towards them and allowed them to see that it was in fact a 3 and a half feet tall creature, advancing towards them with hands up, as if to surrender. The bizarre creature would be described as having “two large eyes with a yellow glow, more on the sides than in the human face, a long thin mouth, large bat-like ears, thin short legs, and unusually long arms with large hands ending in claws.”

Full Report

Possibly an allusion to Ireland’s leprechauns could account for the derisive term of “little green men,” in referring to aliens. Whatever the source, the question arises, “Has anyone actually seen a little green man?” Well, some people believe so! Of the many cases of alien encounters, one of the most bizarre is the Kelly-Hopkinsville account of a terrifying night of “little green men.” This most unusual event originated on the night of August 21, 1955. Located in the rural area of Christian County, Kentucky, this UFO enigma took place in the little town of Kelly, located near the small city of Hopkinsville. The family Sutton would be the target of this “one of a kind” journey into the unknown.

The lifestyle of a typical Kentucky rural family has been kept intact for many decades, and the Sutton family fit this tradition to a tee. “Lucky” Sutton, as he was he was known to friends and neighbors, was the “patriarch” of this bluegrass clan. Visiting Lucky and his family was a man from Pennsylvania named Billy Ray Taylor. Billy left the Sutton house to go for some water from the family well. There was no inside plumbing at the Sutton farm house. At the well, he saw an immense, shining object land in a small gully about a quarter of a mile away. Running back to the house, he excitedly reported his sighting to others in the house. Billy was laughed at; no one believed his “crazy” tale.

After a short period of time, the family dog began to raise a ruckus outside. As was the custom in those parts, Lucky and Billy grabbed their guns and headed outside, planning to shoot first, and ask questions later. Only a short distance from the front door, both men were stopped dead in their tracks by the sight of a 3-4 foot tall creature, who was walking towards them with hands up, as if to surrender.

This most bizarre creature would be described as having “large eyes, a long thin mouth, large ears, thin short legs, and hands ending in claws.” Frightened by the small greenish entity, Billy Ray fired a shot with his .22, and Lucky unloaded with his shotgun. Both men later admitted that there was no way they missed the creature at close range, but the little being just did a back flip, and ran into the woods in fright.

No sooner had the two men reentered the house before the creature, or another like it, appeared at a window. They took a shot at him, leaving a blast hole through the screen. They ran back outside to see if the creature was dead, but found no trace of it. Standing at the front of the house, the men were terrified by a clawed hand reaching down from the roof in an attempt to touch them. Again, they shot, but the being simply floated to the ground, and scurried into the cover of the woods.The two men sought the protection of the house again, only to find themselves under siege from these little men. For a time, the entities seemed to tease the family, appearing from one window to another. Taking pot shots through the windows and walls, their weapons seemed totally ineffective against the invading creatures.

After several hours of fear, the Sutton family decided to make a break from the house, and get help at the Police station at Hopkinsville. Family members took two vehicles to the Police Station in Hopkinsville, and reported their strange tale to Sheriff Russell Greenwell. Finally persuading the policemen that they were not joking, the authorities agreed to visit the Sutton house.

Arriving at the farm, police found no trace of the creatures, but did find numerous bullet and rifle holes in the windows and walls. Greenwell was in charge of the twenty plus officers at the scene, and reported that the Suttons seemed sober, and were genuinely frightened by something. After a canvas of the neighbors, reports were entered of the “hearing of shots being fired,” and the observation of “lights in the sky.”

Exhausting all efforts to find the origin of this strange report, the police left the Sutton place at about 2:15 am. As soon as they did, the creatures made their return. They began again peeking in the windows, seemingly out of curiosity. More gunfire took place, but again without effect. Several more hours of antics followed, finally stopping just before daybreak. The police were finally persuaded to call in Air Force personnel the next morning, but a new search brought no results. After the beings had left, Billy Ray and Lucky had gone into Evansville, Indiana to take care of some business. The other five family members were questioned by Air Force and Police.

On 8/22/55, the Kentucky “New Era” newspaper carried the story of the events. Naturally, initial public opinion was that the whole story was a hoax. If this was the case, several questions must be answered. Why would the Sutton family make up such an incredible claim? They made no money from the story, and did not seek any publicity. Why would they shoot holes in the walls of their home, causing a financial drain on the family.

