August 21, 1955 Kelly, Kentucky. A family battles with beings from another world. Gunshots, spaceships and flying creatures are heard and seen throughout the night. Little humanoid creatures fly through the sky and terrorize the family in this small town.
Sound like a good Sci-fi film? according to all the members of the family and UFO investigators and local police, these events really did happen.
Summary from Wikipedia:
There were dozens of eyewitnesses to the incidents, which included two families present at the farmhouse and others in the area, including policemen and a state trooper who saw strange phenomena such as unexplained lights in the night sky and noises the same night. The seven people present in the farmhouse would claim that they were terrorized by an unknown number of creatures similar to gremlins, which have since often been referred to as the “Hopkinsville Goblins” in popular culture. The residents of the farmhouse described them as around three feet tall, with upright pointed ears, thin limbs (their legs were said to be almost in a state of atrophy), long arms and claw-like hands or talons. The creatures were either silvery in color, or wearing something metallic. Their movements on occasion seemed to defy gravity with them floating above the ground and appearing in high up places, and they “walked” with a swaying motion as through wading through water. Although the creatures never entered the house, they would pop up at windows and at the doorway, working up the children in the house to a hysterical frenzy. The families fled the farmhouse in the middle of the night to the local police station and sheriff Russell Greenwell noted they were visibly shaken. The familes returned to the farmhouse with Sheriff Greenwell and twenty officers, yet the occurances continued. Police saw evidence of the struggle and damage to the house, as well as themselves seeing strange lights and hearing noises. The witnesses additionally claimed to have used firearms to shoot at the creatures, with little or no effect, and the house and surrounding grounds were extensively damaged during the incident.
Even years later the eyewitness stories still corroborated remarkably under individual questioning, although speculation amongst the eyewitnesses regarding the motivations of the creatures has ranged from field study on their part, or that the creatures were acting out of mere curiousity or even outright malevolence. The two families involved were noted locally to not be the types to make up a hoax, and this would be seemingly backed up by the fact the families obtained no financial gain or significant fame from the incident, and fled the area when the incident became known locally and they gained an abundance of tresspassers wanting to see the site.
UFO researcher Allan Hendry wrote “this case is distinguished by its duration and also by the number of witnesses involved. Jerome Clark writes that “[i]nvestigations by police, Air Force officers from nearby Fort Campbell, and civilian ufologists found no evidence of a hoax”. Although they never formally investigated the case, Blue Book confessed to being stumped. So was Isabel Davis, one of the most hardheaded of UFO investigators.
Summary:
Only a year after the bizarre case of a UFO disappearing into thin air, another case that stretches the imagination would occur in the rural setting of Kelly-Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The events in Kentucky would begin on the night of August 21, 1955, and are still being discussed and debated today. A family would have a battle with a group of small alien creatures.
An Immense, Shining Object:
Billy Ray Taylor and his wife were visiting the Sutton farm on this particular night. Billy exited the house to go fetch water from the Sutton family well. While drawing water, he witnessed an “immense, shining object” landing about a quarter of a mile from the house. Excited and frightened, he ran back to the house with the news, but no one took him very seriously.
Shoot First, Ask Questions Later:
Soon, strange things began to occur. The family dogs began to bark outside. The man of the house, “Lucky” along with Billy Ray went outside to see what the problem was. They were both stunned when they saw a three to four foot tall creature, making its way toward them with its hands up. They two men described the creature as like nothing they had ever seen before. It had large eyes, long thin mouth, thin, short legs, large ears, and its hand ended with claws. Billy Ray fired his .22 caliber rifle, and Lucky fired his shotgun. The barrage of bullets had no effect on the being.
Being Appears at Window:
Lucky and Billy both knew that they had hit their target at that close range. But the small creature did a back flip, and then scurried into the woods. The two men went back into the house, but soon another creature was seen looking at them through a window. The two men again blasted away, and ran outside to see if they had killed it, but found nothing. A large hole was later seen through the screen where the shots had been fired.
“Run for Your Lives!”:
This cat and mouse game continued into the night as the creatures would appear and disappear. Realizing that they were up against something out of the ordinary, the family decided to run from the house, and ask for assistance from the police station in the little city of Hopkinsville. It took two vehicles to hold everyone, but off they went. After hearing their bizarre story, Sheriff Russell Greenwell thought they were joking. Finally the family convinced him that they were not making up their story, and Greenwell decided to go to the Sutton farm house.
The Police Arrive:
When the police arrived at the farm house and searched the area around the house no evidence of any creatures was found. However, they did find numerous bullet holes through the windows and walls of the house. Over twenty policeman were involved in the search. The police admitted that the Suttons were not drunk, and genuinely frightened by something or someone. Nearby neighbors did confirm strange “lights in the sky,” and “hearing of bullets being fired.” The police left at 2:15 AM.
The Aliens Return:
After the police were gone, the aliens returned, and the earlier battle was repeated. The gunfire had no effect on the creatures. All together, eleven people were present at the Sutton family farmhouse.
The Air Force Arrives:
Not all of the eleven witnessed the strange events of the night. June Taylor was too frightened to look, and Lonnie Lankford, and his brother and sister were hidden during the encounter, which still left seven witnesses to the encounter. The police department requested the Air Force to investigate the happenings at the Sutton house. They also did a search of the house and surrounding area, but without any solid evidence being found.
Public Reaction:
The morning of the Air Force search, Lucky and Billy Ray had gone to Evansville, Indiana on family business. The five remaining witnesses to the events of the night before were interviewed by Air Force personnel, giving their full account of the night of terror. The story of the small aliens spread quickly, and the Kentucky “New Era” newspaper published a story of the family’s encounter on August 22, 1955.
Conclusions:
In the beginning, most of the public believed the Suttons were perpetuating a hoax. But, if this was the case, what would be their reason? They made no money from the story, only accruing debt by damaging their house. Could all of their trouble have been to get their name in the local newspaper? All of the witnesses to the strange events of the night of August 21, 1955, made sketches of what the creatures looked like. The drawings were practically identical. Almost a year later, the case was investigated by Isabel Davis. She believed that the Suttons were telling the truth.
Famed UFO investigator Dr. J. Allen Hynek also believed the account of the Kelly aliens, and discussed the case with Davis. This case is still being investigated today, and there have been many books, and television specials made relating to the Kentucky events of 1955.
