Close Encounters of the Weird Kind

HOPKINSVILLE GOBLINS: (USA – 1955)

This traumatic series of events began at approximately 7 pm. on the evening of August 21, 1955. The Taylor family was visiting the Suttons at their rustic farmhouse near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, when they had a close encounter that would forever change their lives.

The ordeal began when Billy Ray Taylor went out to fetch water from the Sutton’s well. While at the pump he saw a gleaming, rainbow colored, disc shaped object land in a gorge less than a mile away. Taylor ran back to inform the others, but they laughingly dismissed his tale as nothing more than a shooting star that had played tricks on his eyes.

All that changed soon after when the Sutton’s dog began barking frenziedly in the darkness. Taylor and Elmer Sutton snagged their rifles and charged outside only to see an entity which they described as luminous being about 3-feet in height with an over-sized head, glowing eyes, floppy, pointed ears, a narrow mouth, thin legs and talon tipped fingers. The creature — which was floating just above the ground — was dressed in a silvery metallic outfit and charged at the men with its clawed hands in the air.

The terrified men, fearing the worst, fired at the creature, but it just did a back flip and disappeared into the woods, apparently unharmed. Taylor and Sutton quickly retreated to the isolated house, but before they could recount what had transpired, the alien appeared in front of a window. The men fired again, blasting holes in the screen, but when they went ran back out to inspect the corpse, they found no trace of it.

Suddenly, a similar being lunged down from the awning of the porch and entangled its claw in one of the men’s hair. They fired again, but the creature — seemingly just as bulletproof as its kin — gently floated to the ground and tore off into the shrubbery. The men ran back to the farmhouse just as a cluster of the creatures began to assail it. The pesky critters began scurrying across the roof and appearing in different windows simultaneously, terrifying the eleven men, women and children in the tiny abode.

As with the others, bullets had no apparent effect on the creatures and after a harrowing three hour ordeal, the group decided to make a break for the two vehicles that were parked outside. One of the children would later recall that as they sprinted for the cars he noticed that the creatures “stuck to the side of the house in the way a spider could.”

The families ran for their lives, crammed into the cars and sped down to the local Sheriff’s office to report the strange incident. Sheriff Russell Greenwell and his deputies were on hand to interview the petrified family members and they verified the sobriety, sanity and sincerity of the eyewitnesses. Greenwell would go on to say: “These were not the sort of people who normally ran to the police… something frightened them, something beyond their comprehension.”

When the officers arrived at the scene to investigate, they found no hint of the creatures, but noted the multiple bullet holes in the windows and walls of the farmhouse. The Sutton’s neighbors testified that they heard gunshots, and a state highway trooper independently reported weird “meteor-like objects” flying overhead, “with a sound like artillery fire coming directly from them” earlier that evening.

Assured by the police that there was no indication of anything unusual — and no doubt assuming that the worst was over — the Suttons and the Taylors returned to the farmhouse at approximately 2:15 am. Much to the chagrin of both families, the creatures reappeared and began scuttling around, climbing walls and staring into windows.

The men responded with gunfire, which (of course) had no effect on the beasts. The chaos ensued until almost dawn, when the beings mysteriously disappeared for a final time. The aliens never did return to the farmhouse, but the Sutton family nevertheless felt compelled to abandon their home not long after the incident.