Including Billy Ray and Lucky, seven adults were witnesses to these events. All of them, when questioned separately, gave the same story. Also sketches were made of the beings, and they depicted the creatures in a like manner. A year after the events, the case was thoroughly investigated by Isabel Davis, who related that the witnesses’ stories had not changed. As the years rolled by, the accounts of the Sutton family stood firm. No evidence of a hoax has ever been brought forward. The case was also looked into by Bud Ledwith, who was an engineer at a Hopkinsville radio station. Noted investigator, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, also accepted the accounts of the Suttons. Hynek discussed the details of the case with Davis and Ledwith. Although the Kelly-Hopkinsville case is an extremely unusual one, it is considered today to be authentic by many UFO investigators.

(UFOS AT CLOSE SIGHT)

These events occurred on the night of August 21 to 22, 1955, near the little town of Kelly, located near the small city of Hopkinsville, in the rural area of Christian County, in southwestern Kentucky, USA.

“Lucky” Sutton, as he was known to friends and neighbors, was the “patriarch” of this bluegrass clan. Visiting Lucky and his family, was a man from Pennsylvania named Billy Ray Taylor. Billy left the Sutton house to go for some water from the family well, there was no inside plumbing at the Sutton farm house. At the well, he saw an shining object land in a small gully about a quarter of a mile away. Running back to the house, he excitedly reported his sighting to the eleven people in the house. Billy was laughed at, as no one believed his tale and no one left the house to check.

After a short period of time, the family dog began to bark loudly outside. As customary in this rural area, Lucky and Billy quickly went outside to find the reason of the dog’s concern. The dog actually hid under the house and was not seen anymore that evening. At a short distance from the front door, both men were stopped dead in their tracks by the sight of a glowing hovering light, which came towards them and allowed them to see that it was in fact a 3 and a half feet tall creature, advancing towards them with hands up, as if to surrender. The bizarre creature would be described as having “two large eyes with a yellow glow, more on the sides than in the human face, a long thin mouth, large bat-like ears, thin short legs, and unusually long arms with large hands ending in claws.”

As tradition imposes, they grabbed their guns and shot first, all questions postponed, at the moment that the creature was no farther than 20 feet to them. Billy Ray fired a shot with his .22, and Lucky unloaded with his shotgun. Both men later admitted that there was no way they missed the creature at close range, but the little being just did a back flip, stood up again, and fled into the woods.

No sooner had the two men reentered the house before the creature, or another like it, appeared at a window. They took a shot at him, leaving a blast hole through the screen. They ran back outside to see if the creature was dead, but found no trace of it. Standing at the front of the house, the men were terrified by a clawed hand reaching down from the roof in an attempt to touch them. Again, they shot, but the being simply floated to the ground, and scurried into the cover of the woods. The two men sought the protection of the house again, only to find themselves under siege from these little men. For a time, the entities seemed to tease the family, appearing from one window to another. Taking pot shots through the windows and walls, their weapons seemed totally ineffective against the creatures.

Many times, the creatures would again approach the house, their hands raised above their head as in some kind of friendly gesture. The two men would fire at them, the bullet did metallic clanging noise when it hit the creature, which would flip over, or float in the air, or escape on all fours towards the weeds, only to come back again minutes later. The Suttons estimated that they might have been as many as 10 to 15 such creatures harassing them, although they never attempted to penetrate the house.

After three hours of fear turning into sheer panic, with three children crying or shrieking, the Sutton family decided to make a break from the house, and get help at the Police station at Hopkinsville. The farm was located nearer to Kelly, but the nearest police were in Hopkinsville. Family members took two vehicles to the Police Station in Hopkinsville, and reported their strange tale to Sheriff Russell Greenwell. Finally persuading the policemen that they were not joking, the policemen agreed to visit the Sutton house. Arriving at the farm, police found no trace of the creatures, but did find numerous bullet and rifle holes in the windows and walls. Greenwell was in charge of the twenty plus officers at the scene, and reported that the Suttons seemed sober, and were genuinely frightened by something. After a canvas of the neighborhood, reports were entered of the “hearing of shots being fired,” and the observation of “lights in the sky.”

Exhausting all efforts to find a rational explanation to the strange story, and finding no clear evidence of any alien visitors, the police left the Suttons farm at about 2:15 am. 90 minutes later, the creatures made their return. They began again peeking in the windows, seemingly out of curiosity. More gunfire took place, but again without effect. Several more hours of antics followed, finally stopping some 90 minutes before daybreak.

