Hopkinsville Goblins – Close Encounters
Ever wondered where the trope of little green men came from? Alien encounters in movies, tv shows and even in reported sightings overwhelmingly use this description. It comes, in part, from the Hopkinsville Goblins case.
August 21st 1955 – A Kentucky Police Station
Five adults, with seven children trailing in their wake burst into the police station. All are visibly upset and talking at once. Once the police calm them down, a story starts to emerge.
Billy Ray Taylor and Elmer Sutton, two of the adults present, fill in the details. Billy begins by describing how earlier that day he had seen a metallic object in the air.
“Real bright, with an exhaust all the colors of the rainbow”
Billy Ray Taylor
As he watched, the object made its way silently towards the house, passed over it, then dropped straight down to the ground. Telling the others what he had seen, he was dismissed and laughed at. So he dropped the tale, thinking he must have been mistaken.
An hour later, they are alerted to something outside because of the dogs barking. Opening the door, they are met with an otherworldly sight.
Hopkinsville Goblins – The Encounter
A strange glowing creature is out there. With an oversize head, long arms and eyes that glow yellow, these creatures standing three and a half feet tall are unlike anything they have seen before. They do what any sensible person would do. They grab their guns.
Recounting the story at the police station, an epic gun battle lasting four hours takes place. 12 to 15 of the creatures are out there. Every time one shows it face, boom! they shoot at it. To no avail. It appears the creatures are impervious to bullets.
At one point, during a lull in the fighting, Billy steps outside to look for the creatures. As he does, a claw like hand reaches down from the porch roof and touches his hair. Screaming, he throws himself back inside as another member of the group takes aim. A direct hit. Again the creatures are unaffected, floating to the ground and heading for the woods.
For the next few hours a pattern is set. The creatures get close and are forced back by the people inside. Eventually it becomes too much. So they make a break for their vehicles and race to the police station.
The police return to the farmhouse to investigate. They find no evidence of a silvery flying object or little glowing men. What they do find, however, is evidence of a massive shootout. Holes are everywhere, in doors, windows and the walls of the farmhouse. All made by gunfire.
Aftermath and News Reports
The news spreads like wildfire and is soon picked up by the press. In early reports, there are no mentions of “little green men”. This detail is added to later reports and helps to solidify the folklore surrounding alien encounters. We see it from E.T. to Yoda, the Martian in Mars Attacks! to Men In Black. All have “little green men” in them. Even Toy Story has small green aliens in it. It is enshrined in the stories surrounding extra-terrestrial visitors.
So what actually happened at the farmhouse that night? Could the Hopkinsville Goblins have been a genuine extra-terrestrial encounter? Mass hallucination? Or a giant con?
Simply put, we don’t know. What is known is this. Throughout the entire investigation and onwards, the stories never change. Each and every person who witnessed this event tells a similar story. And they tell it earnestly and honestly. They are utterly convinced in what they saw that night.
Sources:
Kentucky New Era, Aug 22 1955 Newspaper Article (news.google.com)
Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter (self.gutenberg.org)
How the little green men phenomenon began (history.com)
Close encounter at Kelly (cufos.org)
Header Image (pixabay.com)