FIELD FILE · KELLY-HOPKINSVILLE-GOBLINSHUMANOIDREGIONAL LEGEND

Kelly–Hopkinsville Goblins

Also known as Hopkinsville Goblins, Kelly Green Men, Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter, Little Green Men of Kelly

Sutton farm, Kelly, near Hopkinsville, KentuckyFIRST REPORTED: 1955HUMANOIDS & STRANGE BEINGS

Small, glowing-eyed beings that a rural Kentucky family said besieged their farmhouse for hours in August 1955 – the case behind “little green men.”

On the night of August 21–22, 1955, a crowd of adults and children from a farmhouse in the tiny community of Kelly, north of Hopkinsville in Christian County, Kentucky, burst into the Hopkinsville police station with an extraordinary story. They said that small, strange creatures had surrounded their home and that the men of the household had been shooting at them for hours, with little effect.

The farm belonged to the family of Glennie Lankford, a widow, and her sons Elmer “Lucky” Sutton and J. C. Sutton. That evening, a visiting family friend, Billy Ray Taylor, said he saw a bright, silvery object with a colorful trail come down beyond the trees. Not long afterward, the household reported a small figure approaching the house, followed by others: beings about two to four feet tall with oversized heads, large pointed ears, long arms ending in talon-like hands, and glowing yellow eyes. Lucky Sutton and Taylor fired shotguns and a rifle at them; the witnesses said the shots knocked the creatures over or sent them “floating” away, but did no harm, and that the bullets sounded as if they hit metal.

Police, state troopers, sheriff’s deputies and military police from nearby Fort Campbell went to the farm. They found shell casings, damaged window screens and a frightened family, but no physical trace of any visitors and no evidence of heavy drinking. The family said the creatures returned in the early morning after officers had left. The Kentucky New Era broke the story, and within days it was in newspapers and on radio across the country, drawing crowds of sightseers to the farm.

The case became one of the most famous close encounters in UFO literature. Investigators such as Isabel Davis and Ted Bloecher praised the consistency of the witnesses’ accounts, while the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book filed it as a hoax. Although early reports described the beings as silvery, later retellings painted them green, and the encounter is often credited with popularizing the phrase “little green men.”

Today the “Hopkinsville Goblins” are part of Kentucky pop culture. They influenced Steven Spielberg’s unmade Night Skies project, the 1986 horror-comedy Critters and the design of the Pokémon Sableye, and they are celebrated each August near the anniversary of the encounter.

Type: Humanoid
Status: Regional legend
First reported: 1955
Best-known location: Sutton farm, Kelly, near Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Also called: Hopkinsville Goblins, Kelly Green Men, Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter, Little Green Men of Kelly
Reported in: Kentucky

What witnesses describe

Small humanoids two to four feet tall with large, round heads, big pointed ears, wide glowing yellow eyes, thin legs, and long arms ending in clawed hands. Witnesses described a silvery, metallic sheen and said the beings seemed to float or glide, kept their hands raised, and fell or drifted away when hit by gunfire.

Where and when it’s seen

A rural farmhouse surrounded by fields and woods in the Kelly community of northern Christian County, Kentucky. The reported encounter lasted from evening until dawn on a warm late-summer night.

Notable sightings

August 21, 1955A light in the sky Kelly, Kentucky
Around 7 p.m., Billy Ray Taylor said he saw a bright, silvery object with a rainbow-colored trail hover and then come down beyond the trees. The family reportedly dismissed his story until the first creature appeared near the house.
August 21, 1955 (night)The farmhouse siege Sutton farm, Kelly, Kentucky
For several hours the household said small creatures approached the doors and windows – one reportedly reached down and touched Taylor’s hair – while the men fired at them. Around 11 p.m. the family drove to the Hopkinsville police station to report the attack.
August 22, 1955Police search and the creatures’ return Sutton farm, Kelly, Kentucky
A large group of officers and military police found no trace of the beings, only signs of gunfire. The family said the creatures came back in the early morning hours after the officers left.
August 2016Little Green Men Days Kelly, Kentucky
The sixth annual Little Green Men Days festival marked the encounter’s 61st anniversary near the old farm site with music, a costume contest and a replica flying saucer. The festival later lapsed, and Hopkinsville revived the commemoration in 2024.

What could explain it?

Skeptic Joe Nickell and others argue the “goblins” were great horned owls: aggressive, nocturnal birds with yellow eyes, ear tufts and talons that can appear silvery in moonlight and would “float” off when shot at.
A meteor seen over the region that evening may account for Taylor’s report of a bright, streaking light.
Fear, darkness, gunfire and a crowded house can easily lead a group to reinforce each other’s perceptions during a long, stressful night.
The U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book classified the case as a hoax, though investigators found no evidence the family set out to deceive anyone, and they reportedly disliked the publicity.

Legend, culture and tourism

The Kelly encounter is a touchstone of UFO lore and is cited as a source for the phrase “little green men.” It inspired the 1986 film Critters, Spielberg’s unproduced Night Skies, Chicago’s Annoyance Theatre musical It Came From Kentucky and the Pokémon Sableye, and was dramatized on the TV series Project Blue Book. Kelly’s “Little Green Men Days” festival ran for several years; in 2024 Hopkinsville revived the August 21 commemoration as “Alien Invasion Day” at its visitors center.