SHORT DISCUSSION:

Naturally, initial public opinion was that the whole story was a hoax. If this was the case, several questions must be answered. Why would the Sutton family make up such an incredible claim? They made no money from the story, and did not seek any publicity, on the contrary. Why would they shoot holes in the walls of their home, causing a financial drain on the family to repair the damages? When, days later they attempted to protect themselves against human invaders walking in number across their fields, police was helpless. They thought of asking one dollar by visitor, to get some money to repair all the damages, but almost no trespasser paid. Of course, as soon as they tried to raise money, the press labeled them hoaxers and closed the case.

Including Billy Ray and Lucky, seven adults were witnesses to these events. All of them, when questioned separately, gave the same story. Also sketches were made of the beings, and they essentially depicted the creatures in a like manner. A year after the events, the case was thoroughly investigated by Isabel Davis, an investigator from New York City, who related that the stories had not changed. As the years rolled by, the accounts of the Sutton family stood firm. No evidence of a hoax has ever been brought forward. The case was also looked into by Bud Ledwith, who was an engineer at a Hopkinsville radio station. Noted investigator, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, also accepted the accounts of the Suttons. Hynek discussed the details of the case with Davis and Ledwith. Although the Kelly-Hopkinsville case is an extremely unusual one, it is considered today to be authentic by many UFO investigators. Indeed, there would not be one single reason to reject it, if it weren’t for its fantastic implications.

Here is the original article from the “Kentucky New Ear” newspaper, the very next day to the event. Staff Writer Joe Dorris came on the scene the night of the incident with the police, or after the police, and the following morning and wrote this article, the first newspaper article about the case. Joe Dorris later noted that it was two or three days later that the national media injected the green color into the description. There was never ever any mention of the green color by those claiming to have seen the beings.

Kelly Farmhouse Scene Of Alleged Raid By Strange Crew Last Night; Reports Say Bullets Failed To Affect Visitors

All kinds of investigations were going on today in connection with the bizarre story of how a space-ship carrying 12 to 15 little men landed in the Kelly community early last night and battled occupants of a farmhouse.

Most official of the probes was reportedly being staged by the air force.

More than a dozen state, county, and city officers from Christian and Hopkins counties went to the scene between 11 p.m. and midnight and remained until after 2 a.m. without seeing anything either to prove or disprove the story about the ship and its occupants.

The farmhouse is located on the Old Madisonville Road about eight miles north of Hopkinsville. The property is occupied by Cecil (Lucky) Sutton, one of those who reported experiencing last night’s phenomena.

There were some 10 or 12 persons at the house, including several children, but investigating officers were not able to determine exactly how many of those present actually clamed to have seen any of the little men from the space ship. Only other person who officers quoted directly was identified as Billy Ray Taylor. One account said Taylor is a visitor from Pennsylvania, which recently had a similar report of a space ship. Neither Sutton nor Taylor was at home when officers returned to the scene this morning.

The story broke around 11 o’clock last night when two cars, one bearing a Pennsylvania license drove up to Hopkinsville’s police headquarters. Officers then at the station said the two autos contained at least five adults and several children. All appeared highly excited.

Spokesmen for the crowd told of how something resembling a space ship or flying saucer had landed at the back of their house near Kelly and 12 or 15 men, who appeared to be about 4 feet tall, had got out of ship and come up to the house and done battle with the occupants.

“We need help,” one of the men said, “we’ve been fighting them for nearly four hours.”

Four city police, Chief Russell Greenwell, T.C. Gross, Dorris Francis, and Gray Salter, drove to the scene to see about the “little men”. By radio, contact was made with State Troopers R.N. Ferguson Jr. and G.W. Riley and Deputy Sheriff George Batts, all of whom joined the motorcade to Kelly in their own vehicles. Four MP’s also went.

The radio discussions also brought two Hopkins County deputy sheriffs and at least three state troopers from the station at Madisonville.

First arrivers found the scene deserted. The two cars which had brought the report to Hopkinsville did not return to the Kelly farm until after officers had arrived and looked the situation over.

Officers reported they found no tracks of “little men,” nor was there any mark indicating anything had landed at the described sport behind the house. There was a hole in the screen at the window through which occupants said a shot had been fired at one of the strange little men.

Both Chief Greenwell and Deputy Sheriff Batts said they got approximately this story from the still-terrified and excited Sutton and Taylor families:

About 7 p.m. one of the men went out of the house to get a bucket of water. He saw what looked like a flying saucer come over the trees and land in a field at a point about a city block behind the house. There was no explosion, only a semi-hissing sound, and the watcher returned to the house with the bucket of water.

