This Article Originally Ran On Blumhouse.com
Do you believe in aliens? What about goblins? What if, and stick with me here, what if aliens are goblins?
Did I just blow your mind? If I did, you need to go get a new mind right away, cause I’m about to blow that one too. I’m gonna take you back to Kelly, Kentucky one August night in 1955 when a family spent hours duking it out with aliens. Or maybe goblins. Or possibly… both. Probably neither, but if we just call BS on the story, I have no article, so stick with me on this one.
The summer of 1955 was a good time for UFO sightings. People were seeing strange saucers from England to California. Even further maybe. In the fall of 1955, Old Otis Peabody had a spaceman destroy one of his famous pines after the spaceman’s ship crashed into his barn. On the 21st of August, for one family, the spacemen were a far more serious problem.
Billy Ray Taylor and his wife were spending a nice evening with the Sutton family on the Sutton farm. Billy Ray and the oldest Sutton son, Elmer “Lucky” Sutton, went way back, and they often liked to while the hours away together. The kids were playing, the adults were talking, and everyone was having a pretty good time. Billy Ray, feeling a wee parched, headed into the backyard to get some fresh water from a well. The moon was full and the night sky was clear, so Billy Ray took his time as he mosied to the well. That was when he saw it.
A saucer, as silver as your mama’s special occasion silverware flew right over his head, flames of all colors shooting out of it. Billy Ray watched as the saucer headed over the Sutton farm and landed about a hundred yards away. Billy Ray broke out of his shock and ran back inside, warning the others of what he had just witnessed.
The others, as you may imagine, figured Billy Ray was trying to trick them. Lucky and the Suttons laughed it off. So did Billy Ray’s wife, which I’m sure didn’t make Billy Ray feel good about himself. They ignored Billy Ray for about an hour, as reports go, before the Sutton’s dog got all weird. The pooch started barking and howling. Lucky went to quiet the hound. That was when he saw it.
Lucky’s eyes locked on a glowing orb heading towards the house. He called over Billy Ray who, upon seeing the glow, surely felt a happy that his pal was finally willing to believe him. As the glow got closer, it became clear that the orb was actually a small, weird looking man with his arms up, as if he were surrendering to the inhabitants of the Sutton farm. According to the witnesses at the Sutton farm, the little man stood less than four feet and had huge pupiless eyes with no eyelids. His skin had a silver, almost metallic, hue to it and his ears were pointed like Mister Spock. The bing would glow when it entered the shadows, almost as if it were a living, breathing, night light. As it closed in, Lucky and Billy Ray were able to make out more details of the being.
It’s fingers were like talons, sharp and deadly. It’s mouth was like a Canadian on SOUTH PARK, reaching from ear to ear. There was no nose and no hair. It was, as the kids don’t say, a real kook out.
Lucky and Billy Ray quickly went for their guns; Billy Ray liked his .22 rifle while Lucky was fond of a twelve-gauge shotgun. The good old boys headed outside to take on the little weird looking thing. They walked up to the being, reaching what they felt was a safe distance, some twenty feet away, and opened fire. The bullets struck true, hitting the being square in the chest. Unlike you or I, though, the being didn’t fall dead. Instead, it did a nice little flip in the air, landed on it’s feet, and scurried away. Lucky and Billy Ray headed back inside.
Not five minutes later, another little guy showed up at a window. The two men opened fire, once more hitting their target, and once more watching their target do a flip and run off into the night. This time, Lucky and Billy Ray, with the rest of the Sutton Clan behind them, decided to track down the little fella.
Billy Ray was the first out the door, opening the screen door to the back of the house. As soon as he stepped out, a clawed hand reached down from the awning and grabbed Billy Ray by the hair. One of the Suttons pulled Billy Ray in as Lucky rushed out and opened fire at the being on the roof. He struck the creature and it fell off the roof. In front of everyone, the creature slowly floated down to the ground. Stunned by what they saw, the gang watched as the goblin rushed off.
Billy Ray, with slightly less hair, spotted another goblin in a tree and ran out of the house to give it a bit of lead. Again, this one took the hit by slowly floating out of the tree and running off. As that one vanished into the night, a third goblin ran out from the side of the house, almost right into Lucky. The goblin juked past Lucky and joined it’s pals.
Four hours later, Billy Ray, his wife, Lucky, and the other members of the Sutton family showed up at the police station in Hopkinsville where they explained to Chief Russell Greenwell how they had just spent the better part of the night battling the little monsters. Normally, Greenwell would have shooed off the crew, but there was something in their eyes, in their voices, that made him believe them. Well, if not believe them, believe that they believed what they said. Maybe it was the younger Suttons that made Greenwell feel the need to check out the scene. Maybe it was just a slow night. Either way, Chief Greenwell took a few other officers and headed out to the Sutton farm.
The call brought out a few others to check out the scene as well, including state police, a local reporter, and (as the story goes) military police from Fort Campbell. They found no evidence of shiny little men. Greenwell and his men took witness reports and headed back to the station.
The police, the reporter, and the (as the story goes) military police all took off, finding nothing fun at the Sutton farm. It was late, nearing two thirty in the morning, so Billy Ray and his wife were invited to spend the night, which they chose to do. Shortly after everyone went to bed, the little silver jerks showed up again. Throughout the remaining hours of the night, the Sutton farm was besieged by these alien-goblins trying to get inside. Billy Ray and Lucky, with their ever trusty guns, held them off. As the sun rose, the beings left.
The story of the Sutton Farm invasion has lasted through the years, partly because it is so strange, and partly because those involved never once changed their story. Was it aliens? Or goblins? Probably not. The most common, most logical answer to what Billy Ray and Lucky spent the night shooting at is great horned owls.
As for the spaceship Billy Ray saw, on that night, August 21, 1955, there was a known meteor shower over the good old USA. Maybe that was what he witnessed.
Whatever it was, the story has made its way into pop culture. The POKEMON character Sableye is designed based on the reports from the Suttons. Steven Spielberg wanted to make a movie based on the incident, but instead broke his plot into two movies - ET and POLTERGEIST.
If you ever find yourself looking for something to do for an August vacation, the town of Kelly, Kentucky celebrates Little Green Men Days on the third weekend of the month every year. Maybe I’ll see you there (probably not).