70 years later: Revisiting the Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter

KELLY, Ky. (WBKO) -Throughout American history, the populace has been no stranger to alleged alien encounters. From Roswell, New Mexico, to Kelly, Kentucky, home of the famous Kelly-Hopkinsville Goblin Encounter.

The story began on Aug. 21, 1955. It was a time of change in America, where a Cold War loomed and science fiction filled theaters across the country.

On a small family farm in Kelly, Kentucky, 11 people were spending a summer evening playing cards and enjoying each other’s company.

As the evening began to wind down, Billy Ray Taylor was the first to take a step outside.

He went out to the family well to get water. As he was out there, he heard a strange noise. He looked up, spotting a silver object streaking across the sky.

He ran back into the house, telling the others that he saw something unexplainable.

Initially, the family thought he must have just seen a shooting star or a meteor shower, but Taylor wasn’t convinced.

Elmer Sutton humored Taylor and went outside with him to check it out.

At first, Sutton didn’t see anything, but as they were walking back to the house, their dog rushed past them, hiding under the porch.

It was then that they both saw the creatures.

“From the back of the house there comes this little three and a half foot tall being,” said Geraldine Sutton Stith, author and daughter of Elmer Sutton. “Huge ears, big glowing eyes, arms down to the ground. So, they both go running into the house, slam the door, and everybody stops what they’re doing and looks, and they’re like ‘What is wrong with you two?’ Because by now they’re sweating bullets, they’re white as ghosts, something’s happened.”

The rest of the group was still unsure, thinking perhaps that the two were playing a prank as they were known to joke around.

It was when they grabbed a shotgun and a rifle that the rest started taking the situation more seriously.

The story alleges that the creatures never tried to attack, but in their fear, the two men shot at the small humanoids, hitting them with everything they had.

“He runs out there to see if there’s a body lying there,” said Stith. “There’s nothing there. And he’s standing there looking as he is, this clawed hand comes down to grab his hair off the little perch above the door. Well, my Aunt Eileen grabs him and yanks him back in the house. My dad runs out there, looks toward the roof, and sure enough, he’s sitting there. They’re trying to keep them out of the house because they’re thinking that’s what they’re wanting. So, they were shooting these things, they were hitting them, they weren’t dying. There were no bodies lying anywhere, and they don’t know what to do. They go in the house, and they tell them, says Listen, we’re going to Hopkinsville.”

According to Stith, the family went to the Hopkinsville police station and frantically told the one officer on duty about what was going on at the farm.

The officer called Chief Russell Greenwell, who told him to calm the family down, Kentucky State Troopers, and the military at nearby Fort Campbell.

A local reporter was also called, and soon a caravan of vehicles was headed to Kelly.

“They kept searching, but couldn’t find anything. Finally, Chief Russel Greenwell went to my grandmother and told her, says Listen, I’m so sorry, Mrs. Glennie, but there’s nothing here. There’s no bodies, nothing. Sure, something has happened here; it’s obvious, but there’s nothing we can do to help. So, they all take off and leave,” explained Stith. “Grandmother finally got the three kids settled down and in bed. She finally laid down herself. My dad is sitting in the rocking chair beside her, shotgun across his lap. She opened her eyes, low and behold, they’re in the window, just the little man again, and she thought she was just tired. That was it, she was tired and seeing things. Well, she opened up her eyes a second time, and it was still standing there. Third time she opened her eyes, she screamed at my dad, ‘They’re back.’”

For the second time that night, they defended their home from the unknown threat until morning broke, at which point they allegedly disappeared, never to be seen again by the family or anyone else.

The story quickly made local and national headlines, becoming one of the most well-known alien encounter stories of the time, with filmmakers taking inspiration from the event to make movies like E.T., Critters, and Gremlins.

Those who balk at the tale say that the family was suffering from mass delusion, that perhaps they were drinking, or it was simply great horned owls defending their territory.

In the 70 years since that initial encounter, the property has been sold and the house has been demolished, but the story still remains.

To celebrate the occasion, the City of Hopkinsville will host Alien Invasion Day on Saturday, Aug. 12-6 P.M. at the Hopkinsville Visitor’s Center.

The city will also bringing a new convention to town in October, called Goblin Con.