A short time later somebody reported some little men with big heads and long arms were approaching the house. The men were described as having huge eyes and hands out of proportion to their small bodies. The visitors were wearing what looked to be metal plate.

The men got their guns, a shotgun for Sutton and a .22 caliber target pistol for Taylor. By and by, one of the little men pressed his face against the window and the shotgun was fired through the window. The face disappeared.

The men decided to go outside and see if the visitor had been hit. Taylor was in front and when he emerged from the front door, a huge hand reached down from the low roof above the door and grabbed him by the hair. He pulled away and the two men went on out of the house.

One of the strange little men was in a nearby tree, another on top of the house. A blast from Sutton’s shotgun knocked another one of the men down but he did not appear hurt. He disappeared in the darkness.

Taylor reportedly opened fire on other member of the invading party, also with little effect. The battle went on for some time. When the occupants of the house saw their chance, they jumped into their cars and drove to Hopkinsville for help.

Deputy Sheriff Batts said the men told him that in all they fired up about four boxes of .22 pistol shells. The officer quoted a neighbor saying he heard shooting at the Suttons but distinguished only about four shots and mistook them for fire-crackers. Most of the officers remained at the site for more than two hours. During that period, there were approximately 25 person at the scene.

Only excitement during the period the officers were there came when an MP happened to step on a cat’s tail while walking in the darkness near the house. The cat let out a squawl and for a few seconds there was much activity and scurrying around on the part of those present.

Two officers who returned to the Kelly area early this morning reported hearing that the “little men” had reappeared around the Sutton home about 3:30 a.m.

Other investigators who went to Kelly later during the morning said they were told Sutton and Taylor had gone to Evansville today.

Officers who visited the scene during last night’s excitement were reluctant to express any opinion today in regard to the reported invasion of Kelly. All officials appeared to agree that there was no drinking involved.

Only outspoken comment came from Frank Dudas, city police desk sergeant, who was not on duty last night and has not visited the scene so far. He said, “I think the whole story is entirely possible.”

Sergeant Dudas was one of two city policemen who reported seeing three flying saucers early one morning last summer. He said, “I know I saw them. If I saw them, the Kelly story certainly could be true.”

 

Drawing of the initial sighting by Billy Ray Taylor of the object which ‘landed” in the gully. The drawing was made by. A. Ledwith on the afternoon following the sighting. CUFOS

 

(FROM THE NICAP WEBSITE)
www.nicap.org/kelly-hendry.htm

One of the best-known and best-documented CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND to come from the modern era of UFOlogy is that which allegedly took place on August 21-22, 1955, near Kelly, Kentucky. This case is distinguished by its duration and also by the number of witnesses involved. The main points of the case have been discussed by several authors, including Dr. J. Allen Hynek, who devoted six pages of his 1972 book, The UFO Experience, to it. A 1979 publication from the CENTER FOR UFO STUDIES (CUFOS), authored by Isabel Davis and Ted Bloecher, puts the Kelly/Hopkinsville case into context with other CE III cases from 1955 and contains maps, illustrations, and photographs of the site, the creatures, the UFO, and the witnesses of one of the more fascinating CE III cases ever to occur in the United States.

The scene was a small farm outside of the Kentucky town of Kelly. Inside the farmhouse were eight adults and three children. The night was dark, clear, and hot. At about 7 PM, Billy Ray Taylor (a friend of the Suttons and owner of the farmhouse) came in from the well with the “wild story’s that he had seen a really bright “flying saucer,” with an exhaust all the colors of the rainbow, fly across the sky and drop into a forty-foot gully near the edge of their property. However, the Suttons did not take him seriously and laughed the story off as an embellishment of his seeing a “falling star.”

Half an hour later the family dog began barking violently and eventually put its tail between its legs and hid under the house. The two men, Billy Ray Taylor and Lucky Sutton, went to the back door to see what was bothering the dog and noticed a strange glow approaching the farmhouse from the fields. When the light came nearer, they resolved what caused it: a glowing three-and-a-half-foot tall creature with a round, oversized head. The eyes were large and glowed with a yellowish light; the arms were long, extended nearly to the ground, and ended in large hands with talons. The entire creature seemed made of silver metal. As the creature approached, its hands were raised over its head as if it were being held up.

Understandably startled, the two men reacted by grabbing their guns: a 20-gauge shotgun and a .22 rifle. Withdrawing slightly into the house, the men waited until the creature was within twenty feet of the back door and then fired; the entity flipped over backward and then scurried off into the darkness. After a few minutes, when it did not reappear, they returned to the living room only to see another (or the same) creature at a side window. They fired through the window screen at it, and again the creature flipped and disappeared. Sure that they had hit and disabled the creature, the two men went outside to find the body. As they started out the front door Billy Ray, who was in the lead, paused for a moment underneath an overhanging roof. Just as he was about to step into the yard, those in the hallway behind him saw one of the creatures on the roof reach down a taloned hand and touch his hair from above. The people indoors screamed and pulled him back inside. Lucky Sutton rushed out into the yard, turned and fired pointblank at the creature, knocking it off the roof. There was another creature in the maple tree close-by. Both Lucky and Billy Ray fired at this one and knocked it off the limb; it floated to the ground and then ran off quickly into the darkness. Immediately, another entity (or perhaps the one that had been knocked off the roof) came around the side of the house almost directly in front of the group. Lucky fired his shotgun at point-blank range and the result was the same: no effect. A sound was heard as the bullets struck, as if a metal bucket lead been hit, but the creature scurried off unhurt.

Understandably concerned that their guns were apparently useless, the men returned to the house to join the frightened women and children.

The creatures generally moved in a peculiar fashion. The legs appeared to be inflexible and when they ran, movement was accomplished almost totally by “hip motions.” Usually totally erect, when they ran off they bent over and moved with long arms almost touching the ground. The entities’ ability to float was particularly evident when one was knocked off the kitchen roof and floated a distance of about forty feet to a fence, where it was knocked off again by a shot. While they did not appear to have an aura of luminescence, their “skin” glowed in the dark with the glow becoming brighter when they were shot at or shouted at.

Mrs. Lankford, the mother of the family, counseled an end to the hostilities. Despite the fact that they had been shot at a number of times, no aggressive action was ever proffered by the creatures. However, the children were becoming hysterical and the creatures kept returning to peer in the windows at intervals; by 11 PM the family’s patience had worn thin and they all got into two automobiles and headed at top speed to the nearby Hopkinsville police department

After a half hour’s travel time, the police arrived back at the farmhouse with the still-frightened family. The Hopkinsville police, the state police, and a staff photographer arrived to investigate the situation. A thorough search was made of the house, the yard, and the outbuildings. Nothing was found, and the tension ran high: When someone accidentally stepped on a cat’s tail and it yowled, “you never saw so many pistols unholstered so fast in your life!” The searchers checked out the woods area but found nothing. One unusual item that was found was a luminous patch where one of the creatures had been knocked off and fallen to the ground. However, when nothing really extraordinary appeared, the searchers began to leave and by 2:15 AM., the Sutton family was alone.

The family had been reassured enough to go to bed and shut off the few lights. Mrs. Lankford was lying in bed watching the window when she noticed a weird glow; the glow was one of the creatures staring inward with its hands on the window screen. Calling quietly to the rest of the family, she remained perfectly calm. Lucky Sutton, however, grabbed his gun and again shot at the creature through the screen. No effect. The creatures continued to make their appearance throughout the rest of the night, never doing anything overtly hostile and only seeming to show curiosity. The last creature was seen at half an hour before sunrise, at about 5:15 AM

The next morning, investigators came back to search the farmlands during the daytime. Nothing was found even though some even climbed to the roof of the house to look for footprints. The press got hold of the story; besides the reporter who had accompanied the police out during the night, the local radio station and many reporters from other papers in Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee arrived at the Sutton house. As the news spread, the general public began to show up and cars were backed up for a considerable distance down the road from the Sutton farmhouse. Sightseers stopped their cars, walked through the property, in and out of the house, annoyed the family with requests for pictures and, in general, created a carnival atmosphere the upshot of which was to generally ridicule the family for having seen “little green men from space.”

However, on that same morning, Andrew Ledwith, an engineer with the local radio station, decided to stop into the station for a talk with the chief engineer (it was Ledwith’s day off). He learned of the happenings at the Sutton farm the night before and because of his interest in UFOs and his previous experience as an artist, he decided to go out and interview the family. It is fortunate that he did. The publicity became so obnoxious to the Sutton family that they later simply avoided telling the story and refused to cooperate (one notable exception was with Isabel Davis, who prepared the Kelly report for CUFOS). The drawings that Mr. Ledwith created on the afternoon following the sighting are illustrated above.

How can such a tale be accepted at face value? one asks. After all, the family itself was considered of “low social status” by the townspeople. Two of the men had worked for a carnival; it could be argued that they were familiar with the art of the trickster.

The most telling criticism of the incident, however, is that there is absolutely no physical evidence whatsoever that the incident actually occurred. Skeptics point out that no footprints were found (the ground was extremely hard), no marks were on the roof (although the creatures seemed nearly weightless and may not have left marks), there was no blood on then, the bullets did no apparent damage), et cetera. One could thus conclude that the family “faked” the entire incident.

However, investigators who interviewed the Suttons afterward painted a picture of them that is quite different from the sort of people who could fabricate an elaborate hoax: They were uneducated, simple farm folk with no apparent interest in exploiting the rather considerable publicity that they engendered.

Did “creatures” really visit the farmhouse in Kentucky on that night of August 21, 1955? Or did the many witnesses, mostly adults, excite themselves to the point of exaggerating some lesser stimulus? The Kelly/Hopkinsville case still stands as one of the more provocative CE III events to date.

Allan Hendry
CUFOS
Source: UFO Encyclopedia of UFOs, by Ronald D. Story, Pages 190-192

THE KELLY-HOPKINSVILLE INCIDENT – A HISTORICAL REVIEW:

by Karal Ayn Barnett ©1998

Summers in southwestern Kentucky can often try a human’s soul. The heat, the humidity, the insects – all worldly experiences that residents must endure throughout the muggy dog days of August. But what happened to the Sutton family and their friend Billy Ray Taylor in the summer of 1955, the Sutton’s and Taylor’s worldview changed suddenly and forever when a craft full of bizarre-looking aliens plunged into their reality.

This alien encounter is not an atypical story in Ufology, yet it is unique. According to reports, Billy Ray Taylor ventured out that fateful evening for a drink of water from the well. Before he reached his destination, some kind of alien craft flew over his head and into the ditch a few hundred yards away. Taylor raced back into the house, where 11 members of the Sutton family resided, to tell what he saw. The Suttons didn’t believe Taylor was serious until their dog, equally terrorized, darted beneath the house. The elder Sutton grabbed his shogun and with Taylor, went to search the property. What they saw that night was the stuff of nightmares

Horrified, Taylor and Sutton observed a glowing, bizarre-looking alien about 40 inches tall, with a round, oversized head, large luminous yellow eyes, and arms that dragged the ground. Its hands ended in long talons. During the ensuring hours of terror, lasting until dawn, the Suttons and Taylor observed at least two more of these creatures. They watched in horror as the aliens seemed to float in an apparent force field. Even when Sutton fired shotgun shells into the creatures, they merely somersaulted and then loped away. Temporarily.

Seemingly unaffected by the weapons, the aliens returned, crawling over the farmhouse and peering into the windows, further terrorizing the children and adults within. Finally, the witnesses all escaped into their car and drove from the tiny community of Kelly to the somewhat larger town of Hopkinsville, about 15 minutes away. There, the witnesses told their nightmarish tale to the authorities.

According to reports, local and state law enforcement were immediately on the scene. Sheriff Russell Greenwell and State Trooper Ferguson were among those investigating the scene – and the people who told such a tale. By all accounts, the witnesses were deemed sane, not under the influence, and in such a state of terror, no one involved doubted that they had seen something beyond far their ken. The military from nearby Fort Campbell was later called in to take over the investigation.

It still remains a mystery what the Suttons and Billy Ray Taylor saw that night, and the case represents one of the first examples of a Close Encounter of the Third Kind, to use Hynek’s term.

Was it science fiction? Undetected drug-induced delirium? Lunacy? Alcoholism? Brain-disordered hallucination? No. I don’t think so. And I am very confident of that opinion because I grew up in southwestern Kentucky, in Hopkinsville to be exact. My family moved into the area about a year after the Kelly event.

Based on my experience of the region, I would testify to the fact that no one in that area would consider making up anything remotely like what the Suttons and Taylor said they saw. The residents of southwestern Kentucky are people who even now are largely religious, and (I mean on disparagement) conformists. To make up a story like this, one would run the risk of being branded as insane or a congenital liar with a pox on their family to boot. The ridicule, the contempt, the ostracism, the media circus – no one wold risk it. It just wouldn’t happen. Unless it really happened.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but small town Southerners are cloistered away, and in a sense, protected from other cultures, not just alien ones. Southerners don’t venture far from their homes, usually, and the constant interaction among the townsfolk tends to reinforce certain ideas. One idea that is profoundly reinforced is that there are no such things as aliens, and anyone who says that they are either bedeviled, bewitched or terminally bewildered. We need not wonder why the Suttons and Billy Ray Taylor moved from the area soon after the incident.

Something incredibly “alien” surely took place that night. It may have indeed involved beings from another world or even another dimension. We don’t know. Unfortunately, the only evidence reported was some kind of glowing circle on the ground where Taylor saw the craft land. Since Fort Campbell eventually became involved in the event, it’s reasonable to allow that the incident could have been a secret military experiment using holograms and other ‘supernatural’ effects. However, I don’t give much credence to this idea because, according to Sutton’s statement, his shotgun shells did knock the creatures off their feet. A holographic image would not be so affected.

There was one consideration though. The local authorities who first investigated the scene reported a strange electromagnetic charge to the area; a physical, “eerie” feeling that would indicate some change in the normal atmosphere.

I don’t know exactly what the Suttons and Taylor saw that hot August night in 1955, but I do know that the creatures that they described were not a part of the world that we know. The bizarre-looking creatures were definitely alien to our understanding, if not alien to our planet.

There have been rumors and theories about dimensional shifts both manmade and natural. Some have suggested that the creatures entered our realm through a dimensional window. We just don’t know. What I do know, however, is that the Suttons and Taylor saw something that changed them forever. Perhaps we will one day understand what that was.

Karal Ayn Barnett

The Kelly-Hopkinsville Goblin Case of 1955

by Dr. Gregory L. Little

Hopkinsville, Kentucky has two claims to fame. The first is that it is the birthplace of Edgar Cayce. The second is that it was the scene of one of the classic cases of ufology.

Nestled between the towns of Hopkinsville and Kelly was a small farm owned by 21- year-old Billy Ray Taylor but farmed and lived on by Taylor’s friends, The Sutton family. Taylor dropped by to visit the Suttons about 7:00 p.m. on August 21, 1955. It was hot, and Taylor went outside to get a drink of water from the well. He flew back into the farmhouse a few moments later agitated and excited. All 11 members of the Sutton family listened as Taylor told them he had seen a “flying saucer” go across the sky and drop into a gully about 200 yards away. The eight adults and three children laughed at Taylor. One of them suggested that Taylor had seen a falling star and was embellishing his story a bit. Taylor continued to try to convince the Suttons about what he had seen, but they weren’t buying it.

About 30 minutes after Taylor ran in from the well the Sutton’s dog began barking wildly. They looked out the door just in time to see the dog dash under the house with its tail between its legs.

Taylor and Lucky Sutton stood at the door and watched in disbelief as a three and a half foot tall, glowing creature was gliding toward the farmhouse. Its head was very large and round. It had yellow eyes and arms so long that the hands of the creature almost touched the ground as it moved. The hands had talons.

The two adults ran to a gun case and grabbed a 20-gauge shotgun and 22 rifle. They both shot the creature when it reached 20 feet from the door. It somersaulted, and then simply disappeared. Sutton and Taylor went outside where they immediately spotted another creature sitting on the farmhouse roof. They shot it. A third creature was spotted in a maple tree. It too was shot. Sutton shot a fourth creature at point blank range when it popped around a corner of the house directly confronting him.

The effects of the gunfire on the creatures was not what one would expect of flesh and blood beings. While the first creature performed a somersault and then disappeared after being hit, the second creature slowly tumbled from the roof. The third creature floated to the ground and then waddled away after it was hit in the maple tree, and the final creature, hit at point blank by a shotgun blast, simply backed away slowly. Sutton stated that it sounded as if he had hit a bucket.

After the fourth creature had been encountered, Sutton and Taylor ran into the house and shut the doors. All 12 witnesses huddled together and watched in abject terror as the aliens began peering in the farmhouse windows. Eventually they made a dash for their cars and went to find the police in Hopkinsville.

Both local and state police accompanied the Suttons back to their farm that night. They carefully searched the area but found only a small luminescent spot on the ground where Sutton said one of the creatures had tumbled after he shot it. The police left at 2:15 a.m.

Shortly after the police left the creatures returned, peering in the windows at the terrified family. Shotgun blasts and rifle fire met the creatures with the only affect upon the walls, screens, and windows of the farmhouse. Just before sunrise the creatures disappeared.

Editor’s Note: This fascinating account is excerpted from Dr. Greg Little’s book People of the Web (1990).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BDc1X8AhT8

Drawing by artist Bud Ledwith, showing one of the creatures as described by the witnesses. (credit: UFOs Northwest)

Drawing of the initial sighting by Billy Ray Taylor of the object which ‘landed” in the gully.

The drawing was made by Bud Ledwith on the afternoon following the sighting. (credit: UFOs Northwest)

Three of the witnesses to the incident. In the middle is Elmer “Lucky” Sutton discussing how the craft landed. (credit: UFOs Northwest)

The Kelly-Hopkinsville Case
August 21 – 22, 1955

Kelly is a small town, and Hopkinsville a small city, both located in rural Christian County in southwestern Kentucky. “Lucky” Sutton’s family farm was located nearer to Kelly, but the nearest police were in Hopkinsville. Thus, this case acquired the name Kelly-Hopkinsville.

At around 7.00 P.M. on August 21, a visiting Pennsylvania man named Billy Ray Taylor went out to fetch some water from the Sutton family well. While he was at the well, he saw a large shining object land in a gully about a city block away. He went back inside and told the others, but they laughed and didn’t believe him.

A short time later the family dog began barking wildly outside, so Carl “Lucky” Sutton and Billy Ray grabbed their guns and went out to investigate. They had walked a few yards from the front door when they saw a small 3-to-4 foot creature walking towards them with its hands up, as if surrendering. They later described the creature as having large eyes, a long thin mouth, large ears, thin short legs, and hands ending in claws.

In a rural area in the 1950s, folks were likely to shoot first and ask questions later if they felt threatened. Even though the creature seemed to be peaceful, Billy Ray fired a shot at it with his .22, and Lucky blasted away with his shotgun. They couldn’t possibly have missed the creature at that range, but it just did a quick back flip and ran quickly into the woods, apparently unharmed.

Billy Ray and Lucky returned to the house, but before they could tell the others what had happened, the creature, or another one like it, appeared in front of a window. They shot at him through the screen, leaving a hole that investigators noticed later. When the men went outside to see if they had killed the creature, they found nothing. As they looked, one of the creatures, from the roof of the house, reached down to touch one of the men’s hair. They shot at it, but it just floated to the ground and then ran off into the woods.

They went back inside and soon the house was under siege by a group of the creatures. The seven adults and four children in the house at the time were terrified as creature after creature appeared at windows around the house, seemingly taunting them. The men’s guns were totally ineffective against the creatures.

After about three hours of this, the family decided to make a run for it. They piled into two vehicles and drove down to the local police station to report the event, arriving at about 11:00 P.M.. When police officers were finally persuaded to go to the farm and investigate, they could find no evidence of the strange events except for gunshot holes in the windows and walls.

According to reports, Sheriff Russell Greenwell was among the twenty-five or so law enforcement officers investigating the scene and the family who had told this wild tale. By all accounts, the witnesses were determined to be sane, not drinking, and in such a state of terror that no one who talked to them doubted that they had seen something unusual. Neighbors reported hearing the shooting, and one person had seen “lights in the sky” earlier that evening.

Shortly after the police left, at about 2:15 A.M., the creatures returned. As before, they began staring into windows, curious but not hostile. Again the men responded with gunfire, and again it had no effect. This ordeal continued until a half an hour before sunrise. On the morning of the 22nd, the police, along with the Air Force, investigated but again found nothing. Billy Ray and Lucky weren’t there, having driven to Evansville, Indiana to take care of some sort of business. The Hopkinsville newspaper, The Kentucky New Era, carried the story on 8/22/55.

Many people believe this case to be a complete hoax. If it was then it has to be one of the biggest and most useless hoaxes in ufology to date. The family made no money from the incident and did not want any publicity at the time. They had to make extensive repairs to the house which cost them a considerable sum of money for that year. In the course of shooting at the creatures, Billy Ray and Lucky had shot up the house pretty well. All seven adults told the same story with no contradictory evidence in their statements. Sketches of the creatures based on descriptions from different witnesses matched closely. Their stories were unwavering a year later when a thorough investigation of the case was conducted by Isabel Davis.

No evidence of a hoax has ever been revealed in this case, and the Suttons still insisted that it was true years later. Now, over forty years later, it’s likely that many, if not all, of the Suttons who were adults at the time have gone to their graves without changing their story.

Noted astronomer and UFOlogist J. Allen Hynek took the story seriously because he discussed the case with two of the principal investigators of the story: Bud Ledwith, an engineer at a radio station in Hopkinsville and a personal acquaintance of Hynek’s, and Isabel Davis, an investigator from New York City.